Exile: The Berry Islands

Our sites were set on biking to a beach on the southern end of Great Harbour Cay on Wednesday and stopping to eat at The Beach Club, a typical lunch shack in the islands. We continued our journey to a favorite beach of John and Cherre's protected from the prevailing winds. Jeff and I borrowed the marina's complimentary beach cruisers, although I wouldn't call what we were doing was "cruising". Many times I had to walk the bike because of the hills and my lack of exercise lately. John and Cherre have electric bikes - now THAT'S cruising! The house in front of the beach we were on is currently on the market and we imagined ourselves being the proud owners. What a great winter home that would be! We'd just have to find someone with a private plane to fly us there.

Lunch at the Beach Club

Cherre and John. Sun is going down - time to pack up

Looking at the back of the home from the beach

The front of our dream home

We bought a whole grouper from Hubert, the local fish supplier in the white t-shirt in the foreground. The young man in the back wearing the grey t-shirt was diving 80 feet down on a reef and spear fishing all the catch (grouper, hog snapper and lobster). He would swim the fish back up to 40 feet where they would puff up and float to the surface where Hubert gathered them up and put them on ice. $10 a pound for fresh grouper filet!

We bought a whole grouper from Hubert and split it with John and Cherre

On Thursday February 4th, we shared a golf cart with John and Cherre and set out to explore the northern part of the island and stopped in to see if Angie and Marty would be serving dinner later that evening. We made a 7:00 reservation and after checking out the premises, (you would never guess from the front of the building what you'd find inside) continued on our ride around the island.

Check out the Carriearl here!

The Carriearl front entrance

All of the tile work in the amazing pool was done by Marty himself

We passed several homes and couldn't help snap a picture of this driveway lined with palms creating a beautiful canopy to the ocean. So inviting!

Arriving at "the caves" we stopped to eat our packed lunch and scope out the surroundings. Jeff went into one of the caves but didn't find any sea glass like we found on Mann Island in Eleuthera last year. The clouds in the sky were so wispy and created such a peaceful backdrop.

Jeff says this is a perfect spot for a firepit when the tide goes out, Blaine Blackmore!

From there we toured some ruins which we believe was once a country club with guest rooms. What this place must have been in the 60's. The views were spectacular - I can just envision dinner being served in the large room overlooking the ocean. After walking the beach we rounded up our belongings and headed back to the marina to clean up for dinner at Carriearl which turned out to be a great experience and tons of fun for all.

Once the roof starts leaking it doesn't take long to deteriorate although the tile floor was still intact

Panoramic views of the ocean

King of the hill?

We all contemplated checking out the cave...

...but Jeff was the only one who walked across the rocks to get there

Time out for lunch

And a stroll after

We like this house better!

Imagine sitting here every evening and enjoying this view

We're ready to move in!

Exploring more ruins

No matter what we do, the four of us always manage to have more fun than ever!

Friday, February 5th was a blustery overcast and chilly day so we all hunkered down in our own boats and caught up on things like bills, blogs, and the like. The next day it was a little breezy but we decided after having spent the day before hunkered down, we'd head to another beach after Jeff and John worked on fixing a few things on the Let It Go. As usual, beach time is fun and relaxing. How is it we NEVER run out of things to talk about with these guys!?!

After spending a great week together it was time for John and Cherre to head out to Highbourne Cay. We waved them off and watched as they left Great Harbour. We hope to catch up with them again somewhere in the Exuma chain.

Off to Highbourne Cay

After they left, Jeff and I rode bikes one day, walked to town another and attended a marina potluck party. I contributed a bowlful of lobster dip and crackers which promptly disappeared. Unfortunately by the time Jeff and I got to the buffet table, mostly everything was gone, so we quietly left and made Beef Wellington aboard EXILE. It was a very chilly night so it felt good to get back onboard and heat up the oven.

Red sky at night...

In the morning we were excited to see that Percy the conch man and bonefish guide was mixing up batches of conch salad and had one left for us! Once the conch has been collected their shells are pierced and they are strung together. See the black twine in the picture below. This makes it easy to carry many at once and if they are left in the water they can't sneak away.

Fresh conch

First conch salad of the season!

Jeff spent several hours a day waxing the foredeck which is now glistening. Finally, on Thursday Feb 11, we had our weather window to depart toward Nassau to pick up a few essential items. We left at 9:05am and sailed the entire day! The winds were perfect and the seas were low. Up ahead we had to round the corner and came upon a cruise ship anchored off Little Stirrup Island. The passengers were being tendered to the island where there were an incredible amount of beach chairs lined up. Just as we passed the first cruise ship we came upon another……………. And yet another!

Yes - it can be chilly in the Bahamas in February!

Great Stirrup Island lighthouse

Sunset anchored off of Alders Cay

Sunrise the next morning, the start of a great sailing day

We had a beautiful 4 hour close reach sail in 10 to 12 knots of wind all the way from Alders Cay to the entrance of Nassau Harbour. There were four other boats that left the anchorage above us (they had a head start) at about the same time and we left them in our wake. Once we exited the east end of the harbor we put our sails back out and steered a wide arc around the southeastern part of New Providence Island to clear the numerous coral heads. At 3:20 we were secure in our slip at Palm Cay Marina in New Providence, located about 20 minutes across the island from Nassau, the capital of the Bahamas.

On our way to Palm Cay - beautiful sail!

These side curtains really do a great job keeping us warm or dry!

Nassau City on New Providence in the distance

The western end of Nassau Harbour is marked by the lighthouse and you have to radio Nassau Harbour Control to get clearance to enter or pass through the Harbour. This is for both security and congestion control. As you can see by the relative size of the cruise ships to the Harbour, they need all the room they can get.

Lighthouse on the west end of Paradise Island and the approach to Nassau Harbour

Three cruise ships in the Harbour waiting to depart

Guy Harvey even lends his artwork to cruise ships for a price!

We passed by Atlantis and its marina. We also encountered our first bridges since leaving the states and these offered more clearance than the typical 65’ on the ICW.