7 April 2024
Depart: Royal Island anchorage 8:05
Arrive: Great Harbour Marina, Berry Islands, Bahamas 4:45
Distance: ~ 75 nm
Conditions: Calm seas, sunny, cool breeze
Most of our travel today was over open water in the Northeast Providence and Northwest Providence Channels. The chart shows depths of 4 digits - as much as 9000 feet deep.
I took a couple of pictures of the anchorage before we left in the morning.
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| Exit from anchorage - between the islands |
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| Marker on one side of entry |
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| Marker on the other side of the entry to the anchorage |
After that we had nothing worthy of picture-taking until around 3:30 when we approached Little Stirrup Cay, which appears to have taken over by a cruise ship company as their own playground in the Bahamas.
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| "Liberty of the Seas" (On left) "Allure of the Seas" (On right) Royal Caribbean Line |
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| Perfect Day Amusements |
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| "Allure of the Seas" cruise ship Little Stirrup Cay |
Our destination today was the Great Harbour Marina. We watched the clock as we traveled. The staff goes home at 5:00, and we were cutting it close to getting there beforehand. We arrived around 4:40! Tying to the fixed dock with a wide tide change proved challenging. While Clark was checking in at the front desk, the dockhand was trying to give me directions on how to tie up. I told him to wait and talk to the Captain as I knew Clark would just rearrange things afterwards anyway. By the time Clark was ready to deal with placing lines and fender boards, the staff had gone home, so we dealt with it ourselves to our liking.
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| Entry to access marina |
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| Sign says "Great Harbour" |
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| Looking back at narrow passage into marina well-protected here |
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| Dock at the marina |
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| Clouds over the marina as we settle in for the night |
8 April 2024
While on this trip, we have done walking tours and dinghy tours in the Bahamas. Today we did a bike tour of Great Harbour Cay. Clark had a small map of the island noting places to visit like the grocery market which he used to guide us on our tour. The island has rolling hills which were great on the way down! I had to walk small portions of some to get to the tops.
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| Great Harbour Cay is part of The Berry Islands |
We saw lots of great views on the ride.
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| Bay of the Five Pirates |
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| Power Plant, fuel dock and BTC cell Tower |
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| Pretty blue homes in distance. Sketchy-looking guard rail up close |
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| Biking in the Bahamas |
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| Anchorage just outside the bay |
Clark had the map. I did not. I did not even have cell service to get a map online. Had Clark lost me along the way, I would still be trying to find my way back to the marina. For such a small island, I got very confused as we rode. It felt like we went in circles, and we probably did!
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| Ev with the Flag of The Bahamas |
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| Small rock island |
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| "Why did the chicken cross the road?" |
After a bit of looking around, we finally found an open food market. I decided to see if I could get some bread here.
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| A&L General Store |
Shopping here is a little different. Walking in the front door, we had to step around the pile of dirt and broom that sat ready to be sweep it out the door. The shelves have an interesting mix of items. I saw, among other things, Fruit Loops in mega size, packages of Canadian flour, and Irish chocolate chip cookies. You take what you can get and make do with what you find.
The store is tiny; the aisles compact; the choices few.
I bought a loaf of bread, some crackers, and chocolate chip cookies. It totaled $17. I have become used to the cost of things being high compared to what I would pay in the states. We stuffed the food into Clark's backpack and continued our trip.
We skipped the part of the tour that would take us out to the airport. The restaurant out there said it was temporarily closed. We watched several cars go down that road and clouds of dust came up from the tires or even from a breeze that blew. Not wanting to choke on dust, we opted to travel elsewhere on our bikes.
We took a dead end that led us to a path down to the water. We dropped the bikes and walked over to take a look.
Nice views at the end of this road.
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| This was the cut we used to enter the bay |
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| Looking out towards Bullocks Harbour |
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| Looking in towards the marina and the Bay of 5 Pirates |
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| Da Wharf |
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| Outdoor Seating under Canopy |
From the choices given, I opted for Grouper Fingers with Fries, and Clark chose the Grouper Burger.
The Grouper Burger turned out to be Grouper Fingers on a bun. We took a seat at the outdoor tables where we had a lovely breeze while we waited for our food. When it came, it was delicious!
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| Bahamas Placement showing the Islands of the Bahamas |
I don't usually take pictures of my food, but I did today.
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| Grouper fingers and fries |
After a very filling lunch, I came back to the boat to work on blog updates making use of the WIFI here at the marina. Clark added potable water to the water tank.
The marina has two types of water -- one for washing down the boat which is free, brackish water and the other is metered, potable water. Clark borrowed a hose to wash the dinghy as he did not want to
put that water down our drinking hose.
Later, while I continued to work on the blog, Clark talked with some folks on sailboats that he met over the VHF radio yesterday. We were able to observe the partial eclipse. Clark showed me the picture he had taken. He placed two polarized lenses over each other to protect his eyes.
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| Sun looks like a moon in center of picture. |
We were told that we could sign up for a pot-luck dinner for 5:00 if we wished to participate. Having had a very filling lunch, we declined the offer.
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| Folks in far tent enjoying the pot-luck dinner. Complimentary bicycles shown in foreground. |
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