April 2
Our goal for April has been one thing ... be in Hopetown when James, Alma, Joe and Kristen arrive.
And we did not disappoint!
In fact, we were in Marsh Harbour the day they arrived and picked them up from shore in our dinghy for the sail over to Hopetown.
Day 1. Best way to arrive!
Alma was put to work right away.
Not that this wasn't work ...
Joe and Kristen Dobberke. Island life seems to suit them!
The AirBnB house they rented was a perfect.
Short walk to the beach.
Short walk to town.
Air conditioning when all that walking was done.
Day 2. Time to go sailing the Sea of Abaco.
Day 3. High winds. Time to play in the surf.
Young kids enjoying the big waves.
Pina Coladas on the beach.
Nice to have a kitchen with a blender....
Day 4. Final sunset.
Joe and Kristen Dobberke.
Waiting for the ferry back to Marsh Harbour.
Go ahead and say it .... SOOO CUTE!
Until next time.
Mid April
After the kids left, we went back to Marsh Harbour and anchored for a week of nasty weather, sulking because we missed having such fun company around. Many days it was too rough even to take the dinghy to shore, so we poured over the maps wondering where to go next.
Since we didn't really have enough time to head south to the Exumas before turning around and planning our return to Florida, we decided to go places we have never been to before. First up, the Berry Islands.
April 21: Off to Great Harbor, the Berrys
We left the Abacos just as the sun was cresting the horizon for the 94mile trip across the deep water of the Northwest Providence Channel. We were more than a little nervous attempting such a long passage in one day, but the winds and seas were favorable, and we completed the trip in 11 hours, averaging more than 7k .... definitely a record for us.
We always put three lines out when crossing deep water. We didn't expect much luck because of our tremendous speed (!! best fishing is usually when traveling 5k or so), but lo and behold, a huge Mahi took the bait about half way to the Berrys. Dan fought this beast for 50 minutes, but since we had all 4 sails up, and wanted to make land before night fall, we couldn't really slow down enough to bring him in. All that work and the Mahi won ... spitting out our lure so we could try again another day.
Our destination was Great Harbour Cay marina. Good thing we had some idea what to expect because the entrance to the channel literally appears as a small cut in a massive stone sea wall.
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| the entrance is the small channel on the left. |
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| entering the channel ... hope this is the right place! |
The marina offered a nice discount if you stay a week, so we stayed a week. They had nice showers, laundry and free bikes which we used to get the the beach and the grocery store. Two days of heavy rain came thru, which is always another perk of being at a dock.
Oh yes, another perk of the marina .... the fresh fish dock! Several days a week, a crew would bring in their catch and sell to boaters. We were there for Hog Fish, a wonderful white fish, one of our favorites. That definitely made up for he one we lost and helped to restock our freezer.
Now, if we just weren't so low on beer and and rum......
Beach day in the Berrys. Seriously, this is something we never get tired of.
We left the marina after a week and settled into a nice protected anchorage to wait out 5 days of east winds running 25k. Why does it always seem like the wind is either too light, too strong, or in the wrong direction? That really is what cruising is all about!
But we had time to wait ... and relax. We met a couple from Germany who had been waiting over a month to start their journey to the Azores and then on to the Med. And another couple had been waiting 6 weeks and counting for a replacement rudder that they had damaged running aground outside Bimini (where they had just purchased the boat ... talk about bummer.....).
So we wait. Practice patience. Our plan is to explore the Berry for several days and then travel north to Grand Bahama Island, another place we have never been. We've heard a lot of people use Lucaya as their base, so we'll check that out ... as well as West End, which is only some 50 miles from Lake Worth FL which means we could do a day crossing back to FL. WOW. That would be another first.
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