We were up and underway from Chub Cay just after sunrise. The water conditions were not too bad and at speed, the waves were hitting us on the forward port quarter. We were getting some spray, but not nearly as much as when we went to Chub Cay. We were essentially on a break between weather systems, and as much as we loved Chub Cay, we were happy to be on the move again. It was our best Bahamas run yet. After a while, we noticed a cruise ship ahead of us that was clearly going to Nassau, so we slowed down to
arrive after it. We knew that Harbor Control would not allow us to enter the harbour with the cruise ship so close to its arrival so there was no point in racing it. Since we were going slow, Cam decided to throw a couple of fishing lines in the water. He was hoping to catch something small like a mahi-mahi (or dorado), but not a marlin or a shark! However, he had no hits. Heather was a little worried about what we would do if he caught a fish as she didn’t like the idea of putting the boat in neutral and bobbing around in the waves while Cam reeled it in. We were likely not going slow enough to catch a fish anyway.
When we were about a mile out, we had to radio Harbor Control to get permission to enter the harbor. You have to contact them anytime you’re either entering or exiting the harbor because there isn’t much room for the big ships to maneuver, so they control the traffic around the cruise port. Once inside, we could see that there were four cruise ships in port. We worked our way through the channel to our marina at the east end of the channel called Nassau Harbour Club. We had to wait for Salish Sea to dock before we could go in as the marina wanted to have multiple dock hands assist each of the boats with docking. It was a bit of a narrow slip, but Cam pulled off a great stern-in docking. Tying up and fender placement was challenging in this very windy and bouncy slip, especially with the changing tide so it was good to have the help of the dock hands. The marina staff said that the conditions would settle overnight, but it didn’t. It was a bit rocky and windy in the slip and the tide changes made it challenging to decide how to get on and off the boat each time. Sometimes we climbed over the side rails, and other times we could easily step down into the cockpit.
First things, first. It was Valentine's Day and we managed to snag the last reservation at Latitudes for our Valentine's dinner. When you live on a boat, these are some of the special things that you really appreciate. We think it was one of the nicest restaurants in town.
There was a mall across the street which was very handy for groceries, a pharmacy, cell phone SIMS, and other paraphernalia. We managed to spend another $438 on groceries! Expensive but this would be our last shopping before the Exumas where we didn’t expect to find any stores until we reached Staniel Cay so we needed to make sure we were well provisioned. Further down the road we found a liquor store and at least three marine stores. We managed to get some more stuff! We needed dive weights for Heather, and a spear for fishing with our sling shots. It’s amazing how easy it is to spend money on the boat! We were mostly trying to anticipate our needs for our time in the Exumas. We tried to walk down that same road to get to the cruise ships and the straw market. It was about 3 kilometres but it was super hot and it was a busy road so we turned back but there was a row of vendors in little huts. It wasn't the straw market but it was the same idea and we were able to stop for a drink.
Back at the marina, we went for a swim in the pool and enjoyed Docktails with Brad and Lynda from Salish Sea. It was bouncy overnight and remained choppy all day between the wind and the marine traffic. Their slip was even more uncomfortable than ours as they were against the wall so they got the waves coming and going. It was too rough to leave for the Exumas but we made plans to wait out the weather in a nearby anchorage at Rose Island.
We started the next day by running a few more errands including filling a jerrycan with dinghy fuel at the Rubis gas station. It was funny to see the full service station with the attendants in uniform. Cam had bought a cell plan the day before and he had to go back to Aliv for a technical question after we realized that he wasn’t getting texts. We were finally ready to go and looking forward to getting away from the windy and rocky marina.
Once Salish Sea was off the gas dock, we got some help off the dock and we were off on our shortest trip yet of about five nautical miles. It was less than an hour, definitely not a three hour tour. We wove around the coral heads, between Paradise and Athol Islands, and across a small open stretch to Rose Island where we anchored. The anchorage is directly across from Sandy Cay or Honeymoon Cay which is affectionately known as Gilligan’s Island. After lunch, we joined Brad and Lynda on a dinghy explore to see the SS Minnow, the ship that was wrecked in the Gilligan’s Island TV show, and then we went to Gilligan’s Island where we checked out the remains of the concrete huts. It was actually only used in the opening title song for the TV show, but that's what the island is best known for. Some say it is the most photographed island in the world, likely not because of Gilligan's Island, but because of photo shoots for fashion, Coppertone, movies, a documentary by Huey Lewis and the News, and exotic weddings!
We returned to Rose Island and anchored the dinghies there to explore the shore. After returning to Sea Clef, we worked to turn the boat into the waves by adding a line to the midship cleat, which is called a swell bridal. It did improve things a bit. Then we both had our first swim and wash down with Savon de Mer, which is a special soap to use in salty water.
Once again, Salish Sea came over for docktails. The evening’s sunset had a silver lining. So pretty! After the sunset, Brad and Lynda realized their anchor light wasn’t working, so they headed back. We made our dinner, and when we sat down inside to eat, Cam thought he might need some Gravol due to the motion of the ocean. We were moving a lot, even with our swell bridal! We were north of the island, yet in a south east wind, it managed to wrap around the island to make things uncomfortable. We sat outside for the rest of the evening, which had Cam feeling better. Once we were in bed, we could feel the rocking quite a bit, and sometimes felt like we could roll right out of bed! It was a noisy, rocky night with winds from 15 to 17 knots. After a while, it started to calm down nicely and our swell bridal for our anchor worked well to keep the boat from rocking too much.
In the morning, a 100 foot yacht decided that it could squeeze in between us and Salish Sea. It was followed by a larger catamaran with lots of “party” passengers and loud music. Both were definitely tour boats arriving with their tourists for the day. Cam and I got in the dinghy to remove the bridal line from the side cleat. We explored the harbor, consulted with Salish Sea and decided to move east in the anchorage, and closer to shore. Cam removed the snubbers and went to the helm, and I stayed in the dinghy with the headset on so we could communicate. It was a very quick re-anchoring, and the water was much calmer, and the music from the tour boats quieter.
After lunch, we all got in our dinghy and went over to Green Cay to snorkel with the turtles. We saw three of them, all with one or two remoras each. Then a tour boat came in and told us that snorkelling wasn’t allowed because a woman had been killed by a shark there a few months ago so we went back to shore and swam there. Fortunately, we had pretty much finished our snorkelling. Then we watched another tour boat come in and let a bunch of snorkellers in the water! So we were not sure if there was a ban on swimming there or not!
After returning to Sea Clef, we decided to snorkel the reef near our boat. The water felt much cooler compared to Green Cay and it wasn’t a very good reef for diving so we went back to the boat. We tried to have Docktails on shore, but we couldn’t beach the dinghies. We anchored them near the shore and then waded in. After sitting in the sand for a bit, we moved to standing in the water as it was more comfortable away from the "no-see-ums". We made plans to travel to the Exumas the next morning and then headed back to our boat. We were definitely finding it to be nice and warm in the Bahamas. After dinner, we enjoyed sitting outside under the stars and chilling in the cooler air. It had turned into a perfect anchorage.
Click on the photos below to view the images in slideshow mode. Coming up next, we're going to Allen's Cay and Highbourne Cay in the Exumas.
