Sail Kestrel

We left Nassau at first light on March 10 during a short window before some bad weather forecast for March 12.  Our exit was a heck of a lot more pleasant than our entrance; we rode the ebb tide out of the harbor and then headed northeast.  The winds were in the mid-teens, which is usually great for us as Kestrel is a heavy boat that requires a bit of oomph to get going.  But the wave direction was killing us:  right on the nose.  We were close hauled and beating all day, which was unpleasant for the boat and for us.  But this is the nature of sailing; sometimes your travel day choices are between bad and not-so-bad, and we agreed that staying in Nassau for another week was too yucky to contemplate.

Yup, all damn day.

The Captain had identified two anchorages that would give us the most protection from wind and waves when the front arrived.  The first one geographically was Royal Island Harbour, which wasn’t our best choice as it is reported to have debris on the bottom.  We could tell it was jam-packed as we approached, so we kept on going to an anchorage off of the west side of Meeks Patch, a small ladle-shaped island about a mile and a half southwest of Spanish Wells.  We anchored in 10.6 feet of beautifully clear water.  There were four other boats anchored there, but there was room for plenty more boats.  We barely bobbed all night.

The west side of Meeks Patch with its coral shores and insanely gorgeous water.

The trip from Nassau to Meeks Patch was 44.0 nm and took 10 hours, 45 minutes.

On March 11, we moved to the east side of Meeks Patch in anticipation of the storm forecast to arrive the next day.  While the west side of Meeks Patch has forbidding coral shores, the east side has beaches and is much more “island-y”.  We ended up with 11 boats in the anchorage, but there was still plenty of room for everyone.

The east side of Meeks Patch–much more inviting.

We dinghied to shore and spent a fun afternoon exploring.  The island is very narrow; it took about 5 minutes to walk across it.

This is the northern tip of Meeks Patch.  It is narrowest up there, but you can see both sides of the island.

The “inland” strip between the sandy east side and coral west side is the typical mix of palm trees, pine trees, and scrubby undergrowth.

There were coconuts everywhere, but we hadn’t brought the machete, so they lived to fight another day.

The west side clearly takes the brunt of the weather; the trees are twisted and gnarled, and the coral has been pocked with small tidal pools.  We found a set of steps that had been carved into the coral leading down to the water.

A view of the east side of the island from “inland.”  You can see some of the boats in the anchorage.

There are a few structures that have been built using found materials, such as a small lean-to and what we called The Fort.

The Fort, complete with bench seating, bar, swing seating, and even some nasty carpet.  Drink up!

We found a fishing float about the size of a soccer ball that was in a rope net, and we added it to The Fort’s décor.

Kestrel leaves her mark in the form of “repurposed” trash.  In some souvenir shop, that trash float would have cost $50.

I looked for sea glass on the beach but didn’t find any.  Other cruisers had set up chairs on the beach to enjoy the day, and the kids off of one of catamarans were having a great time.

Our faithful dinghy awaiting us on the beach with Kestrel in the background.

We stayed on the east side of Meeks Patch until we left on March 17.  Both the west and east sides had great holding, and the dinghy ride to Spanish Wells was short and easy from the east side.

In this part of the world, cruisers behave like pack animals.  When a favorable weather window for travel opens up, bunches of us head out like flocks of birds.  The same was true of the Boot Key Harbor crew in Bimini; on March 5, we, s/v ‘Bout Time, s/v Empress, s/v Nellie Bly, and s/v Moonshadow all left bound for Nassau or the surrounding area.  We didn’t plan on leaving in a pack, but weather and trip time dictate departures.

We were a couple of hours into the trip when we received a text from our friends G & J aboard s/v Zen.  They were in Nassau and texted to warn us that due to huge swells, Nassau harbor was closed, with a tentative reopening time of the next morning.  Since that was when we were scheduled to arrive, this was a problem.  We soon lost cell signal and kept in contact with Zen over email and the occasional phone call on our Iridium GO.  The Captain kept checking Predict Wind forecasts as well.  We were the only ones with a satellite device, and it proved to be a lifesaver (more on that in a future post).  Some boats were ahead of us (‘Bout Time and Moonshadow) and some boats were behind us (Empress and Nellie Bly), and we kept the flow of information going between the BKH “fleet” all night.

Our tactic was to slow down drastically in order to let the swells in Nassau die a little and give Nassau Harbor Control time to reopen the harbor.  If the north/west entrance to Nassau remained closed or too dangerous to use, our plan was to circle the island and use the eastern entrance or to bypass Nassau entirely and head for Rose Island and anchor.  We spent many hours overnight going around 3 knots and checking email and weather analyses.

As we neared Nassau, the only word to describe the swells is massive.  They were easily 15-20 feet but had a long period, so we would surf down the swell and then claw our way back up.  When we went into a trough, we’d lose wind in the staysail, causing it to luff madly.  When the sailboats around us went into troughs, we would lose sight of them entirely—including their 50+ foot masts. This is what a blue water boat like Kestrel is made for, though, and she handled it like a champ.  We did, too; we’ve done a lot of offshore sailing in all different conditions at this point, each passage building our experience and confidence.  We knew we had the skill to control the boat and keep her on course in those kind of conditions.

Nassau Harbor had reopened at that point, although it was with an at-your-own-risk warning.  We made it through the entrance channel, the Captain helming as we surfed into the harbor.  One final wall of green water broke over land to port and gave us one last shove, but we were steady on course.  Once we were in the protected waters of the harbor, it was eerily calm.

Paradise Island, which is connected to New Providence via bridge, was to our port as we entered Nassau Harbor.  The spa at Atlantis Resort was sounding pretty good right about then.

The trip from Bimini was 124.1 nm and took 29 hours (it should have taken about 24 hours at our normal average speed of 5 knots).

We took a slip at Nassau Yacht Haven, and unbeknownst to us, the rest of the BKH crew had planned on doing the same.

Nassau Yacht Haven is quite large and had every kind of boat:  sailboats, trawlers, sport fishers, runabouts, dive boats, tour boats, and megayachts.  It even hosted the two Pilot boats used by Nassau Harbor.

We spent the next few days taking care of boat chores like getting fuel, changing the engine oil, dumping the composting head, grocery shopping, doing laundry, and route planning.  We interspersed our chores fun with our friends.  We all had a amazing  (and amazingly cheap) breakfast at a place called Caribe Café that S on Moonshadow found, and then we all wandered Potter’s Cay looking for the fresh produce market.  We found it, although at the moment it’s only three vendors.  One night we hosted a drinks-and-weather-strategizing party that ended up turning into an impromptu dinner (thank goodness for cooked pasta left over from our overnighter!).

Some of the offerings at the vegetable vendors.  There were also homemade mixes like sea salt mixed with red pepper.  I keep seeing baggies of dried thyme in all of the small grocery stores in the Bahamas, so it must be a popular cooking herb here.

Dried, flattened conch.  It felt like rawhide and had no odor.

Nassau was a utilitarian stop for us, and to be frank, wouldn’t be on my list of must-return places.  It was neat being there, as we have watched all seasons of the highly entertaining pirate series Black Sails, which is primarily set in Nassau. But in the current day, Nassau is too busy and noisy for my taste.  It was also weird being “buzzed in” to every business; when the Dairy Queen is locked 24 hours a day, you know that crime is rampant.

Nassau did give us access to some big city opportunities; I was able to find Stugeron, an anti-motion sickness drug that isn’t available in the US, and Solomon’s Fresh Market was like a Whole Foods magically transported to the island (along with their insane prices).

Solomon’s Fresh Market has whatever you want, but buddy, you are going to pay.  The price in yellow includes the 7.5% VAT charged on pretty much everything here.

We ate wonderful Chinese food at Double Dragon and had soft serve ice cream at Dairy Queen.  But basically we were biding time until the next weather window to get on out of there.

From a cruiser’s perspective, this was a useful stop, and we liked Nassau Yacht Haven a lot.  The docks are in good shape (fixed wood with pilings), and the dockhands are outstanding.  The marina charges $2.15/foot including VAT per day.  Sailboats using electric are charged a flat fee of $10 + VAT per day, and all boats are charged $12 + VAT per day for water.  The water is not reverse osmosis, but it is city water and was reported as being safe to drink.  They don’t have fuel available, but across the street there is an Esso gas station that fills jerry jugs with either gas or diesel (bring a tip, as the pumps are full service with uniformed attendants).  The onsite laundry facility is clean, has numerous machines, and costs $2 per wash and $2 per dry (purchase tokens at the dock office).  The heads are clean and have two showers each with good pressure and lots of hot water.  There is 24 hour security, although the security personnel is not going to be hired by the Secret Service anytime soon.  There is an onsite restaurant that we didn’t try and a great onsite dive shop/souvenir shop.  All in all, the marina was worth the money in our opinion.

All good things come to an end, and after Nassau, the BKH crew scattered.  Empress and Nellie Bly went to the south side of New Providence, and Moonshadow stayed in Nassau awaiting a parts shipment.  We headed northeast to Spanish Wells, Eleuthera, for some peace and quiet at anchor.

We made an overnight offshore passage from Marina Hemingway, Cuba, to Marathon, FL, on February 16 and 17.  It ended up being 126.8 nm and took us 24 ½ hours.  It was a comfortable and fast trip, for which we were both grateful.

The ship traffic between Cuba and Florida was nuts.  There were so many AIS targets on the chart plotter, and they were all huge ships or cruise ships.  We’re the little sailboat icon in the middle of the screen.

Checking back in to the United States was remarkably easy, mostly due to some prior planning.  Back when we were in Fort Pierce, FL, we had our interviews for the Small Vessel Reporting System and were assigned our identification numbers.  This is a program run by the US Customs and Border Patrol that allows registered boaters to take advantage of expedited checking in from foreign ports.  The greatest benefit is that you can simply call the CBP when you arrive rather than having to come in for an in-person inspection.

So when we arrived in Marathon, we anchored outside of the entrance channel.  Our Q (quarantine) flag was already flying.  I called the CBP and gave them our float plan number, and five minutes later we had cleared in.  It was the most anticlimactic end to our Cuba trip that I could imagine, and it was great.  Down came the Q flag.

We spent a week in Boot Key Harbor, where we were able to get a mooring again, much to my surprise.  We met up with friends and did some refueling, rewatering, and reprovisioning.

Then on February 25, we threw off our mooring lines and headed for Bimini, Bahamas.  We knew we wanted to arrive in Bimini in late afternoon to take advantage of high tide, so we left Marathon at about 3:00 PM.

On our way out from Marathon, with Sombrero Reef Light in the distance.

Our plan was to edge out and pick up the Gulf Stream, riding it much like a conveyor belt.  Due to Marathon’s location, the winds were contrary to current in the initial part of the trip, so we were close-hauled for a while.  Because we weren’t in a hurry, we fell off the wind a little bit to increase our comfort level and to keep the sails from flogging.  As we progressed north and east, the winds became more favorable.  When we hit the Gulf Stream proper, we really flew, reaching 7+ knots speed over ground.  It was so neat flying along at night like that.

The night passed uneventfully, and the next afternoon we pulled up to our slip in Bimini Blue Water Marina.  This marina is very popular with cruisers for a number of reasons:  it’s only $1/foot, the dockhands are excellent, and the docks are in good condition.  As the day went on, slip after slip filled with boats from Boot Key Harbor.  The BKH Gang ended up being us, s/v ‘Bout Time (with whom we spent time in Cuba), s/v Nellie Bly, s/v Moonshadow, and s/v Empress.  s/v Zen and s/v Corporate Sailout, also BKH alumnus, had departed just before we all arrived.

It is difficult to express how ridiculously beautiful the water is here.

Our trip to Bimini was 133.1 nm and took 24 hours.  We figured we’d be staying about a week due to weather and were ready to hit the town” and explore.

Here we are, snug in our berth.  To my delight, we ended up with Dylan the Corgi to our left and Molly the labrador retriever to our right.  And THAT’S why I carry dog treats.

The marina is about 50/50 sailboats and sport fishers/motor vessels.