We continued across the Bahama Banks on an 80NM day to stage at Cat Cay for a Gulf Stream crossing. We enjoyed a last evening with our friends Denny & Diane of JusDreaming with conch fritters and tropical fruit smoothies for sundown. Our last snorkeling in Bahamian waters took place earlier that afternoon on a gorgeous reef on the west side of Cat Cay near the drop off to the deep waters of the Gulf Stream and Florida Straits.
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We spent a week exploring the area from our anchorages around Hoffman's and Little Harbour Cays. The weather was uncooperative for much sailing as we were in the midst of a tropical wave which brought heavy squalls with lots of rain, thunder and lightening along with heavy winds. So, we spent our days snorkeling and beach walking as we tried to time our excursions during the more settled portions of the day. Even so, we were caught out in a few of the squalls.
When the weather settled, we moved to the northern most end of the Berry Island chain and the islands that are "owned" by various cruise lines��"Norwegian and Royal Caribbean��"where they take passengers for a day on the "private island". Great Stirrup Cay is used for the Norwegian Cruise Line's stopover and we explored the lighthouse, an old satellite tracking station, and the cruise ship "beach party" area once the passengers had left for the day.
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From Nassau, we sailed north to the Berry Islands. This mostly uninhabited island chain consists of several islands with beautiful sand beaches and hardwood hammocks. The sea bed is very grassy and a haven for the Bahamian Queen Conch.
On Hoffman's Cay, we explored the blue hole which had a 25' cliff, allowing the adventurous to jump off into the warm, deep waters.
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After a few days of snorkeling the reefs at Allen's Cay with Denny & Diane of JusDreaming, we moved up to Nassau on another spinnaker run to re-provision, get diesel fuel and propane, and some RUM! The plan is to move on to the Berry Islands tomorrow and explore those remote, mostly uninhabited cays for a couple of weeks.
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We have so enjoyed your travels. Liz, your're doing a great job of journaling. We are in awe. We are tracking your route on google maps, very cool. You are living a dream and no better time. We hope to taste the sailing life one day. Continued good luck and keep having fun. John and Anne
With winds out of the E-SE less than 15kts, we were able to make a spinnaker run up from Cambridge Cay to Allen's Cay. It was our first attempt as raising the spinnaker on Kokopelli and surprisingly, all went well. The chute went up without a hitch��"no twists, upside down sails or other problems.
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We spent a few days exploring the reefs around Little Bell/Cambridge Cay at the southern end of the Exuma Cays Land & Sea Park. We enjoyed several excursions and spotted turtles, nurse sharks, lobsters out walking the reefs, as well as the usual varieties of fish. Since this is a protected park with no fishing allowed, the reefs are teeming with fish.
On Larry's Reef, we enjoyed the stand of rare pillar coral and got our hearts beating with a lone hammerhead shark cruising the reef and checking us out. He was about 10' long and seemed quite curious to decide if we were edible.
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