Meandering Magees: Great Harbour Cay

Tuesday, April 3, 2018
Day 366
120 miles to Great Harbour Cay

As we pulled out of our slip at Blue Water Marina in Alicetown on North Bimini at 8:45 Monday morning, the dock hand J.R. was waving and calling out goodbyes to Mike and Greg. It was a beautiful, sunny day and we had 2ft seas all the way to the Berry Islands, which made for a very comfortable ride.

Just like on our approach to Bimini, when we neared Great Harbour Cay we slowed down to give us a better feel for the unfamiliar waters. When the depth finder is reading 7 feet (as it did at one point), the slower the better. And it is a little disorienting when the water is so clear and you can see bottom!
A sport fish boat blew past us, but we were ok with that as it gave us a path to follow into the harbour entrance. Local knowledge is always a good thing. We ended up docked next to that boat and the guys on it shared much of that knowledge with us.

We entered the channel that leads back to the Great Harbour Cay Marina at 2:45 and we were all tied up in our slip at 3:15. The marina offers free boat washing water (not potable, but not salt water) so the cleaning began. After the two long ocean runs on Saturday and Monday, every surface on True North was caked in salt, so she really needed the wash down.

We finished in time to shower and throw steaks on the grill before the NCAA basketball game started. So far, our DirecTV reception has been great. You have to be thankful for the little things . . .

Speaking of showers - we had a plan before setting off for the Bahamas. It was a good plan. One of the best laid plans of mice and men. To conserve water usage, we are suppose to use the facilities when at a marina - showers and restrooms. The men are not sticking to the plan, only the mouse on board is (me).

Tuesday morning we hand washed the entire flybridge area. Then I used one of the free courtesy bikes supplied by the marina and pedaled into the village of Bullock's Harbour. We were told that Great Harbour Cay is not geared toward tourists and remains a true Bahamian settlement. My bike ride confirmed that.

If you have ever been on a cruise ship and they stopped at their private island, you were in the Berry Islands. Great Stirrup Cay (Norwegian) and Coco Cay (Royal Caribbean) are two that pop into my head. When I got back from my tour of the village, the 3 of us went exploring on the dinghy. When we rounded a point, we saw 2 cruise ships in the distance on nearby cays.

We pulled the dinghy up on a small stretch of sandy beach (most of the coastline we were on was hard coral rock) and waded in warm, clear water. I took my snorkeling equipment but we weren't near a reef, so spent the time looking for sea shells. After finding a few keepers, we got back in the dinghy to head to a reef but realized the fuel tank was too low to keep going. We got back to the boat in time to watch a boater take the conch meat out of its shells. Slimy, icky stuff!! When I saw him just tossing the empty shells back into the water, I asked it I could have one. He let me take my pick.
But what a job to clean it! He pointed out that taking live conch shells out of the water just to keep the shell is illegal in the Bahamas. You can only gather them to eat the conch. That is proved by a small hole punched into the shell where you can insert a knife to loosen the meat and slide it out the large curl. My shell is soaking overnight to try to get the mossy gunk off it so I will take a picture of it for the next post.

We had docktails with Art and Sue from Loofah and met a couple on a sailboat who are from Fairbanks, Alaska until the mosquitos drove us inside.

Tomorrow morning will be another 4-5 hour trip as we head to an anchorage in the southern Abacos. It will make 3 long travel days but once we get to Lynyard Cay we will have relatively short distances while exploring the Abacos. Can't wait!