The Berry Islands

We stayed on the mooring ball for a few days. We had one beautiful morning and fished off the bow of the boat. We caught several Triggerfish (which are actually most delicious!) and a few Mutton Snapper.  

Grey Triggerfish

Queen Triggerfish

Our catch for the day

We met our neighbors, Ray and Mary on “Sanity” and went to their boat for Conch Fritters, black bean soup, Jalapeño Cornbread and great conversation. The weather forecast was for near gale force winds for the next 3-4 days.  We stayed on board and watched the weather come in.  The swells got larger, the winds got stronger.  We stayed guarded and watched the boat hang on to the mooring.  Ed dove the “wreck” (which was the anchor for the mooring ball) several times, and even added a second line for safety.  We watched a couple of boats leave the anchorage heading for a more protected spot.  The boat was rocking and smashing all night and all day, while we watched and worried.  The comfort of the mooring ball suddenly was lost when Ed went up to check the lines and discovered one was gone. It had been sheared off by the pressure of sustained 25-30 kt winds and the strong surge. Of course, its almost nightfall, so we had to move fast.  We had to cut the remaining line since it was to tight and the wind was blowing about 25 kts against it.  We freed up from the mooring ball and got underway in just a few minutes time.  After speaking to Ray on Sanity, we were hailed by another boater and advised of the anchorage they had fled to.  Christine and Ron hailed us and told us of a protected place not too far from here, so we ran over there. We found a spot protected from the North and with less swells and managed to get anchored securely.  The winds continued to blow at gale force, but once the anchor dug in, we were able to get some rest.  

The following day was the same, rain, wind and more rain.  We were running low on water, so decided to utilize the water dripping off the dodger, and collected almost 3 gallons of fresh rain water!  Thats 6 pots of coffee, Ed says.

Catching rainwater

"Sanity" (Mary and Ray) coming in to the safe harbor

"Sanity"

On the second evening, after two full days of 30 + kt winds and rain, that beautiful yellow thing came out right at sunset, and the sky became a pretty yellow, signaling the end of the blow and on to better days!  All of us at the anchorage decided it was time to move on.  Sanity left at 3:00 am that morning and we weighed anchor at 7:45 am.

The sun!! 

Gorgeous sky after 2 days of rain and wind!

We had a great sail up the Berry Islands to White Cay and Hoffman Cay (where the Blue Hole is).  I wanted to get there to hike the island to the Blue Hole..

Manatee at anchor

The Blue Hole!

Hiking up to the Hole

Capt Ed at the Hole

The cliff goes down to an endless bottom!

We hiked the short trail up to the hole.  Great fun.  We were quite impressed at the beauty, and the fact that there was no litter, no graffiti on the rock formations.

A cave!

After exploring the blue hole, we found spur trails and decided to check them out.  We discovered a small cement structure that looks like it could have been someone's homestead many many years ago! Leading up to the structure we noticed Spanish Bayonets as tall as me!  I thought maybe they were planted there purposely as protection around the home.

Spanish Bayonet

Another trail led down to a second beach access to the trails leading to the hole.  These conch shells are so pretty and are everywhere!

The rest of the day we fished off Manatee and again caught several.  We caught a large Triggerfish, several snapper, grunts and a Rock Hind Grouper.

Rock Hind Grouper

This guy got lucky.  Ed didn't want to fillet him up, so we let him go.

Another sleepless night for Ed,  thanks to the wind switching direction (not as forecast).  We had set two anchors out due to the strong tides, and the wind had picked up to 25-30 kts.  We had planned to weigh anchor bright and early and head up to Great Harbour Cay.  Ed stressed about how he was going to get two anchors up under the duress of the wind and current.  He had a plan of course. We put a float on one of the anchor rodes and let it go.  That stressed me out, leaving an anchor with the rode away from the boat.  Then we raised the other anchor and went back to retrieve the first anchor.  It all went well!! Again, priceless experiences.

We slipped out of the anchorage at high tide without issue and were on our way North to our next destination.  We were able to sail beautifully on the main and the staysail for the first four hours of the trip.  

Then we had to turn more Northwest, around Great Stirrup Cay to get to Great Harbour Cay Marina. We were now heading into the wind, so lowered the sails.

Old lighthouse on the North end of Great Harbour Cay

We had to get around this big ol' Cruise Ship.  Most people know how I feel about cruise ships, but this one I thought was exceptionally ugly!

We pounded into the high seas of the NW Channel and rounded the Cay and headed into the marina. We arrived at 2:00 pm.  Luckily we called ahead for a reservation.  We were only guaranteed a few days rather than a week, due to a Wahoo Fishing Tournament scheduled for next weekend.

Great Harbour Marina is a very well kept up marina, with super nice and polite staff.  They have bicycles to use to go into town for groceries, liquor store, beaches, etc. They have activities planned for most days of the week and a weekly pot luck.  

Last night's pot luck table centerpieces, a little wilted the next morning when I took the picture

We met up with Scott and Mary (our friends from Bimini) and we met lots of other nice folks.  Ed spoke to Hans, the manager and we were given another slip to move to and now we are able to stay the week.  We are staying here to wait out another weather system coming in on Friday.  Its been cloudy and rainy the last two days here.  It would be nice to see the sun before we leave so we can visit the beaches.  We are told they are worth visiting.