Crossing to Hope Town

After a restful night at the Old Bahama Bay marina, we were up early to catch the high tide for our crossing through Indian Rock Passage to Great Sale Cay. High tide was at 6am so we were on the move a little after 7am (with the sunrise).

It was a super calm morning with very little wind so once we were through the shallow pass, we decided to put up our spinnaker. It’s always a process the first time this big sail is deployed. Lots of additional lines need to be run because this sail uses the whisker pole to help it catch the wind. But all the effort was well worth it as we were able to sail (slowly) for 2 hours – no engine!! Unfortunately the sailing bliss didn’t last long as the wind died off and we needed to motor again.

Lots of boats were on the move that day – most heading in our direction but some heading west (maybe heading back to the USA). As it got closer to dusk, boats were finding their anchorage for the night. Most stopped at Great Sale Cay but we decided to continue slightly further north to Little Sale Cay. We were all alone at our spot and it was a very peaceful night!

The next morning we were off early (again), heading east. We had discovered the day before that our macerator pump was not working (this pump empties our septic holding tanks – no pump out services in the Bahamas) so we needed to get to either Green Turtle Cay or Marsh Harbour to solve this problem. It was another calm day so we motored all the way. We stopped for the night at Crab Cay and decided we would push on to Hope Town the next day. The wind prediction for the next few days was showing southwest/west wind and the Hope Town harbour is totally protected from all wind directions!! We had also been in contact with our friends Julia and Brad (who have been at Hope Town since Dec. 23) and knew there were some available mooring balls.

Sunday morning we left our anchorage at Crab Cay and headed to Hope Town. There’s a cut called “the whale” that is notorious for being dangerous. It’s a relatively short outside crossing (on the ocean) but if the wind comes from the north at all, this area can produce “rage” water conditions (not a good thing!!). We were super fortunate because the wind on Sunday was from the southeast and didn’t cause an unfavourable crossing situation. The conditions were fine and it was an easy passage.

We arrived at Hope Town just after lunch and Brad was there to guide us into the harbour (in his dinghy- with their dog Finn) and onto the mooring ball. It’s great to see them and we will definitely enjoy our next few days in the harbour.