Day 259 & 260 March 6 - 7, 2023

 Day 259 Monday, March 6, 2023

Great Harbour Cay, Berry Island

Weather dictates that we leave today.  We had planned to stay a day and check out the island but weather rules.  We left at 12:40 but not until we had met Gerry and Marrgie from London Ontario (funny – she isn’t a Margaret either) and saw the manatee in the marina.  Great Harbour Cay is right by Coco Cay owned by Royal Caribbean.  They bring passengers here to enjoy the island paradise and amusements they’ve created.

Check out the amusements on Coco Cay.

We passed Odyssey of the Seas and Wonder of the Seas at the island.  

Our goal was Bonds Cay but monitoring the wind we ended up at White Cay.  We rafted with Call Me Curly in a nice calm anchorage.  Grant ferried us to shore in his dinghy to enjoy the beach.  Guess who was already there? Jennifer and Seth from Witness.  Our paths cross again.  We also said hi to a couple from Shelburne Vermont passing by in a dinghy! 

 Call Me Curly

 Rocky landscape above and below the water 

  The water was beautiful.  We enjoyed a swim, a manta ray swimming by and found a conch on the ocean floor. 

Grant indulged us with a dinghy tour of the sunken sail boat nearby.  I wish I knew its’ history.  

 

We sat on the bow of our boat enjoying the sunset and then joined for, you guessed it, Wizards.

 For those of you who are wondering, the new macerator works.

Day 260 Tuesday, March 7, 2023

Today we head to Nassau.  6:45am start, we had a nice calm night at anchor.  The winds changed around 4am so we had more lapping noise on the hull but still comfortable.  We were up at 6am and got to see a great sunrise.   We traveled the outside along the Northwest Providence Channel.  We had 1-2 foot waves and a sunny 6 hour crossing. 

   

 

We didn’t have any reservations so were hoping for the best in Nassau.  I made several calls along the way and researched our options.  We sat outside the Nassau harbor entrance while we made multiple calls (with marina instructions to call back at 11:30, call back in 10min, etc.) waiting for conformation that we had slips.  Finally, Peter, the dock master at Nassau Harbor Club and Marina, called us back and said they had room.  YAY! 

 

Entrance to Nassau Harbor       Breakwater made from barrel shaped cement.

Now that we knew where we were going we called Nassau Harbor Control for permission to enter the harbor.  They supervise all the boat traffic.  This is crucial when the cruise ships are moving in the harbor.  Harbor Control asked for our boat name, registration and destination.  Whenever you change locations you are supposed to report in. 

 Some of the cruise ships in port.

 Very busy harbor; Jerry must be attentive.

Hotel Atlantis on nearby Paradise Island.

  

We were finally tied in our slip with the help of expert dock hands at 12:45.  The docks are fixed and quite high.  I will need to be a bit of an acrobat to get off the boat depending on the tide. 

We rewarded ourselves with a dip in the marina pool.  Quite nice and very clean.  

 

 On one of the electric posts at the marina.

Tied next to us at the marina - a local entrepreneur.  

After we were refreshed we walked 20 minutes to town to The Green Parrot.  It certainly wasn’t the same as the one in Key West but word from Susan and Danny was the Daiquiris were good.  We all had Pina Coladas and an appetizer for our dinner.  Then back to our boats.  It was rush hour traffic with commuters heading home on our way to the bar; traffic on the way back had definitely calmed down.

  The Pina Coladas WERE good.