11) Chubb Cay
Tuesday/Wednesday,
March 3-March 4
We set the alarm for 5:00 am to check the weather. The situation is the high winds. Wind is blowing 18-20 knots out of the East/Northeast. The forecast is that it will be like this for the next week possibly two. Wave height was about 2 footers but would build as the week went on. Knowing it would be somewhat of a challenge we decided to cast the lines at 6:30 am, sunrise. Kim backed the boat out against the wind and current. He did a great job and we only kissed one dock pylon.
WE ARE BACK ONLINE. HAD SOME TECHNICAL ISSUES.
The journey was suppose to be 12-14 hours to Chubb Cay. However, once we turned at the ship wreck to the east we were headed into the wind with current against us. We slowed down to 3-4 knots, sometimes it was 2 knots. A sloth could travel faster! We were in 10-13 feet of water so waves were not too bad. Hour after hour we went then it started getting dark and we still had not gotten to the "Tongue of the Ocean". ( #2 on the picture on the right. If you read the depths it is thousands of feet deep. 6,000 feet at its deepest. Once we reached the tongue we had 15 miles to go and we slowed down to 2-3 knots with huge waves. 5-6 hours later we got to Chubb Cay and dropped anchor. It was 23 hours after we left Bimini. The anchorage had us rocking and rolling but we did sleep for 2 hours and then the sun as up. We pulled anchor and moved closer to shore to have more protection from the winds (East winds at 15-20 knots). So tired! Chubb Cay went private a few years ago so you have to have a huge mega yacht and lots of money to go into the marina. Just to dock your dingy was $100-$150 per day. We spent the day doing boat chores and wondering why our anchor alarm kept going off when we were not dragging anchor. Even took the dingy out to investigate but we never moved. It finally stopped.
This is how the day looked.....until we turned the corner into Mackie Shoal.
We did get to sail with motor off for 45 minutes!!!! :)
Made dinner and went to bed by 7:30pm. Only to be woken up by rolly and rocking again. Got little sleep again.
We also were dealing with a freighter that did not have it's AIS on. It was coming right at us so we had alter our route to avoid a collision. However, it wasn't moving. Possibly anchored. Hmmm. Then we got closer.
Thursday, March 5
Well, as you can imagine we are not staying another day/night here. Pulled out the charts and started looking for a more protected spot. We are picking up friends, John and Jackie Weller, in Nassau on Sunday but am not interested in fighting the cruise ships, Spring Breakers just yet. Andros Island, the island across the tongue, had a wonderful looking spot with a protected bay. At 8:30 am we pulled anchor and headed across. Yes, it was wavy. Yes, we sailed the whole way at 6.5-6.8 knots. BUT... it was only 2-2 1/2 hours!!!! We entered the channel rocking and rolling but then there was this blissful calm! 2 other sailboats were anchored in the bay but left us plenty of room.
The rest of the morning was spent relaxing in the calm waters of the anchorage. Around 3:00 pm we got the dingy down and went into land. There is a Bahamian bar, Below the Dock, on the beach that had music playing and cold beer calling our names. So off we went.
When we walked onto the deck of the bar, a couple with two dogs said that they had been in Brunswick, GA while we were there. In Brunswick, they had to be towed into the marina due to engine failure. We had been sitting on our boat watching this all go down in. We saw them unload stuff off their boat, heard their dogs barking at everyone who went by. Such a small world! Kelly and Pete on Sojourner.
Spent two hours getting to know them and only to find out they were leaving the next morning. So sad! We found we had a lot in common but they were ending their 3 months in the Bahamas and heading back home to New York.
(That is a giant termite nest)
Good day and looking forward to a calm good night's sleep.
Day 2 Morgan's Bluff
We did not sleep well due to high winds and rocking and rolling. Nothing like Chubb Cay but not calm at all. I think this is my future!!! We did have a waterbed in the 80's so maybe this was meant to be.
After a slow morning we put the dingy down and headed to shore. Saw medium size turtles swimming along the shore.
We needed to find Captain Morgan's Cave and The Bluff. We found the cave first. It is said that Captain Henry Morgan used this location to hid the spoils from his plunder.
We continued our walk to where barges, car ferry, and other large ships used to tie up. During Hurricane Matthew ripped through this bay and sunk any ship in harbor. Most are still there just below the surface. Chunks of rusty metal is still washing ashore.
Next we headed to the Bluff. We saw this coming into the bay but was so busy with the rocky water as we entered the channel we didn't really SEE it.
