Feb 3-6, 2023 Hoffman’s Cay, Berry Islands

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We ended up sitting on the same anchor for 6 days, in the same beautiful bay, overlooking the same perfect beach at Hoffman Cay.

It has been wonderful and at times challenging.  

On the second day Lois and Sam took the paddle board to the beach.  Brent was getting in the dinghy to join them when he twisted up his back.  Painfully he retreated from the dinghy to lay down.  Over two days and three nights all he could do was lay still or painfully move about the boat carefully supporting his body using hand holds. The third day was much better and he continued to improve day over day.  Fortunately we were in a place we could just sit and did not need to move the boat, and our medical kit had the right meds to help.  To add to the fun, Lois kicked a block on the deck and hurt her foot. Luckily she was still able to function, even if it was gingerly. That's enough of those kind of adventures!

Then came a significant storm that would blow first from the north and then from the east. The harbor is open to the north, but the swell could not get over the very shallow water that lays in that direction.  The storm intensified to 30kts on our instruments as it swung around to easterly. But Second Star was well protected by the hills to the east.  For about 24 hours we were confined to the boat as the storm blew over us.   Sam was most upset about not getting her daily beach trips, but the waves were just too much to attempt the short dinghy ride to the beach.

After the storm abated we did make a number of trips to shore

including a visit to the famous blue hole on Hoffman’s Cay

and to the key hole lagoon where we watched turtles, manta rays, and pelicans. I was only fast enough to get a photo of the pelicans: the Three Amigos who flew everywhere together.

On February 6 the weather made a very pleasant shift that inspired us to finally haul up the anchor to head on to the Exumas to the south.  When we went to start engines one would not so much as make a sound. After a quick investigation it was found the wires feeding electrical power to the engine had chafed, apparently in all the rocking and rolling of the storm.  What looked horrid turned out to be repairable with tools and materials we had on board.  So about an hour and half later the engine was up and running sweetly. 

With the anchor now up we made our way very carefully over one more shoal and out into deep water of Proviedence Channel (depth measured in thousands of feet). We put sails up and got moving south, making the area around Nassau in late afternoon after a brilliant day of sailing.

We found a somewhat protected anchorage off Athol Island with a good view of Nassau to settle into for the night.  The island was in bad shape, covered with hurricane flotsam & jetsam, but it had a small beach for the dog to visit.

In the morning it's on to the Exumas!



Comments

Jane said…
Oh my! Hope Brent is all better and that Lois’s foot is ok. Hope you have no more of these issues, even if we all know you are prepared to handle.
February 12, 2023 at 2:18 PM
Lynn and Ed said…
Hope you are enjoying life wherever you are now!
February 13, 2023 at 7:39 PM
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