We’re making our way to Nassau. Not for any special reason. We’re just going to need some fresh fruits and veggies and maybe some fuel by the time we get that far. It’s a good pit stop. Until then, we’re finding these awesome little anchorages around the Berry Islands. Most of the islands here are uninhabited. No people. No light pollution. I wish my camera could capture the stars. The Milky Way is incredible!
We arrived here at Hoffman Cay at 11:30 this morning after spending 3 1/2 hours pounding into 3′-4′ seas. But it’s worth it. I think. I just have to get that “almost about to get seasick” thing under control, and we’ll be just fine.
This anchorage is beautiful. Beautiful, but with lots of shallow water and some reefs. That’s not typically a problem as long as there’s enough water under the boat in our swing circle. For those of you who don’t know, the swing circle is the circumference the boat will swing around its anchor. You can drop the anchor in 10′ of water. That’s great. Then you drop 75′ of chain. That’s great, too. It gets dicey when you realize that there’s only 5′ of water 50′ away from your anchor to the east, but you’re sitting 65′ away from it to the north. And the wind is supposed to shift later and come out of the west. (That’s when things go bump, usually in the night.)
We had a devil of a time trying to anchor here. It took almost an hour and probably four tries to get it right. Look at all the circles in that picture! Lots of rocky patches under what looks like sand. The anchor can’t grab. I’m getting much better at finding good sand now, but this was crazy.
We finally got it right and landed the dinghy on the beach. We heard about a “blue hole”. Everyone said you have to go there and take a swim. Well, we found it. It was really pretty, surrounded by coral caves. We considered jumping in but didn’t feel like climbing up the algae covered slimy rocks to get out. That, and we didn’t have towels or swimming suits. Which would have normally been no problem, but there were a few other boat loads of people hanging around. Another time perhaps.
We had a lovely dinner aboard and called it a night. And thankfully, nothing went bump.