Getting aquainted at Harbor Cay Marina in the Berry Islands

Fri. & Sat. Feb. 27th -28th
Sometimes experiences take place that reinforce your belief that things happen for a reason. Of course it's easier to say that when it is a happy experience. The weather causing us to come into Harbour Cay marina has turned out to be one of those happy experiences that we will not soon forget. Once through the cut the water was nearly flat, YEAH! You have to round a second corner before you see the marina. They weren't kidding when they call this a hurricane hole. It is tucked quite a ways back in the island.  As we approached our assigned dock several people were there to lend a hand. One of them an old boating friend from Alabama that we had not seen in several years. Once Laughter was securely tied to the dock the introductions flowed. It warms the heart when so many people make a point to introduce themselves to the newbie in town.
Soon after our arrival one of the local fishermen approached us selling lobster and grouper. We bought a dozen lobster for $25.00.  With so much lobster I really hoped that I would learn to like it. Not! I just don't care for the consistency.
Saturday afternoon was spent enjoying the sunshine and hunting shells on 1000 foot beach. Large and small empty conch shells were plentiful. Saturday evening we attended the 50th birthday party thrown for a fellow boater Crisall by her husband Don. Crisall is referred to very kindly as the mayor here. She makes sure everyone knows about upcoming activities and even helps organize one or two. The party was held at an enclosed patio at the Tamboo Club building on the grounds of the marina.  There were quite a few people in attendance including locals, and a city councilman. Music, food and fireworks made for a great Saturday night.

                                           We found a dog grave just off the 1000 foot beach

                                     Tom relaxing while I walked down to the end of the beach

                                                                 A selfie on 1000 ft beach

A very sandy dog from digging a cool hole for herself under our chairs

Harbour Cay Marina and condominiums

Our table at the birthday party

                     One of the marina employees daring me to go low low low on the dance floor

Pretty wall décor made from local plants

 

Centerpieces made by gluing shells on a Styrofoam wreath

A Little Background on the Berry's

Friday Feb. 27, 2015
On most maps you will have to look closely to find the Berry Islands. They are 35 miles Northwest of Nassau and 150 miles east of Miami. Thirty small Cays, most of which are uninhabited or privately owned make up this cresant shaped grouping. The first two Cays are owned by cruise lines. Little Stirrup  is owned by Norwegian , and Great Stirrup is owned by Royal Caribbean. They have their own village with shops and resturants for the tourists. There are several famous people who own property in the Berries including Shakira and Pink Floyd's Roger Waters. Shakira plans to build a 14,000 square foot museum and 85,000 square foot sports complex on her island. Harbour Cay is the largest Cay, 8 miles long and 11/2 miles wide.  There is one road that runs the distance of Harbour Cay, the Queens Highway. There are about 700 residents, the majority of which live in Bullocks settlement. The settlement consists of a couple of churches, 2 resturants, a gas station, all age school and two small grocery stores. The larger store being about the size of a seven eleven. There is a clinic, run by a very funny and positive nurse practionioner,  Frenchie. Can you guess her home country?  Frenchie's explanation for staying on Harbour Cay is very similar to others we spoke with. The local people are friendly. The lifestyle is much slower than home and a beautiful and usually empty 71/2 mile beach.   They have no bank on the island which we found to be very interesting but they do have an airport with services to Miami and Fort Lauderdale once per day.

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 You can run your finger from North Bimini on the left across to Great Harbour Cay to see our route.

            The entrance to the marina was cut through rock and not really easy to see at first

The entrance is very deep to account for mega yachts.  There used to be a swing bridge across to allow for the Bahamian residents to cross. Back in the days that the Rat Pack and other movie stars came to play they complained about the bridge. I don't know the year but a gentlemen who took over the lease built the highway from one end of the island to the other that is still used and took down the bridge to accommodate the rich and famous that frequented the Cay.

The Good The Bad and the Really Ugly!!

Wed. Feb. 25th, 2015

The Good: 84 miles was what we needed to travel today to get from Bimini to Great Harbor Cay in the Berry's.  We left Bimini at 6:15 am.  The first two hours were a little bumpy but no more than a tad annoying.  About noon the winds settled down just as predicted and we enjoyed a beautifully warm, sunny day on the water. Our first glimpse of land and three very large cruise ships at the end of the Cay came about 2:30. What did we see on the ocean throughout our nine hour trip?  Two freighters and a dog gone mylar balloon!!   It was great to know that we would arrive, get anchored and settled several hours before dark.  With land in sight we slowed down and threw out a fishing line but had no luck.  It takes a little getting used to but you realize that just because you see land does not mean your there. It is a little like driving to Fort Lauderdale from Indiana for the first time. You get all excited when you reach the Florida line but still have a long ways to go. We actually reached the anchorage about 4:00.  An hour and a half after we saw land.  We anchored just outside of the channel that leads to Harbor Cay marina.  it was a beautiful evening. The wind and waves were as predicted, one footers. We enjoyed a beautiful sunset on the ocean and talked about what we would do the next morning.
The wind was predicted to pick up late in the evening to about 10-12 mph but the waves were not supposed to pick up so it should have been a nice night. The Bad:  About 8:30 the wind picked up but closer to 15 than 10 and we were doing some rocking. By 10pm the winds had picked up again and we were really rocking.  So much so that Tom started to get seasick and Peanut was really upset.  Tom went to lay down and I went to the fly bridge. The wind worsened as the night went on. By midnight the wind howled around the boat and we bounced, over the now 2 plus foot waves and I started to worry.  From midnight until 4am I moved back and forth from the fly bridge to the salon checking on our position.  By 4am the wind was so bad Laughter was bouncing and jerking violently back and forth.  I knew that if we broke loose it would not take much for us to be aground or on the rocks. I went down to the aft cabin and told Tom the winds were worse and I was going to start the engines just in case.  He came up to the fly bridge and sat with me for the next hour although he was pretty green.  At this point I just wanted it to be light out!!  It started to get light out about 6am and by 6:30 the winds settled down quite a bit.  Tom stayed up and I went to bed.  I slept until 9am. When I came up into the salon Tom asked me what I wanted to do. Originally the winds were predicted to build up on Friday night and stay strong, 20-25 mph on Sat., Sun., and Monday. I wasn't going to take any chances! I said I wanted to go into the marina. I didn't care what the cost was. He agreed, saying that I needed to get some rest after staying up all night.  When we pulled anchor we had to work at it. It had buried itself in clay under the sand, thank goodness! That's why we stayed put through the blow. We called the marina and thankfully got a slip. When I went up to the office to register I made an executive decision.  We were staying a week, until the winds calmed down. When I returned to the boat Tom was pleased. He also felt we needed to stay put until the winds calmed down. We visited with our slip neighbors and worked around the boat until about 9:30 pm. I slept well!

 

                                                        Open Water

                                    The water starts to lighten up and you can see the bottom!

                                                   Sunrise leaving Bimini

                                                        Sunset at Great Harbor Cay

A beautiful day in the neighborhood

Tuesday, Feb. 24

We had such a nice afternoon yesterday we decided to stay another night in Bimini. The morning was a little frustrating as I spent about two hours going back and forth to the phone stores. Part of the frustration was riding back and forth on my bike. The roads here are really not wide enough for two cars so watching them try to pass each other is a show but when your on your bike trying to find some room on the road with them it is somewhat nerve racking. There are no sidewalks. In many places the pavement butts up to a fence or building leaving no place to go. The other very popular mode of transportation is golf carts. They buzz up and down like large bees and like bees they have no horn. I let one golf cart pass and started to pull out and several people yelled. I didn't see or hear the second one. I can see the headlines now. Old lady pulls out in front of golf cart on her bike. Not to embarrassing! The economy here is pretty depressed. The houses are in very poor shape and there is a lot of sitting around playing dominos or just sitting around going on.  There also does not appear to be much pride with regard to litter on the roads, in yards etc.  We spent several hours on the beach this afternoon. There was a great spot next to some shade for Peanut. She dug herself a hole to lay in and was happy.  She and I also enjoyed a long walk down the back side of the beach, which was all rock no sand.  I took my paddle board out but never attempted to stand as the waves were to high, it was still fun to paddle out and float back in to shore.  About four o'clock we rode our bikes down to Joeys conch salad bar. He makes the salad as you watch, all fresh tomatoes, onions, peppers and conch. He keeps the conch alive in a big basket it the water until he needs one.  I suggested that he clean up the shells and sell them to the tourists instead of just dumping them in a big pile. He explained that he puts the prettiest ones aside and has several of the kids clean them up during the summer months.They then sell them to the tourists and use the money to buy their school uniforms for the next year. With the new resort going up that could easily be a year round job for kids. 
With conch salad in hand we rode to Charley's. Charlie makes three kinds of bread in his house. Coconut, raisin and Bimini. Boaters in several blogs and one of the guides mentions Charley's  bread. You know when you are close to his house as the  glorious smell of baking bread permeates the air.  You knock on the door and follow him into his kitchen where bread is lined up on the table and counter. He sells out almost everyday. We bought one loaf of coconut and one raisin. I know I should stay away from bread but the Bahamian bread is so so good, and ours was still warm!!  When we returned to the marina all of the empty docks around us had filled. The sharks were back because the fishermen were cleaning their fish at the next dock. We had dinner and discussed the plan for leaving before dawn tomorrow. Another nice warm day!

                                                                very old shipwreck

                                         The roads are not very wide. I'm not sure why there are cars

                         The little flea market downtown. The crab man, singer was very good

A random goat roaming around

Joes conch(pronounced conk) bar. Peanut in the bike box

Charlie and I think daughter

These Bull sharks were huge!

Mmmmmm

Conch salad or sometimes called civiche

Conch piles found along the water. Conch hunting or fishing, not sure what to call it is quite the business here.

Wer'e in Bimini

Monday, Feb 23rd

We left Port Everglades inlet at 7:00 am this morning.  The first two hours were pretty uncomfortable. It was nearly impossible to pour a cup of coffee or stand. I now have a few more boat bruises caused by trips from the fly bridge to the galley.The waves did lay down somewhat around1:30 in the afternoon. They went from two and a half to three footers to one and a half to twos. About a 1/2 mile out of Bimini harbor we finally experienced the one footers that were predicted. We are staying at a marina as it made checking into customs and access to our bikes easier. Tom checked us in as only the master or captain is supposed to take care of it.  All went smoothly we thought, then while in the immigration office Tom got called back to customs. He came out with an officer who followed us to the boat. Not a good sign. When done Tom had to accompany the officer back to customs. Again not a good sign! All I could think of is if they were not going to let us stay I hope we at least had till morning. I did not want to cross back at night. What happened?  Well, I'll let Tom be the one to tell you his mistake but I will say we were lucky. He was given a stern reprimand rather than the three to five thousand dollar fine that goes along with this mistake. After checking in with customs and immigration we took a long bike ride to one end of Bimini to see all the improvements that are taking place with the new resort. It was new and just getting underway when we were here three years ago. After dinner Tom went fishing off the dock. I came out with Peanut for a while but after seeing two sharks pass by decided I needed to take her back on the boat. She gets so excited about fishing that she has been know to fall in and she wouldn't last long with those big guys swimming around.

                                                        Entrance to Bimini Harbor

                                     What remains of a home owned by Ernest Hemingway

                                 The new Hilton being built on the World Resorts property

                                              A view of the ocean from the resort pool

This resort was very new when we were here 3 years ago. They had shops and single family homes.

They now have townhomes, the pool and connected bar, a casino and a Hilton is under

construction. We were amazed at the changes. The resort is located at the very end of the island. Once you leave the property there really isn't much else.