The weather was calling for light winds during the morning and early afternoon that would pick up overnight, so we decided to leave Bimini around noon. Our choice was to sail to Mackie Shoal, anchor there (in the middle of the Great Bahama Bank) with no land in sight, and then continue on to Great Harbour Cay in the Berries...or...to sail overnight and arrive in the Berries the following day without the stop at Mackie. Since the wind was supposed to pick up a bit overnight, I wasn't sure we wanted to anchor on the shoal and decided to make the overnight passage. The winds were mostly as predicted and the first half of the sail was slow, but picked up overnight as we passed north of the shoal, and we had better winds the rest of the way to the Berries.
We hadn't decided if we wanted to stop at a marina or just anchor out, but as we listened to the radio traffic in Great Harbour, we found the decision was made for us. The marina was booked and they had a waiting list. We made our way around the north end and anchored behind Great Stirrup Cay in a location where we should have decent protection from the higher winds expected the following day. This is where we got to experience the impact the cruise lines have had on The Bahamas.
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| Royal Carribean and Norwegian Cruise Ships |
Great Stirrup Cay was purchased by Norwegian Cruise Lines, and its little neighbor to the east was renamed Coco Cay and is owned or leased by Royal Caribbean. These are the private stops the cruise lines advertise about. The Royal Caribbean island looks like a carnival with amusement park rides and all sorts of other entertainment. The Norwegian setup was a bit more subdued. They obviously had jet ski rentals, and there was a brigade of them that circled the more protected anchorage any time a cruise ship was present.
We found one other boat, Féale, there when we arrived. As we searched for a good spot to drop the hook, the other captain came out on deck and shouted over to us that the whole area had about 10 foot depths and sand with some grass spots (we were trying to determine if the dark spots were coral or grass...still getting used to even seeing the bottom as it is uncommon on the eastern US coast) which was very helpful. We dropped anchor in a nice sandy spot. The crew of the other boat came by and introduced themselves. We chatted for a bit. They are a French Canadian couple out cruising. Stéphane and Brigitte, it was very nice to meet you.
A short time later, Whisper also showed up. When they left Bimini, their plan was to anchor on Mackie Shoal and then continue on to Chub cay, so it was a nice surprise to see them again. The next morning, we all repositioned our boats closer to Great Stirrup as it would better protect us from the forecast winds and waves that day. Before Whisper had moved, we saw a bunch of jet skis zipping past their boat...it almost looked like a rodeo. When they moved, I don't think they ran over any of them, but I don't know that I would have blamed them if they did.
After repositioning the boats, Stéphane and Brigitte joined us to go check out the lighthouse on Great Stirrup as several guides said it was a nice walk. Shortly after we landed the dinghies on the beach, two security guards stopped by and informed us that the entire island was now private and we could not. Thanks Norwegian. They did say we could stay on the beach for a bit (and took our pictures), so we sat there on the beach and chatted a bit more. A second security guard came by, took our names, and told us again (a bit more politely than the first) that it was private and we were only allowed to be there up to the high water line. Before a third round of security might show up, we decided to go back to our boats. Later that evening we invited them and the crew of Whisper over for sundowners. We had a nice evening in good company as the sun set.
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| Petit Cay |
With the cruise ship circus, the crews of Whisper and Rover decided to sail around the east side of Great Harbor and anchor behind Petit Cay before heading further down the island chain to Hoffman's Cay. This proved to be a good decision. No cruise ships in sight and Petit wasn't private, so we could go ashore and enjoy the beach. The anchorage was calm and there were only a few cruising boats anchored at the other side of the bay. We took the dinghy to shore and stretched our legs walking along the beach.
The next day we continued on to Hoffman's Cay. Whisper arrived first but couldn't determine how to go in safely so they headed to an alternate anchorage to the south. When we arrived, we were able to enter the cut and weighed anchor behind the adjacent Gaulding Cay. We wanted to get to a different anchorage that was better protected, but it was low tide and we weren't sure we could make it until the next days high tide. We also wanted to go to that anchorage, in part, because the Swiss friends we met in Charleston were there. A short time after anchoring, Stéphane rowed over in his kayak and said hi and that they too decided to come to Hoffman's. He said he was able to skirt near the southwest shore of the key and saw reasonable water depth.
So, in the morning we tried their route, but the water got uncomfortably shallow for our wide boat and then we ran aground trying to back out (after the port engine developed a lack-of-thrust problem). A good samaritan helped pull us off the sandbar with their dinghy, and we motored on the other engine back to the spot we just left. I let the engine cool down a bit and go investigate. The shaft coupler had loosened and while the transmission would turn, the shaft was not. I check the shaft and retighten the coupler and it was once again behaving normally. We debate if we should attempt to go to that anchorage again or just stay put. Whisper arrived a short time later and anchored near us.
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| Hoffman's Blue Hole Anchorage with iCat |
Eventually we did try again, but this time we took a longer route that our friends on iCat used and we successfully anchored behind Hoffman's near a beach and a blue hole. We spent the next few days exploring the island and hosted a couple dinners for our friends.
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| Dinghy ride to the Blue Hole trailhead on Hoffman's |
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| A few interesting things on the beach |
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| Hoffman's Blue Hole |
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| The eastern shore of Hoffman's Cay |
On one excursion, we came upon a wrecked boat that had been washed up on shore for a while. There wasn't much left of the boat, but surprisingly, it had a piece of hose that might work should my radiator hose patch fail. So we made a second trip to do a little beach savenger "shopping" and returned with a piece of hose that isn't in too bad of shape. Amazing what you can find laying around on a beach.
This was more like it. Beautiful water, tropical islands to explore, friends to share with, and no pesky cruise ships. We did find out that several of the islands, including Hoffman's Cay, were for sale. I do hope the Bahamas doesn't sell off all their islands as this is the attraction for cruisers visiting this place.
After several days, it was time to move on, weather permitting of course. We, and the crew of iCat, decided the winds would allow us to head to Spanish Wells on Eleuthera. Our original plan...if you can call our musings a plan...was to head to the Exumas, but that would be directly into the wind, so next stop Eleuthera.
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