Great Harbour Cay and Beyond

 

Our crossing from Florida to the Berry Islands, Bahamas was exactly as predicted:  relatively large waves and no possibility to sail. It wasn’t too uncomfortable though and we were happy with our decision to go. We arrived on January 30 and anchored at Cistern Cay, which has a nice beach for Jake and is next to Great Harbour Cay., where we cleared in.

Cistern Cay Anchorage, Berry Islands

The same weather that would have prevented a safe crossing in the week after we left Florida was also going to impact the Bahamas so we decided to move into the Great Harbour Cay anchorage which offers protection from wind in all directions. Since it’s a small anchorage, we moved there a couple of days earlier than we needed to so that we were guaranteed to have a spot. The downside of the anchorage is that there isn’t a beach or dock nearby for Jake so we had to dinghy a couple of miles each morning and afternoon to get him off the boat. In fair weather a couple of miles in the dinghy is not an issue, but there were a couple of instances where the wind picked up and shifted direction after we we had arrived at beach. One particular trip back to the anchorage was very bumpy and wet, with Jake huffing and giving Steve the side-eye in between drenching waves over the bow; fortunately, none of us melted. :-)

Great Harbour Cay Anchorage, Berry Islands

One evening before the bad weather was supposed to arrive, Steve and I decided to walk to one of the local restaurants for dinner. It was daylight as we started our walk and although the road was narrow, there was enough of a shoulder for us to walk safely. A kind woman slowed down as she passed and asked if we wanted a ride, but we thanked her and told her we were enjoying the walk. Not long after that the sun began to set, and it was becoming clear that there were no streetlights; it was going to be very dark. About this time, a gentleman pulled over and asked us where we were headed and if he could give us a lift. This time, we decided to accept his offer. This man was a local preacher and had also formerly been the principal of the local school, which has about 140 students in grades kindergarten through 12^th. We also learned that he had studied at an Episcopal university in North Carolina.

He dropped us off at the restaurant and went on his way. Upon reaching the restaurant entrance, we realized that it was closed even though the website had said it would be open until 7 pm. Lesson learned:  in small towns, it’s best to call ahead. There was one other restaurant not too far away, so we made our way there and it, fortunately, was open.

After dinner we started our very dark walk back. Once again, we had walked only a hundred yards or so before one of the locals stopped and offered us a ride. This man is a contractor who is known as “Governor”. He’s also an avid fisherman who puts condo renovations on hold when the fishing conditions are right. After a short ride, he dropped us off at the marina where our dinghy was tied up, we thanked him, and he wished us well. We commented on how friendly everyone had been so far, and he said that the Berry's are known as the "family islands". It was nice to meet such nice folks and we certainly appreciated their concern for our safety. We definitely won’t be planning to eat out after dark anymore, though!

We spent the next few days at anchor, relaxing a bit and doing routine chores. As predicted a front came through on Tuesday, February 6th, bringing with it strong winds up to 41 knots. Although the winds were heavy, they were no worse than in other storms we had ridden out without issue. Steve and I were both sitting in the salon during the storm when, all of a sudden, we hear the blast of an air horn which signals danger in the anchorage. We both leapt from our seats and ran to the stern to see what the issue was. A man in the sailboat behind us - Sherazad - was motioning at us that our anchor was dragging.

Steve immediately started the engines. I grabbed our headsets, gave one to Steve, and headed to the anchor-hold at the front of the boat. Within minutes, we had pulled the anchor and began the process of re-anchoring. This was easier said than done. At this point, the storm was at its peak and we were unable to get the anchor to set. Time and time again we tried, but in some cases, we found grass, one time the anchor found a tree root, at other times we found rocky bottom, and sometimes the wind was gusting heavily causing the boat to move in one direction and then another, which we suspected prevented the anchor from setting properly. After two hours, we finally got the anchor to set firmly. At some point during this process, we noticed that another boat that had been in the anchorage with us for many days had also dragged their anchor and was having similar difficulty in getting re-anchored. The headset that I mentioned?  It was worth its weight in gold during this experience. It's aptly nicknamed "the marriage saver" and using it changed the entire tenor of the event. Rather than the two of us screaming at one another to be heard, we could calmly communicate in normal voices. What would have been a highly stressful experience was merely exhausting and uncomfortable. 

Impending Storm at Great Harbor Cay

The high winds continued for the remainder of the night, and Steve and I took turns at watch during the remainder of the storm. The next morning, one of the other sailors in the anchorage organized a radio-call to see how everyone had fared during the storm. During that exchange I learned that all of the other couples had also taken turns staying awake during the night to ensure they were safely anchored.

Once the storm had passed, we were anxious to move on and so one week after arriving in Great Harbor Cay, we departed for Devil’s Cay on the eastern side of the Berry Islands. It was a glorious day, and after our long season of not sailing, we were thrilled to sail at 6-8 knots the whole day.

Sailing to Devil's Cay

Although Great Harbour Cay is not a large island, it is home to a cruise line waterpark that hosts cruise ships every day of the week. As we passed the northern side of the island where the cruise ships were docked, it seemed to me that the square footage of the ships far exceeded the square footage of the island itself. 

Cruise Ships on Great Harbour Cay

We were anchored, more or less, by ourselves at Devil's Cay and enjoyed a couple of days exploring by dinghy. We were greeted by several stingrays on our morning trip to the beach with Jake, and stumbled on a beach hangout at one end of the island.

Stingray at Devil's Cay

Beach Hangout at Devi's Cay

We had read that there was a restaurant and bakery at the next cay south (Little Harbour Cay), but unfortunately service requires 24 hours notice. Even so, it looks like the restaurant does a fair amount of business based on the mound of conch shells out in front! Next time, we'll be sure to call ahead.

Flo's Conch House at Little Harbour Cay

This year, we decided to have guests fly into and out of Nassau, rather than Marsh Harbor. We're hoping that we can bring people to the Exumas, where we had good luck with snorkeling on the western side of the cays. There is a risk, though, that the wind direction won't allow us to get to the Exumas comfortably. The beauty of Nassau is that it is located on New Providence, which is an island situated centrally between the Berry Islands, the Exumas, Eleuthera , and Andros.  This means that we have options other than the Exumas depending on which way the winds are blowing.

Our primary objective, once leaving the Berry Islands, was to reconnoiter the various potential destinations to find suitable anchorages and check out the snorkeling opportunities. The route we followed starts at the upper left point on the map below, and continues in the counterclockwise direction. The points indicate the stops we made along the way: 

1) Great Harbour Cay/Devil's Cay, Berry Islands 

2) Morgan's Bluff, Andros 

3) Goat's Cay, Andros 

4) Highborne Cay, Exuma 

5) Rock Sound, Eleuthera

6) Nassau, New Providence

Bahamas Reconnaissance Route

We were once again fortunate enough to be able to sail the whole way from Devil's Cay to Morgan's Bluff in Andros and found a lovely anchorage along with a 5 or 6 other boats.

There was a small bar/restaurant on the shore next to the anchorage and there we met one of the couples with whom we were sharing the anchorage. The next day, we stopped by to invite them over for dinner. They accepted our invitation but asked if it was ok to have dessert before dinner, as they had already invited another couple over for dessert and coffee at 3 pm that day. Never ones to pass up dessert, we joined the party and invited the second couple to dinner as well.  The couple to the left in the photo are Jim and Allison from Nova Scotia, and the couple to the right are Gary and Rene' from Mississippi.

We had a lovely time getting to know both couples and enjoyed hearing the stories of their adventures.

Dinner with Friends from Nova Scotia and Mississippi

Starry Night at Morgan's Bluff Anchorage (photo cred: Gary from MS)

One of the highlights from our stay at Morgan's Bluff were the turtles who were frequently spotted swimming around the anchorage. We actually got to see one of them on the beach during our morning walk with Jake!

Sea Turtle on Andros

We also met two of the local businessmen who give tours. The first, Shelton, stopped by our boat - and all of the others in the anchorage - with a large box of tomatoes and squash. He said he has a farm and had more vegetables than he could eat and wanted to give them away. I offered to pay him for the produce, but he said that if he took money, it would negate the love he was sharing with us. He didn't tell me about his business until I introduced myself as he was leaving. 

 The second person we met was Eugene, who was a very friendly man who was exercising on the beach while we walked Jake one morning. He spoke to us for quite a while, and gave us his card, telling us that if we needed anything we could give him a call or use him name if we were asking for help with other Bahamians. He said that people in Nassau would know him because he worked there for many years and that it's always good to let people know we have a network in the Bahamas. 

After meeting Eugene, we weighed anchor and set sail for Fresh Creek, Andros which is adjacent to a national park which is renowned for its coral reefs.  The sailing was fantastic once again, with speeds in the 6-7 knot range.  Unfortunately, the anchorage in Fresh Creek was much smaller than we expected but we were able to find a suitable anchorage for a one-night stay at Goat Cay. The winds for the next few days were going to be too high and from the wrong direction to allow us to snorkel there so we left the next morning and headed for Highborne Cay in the Exumas.

Goat Cay Near Fresh Creek, Andros

Highborne Cay is one of the places we visited last year, so we were familiar with the anchorage and it offered protection from the northeast winds that we would have for the next few days. We took a dinghy trip to the Allen's Cay, which is one island north of Highborne and Steve explored the rocks there, looking for lobster. He didn't find any lobster, but we did find Iguana Island, and we also saw Sherazad, whose owners had alerted us to our dragging anchor at Great Harbour. We hadn't had a chance to thank them before we left Great Harbour so we approached their boat and saw one of them sitting on the deck. They were very friendly, and we thanked them and chatted a bit before continuing our exploration.

Exploring Allen's Cay by Dinghy

Iguanas on the Beach at the Allen's Cay Anchorage

We took the opportunity during this visit to try the restaurant at the Highborne Cay Marina and to take a walk on the island. 

Lunch at Xuma Restaurant at Highborne Cay

Parrot at Highborne Cay Marina

Sharks at Highborne Cay Marina Fish Cleaning Station

View of Atlantic from Highborne Cay

On one of our trips ashore to Highborne for Jake's afternoon walk, I saw a woman rushing to put her dog on a leash.  I greeted her and told her that Jake is friendly, so she didn't need to leash her dog. She responded by saying that her dog is not! (friendly).  I recognized the voice and looked up to see a woman that we had met and shared s'mores with back in October while we were in Deltaville, Virginia. As I looked beyond her, I saw her son and husband and the other family that we had met there too!

It's always fun running into people we've met before, in new places. Unfortunately, they were leaving the anchorage the next day so we didn't have a chance to get together but we're hoping to cross paths again while we're all here.

On our last day in Highborne, we looked over in the afternoon and saw Sherazad anchored next to us; they had moved from Allen's Cay to Highborne. I had made a big pot of lentil soup that day so we stopped by and invited the couple over for dinner. 

Vincent and Oumami (who was born in Morrocco and moved to Canada as a child) hail from Montreal and are very new to sailing and cruising. We had a really fun evening with them, exchanging sailor's stories, work stories and travel stories.  We also learned that they had been on a mooring ball at the Titusville Marina at the same time we were there, in December. After hearing that, Steve remembered actually speaking to Oumami one day at the dinghy dock!  Definitely a small world!

Montrealers: Vincent and Oumami 

The next day's journey was from Highborne Cay in the Exumas to Rock Sound in Eleuthera. Our sail was a gorgeous downwind sail and quite peaceful. Our main objective at Rock Sound was to do laundry and get a few groceries.  The anchorage in Rock Sound is quite large and there are a couple of restaurants with dinghy docks, as well as a public dock. We had heard this was a convenient stop-over point and so it was!  The laundromat, grocery store, trash disposal, and post office were all within a mile of the dock, and we enjoyed lunch at Wild Orchids, one of the local restaurants.

Wild Orchids at Rock Sound, Eleuthera

Sunset at Rock Sound, Eleuthera

Starfish (underwater!) in Rock Sound

We stayed at Rock Sound a couple of days, waiting for the next front to pass through. The only disadvantage of this particular anchorage was that trips to shore were pretty bumpy and wet. But as I always say, "You shouldn't live on a boat if you're afraid of getting wet". 😄

From Rock Sound, we traveled back to Highborn Cay and Steve fished along the way. It was my birthday, and he was hoping to catch wahoo and prepare a special meal for me that evening.  We were nearing our destination and sitting at the helm chatting, when we heard the tell-tale zipping sound of the reel playing out line. "A fish!", I exclaimed, and Steve was down the stairs and at the stern - reel in hand - in an instant.  I looked at the boat speed and we were sailing at over 6 knots.  I knew that my first order of business was to slow the boat down to around 3 knots.  My first instinct was to turn upwind, which will eventually slow the boat down.  Unfortunately, before it slows down, the boat goes faster and poor Steve already had his hands full hanging on the rod and reeling while we were doing 6 knots, so I abandoned that idea and decided to bring in the jib. There was also a boat anchored relatively close to where we were, so I had to make sure to maintain a safe distance while furling the jib and keeping us at a point of sail where we still would have steering. Meanwhile, Steve was still reeling like crazy and also making sure that I was aware that we were getting closer to shore, where the depth of the water decreases rapidly. He advised me to start the motors so that they would be available in case I needed to take evasive action. Once the jib was furled, I was able to slow the boat enough for Steve to bring in the fish.  It turned out to be a sailfish rather than a wahoo, and Steve was disappointed not to be able to serve fresh catch of the day.  It was still fun to have caught something, and we were both pleased at how well we managed the process. Although there was a lot happening, I felt in control the whole time and knew what needed to be done. To be sure, I'm still learning but I've come a long way!

Sailfish Caught While Sailing From Eleuthera to Highborne Cay

We stopped at Highborne Cay to anchor for the night, since it is a convenient stopover point between Rock Sound and Nassau where we were headed to prepare for the arrival of our first guests. 

We left for Nassau the next morning in very light winds and spent the day sailing slowly to Nassau.  We used the motors occasionally when we dropped below 3 knots but it was lovely day on the water. We've often been accompanied by dolphins riding our bow wake but Steve was able to catch this one on film!  It's hard to believe that the color of the water in this picture is natural, but this photo has not been retouched and the dolphin is not in a swimming pool. The water here is truly astounding.

Dolphin Escort en Route to Nassau

We arrived in Nassau on Friday, February 23rd and found a very pleasant anchorage with access to a beach for Jake, and access to a public dock for our guests.  

Now that we've done our homework and know our way around this part of the Bahamas, we're ready!

Let the fun begin!!

Full Moon Over Nassau Anchorage