Lots has happened since my last post and we have travelled more than 70 nm in the last 5 days! We were hanging out with the Aga Khan (well anchored near his island) on Sunday, March 27th and now we’re in Nassau at Nassau Harbour Club marina.
Our sail up from Bell Island to Hawksbill Cay on Monday, March 28, was awesome. We had good wind in a great direction and were able to sail the whole time. There were lots of boats on the move and we had fun catching some (we had all 3 sails up and were moving) and being passed by others. The weather was great and with the strong winds, we reached our anchorage at Hawksbill Cay around 1pm. We had a bit of fun getting into the anchorage because we arrived at low tide. The boat actually rubbed the sandy bottom twice on the way in but we ended up anchoring in about 7ft of water. The anchorage was quite lovely and it was very calm. We spent 2 nights here and on the second day (Tuesday) our friends Jane and Steve came in for one night. We did a fun dinghy ride that day and relaxed for happy hour on our boat.
After a bit of discussion with Jane and Steve, we decided to use the upcoming south winds to move all the way to Nassau (a bit earlier then originally planned). We needed to go to Nassau to find a part for our navigational network system. So early Wednesday (March 30) we pulled up anchor and sailed the 45 nm from Hawksbill Cay to Rose Island.
We had another great sail although it was a bit more rolly because the wind was mostly behind us. We were seeing some awesome speeds as we rolled down waves and managed to reach Rose Island by 2pm that afternoon. Our plan was to anchor one night at Rose Island and then head into the marina for 2 nights. Well that one night at Rose Island was a very long one!! We had all kinds of swell (waves that are left over from previous weather) surging into our anchorage from the east and it caused our boat to rock side to side all night long. It’s very difficult to sleep in this kind of motion, so it was a very long night. Needless to say, we were up early and heading to the Nassau Harbour Club marina by 8 am on Thursday March 31.
We have stayed at this marina several times in the past and it is nicely located across the street from a very good grocery store, a Starbucks, a good liquor store and there are several marine stores in walking distance – everything we needed!! We headed to the marine store as soon as the laundry was done and our water tanks were filled. We got super lucky because the first store had the part we needed!! Excellent! Next we stopped at Starbucks for a coffee and then did grocery and wine shopping! We ended the day with a pizza from Dominos!!
One of the best things that happened with our early arrival in Nassau was that we were able to meet up with Mark’s sister Christine!! Christine and her husband Rob arrived at Paradise Island (on the north side of Nassau Harbour) on Monday March 28th. Also travelling with them was their daughter Kathryn and her son August. We spent a few hours with them today (April 1) at the Atlantis Resort. The resort was very impressive – lots of hotels, shops, big mega yachts, water slides and of course beaches. Christine gave us a tour of the resort and we got a chance to catch up on all the news from home! It was great to chat and share lunch with them. It was a wonderful way to end our visit to Nassau!!
In the morning we will be heading further north to the Berry Island chain. It should be a good day of sailing with our spinnaker (if the winds are as low as predicted). We’ll spend a few days exploring this area before we continue to move north, looking for that good crossing window!
Crimson Kathryn and her crew 