Following our trip to the states to visit our grandsons we had been planning on leisurely making our way back to the Florida Keys by way of the Berry Islands and Bimini. However suddenly our water maker output dropped to half and we decided to expedite our return (weather permitting) and head for Fort Lauderdale to get the water maker repaired.

The entire trip from Abaco to Ft. Lauderdale is around 200 nautical miles and at an average speed of 5 knots would take several days, so we needed a good long term weather window. We had been getting a constant parade of cold fronts passing over us with only a day or so between them. And while the fronts were weak by the time they reached us, the winds still had big swells built up in the Atlantic Ocean.

Finally on Feb 25th the forecast looked promising and we moved from Aunt Pat’s Bay on Elbow Cay to Lynyard Cay adjacent to the Little Harbour Cut, one of the best cuts between the protected waters of Abaco Sound and the Atlantic Ocean. Lynyard Cay is a popular staging area for boats heading south from Abaco and there were about 12 boats already anchored when we arrived. We enjoyed a nice dinner and planned to get up early for our 70 NM voyage to the Berry Islands. Since it had been a while since we had caught a fish, Karrie decide to put a line out with a hunk of mutton snapper on the hook. Around sundown, the line started paying out, Karrie took the rod out of the holder and reeled in a big fish. A really big fish; a six foot nurse shark! Luckily it did not put up much of a fight and was fairly docile (I don’t think sharks feel pain), so I was able to retrieve the hook and let it go, but not before we took a short video (which was posted to Facebook).

At 4:00 AM on Feb 26th we were headed out Little Harbour Cut in the dark. Since we had previously come into this cut after a day of ocean fishing, I had a good track to follow on the chart plotter. As predicted the wind and waves were calm. Our course was south for 28 NM to go around the southern tip of Great Abaco and then west across the Northwest Providence Channel to the Berry Islands, a distance of 40 NM.

South of Little Harbour there are no barrier islands along the coast (like the Abaco out islands) and the ocean comes right up to the shore, so there is no protection on this coast line from bad weather. At the very tip of Great Abaco is a small harbour called Hole-in-the-Wall, which was used as a hideout by pirates back in the day. As we passed by Hole-in-the-Wall we hooked a feisty 4 foot barracuda. At the boat we sprayed vodka into his gills to calm him down so we could release the hook and let him go. But we may have over dosed him because he did not recover quickly, instead he floundered on the surface. Suddenly I thought he recovered and swam away in a splash, but it was actually a shark having him for lunch!

The Northwest Providence Channel is a major shipping lane for commercial and pleasure boats heading to and from Nassau. In the middle it is very deep at 10,000 feet (the gulf stream off Florida is “only” 2000 feet). One cruise ship heading north crossed about 3 miles in front of us and when we crossed its wake there was a steam of garbage and seaweed left behind it. But to our benefit, we hooked an 35 inch Dolphin (Mahi) hiding under the trash and Karrie reeled it in.

We arrived in the Berry Islands and dropped the anchor in Slaughter Harbour just as the sun was setting. This harbor is between Great Stirrup Cay and Little Stirrup Cay, both of which are cruise ship destinations as “private islands”. We arrived after the cruise ship had left and had the anchorage to ourselves. The next morning there was a cruise ship already anchored out when we woke, but we had our coffee and departed before the tourists arrived on the island. We had no desire to stay there and be buzzed by jet skis!

Monday, Feb 27th, was a windy day, as expected and we only moved a little ways south to Bullocks Harbour on the west side of Great Harbour Cay, which was a good jumping off point for our next leg to Bimini. Along the way we caught a nice (25 inch, 9 pound) Mutton Snapper as can be seen in the photo. We also caught 3 more barracudas which were successfully released.

Since there was no internet at Slaughter Harbour or at Bullocks Harbour, we did not have an updated weather forecast. I took the dinghy into the marina in Great Harbour to see if they had the local forecast. Great Harbour appears to have been a large landlocked pond or lake before they cut through a tall limestone wall to open the harbor to the outside. I explored the harbor a little and saw a manatee in one of the canals. A lady at the marina office told me the BTC cellular internet service had been down since the hurricane (last October), but was nice enough to print off a copy of the weather forecast from Windfinder for me. For once the forecast was holding steady and we had a good prediction for the next two to three days, but no more than that. Enough time to get to Bimini and then to Florida.

Another early wake up on Feb 28th for the long 80 NM run over the Great Bahama Bank to Bimini on the eastern edge of the Gulf Stream. By 3:30 AM we were motoring out the channel from Bullocks Harbour with a light breeze. From the outer channel marker it is a straight course west to Bimini. We had the sails up and were able to hit 7 or 8 knots in the morning, but in the afternoon the wind was too light for them to provide much benefit. The Great Bahama Bank is less than 20 feet deep so we did not expect a good fishing day, even so we did bring in a Spanish Mackerel and a Blue Runner. We pulled into the Bimini Blue Water Marina and were secure in our slip before sunset. There was wifi at the marina and we were able to check messages and the all important weather forecast, which still looked good for crossing the Gulf Stream the following day. We settled in early for our last night in the Bahamas, anticipating a pre-dawn departure.