Sunday
Potters Cay
December 17
Today, I met a wonderful Canadian family of six from Toronto, the father worked for the air force in Comox, BC and their four kids were raised in Ontario, they intend to cruise the Bahamas for the next 9 months. We started talking about fish and different lures that work well in the Bahamas... we exchanged fishing advise and later that afternoon we went to buy some new gadgets for our tackle box. I was searching around for some neat Bahamian Christmas gifts... but only found a couple good ones. Stopped at the post-office for some stamps to send letters home, walked down to Potter's Cay where the fish and produce exchange takes place... we got a good deal on some Jackfish. The locals advised us to marinate the fish we sour oranges and limes. We also found some homemade Conch salad and had really good laughs with this couple at their "conch booth". It's such a delicacy to eat conch...
Friday
Nassau
December 16
Official departure from the Berry Islands heading towards the capital --- Nassau!!! We left Frozen Cay early in the mornin' at 7am and kept trekking with the wind on the nose. 10 -20 knots. I threw the fishing line in the water to see what I could catch... a big fat nothing. It was a challenge since the surface of the sea had clusters of seaweed, fouling my lure. As we began to approach Paradise Island, immediately I could notice the gigantic Atlantis Resort. When I was younger the construction still wasn't complete. Due to the height of the mast, we couldn't enter the main Nassau Harbour, we had to do some visual piloting so we read the waters and approach from the North side of Paradise Island really close to Salt Cay (where the Blue Lagoon Dolphin Encounters are located). Then we made our way south towards Athol Island to this place called the Narrows. It was a little stressful with the high density of boat traffic and the depths of 7.9ft which is a little worrisome at times, since the draft for this vessel is 7ft. At 25.04.40’ N and 77.17.20’ W the sailboat arrived to that waypoint then turned West towards Nassau Harbour Club. Peter the Greek, the dock master who guided us into the marina, was extremely helpful and friendly. Our lines were easily secured and docking was simple. Our fellow neighbors are from Midland aboard "Southern Nights" Peter and Sharon. Since leaving the US I've been craving chinese cuisine, so we went out for dinner to a East Villa Restaurant. Finally got my fix for shang high noodles. Back at the same marina my parents stayed at over a decade ago.
Official departure from the Berry Islands heading towards the capital --- Nassau!!! We left Frozen Cay early in the mornin' at 7am and kept trekking with the wind on the nose. 10 -20 knots. I threw the fishing line in the water to see what I could catch... a big fat nothing. It was a challenge since the surface of the sea had clusters of seaweed, fouling my lure. As we began to approach Paradise Island, immediately I could notice the gigantic Atlantis Resort. When I was younger the construction still wasn't complete. Due to the height of the mast, we couldn't enter the main Nassau Harbour, we had to do some visual piloting so we read the waters and approach from the North side of Paradise Island really close to Salt Cay (where the Blue Lagoon Dolphin Encounters are located). Then we made our way south towards Athol Island to this place called the Narrows. It was a little stressful with the high density of boat traffic and the depths of 7.9ft which is a little worrisome at times, since the draft for this vessel is 7ft. At 25.04.40’ N and 77.17.20’ W the sailboat arrived to that waypoint then turned West towards Nassau Harbour Club. Peter the Greek, the dock master who guided us into the marina, was extremely helpful and friendly. Our lines were easily secured and docking was simple. Our fellow neighbors are from Midland aboard "Southern Nights" Peter and Sharon. Since leaving the US I've been craving chinese cuisine, so we went out for dinner to a East Villa Restaurant. Finally got my fix for shang high noodles. Back at the same marina my parents stayed at over a decade ago.
Thursday
Frozen Cay
December 15
Lifted anchor from White Cay and relocated Joana to Frozen Cay, where some locals offered us some lobsters. Yummy! However they didn't have enough time to go catch them for us, so we declined. Then I proceeded to read "Northern Magic" the book about a family doing a circumnavigation around the world in their steel sailboat. I went for a quick swim to check on the anchor. Wasn't so fond of snorkling in the later part of the afternoon... shark bait!! A bit of fishing off the bow and stern to see if I could catch any fish. We watched the hundreds of stars again... and could see the lights off of Chub Cay off in the distance. When my family and I travelled through the Bahamas in 1997 we did stay on Chub for a couple of days before proceeding to Nassau.
Lifted anchor from White Cay and relocated Joana to Frozen Cay, where some locals offered us some lobsters. Yummy! However they didn't have enough time to go catch them for us, so we declined. Then I proceeded to read "Northern Magic" the book about a family doing a circumnavigation around the world in their steel sailboat. I went for a quick swim to check on the anchor. Wasn't so fond of snorkling in the later part of the afternoon... shark bait!! A bit of fishing off the bow and stern to see if I could catch any fish. We watched the hundreds of stars again... and could see the lights off of Chub Cay off in the distance. When my family and I travelled through the Bahamas in 1997 we did stay on Chub for a couple of days before proceeding to Nassau.