In the Bahamas

No Name Harbor




Miami Skyline from Biscayne Bay

Hello All,

We left Miami (No Name Harbour) on December 21, 2007 @ 2:30 a.m with 12 other boats. Destination Bahamas!

After about 1 1/2 hrs we entered the gulf stream with a 4-5 knot current, and the seas where rough 6-7' waves the wind blew 20-25 knots from the ESE, with the forecast winds supposed to switch to the SSW. The winds and seas did not let up all morning as promised by the weather guessers. As the morning progressed the 12 sailboats got further apart going at their own speeds. We had two other boats in sight until morning. With only part of our jib up and the motor basically idling at 1800 RPM,"Wy'East" pulled away from the other boats. As we got closer to Bimini about 5 miles out, we got hit by a dark squall with heavy rain and I mean heavy!! It washed all the salt off "Wy'East, but the wind also increased to about 35+ knots. It lasted for an exciting 15 minutes then passed. As we approached the Bimini harbor entrance, there were about 6 boats circling the harbour, I guessed afraid to enter because of the big waves and the narrow opening and were also concerned with the depth. Since we only draft 4'3" and were tired of being in the big waves, we decided to go in as we had the course in our GPS Plotter. After our sail was down we were the first boat to enter. It was rough but we just took it slow. We docked at the Blue Water Marina and was greeted by "Big C" and his crew who helped us get tied up to the pilings. I was so very happy to have my feet back on land!!!!!!!

Bimini Water at the docks
Bimini Harbor from our stern


Within a few hours, the other boats arrived safe, but tired. The water was so beautiful aqua blue and so clean and clear. It was time a have a drink to celebrate our accomplishment. We had made it to the Bahamas all the way from Long Island, New York. All together about 1700 miles traveled on a boat going 5 to 6 miles per hour on average. "Wy'East proved to us once again that she is a very seaworthy boat and that she's tougher than us!! We only ran aground a few times and we got to Bimini without a scratch on our boat or us.

Our first Kalik. Good stuff!


On a beautiful Bimini Saturday morning we were hearing rumors about a local man that had been shot in a bar just a couple blocks from our marina. About 10:00 a.m we noticed black smoke, like someone was burning tires nearby. Turns out, it was some of the local people burning the police boat and starting the jail on fire. A police officer had indeed shot a man in the head while in handcuffs, and some of the family members and friends were VERY upset. The government flew in the riot police from Nassau. About 30, fully armed men with machine guns ran passed our marina to the Jail which was just 2 blocks from us. About 10 minutes later we heard gun fire from automatic weapons that went on for several minutes. It was scary as we didn't know what was happening just a few blocks down the street!!! Of course we thought the worst, that many people were being killed by the police. About an hour or so after that the Tourist Bureau representative came down to the docks to speak to all the boat crews tied up in the marina. She told us that no one had been hurt and the police just fired in the air with rubber bullets. Just as she finished telling us the "official" line about the incident, all hell broke loose just on the docks 50 yards from us!! Turns out the police were taking the police officer who did the shooting off the island, and the rioters were chasing them, throwing rocks and bottles. The riot police opened up on them again, this time we saw wood splinters flying up from the docks and water erupting near the beach. No one was hurt again, so the Bahamian police really did handle the situation with professionalism and skill. It just sounded and looked really bad! We were pretty shaken up by all of this, and we were ready to leave the island ASAP!

Atlantic Side Beach on Bimini

Whisper from Newfoundland









Shipwreck on the Bahama Banks


Bahamas Banks water 12' deep
We decided to leave the next day, Sunday the 23rd of December in the morning. Together with "Whisper", a 30 foot boat from Newfoundland, Canada we set out across the Bahama Banks. A few miles into it, "Whisper" had some problems with their alternator, so we decided to stop at a place called "Cat Cay" near Bimini to anchor for the afternoon, go to the beach and rest up. The day was beautiful and the water was calm. We snorkeled, had a picnic on the beach and enjoyed the day.

Rough Seas (was worse than it looks)



The next morning we took off across the banks with Whisper, who fixed their alternator. The seas were rough again, and wind against us. We made it to a place called Russell Light, in the middle of no where on Christmas Eve!!! We were kind of depressed to be anchored in the middle of the sea, no land in sight on Christmas in big swells, rolling all over the place. After about an hour I (Chennie) spotted a sail heading our direction. Preston called them on the radio to ask their name and destination. "White Bird" was heading to Chub Cay, where we had intended to go, but we didn't want to travel unfamiliar shallow waters in the dark. Zeke and his wife had done this trip lots of times, and we asked to follow them. It was getting dark, so we got the anchor up and followed them into the night. We had use our spot lights to all stay together as it was so dark. We arrived in Chub Cay at 2:30 a.m. with "White Bird" then "Whisper" arrived an hour later. We were glad to hear the anchor chain rattle over the bow as we were exausted. We still slept in the cockpit, but a few hours later we woke up to clear, blue crystal water and white sand. Preston put on his snorkel gear on and checked out our anchor, just to make sure we had it buried in the sand securely. Christmas Night we had dinner at the Chub Cay Marina @ Harry's Bar with about 20 other fellow cruisers.



Snorkeling at Chub Cay

















December 26th we left Chub Cay for the Berry Island Club, about a 10 mile sail. We docked with 5 other boats. I did laundry and made some phone calls on SKYPE. A local fisherman came into the dock. He was selling fish & lobster (a dozen for $25) we decided to buy some grouper that we grilled with some friends we had met "Channing & Jamie Boswell" from Pine Island, FL. Channing actually once lived in Hood River for a year while windsurfing and helped a friend run the Multnomah Channel Boat Yard in the Portland area, so we had lot's to talk about!

We left the Berry Island Club after a couple days and headed for Cabbage Cay at Little Harbour where we anchored out for 2 nights. On the way to Little Harbor, Preston caught his first fish. Unfortunately, he caught a 3 1/2 foot barracuda! He had big teeth, and fought him all the way to the stern of the boat. Since we were sailing in big waves and strong winds the barracuda didn't get taken off the hook until we got to our destination, and he was a goner by then. That was fine with Preston, as he didn't want to tangle with those teeth!

Barracuda!

Our dingy on the beach at Cabbage Cay



Chennie in the water at Cabbage Cay

We took our dingy to the beach to swim and snorkel. That afternoon another good friend of ours Wolfgang on "Gallatia" arrived. We originally met Wolfgang in Coinjock North Carolina and last saw him in Charleston, SC. He has an offshore sailing charter businsess and had 5 guests on board. We had dinner with them at "Flo's Conch Bar" and we did have conch!!..... Conch Fritters, Conch Salad and Cracked Conch!!!!!!

Mountains of Conch Shells @ Flo's Conch Bar

On December 30th @ 7:30 a.m we left for Nassau and of course the wind was on our nose and 4-5' seas. I was at the helm most of the day to give Preston a break. We had to tack a few times to keep on course and near our rhumb line into the harbor. We entered the Nassau harbour at 4:30 p.m. We came into Nassua Yacht Haven and were greeted by some fellow cruisers that helped up get us tied up in the nasty current.



On December 31 we had dinner with Wolgang and his guests at the "Poop Deck Grill" And of course we were looking forward to the Bahamian Junkanoo Celebration. Junkanoo actually starts New Years Day @ about 2:30 a.m. and goes until 9:00 the next morning. It really was something. A parade with colorful floats, all hand made and human powered! They dance and carry the floats for hours until morning. The energy and sounds are intense. The participants are so into it, it's almost like they are in a trance.
There is nothing like it anywhere.











Now we are here in a storm. The wind is blowing 30 knots tonight, and for the next few days it's supposed to blow. We are staying put here in Nassau until the wind stops.

Until next time...

Chennie and Preston in Nassau, aboard Wy'East

"If it's gonna happen, it's gonna happen out there"
Captain Ron