On Wednesday morning March 29th we watched the sun come up on the Great Bahama Banks over coffee. It was still fairly calm with a bit of cloud cover spilling many shades of gray across the water. We left the anchorage for a short 24 mile cruise to Great Harbor on Stirrup Cay. We had a reservation at the marina but we found a spot in the harbor to anchor for the night.
It was still going to be fairly calm so we settled in for the day. The next morning we pulled into the marina as the winds were forecasted to get quite strong. Our friends on Inked Mermaid and Salt Wife were there also. First order was to wash the caked salt off of the boat. Once we had that tackled we hopped in the dinghy and headed to town or should I say settlement. Very little in town but there was a grocery store that just recently got a shipment of produce.
We bought a $9 head of cauliflower! You have to remember they do not grow anything on most of these islands. We were at the town dock when one of the local fisherman came in with the catch of the day. He and his mate dumped out buckets of fresh Hogfish, Yellow Tail, Strawberry Grouper and lobster tails that were huge. The Lobster tails were selling for $12 and were well over a pound.
Back at the marina we settled in and got to know a number of folks.It was amazing how many folks from Europe were there. Sweden, the UK, Switzerland and others. There was a great community feeling in this place. Friday night was Grill and Chill. They had a local Bahamian come do a barbecue complete with Peas and Rice. Sue put together a great scavenger hunt for the kids at the marina. They had a blast as only Sue can provide.
Music was provided by boaters that brought their instruments and entertained us all. Scott on Salt Wife made a bunch of conch horns for the kids that were there. They blew them for the crowd to salute the sunset. It was quite cute. It was a lot of fun but it went too fast.
Saturday we biked to end of the island where a remote breath taking beach sprawled across the landscape with blue saturated water that almost looked fake. We stopped at the Beach Bar for a quick bite for lunch.
When we got back to the marina we jumped into the dinghy and snorkeled an old ship wreck. When we got back to the marina our loaf of local fresh baked coconut bread was waiting for us on the boat. That evening was pizza night at the marina. This guy comes and bakes pizza to order onsite. Now we are talking $40 a pie. However it had lobster and conch on it. I must say it was worth every penny.
Sunday morning April 2nd I made a late morning decision to head out to our next port at Hoffman Cay 35 miles south in the lower part of the Berry Islands. As I looked at the long range weather I saw a cold front approaching which would bring stiff winds from the east making the crossing over to the Exumas not doable. Once in the Exumas we could run the west side of the chain blocking most of the effects of the wind and wave. The weather would be good thru Wednesday giving us a decent window to get there. Three other boats decided to follow as well. So at 11 am off we went.
Conditions were great with 8 mph winds and 1’ seas on our nose. We arrived at Hoffmans and got settled by about 3:30 pm. We took the dingy over to a blue hole on the center of the Cay. You could jump off into the crystal clear water from an overhang. It was fun. Being a pretty long day we called it quits pretty early. We would be leaving the next morning for Nassau at first light.
Full of lobster
Earlier the kids were actually petting their bellies off the back of the boat
Fresh Strawberry Grouper
Beach Bar
Must have been 30 lbs of tails
Catch of the day
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