Double Breasted Cays and Thanksgiving

MOVING TO DOUBLE BREASTED CAYS AND THANKSGIVING

What a difference a day makes.  Yesterday had squalls and gale force winds, today the sun is out and seas are calm.  Actually, the winds died down yesterday evening around dusk leaving Kathi just enough time to go explore the shoreline at our anchorage.  As I prepared dinner, Kathi swims back with our first three lobster of the season.  She said there had to be a hundred of them along the shoreline.

Wednesday we moved from Grand Cays to Double Breasted Cays; a short trip of about 4 miles.  There are several anchorages to choose from and since we have never visited this group of Cays before we chose the anchorage easiest to get to and centrally located.  We plan to be here for a week or ten days.  Another anchorage close by is more protected but the route into it shows some shallow depths and narrow passage-ways.  We will explore the route by dinghy before we move there tomorrow.

Double Breasted Cays are uninhabited and provide lots of shoreline for us to explore as well as numerous reefs offshore that can be explored by dinghy in calm weather.  This is the type of place we love; isolated, beautiful water, lots of sea life and good anchorages.  Maybe we found our paradise!

After getting Makani anchored we went to check-out the more protected anchorage we want to move to and then for a snorkel.  The path to the anchorage is narrow but easily seen in good light and has plenty of depth for us to pass through as long as we wait for a rising tide.  We decide that we will move on Thursday.  Our first snorkel here is wonderful.  Lots of sea life to enjoy watching and plenty of fish, conch, and lobster to keep us fed.  We bring back 6 conch and 6 lobster; plenty for dinner tonight and a few meals to put in the freezer.

On Thanksgiving Day we moved to our more protected anchorage, Kathi at the helm and me on the bow watching for any shallow coral heads.  The only problem Kathi had was as we went past one of the inlets to the ocean the current from the rising tide pushed the boat toward the shallows.  The route here is only about 30 feet wide with rocky shoreline on one side and a sand bar on the other.  We made it through safely then found our anchoring spot.  Our anchorage can be seen in the photo above.  In the center of the light blue area is a small cay called Sandy Cay.  The light blue is shallow sand.  We anchored just to the south-west of Sandy Cay in the small channel between Sandy Cay and the Cay to the south-west.  

Many people would expect that we would feast on lobster and other seafood for our Thanksgiving dinner.  I’m a traditionalist though; turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, biscuits and cranberry sauce for us.  We got dinner started then went for a snorkel.  Since we have all of the food we need for the next few days I took a camera rather than a spear.  I was able to get a nice short video of a nurse shark that showed some curiosity about us.  We came back to the boat and the aroma of turkey greeted us.  The smell of turkey roasting is one of my favorites.

Thanksgiving dinner was delicious as expected.  We wish we had some friends of family to share with but for now we will just enjoy each other.  We hope all of you enjoyed a great Thanksgiving wherever you are at.

Friday was a day to explore more of Double Breasted Cays; swimming along the shoreline, seeing the sea-life, and fighting the currents.  We read that this area has strong currents and we found that to be true.  In the center of the “streams” between the Cays the current is too strong to swim against, even with fins.  Fortunately, close to the shoreline, the current is very slight.  Kathi had a surprise when a large nurse shark swam directly beneath her.   After about 3 hours of snorkeling we returned to the boat for a late lunch/early supper of Thanksgiving left-overs.

Saturday is Kathi’s birthday.  Plan for the day is to get 2 lobsters for dinner to go with the steak we have, then give her a sand massage on the beach near the boat.

MAKANI MUSES

Bahamas

November, 2017- May, 2018

Makani saying farewell to the US

This year’s journey to the Bahamas began in Lake Worth, Florida on Saturday, November 18, 2017.  A narrow weather window for crossing the gulf stream  was projected for mid-day Saturday through early Sunday.  After finishing our provisioning on Saturday morning we hoisted the dinghy engine onto its mount on the davits and then raised the dinghy onto its place on the bow.  Seas were projected to be 3-5 feet early Saturday, diminishing through the day to 2-3 feet. 

We left Lake Worth inlet at 12:30pm heading for Memory Rock, our entrance onto the Little Bahama Bank, 54 nautical miles away.  Winds were very light and coming directly at us so we motor-sailed; the sails were up mainly to provide stability against the ocean swells.  We were pleasantly surprised that the crossing was one of the easiest we have done.  Kathi navigated us onto the Banks at Memory Rock at 9:30 pm.  I had napped for as much of the crossing as I could then took over for the next part of the trip.  We decided to head for Mangrove Cay, a tiny uninhabited Cay, 24 miles from Memory Rock.  We reached the anchorage around 1:30am, set our hook and settled in for some well deserved rest.

In the morning, we took care of our chores including getting the dinghy back into the water and remounting the outboard, then did our traditional swinging off the boat and down into the water.  After a nice bath in the salt water we were on our way to our next destination, Grand Cay.

Grand Cays is one of the northern-most Cays in the Bahamas and is a check-in point for customs and immigration.  We have never checked in at Grand Cays before but were told it was an easy process.  The trip of 24 miles took us about 5 hours but the winds had shifted to the north-west at about 12 knots allowing us to turn off the engine and sail using all 3 of Makani’s sails.  After a beautiful sail we reached Grand Cays, anchored, then went in search of the Customs office.  The Customs office was closed (of course) with a phone number to call posted on the door.  We went to Rosie’s Place, the local restaurant, and one of the patrons called the number.  The Customs officer is actually headquartered on Walkers Cay, 5 miles away, but she boated over and we completed the paperwork sitting at a table at Rosie’s place.  The biggest concern in clearing through is wether you will receive immigration stay for 3 months or for 6 months.  If you only receive authorization for 3 months you must return to an immigration office no more than a week before your time is up to request an extension.  Fortunately, we were given a 6 month time-frame.  We are now legal to travel through the Bahamas, spearfishing to our hearts and stomach’s content! 

At anchor in Grand Cays

Grand Cays consists of 5 populated Cays, Grand Cay, Big Grand Cay, Little Grand Cay,, Seahorse Cay, and Felix Cay.  The largest settlement is located on Little Grand Cay with the Government Administration, a small grocery store, three restaurants and a few other shops.  In the recent past, many of the inhabitants worked at the resort on Walkers Cay, about 5 miles away.  Walkers Cay was a hotspot for offshore fishing, boasted a first-rate marina and hotel.  The area was one of President Nixon’s favorite vacation spots.  Hurricanes essentially destroyed the facilities on Walkers Cay which now lie abandoned, eliminating one of the primary sources of livelihood for the locals of Grand Cay.  Today most of the population makes their living from fishing.  Each evening you can watch the small boats returning to the harbor to drop their catch off at the dock for future shipment to Marsh Harbor and the processing plant.

Blustery in the anchorage

  As predicted, the weather turned nasty late Sunday with gale-force winds from the north clocking around to the east.  The winds will persist through Tuesday afternoon so we stayed on our anchorage for the next two days.  We still feel good about crossing to the Bahamas when we did since the next potential weather window isn’t until November 25.   

Regardless of how strong the winds are we can always find a place to snorkel and enjoy seeing the undersea life.  We saw about a dozen lobster but they all looked too small so our conservation ethic kept us from spearing any.  This is just a time to enjoy being in the water again. 

Tuesday brought squalls along with the wind so we decided laundry was the task of the day; wash in salt water, rinse in salt water then hang on deck for a final fresh water rinse. Tomorrow we can hope for sunshine to provide the drying.