Heading for the Whale

Here's Nimue (last year) motoring out the Channel from White Sound, Green Turtle on her way to the Whale. We had enjoyed our stay at Bluff House Yacht Club and visits with new friends that we had made on our way to the Bahamas. Before we left, we, of course paid our bill at Bluff House. That's when we discovered we still had a few "Docking for Dollars" left on our tab. So we treated ourselves to an order of delicious conch fritters with some Kalik beer to go with them. By 12:20 we were pulling away from the dock.

You may be asking yourself. What's the big deal about the Whale Cay Passage? I've written about it before in Nimue's Logs, but I thought that this description found on Marinas.com (click for a picture of the Whale) was a good indicator of why mariners approach it on tiptoes:

"Whale Cay is perhaps one of the most treacherous areas in the entire Abacos island chain. While Whale Cay (uninhabited) is not of any particular danger, the surrounding waters and shoals are sometimes among the most treacherous anywhere, due to shallow water and long ocean fetches....If you draw more than 4 feet, you must navigate the outside east edge of Whale Cay, where depths are not a problem, buy waves and wind can be. If the wind is blowing out of the northeast, the passage around the outside of Whale Cay, especially around Whale Cay Channel, can be deadly. Yes, deadly. The shallow water in this area and a long fetch to the northeast can result in sea conditions often referred to as a “rage.” No boat should be out in this are during these conditions. "

With that said, we decided to make our passage on Saturday, February 21st. We left Green Turtle at low tide so we would have the current with us in the cuts. The wind was from the dreaded northeast, but was about 10-15 that morning. Other boats going through had described the seas as 4-6 feet. We headed for the Whale Cay Channel and decided it was doable. The seas were confused and the boat got a good rocking and rolling and a nice coat of salt, but we motor-sailed through the passage without incident. The two boats sailing with us who didn't raise their sails seemed to be tossed about much more than we were.

By 5:30 we were safely anchored in Fisher's Bay on Great Guana Cay. The rest of our sailing, until we head home we be in the protected waters of the sea of Abaco. Whew!

Hello from the Bahamas

We are in the Bahamas. We had a good crossing. Left Palm Beach at five thirty AM on February 12th and stopped for the night at 8:30 pm on the little Bahama Bank off Mangrove Cay which is just north of Grand Bahama. It was a long day, but very nice to cross in daylight.

Friday, February 13th was sunny and warm and a very light fog gave the Banks an etherial charm. Two dolphins greeted us as we sailed about 25 miles to Great Sale Cay. Stopping for the night, we hoisted the dinghy off the deck and stowed the crossing gear. Several boats who also made the passage shared the anchorage at Great Sale. If you look closely, you can see the dolphins just below the surface.

On Saturday, we sailed about 45 miles to anchor off Cooperstown, a village on the eastern shore of Great Abaco Island . We were so close to shore we could hear the children playing in the schoolyard and watch the cars go by on the Bootle Highway.

Sunday morning we left Cooperstown and made a 10 mile sail to arrive at Green Turtle Cay around high tide. We planned to stay at the Bluff House Marina where we hoped to check in to customs and immigration. The dock boy told us we could check in at the marina, but as it turned out, he was wrong. So on Monday morning Peter donned his foul weather gear and took the dinghy to the western end of the island to go to the customs house in the village of New Plymouth. Finally we could take down our yellow quarantine flag and hoist the Bahamas courtesy flag, all nice and legal. This was the first time we had bypassed the usual customs stop at West End. The dock fees there are very pricey. At Bluff House, we not only had a reasonable rate, but were able to spend our dock fee at the marina. So we had several tasty meals at the Jolly Roger Bar and Bistro, essentially for free!

While Peter was ashore, a cold front blew through the harbor dragging loose a lovely little Ketch from Halifax named Annie Laurie. Several cruisers hastened to help the young lady who is single handing the vessel. Withing about 20 minutes she was all once again secure.

Our next leg of the journey would take us out and around the Whale Cay. So we stayed about a week at Bluff House to await favorable conditions to make the passage.