March 19-20, 2021 Overnight sailing from West End to the Berrys

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The first impression of West End's marina is of a colorful, pretty little harbor. Then hou start to notice there are obvious remnants of storm damage, and discover some of the services, like laundry & the bar, no longer exist. Things are a bit run down. One of its quirks is the stickers that cover just about every surface that is sticker-able.  I suspect we'll see that in many other places, too, but since we're here right now, let's say it amused me about West End.

Two days at this marina was plenty.  We've rested until now we're antsy to leave. West End's Old Bahama Bay on Grand Bahama is like a rest stop on the interstate: it is convienent and on the way but not the scene we have traveled so far to see.  We came here for clearing in with customs and immigration.  We had nearly run out of time on the 5 day limit to clear in after our Covid tests and entry visa approval, so we came here as it was the only choice we were certain we could reach in time.  

Once we'd cleared customs we focused on downshifting from all the logistics that got us to this point.  On a nice evening stroll along the beach hand in hand we agreed we were ready to move on. Before departing we walked the path to the end of the entrance jettys. Winds had been a sustained 24kts all night, howling in the rigging of the few sailboats in the slips,  so we expected more rolling seas than we actually saw.  That's good!  The next destination could be the Abacos or the Berry Islands.  Both appear to us as great choices, and we choose the Berry Islands.  We were a little tempted to take a moment to enjoy the hammock on the point, but we have a long way to go.

The weather forecast looks good and we departed thinking we would ride a pleasant wind across the 80 plus miles of deep ocean for a midnight arrival.  But the real wind turns out to be very light and dead behind us.  So the trip becomes the dreaded overnight motor ride.  We also cross a major shipping lane that was busy even at 2AM.  Oh, and also we are pushing against a serious gulf stream current.  We made the 80 mile trip in 17 hours  and were never able to exceed a speed of 5 kts.

We traded three hour watches through the night.  Finally after midnight the wind builds enough to shut off the engines and sail on jib alone.  We intentionally went slow trying to time our arrival on the Berrys' shallow banks with the coming dawn and that worked out perfectly.  We reached Bullocks Bay on Great Harbor Cay as the sun was peeking over the horizon.   We were very tired and dropped anchor in sandy bottom and slept for a few hours. Brent went for a swim to check the anchor, but mostly just to celebrate the clear warm water and FINALLY BEING HERE!

Reluctantly we picked up the anchor to trade this idyllic spot for our slip in the marina.  This place has a totally different vibe than West End- it's busy with boats coming & going, everyone seems to be in a festive mood.  The staff is friendly & facilities are clean & well kept. The owner tells us Hurricane Michael bypassed the Berrys, and Dorian wasn't so fierce but stalled out over the region and seemed to last forever. This marina is nestled in a bowl of hills, so it escaped damage.  There is a brochure of nearby dinghy trips to be taken to enjoy local water spots.  One is the Cove of Five Pirates; gotta see that! 😄

Our first agenda while here includes getting Bahamas sim cards for our phones, the required follow up covid test, and a boat washdown after many miles at sea.  And since we were also covered in salt, took  long hot showers.  Tomorrow we go see Nurse Cartwright to get the covid test done.  The featured activity at the marina office is pizza night, so I ordered one that will be delivered any minute now right to our slip.  Then we are just gonna chill island style!

  














Comments

Lynn and Ed said…
So glad you can finally relax. Bahamian pizza? If it’s authentic you should try it once just to say you have tried it. 😉
March 21, 2021 at 8:53 AM
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