Speed by Bear Island were the typical 25 to 30 MPH when I went through on Sunday afternoon. I saw no one going even remotely close to 45 MPH.
I went through, southbound, at 29 MPH on the GPS and someone creeped by me in a 20, or so, foot bowrider at maybe 33 MPH on the port side after I passed FL3. Shortly afterwards, they came nearly to a stop when they realized the were headed right into the shoals by FL70. I had given them plenty of room (I purposely altered my course so that I did not crowd them into the shoals when I knew they were going to pass on my port side), they just looked confused. They passed me again headed directly toward the witches and I thought" "Oh no!" but they turned at last and missed the rocks by a comfortable margin. Were the roles reversed, I'd follow another boat, rather than pass it, in an area I was unfamiliar with...
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