Nassau Harbor West

Nassau Harbor West.

Nassau, New Providence Island, and Paradise Island are across the harbor. There was a lot of traffic entering this harbor, cruise ships, Haitian boats, ferries, commercial ships and even seaplanes. The Nassau Port Authority Horbour Control controls the harbor. Your vessel is required to report in before entering the harbor. They want to know all of the details about your boat and your destination. You also have to ask permission to leave the harbor. We splurged and rented a slip at the Nassau Harbour Club. Nassau is known to have a high crime rate and attempted thefts are very likely. They will steal your dinghy if its not locked up.

Staying at a slip tied up to a dock is very nice, we can sleep at night without worrying about the anchor slipping. The security at the marina is great. We went to Atlantis saw the aquarium with the glass-sided fish preserve. It was purely an archaeological fantasy. We went to all of the cruise ship destinations, had drinks at Senor Frogs, shopped at the straw Market. Went to Ardastra Gardens & zoo. Saw rare Bahaman parrots, flamingos and all the beautiful tropical plants that I could ever imagine. It was truly a treat.

Exuma Sound

We then decided to visit the Northern Exuma Cays. The further south you go, the warmer the weather is. We picked Exumas east side, the (Exuma Sound) for it’s deep water so we wouldn’t have any problems with coral heads, sand banks or shoals. It was great day for sailing, with calm seas and nice winds. It was a long days’ sail toward Allans Cay. This island has a ton of Iguanas on the beach. If you land they come meet you, looking for food. It’s the only island that has that many Iguanas.

I stayed in the dinghy wile Carl & Tara went ashore. Tara barked and Carl kept her out of their reach. Dive boats and charter boats came throughout the day letting people off to see the Iguanas. It was quite the attraction. I did a little snorkeling far away from that cay, but stayed aboard the rest of the time. We enjoyed the warmer weather in the cockpit of our boat.

Next stop was just a hop away, Normans Cay. As we were pulling up to the anchorage we saw Lynne & George on Ketch’n Dreams. They told us to follow them so we did we went up just a little ways to Shroud Cay. This island is located in The Exuma Land & Sea Park it‘s about 176 square miles of protected spectacular subtropical waters, coral reefs and fish-breeding grounds. Fishing or gathering of any kind is not permitted. When we got there they introduced us to Lynn & Peter Forgosh in First Edition, nice people we had drinks all together.

As we looked around we saw Beth & Jim from Madcap. Now the fun begins again. This Island has a channel mangrove like a swamp with mangrove trees lining the banks they look like half planted root like fibrous just like what you would see in the Everglades, but the water is so clear you can see the bottom and every grain of sand. We all got into our dinghies and went exploring.

On the way we saw 2 lemon sharks and 2 manta rays. The water was shallow so we walked the dinghy part of the way. About 100 years ago a hermit built a hut on the top of a mountain over looking an uninhibited beautiful beach. He lived there all by himself. Some ruins are still there. Cruisers leave offering up there for good luck. We just wrote our names of our boats on a palm tree. Went snorkeling and had a great day.

The next stop was Hawksbill Cay. Just 1 hour away. There are move ruins and another great beach on the other side of the Island. You can’t anchor there because the sea is to rough. We haven’t done so much walking in our whole lives, but it feels good to be in the tropical Islands and we sleep well!

More snorkeling the next day. I got to tell you that I really enjoy seeing small multi-colored fish and coral reefs, but this time we saw a nurse shark about 3 ft long a 18” grouper and a 8” barracuda within arms length. I just froze as they swam by. I don’t think I like them big guys that close.

Next stop Warderick Wells: This island is still located within the protected park and is covered with marked walking trails. It’s got some of the clearest water in the world. We picked up a pamphlet showing all the rare birds to spot on the trails. There is also Boo Boo Hill where cruisers leave the boats name as a memento.
The weather started to get rough a front was coming in we all decided to stay here until it passed. In spite of the weather we enjoyed the snorkeling. The water just continues to get clearer. I saw beautiful coral reefs with sea fans, Queen angelfish, Yellow goatfish, Trumpet fish, Stoplight parrotfish. It was truly amazing! Carl thinks that I’ve become a fish myself. All the boaters had a big bomb fire on the beach, everyone brought a snack to share and their own drinks. Everyone showed up it was a great turn out, everyone has so much in common living on a boat. There were doctors, lawyers, a lot of teachers and just plain old people like us. Now it doesn’t matter out here who you are we are all the same. I guess that’s why we are all out here living a dream.

THE BAHAMAS

The Bahamas

On the 10th day of January 2008 we set sail at 4:00 am from Palm Beach Fl. heading across the Gulf Stream to the West End (Old Bahaman Bay) which is a port of entry where you can go through the immigration process. As we mentioned before, we have had a fuel problem on the boat. After the mechanic worked on it in Manatee Pocket, Mystique was running fine. Wouldn’t you know it, after about three hours out at sea Mystique stops. We turn her on, she starts right up, runs for a wile and stops again. After doing this a few times the start battery starts to get low. Carl goes down below to do everything possible. The current on the Gulf is so strong that even when your motoring it drags you back. We were slowly drifting backward and rocking. I set sail but of course the wind was coming from the south and we were heading south. Unfortunately you can’t sail strait into the wind. I had to change our course a little bit and adjust later on when we got closer. There was no more rocking, just a swift current.

We are very fortunate that neither of us has gotten sea sick yet! Sailor is so smart he tries to sleep the whole time we are out at sea and he picks out a place smack-dab in the middle of the boat. That’s where the boat has the least amount of movement. He comes up in the cockpit when the boat stops looks around feels the breeze and relaxes with us, he hasn’t tried to get off of the boat yet. I hope it stays that way. He really lives up to his name well. Tara has more problems, she wont go to the bathroom where we made arrangements for her to do so and she slips and slides all over the place when the going gets rough. Carl made her a ramp to help her to get out of the boat and into the cockpit. She uses it pretty well however, some days are better then others. She sure loves the attention and the long walks when we are docked somewhere or when we bring her to dry land by dinghy.

Carl finally gets Mystique up and running after 6 long hours on the Gulf. When she runs, she runs fast and strong. Of course we didn’t arrive at the time we planed on, but we were safe and sound.

The Bahamas cruising guide is our bible. It reads “DO NOT ARRIVE AFTER DARK!,” in big black letters. What could we do? We reached the port at 9:00 pm. Carl called the Marina, no answer. We decided to set anchor right there with no real protection from the open sea.

The cruising guide says that there are no anchorages here, and that the water is really shallow. In the day time you can read the water and steer away from the coral and little islands. At night it’s really hard to tell where you are. So we set anchor. After rocking and rolling all day, we had the night from hell! The Gulf has no mercy what so ever. The boat creaked from spots that I never heard before tipping side to side without any relief. When the sun came up we were safe and nobody got sick. As soon as the marina opened we sailed into shelter. Later on we found out that if the marina is closed you should dock or anchor inside the marina then settle up with the funds in the next morning. Great! Live and learn.

Immigration was so easy we were so relieved. They were really nice and we didn’t have any problems with our pets. We got our fishing license and papers and we are now ready to go explore. Getting ready to sail away from the slip wasn’t going to be easy, a really large Catamaran (Noahgenda) had to dock behind us. It wasn’t real close and would be really easy for an experienced sailor to pass by, but not for us. We were pondering over how to get out when the guy came out and said he was going to be leaving in 15 min. After talking, we found out that we were heading in the same direction, to Great Sail Cay, so we sailed together. This Cay is only an anchorage along the way to the Abaco Cays. They had sailed there before last year and were lots of help. This was the beginning of a new friendship. Their names are Peter & Lorraine MacLean from Canada, our friends forever.

The next day we all sailed to Allans-Pensacola Cay. The Northern Abaco Cays. We stayed there 2 days. This Cay has an old military base to explore and a path that led you to the other side of the island. There was a beautiful beach totally secluded except for when the trash washed up on shore. It reminded us that people were around at sometime. Sad! We brought our snorkeling gear but the winds were too strong and the waves were high. It wasn’t a day for snorkeling. We couldn’t find shells ether!

That night we met another couple who are deep sea fishing experts from the USA. Marla & Jack on the (Skip-Jack) the fishing boat. They live on the ICW at Peck Lake. That’s where we were when we had to be towed in. We remembered that place really well. Another start of a good friendship they have been coming to the Bahamas for 12 years now. Now Peter started a tradition, 4:00pm happy hour. One night at each other’s boat. It’s great, they tell us where to go where not to go and the fresh fish is wonderful. We haven’t caught a thing yet. Jack taught Carl how to clean and filet the fish that he caught on his boat.

We continued to sail together Noahgenda, Skip-Jack and Mystique to Man jack Cay, this island is mostly just an anchorage. Our anchoring skills are improving everyone of them has held. We just have to chill out a little. There was Mangroves that led through the island. All three couples got into our own dinghies ready to explore. It was a lot of fun. I found my 1st conch shell it was great! The weather is nice but not warm enough to swim.

All three of us headed to Green Turtle Cay one of the best-loved cays in the Abacos. It’s a historic settlement of New Plymouth. This cay has restaurants, stores and marinas. Here Peter, Lorraine, Carl & I rented a golf cart to go site seeing we didn’t miss a thing. We tried our 1st fried conch for lunch it was really good.

Next to Marsh Harbor. We had to stay in Marsh harbor for, four days due to weather. It was a much bigger town in the Abacos, it reminds me of San Carlos MX. They drive on the left side of the road and will run you over if your not careful. Here we also anchored along with about 50 other boaters. Most of the boats are from Canada they all seem to know one another. We met a lot of cruisers at the dinghy dock and at the laundry mat there were long lines waiting to do laundry. It was a lot of fun enjoying our new friends. Skip-Jack needed to head back to Florida and Nohagenda wanted to go to Treasure Cay which was in the opposite direction in which we needed to go. We wanted to go to Nassau to see Atlantis. So we all said our good-byes and went our separate ways.

We headed to Little Harbor that is a remote refuge. All that is there is an art gallery with great sculptors of the 20th century from Randolph Johnson and his three sons. Quite extraordinary (a must see.) The only other point of interest is Pete’s Pub, a shack bar on the beach. Known for their famous weekend pig-roasts. Wile we anchored at Lynyard Cay we met a couple that we met in the laundry mat in Marsh Harbor. Jim and Beth on the Madcap sailboat from Canada. They were heading to our next destination Royal Island so we joined them along with 4 other sailboats to Royal Island. It reminded us of the old days when we road with the Harley Riders. We were safe and it was a lot of fun.

When we arrived at Royal Island we met up with a couple we also met in Marsh harbor at the dinghy dock. George & Lynne on Ketch’n Dreams. They are a real nice couple from the USA. We are the minority here. Now we are feeling the closeness of the cursers all living their dream. We all help each other out talk over the weather, winds and currents. Royal Island is a private island they are in the process of developing it now. Soon it will no longer be a free anchorage. At that time we were ready to cross over to Nassau. About a full day sail away, it’s a little windy but the weather was nice.