Exumas at Last! Norman's Cay

Wednesday, April 8

Long story short, the motor wasn’t back and installed in the windlass until Friday evening. Bob, Don and I took advantage of the pool, shower and covered patio at "Casa" to our hearts content. The traditional afternoon “opening time” of 4:30 was honored with spirits and 'horse doovers' and lots of friendly talk. Meanwhile the screaming southwest winds blew over and we avoided a nasty time heading south in the ocean.

Saturday was a glorious day and we headed out the Ft. Lauderdale cut around 8am. The light wind was behind us and would not propel the boat very fast so we motor sailed, passing a US Navy submarine several times as it practiced going up and down the coast. The shoreline along this stretch of ocean is even more crowded than farther north with huge condo complexes with their tenants wondering where their net worth went.

Our route took us into Miami Harbor straight west to downtown, then south to the southern tip of Key Biscayne where we were last year before jumping east to Bimini. We anchored in No Name Harbor with about 15 other sailboats and a few power boats. Since it was my birthday I was treated by Don to a wonderful dinner and drinks with key lime pie with a candle, and a serenade by the wait staff. A beautiful evening and peaceful sleep before our crossing. The Harbor Grill is the only establishment around this popular destination and is lively with Latin American music, owners and patrons.

The passage to Bimini on Sunday was a breeze. First, the anchor windlass worked! Sunny, warm and mild winds from the south allowed us to enjoy the day with conversation and reading. We had to motorsail with a heading about 25 degrees south of Bimini in order to counteract the amazing force of the Gulf Stream which flows at 3 knots northward. It is said the Stream carries a greater volume of water than all the rivers of the world combined, and it’s not surprising as the canyon is thousands of feet deep and the stream about 40 miles wide!

We arrived in Alice Town, Bimini around 3pm and got a good eyeful of the beautiful blue and green hues that make the Bahamas so gorgeous. We checked in with customs and immigration and Capt’n Bob paid the hefty $300 annual cruising fee. We decided not to stay at the dock in this sleepy little town but rather anchor out south of Bimini that night for an early start across the Grand Bahama Banks the next day – a 70+ mile day at 6 knots. After dropping the anchor we took our first swim of the trip which felt wonderful.

We decided not to attempt the overnight passage down the Tongue of the Ocean between Andros (the largest island in the Bahamas) and New Providence (Nassau) because of the weather forecast. We would instead stay north of Andros and go downwind to the west end of New Providence the next day in the 25kt northwest winds. Then head to the Exumas on Wednesday which was forecasted to be beautiful.

Monday the sky was clear and the winds started at 15 knots (about 18 mph) and built during the day to 25 knots (30mph) out of the south southwest. It was a great day for sailing due east across the banks and we had the engine off all day. We weighed anchor at 5:30 am and dropped the hook at 5:30 pm just east of Joulter Cays on the north side of Andros. The wind was forecasted to switch from the southwest around to the northwest overnight and we needed as much protection as we could get. We had seen no sailboats all day and we were all alone at anchor that night. We did get an amazing amount of sleep in spite of 20kt winds at sundown and 25kt winds at sunrise the next day.

Our ride down the 2000 meter deep Tongue of the Ocean was a wild one, to say the least. It blew 25kt steady, gusting to 30, behind us and the waves were big (8 – 10’) and coming from two directions. The most sail we dared put up was the small staysail with the engine.. We didn’t see any other boats and felt very much alone out there for the 6 hour adventure. It was not a comfortable ride.

Finally we rounded the western tip of New Providence Is. and returned to the comfort of the shallow banks which really cut the waves down to size. The Bahamian Defense Force has a harbor which allows sailors to take refuge from the weather, Coral Harbor Marina, and we took full advantage with a wonderful, quiet night at anchor.

Wednesday broke clear and gentle with north winds at 10-25 which were very welcome for our 45mi journey across the banks (12' deep average) to the Exumas. The temperature has been moderate in this cold front with 75 degree highs. Norman's Cay was our destination and we dropped anchor about 3pm. After chatting with our cruising neighbors and taking the dinghy out to see the partially submerged wreck of an old drug-running DC-10 we walked across the airfield to have a celebratory dinner at McDuff's restaurant from where I'm sending this update. Sorry not to have been able to post more pics tonight, but I'll do that in Georgetown where we plan to be Saturday or Sunday.