By Jennifer

Route: Fort Lauderdale — Miami — North Bimini — Cat Cay — Chub Cay — Frazer’s Hog Cay. We sailed another two hours east from Chub Cay to Frazer’s Hog Cay in the Berry Island chain, where we waited about three days before our next weather window to Nassau. This spot was very enjoyable. This is a popular cruising stop and when we arrived, there were several sail and motor vessels anchored. We actually caught up with many boaters we met in North Bimini and met a few new people — all of us heading in the same direction. You’ll notice the photo of the house where, Howard, is a one-man show. He runs the moorings, the fuel dock and the tavern. One of the reasons we stopped here was because the charts show there are fuel docks. When we arrived we saw the large steel drums. But, when we told Howard we needed to refuel he said he didn’t have fuel. Just like the sign in the window saying he takes VISA/MC (but not really). This becomes a common occurrence as we make our way through the Bahamas — signage promoting what once was.  Howard, trying to accomodate us, called around the island and trucked in a barrel full of fuel (took a few hours). Getting the fuel from the barrel into the tiny fuel tank opening was another story.

Route: Fort Lauderdale — Miami — North Bimini — Cat Cay — Chub Cay. In this video clip we have just arrived in Chub Cay. It was about 4 p.m. and we had been sailing since 3:30 a.m. We left Cat Cay early because it was rolly and Kevin kept waking up to check the anchor every 20 minutes. Unfortunately, when we got there, the little bay we anchored in was very rolly. As soon as it got dark I went straight to bed and woke up at the crack of dawn the next morning ready to get the heck out of there. Kevin describes how he tied lines to the anchor chain to ease some of the rolling. It made a big difference, but was still a little uncomfortable.

Beautiful Chub Cay:

By Kevin

Above are some pictures and video from our December 8th North Bimini to Cat Cay leg. For more details about the trip, please check out our post here.

By Kevin

Today we left Bimini bound for Cat Cay. We spent 12 mostly relaxing days in Bimini, sitting at Weech’s dock and then out on our anchor. We were there much longer than we had planned mainly to wait for a good weather window before continuing traveling east.

And, we definitely had to wait while we sorted out our GPS issues. (We solved that by purchasing a brand new GPS handheld, a GPSMAP 78sc. We’ll relegate it to backup duty once we get our Garmin 441s properly installed in Nassau.)

The 8-10 knot east wind and flat seas made our 3 hours sail south a slice of heaven. It feels good to finally be out here, sailing, visiting remote islands, and using this sailing yacht that we’ve poured so much of ourselves into over the past 6 months.

Tonight we are anchored off a small resort island about 10 miles south of Bimini called Cat Cay. On the island, if we were to take the dinghy in to shore, we would find a high-end resort, an expensive marina with a few docked mega-yachts, and a few mega-million dollar vacation homes overlooking the ocean.

The anchorage is a bit bumpy right now but we hope it will settle down in a few hours when the winds continues clocking around from the east to the southeast. (Let’s hope everyone does okay.)

Tomorrow morning we’ll get up about 5 am, eat an easy breakfast, raise the anchor and head due east bound for the remote and beautiful Berry Islands. We’re predicting about a 15 hour sail with a 10–15 knot close reach. In order to not arrive after dark in the next harbor, we’ll likely have to anchor overnight on the Grand Bahama Bank–in 10-15 feet of water and total darkness. It should be an experience not to forget.

By Kevin

At 10:15 pm yesterday we raised our anchor in No Name Harbor and set sail due east for the Bahamas island of North Bimini. 

At 10:30 am this morning, 12 hours later, we tied up to the dock here at Weech’s Bimini Marina. The first 6 hours of the overnight trip were not pleasant. We bashed around in confused 3-4 foot seas as the strong Gulf Stream current collided with swells from other weather systems.

But, the crew were outstanding. Madeline stayed in the cockpit all night and helped with watchkeeping duties when she wasn’t catnapping. Zach played it smart and slept the whole night in one of the foldout salon berths.

Jennifer helmed much of the night and made sure everyone was doing okay in the rough and chilly conditions.

While I threw up.

Now we are hanging out down below on Real Life while it sits in the amazing clear waters of the Bahamas. We’ve gotten some WIFI access and everyone is lounging around sending updates and emails, as around here, you never know when you’ll have WIFI available.

By Kevin

We made it to Miami today. Actually, tonight. We grabbed a transient mooring ball at the Coconut Grove Sailing Club on Biscayne Bay at around 6:45 P.M.

With Casa del Sol behind us by noon, we first stopped to fill up on diesel (great job crew!). This was the first time we filled the tank since purchasing the boat in April. We added 31 gallons to top off the 45 gallon tank. Then, we headed south for the 6 1/2 hour sail, averaging 5 1/2 knots (with bursts to 7 knots). We followed the coastline all the way down to Goverment Cut and just kept our depth sounder pinging between 80-140 feet. This kept us less than 3 miles offshore.

The highlight of the trip was certainly Zach and Captain Gerry catching a beautiful 4-5 pound 1-2 pound spanish mackerel, which we grilled up for dinner. Yum. They also had a mahi-mahi on the hook at one point but he gave a good fight and finally broke free.