After several days of hard North breeze, a weather window opened for us to make the trek down to Nassau. The plan was to motorsail as hard as we could to cover some 65 miles on the first day, anchor on the Northwest Shoal and sail the last 50 miles into Nassau on Day 2. The forecast was for fairly benign weather and light winds. Our biggest challenge was going to trust our anchoring ability in the edge of the Great Bahama Back and Northwest Channel. The depth difference is in thousands of feet!

Before the sun broke over the horizon, we dropped dock lines and quietly slipped away from the dock under a gorgeous full moonset. Traversing the entrance of the marina and channel, Dad and Bonnie were on deck with the spotlight highlighting the few channel marks that exist. A mistake in the channel would put My Cay either in 3 feet of water on my left or up on a reef to my right. The addition of the bright moonlight made it easier to see the horizon and pick up the unlighted channel marks. We were off! Turning north, we rounded the northern end of Bimini and by sunrise we were onto the Great Bahama Bank….in 15 feet of water….for the next 60 miles.

As the morning pressed on, we quickly learned that the forecast was just a tad off. Light winds were forecasted….but we had NO wind. No wind, a bit of a hazy fog and not a single boat around for miles. As the first few hours rolled along, it became very eerie to look in 360-degree direction and feel like you were on the edge of an infinity pool. Flat ocean met the pale sky and all reference to your movement becomes obscured. Once again we were truly navigating by GPS position, compass bearing and plotting our position as time went by. Eventually a few boats did pass us by or showed up the horizon, as the Northwest Channel still 30 miles away becomes the entrance and exit point for points on the Banks. It is where millions of gallons of water ebb and flood, boats traverse the Tongue of the Ocean and water depths go from 15 feet to 6000 feet in less than a half mile.

By 3:00pm, we had made our point of Northwest Shoal and it was time to drop an anchor for the night. The shoal is nothing more the shallow water and shifting live sandbores, which offer some protection for wind and waves. Water depths go from the 15-20 feet near the shoal to all the way up to 3-6 feet and then to less than a foot. This is the area that is supposed to protect us for the night…no land, just shallow water! As we arrived there was 1 boat at anchor who was over a mile away from our intended spot. It gave me a bit of comfort to know that at least I wasn’t the only crazy person to think this was good idea. By sunset, we were joined by 4 other boats who again were all over a mile away from our spot.

So, there we were. A 47’ foot sailboat, anchored on the edge of a shoal, no wind, a rising full moon and it was time to grill dinner. Yes, grilling just like you would at home, with a super full moon rising and not a blessed thing to obstruct our view. The only sounds were of our island music and the lapping of the waves. We hoped that the wind would stay light for the night and our anchor would hold. We put on our anchor alarm in case we drifted towards the shoal that was 100 yards off our bow.

The second morning we rose at 5:00am and prepared to pull up the anchor and make the last 50 miles into Nassau. Nature treated us to one of those moments in the early morning hours. We had the rising sun in the East and setting full moon behind us in the West. Both happening simultaneously and absolutely spectacular.
The winds stayed nonexistent for second day. As Bonnie put it, we were like a flat rock skipping across the ocean as we made 6.5 knots under power. Arrival in Nassau was going to come sooner rather than later. The water turned a deep blue as the depths fell off to 4000+ feet, norther swells rocked the boat gently as we churned south towards Nassau. Once we arrived at the Nassau harbor entrance…the wind filled in to a healthy 15 knots (editor’s note: it has been to breezy to move onto the Exumas since we arrived).

I contacted Nassau Harbor Control for permission to enter the harbor. With permission granted, we cruised by the towering cruise ships which visit Nassau daily and on down to Nassau Yacht Haven Marina. Anchoring in this harbor is very difficult with the current and limited dinghy access…better to be in a marina.

Nassau and Bimini are different worlds. Nassau has 200,000 residents living on islands and is a bustling city. Our first day in Nassau we had a bit of overload…with all the noise, traffic, people and the congestion…bit of a shock after being in a couple of remote locations. Of course with the increase of people, the tourist from cruise ships and city nature comes the rise in crime. Whereas Bimini has virtually no crime, Nassau is a place where you need to be aware of your surroundings.

We have enjoyed our time in Nassau, but this was supposed to be more of a provision stop and prepare for the Exumas. In addition, it was a point where my Dad was flying back to the States for a while, so Bonnie and I are on our own to make the island hops from here to the Turks and Caicos.

The Exumas are a collection of quite small and remote islands which stretch south of Nassau, all the way down to Georgetown Harbor. We plan to visit a few of the Cay’s, but so much of it depends on water depth and weather. Most of the time, we will have anywhere from 1 to 5 feet of water under our keel, we will be passing by coral heads and navigating narrow channels….all good challenges!

This is a part of the trip where we will become very self-contained for a few weeks. We will make our own water, charge batteries off of solar power and the generator and eat all the food we have stockpiled. Our real next provisioning will come when we reach the Dominican Republic. So begins what cruising life is really about!