Our last post was from Cherokee Point, the Abacos. (Actually, out of order was a post from the night before across from Lynyard Cay.) We departed Cherokee early morning on March 21 heading to Bullocks Harbor on the west side of Great Harbor Cay. While crossing over the top of the Cay, we passed two cruise ships anchored off their respective "Caribbean islands" and reeled in a fish - unfortunately, it was a Great Barracuda, so he was tossed back. Smelly and some teeth! We arrived late that day and dropped hook north of Bullocks Harbor, intending to tuck into the lee and dinghy in to the settlement the next day. However, the first anchor setting did not hold - grass - so we moved south to just west of the government dock. Anchor held that time (or so we thought). The winds picked up and, as forecast, swung further south (from E/SE). When we awoke, we found we had dragged a good ¼ mile! Fortunately, the direction of drag was away from shore and the bottom is fairly flat so we did stop. Right after breakfast, the winds swung further S and W and the rains came. As we were preparing to up anchor to duck into the marina (inside a real hurricane hole) in anticipation of increased winds, we started to drag again, so pulled up the anchor to discover it enmeshed in a discarded lawn chair (!) and seemingly miles of fishing line. Cast all that off and headed into the "canyon" to access the harbor and then the inner harbor to the marina. Very secure spot!
After the weather cleared the next day, we took off up and over Great Harbor Cay again and passed two different cruise ships. We headed down the east side of the Berry Islands chain to White Cay (just north of Devil's Cay). When we arrived, there were two boats at anchor so we tucked south of one right in the middle of the length of White Cay. Gorgeous spot with other small islands all around us, but all the boats were affected by wind and current eddies that had us going every which-way. The next day, we stayed there and went exploring the other islands by dinghy, fishing, and walking on White Cay. After returning from an unsuccessful fishing expedition, we noticed the folks on the neighboring catamaran (Indigo) seemed to be returning from a more successful trip. They had speared a huge Grouper. Mike later brought us some of the filet and suggested we not swim that evening - while cleaning the fish, he noticed the blood attracted a visitor - a 10' hammerhead shark (we saw the pictures).
From White Cay, we decided to head to Frazer's Hog Car and the moorings off the Berry Islands Club because of the forecasts of another front and strong winds from quarters unfavorable to the intervening anchorages. It was a beautiful sail past uninhabited islands and lovely beaches. We took the mooring and battened things down before going to shore to check in. Later that evening, we had happy hour at the Club with Greg and Luba (Rhapsody) and Mike, Lynn and their friends (Indigo) as well as others who joined the group. Nice way to end the day.
On Saturday, March 27, we departed Frazer's Hog Cay and headed to the Northwest Channel and the crossing of the Great Bahama Bank. From 6000', the waters suddenly dropped to 14' as we entered the bank. It was a long, but delightful passage - turquoise waters all the way in a gentle 10-15 knot broad reach. We further reduced our per unit cost of fishing gear, but alas it was another Great Barracuda. A semi-buddy boat (a Grand Banks Trawler named Water Lot) cruised at roughly the same speed and we crossed to the Cat Cay waypoint together. Because they were headed to north Florida, and the forecast for up there was not good on 3/28, they headed up to Bimini while we chose to anchor on the west side of Gun Cay (hoping for a lee from the strengthening east winds) before the run to the Miami area. We got a good anchor set in ~14' of water and, remembering the experience at Bullocks Harbor, set the anchor drag alarm. It did go off a couple of time (because our swing was greater than the alarm limit), but we did not drag! Of course, then we began to think we may have hooked the anchor in a rock ledge and would not be able to free it. Finally, at 4:30 am when the anchor alarm set off again, we listened to and downloaded weather data and decided to prepare to make our run across the Gulf Stream. We pulled out at 5:30 and set our course to No Name Harbor on the south end of Key Biscayne, from which we had departed to the Bahamas on January 8. While breezy (15-20 knots +) and rolly (6-8" seas) the crossing was uneventful. This season's Bahamas cruise circle completed, we dropped the hook in No Name Harbor and called in to Customs and Border Patrol - the Local Boater Option cards worked; we could do it over the phone and not have to go into Miami harbor - most convenient!
No Name Harbor came as something of culture shock, however. We went ashore for a walk and were bombarded with boomboxes, swarms of people picnicking and fishing, and mostly Spanish spoken. We felt like we had been dropped from the calm quiet of the Bahamas into Jones Beach or Coney Island. While we understood the desire to have fun, our senses were somewhat assaulted by the volume of it all, but that was reduced by about 8:00 pm when most people and small boats pulled out to go home and start their work week. In the meanwhile, we enjoyed sundowners with Dave and Mary from Sanity II.
From here, we will be making our way along the Keys to Marathon and thence back up the West Coast of Florida to the boat yard and decommissioning for hurricane season. While we may post more, we can end it here with a final comment: Wonderful trip, wonderful meeting new people in new places, and Gratitude is a wonderful vessel in which to do it all. We will be back!