In late January, my niece Katrina and her partner flew into Nassau to spend a week with us on the boat. We made the plan months before when we thought it would be absolutely no issue to meet them there by then. As time went by and our crossing to the Bahamas was delayed several times, having that deadline was a little stressful. We probably pushed ahead at times when we should have waited. We were very relieved to make it to Nassau with 2 days to spare, but It reminded us that the most dangerous thing that you can have on a boat is a schedule!
Stress aside, we were thrilled to have visitors from home! They brought some things I couldn’t get in the Bahamas, most importantly summer savory. They also brought a bunch of board games which we thoroughly enjoyed having only played cribbage for a few months.
However, the weather did not want to cooperate with the timeline of their visit. The forecast called for stormy weather and high wind lasting for days. We did not want to be in Nassau harbor where there is little protection from wind in most directions. So, we decided to head to the Berry Islands where our friends Tony and Michelle were anchored at Hoffman Cay. We thought it would offer good protection from the bad weather, and it looked like a neat place to hang out.
Horrman Cay was beautiful but was also the worst anchorage we have ever been in. First there was a submersed sailboat at the entrance of the anchorage; not a good sign. Next there were so many boats in there that finding a place to anchor was tough. A Canadian guy started yelling at us when we tried to anchor about 200 feet away from him, that was very bizarre. The bottom was also lumpy, going from 6 feet to 40 feet all throughout the anchorage. We found a spot and dropped anchor in what looked like sand. Douglas dove on it and found that the anchor was on 2 inches of sand over hard rock. Eventually we found a better spot, or so we thought. It was good until the current changed direction and the boat next to us that had two anchors out didn’t swing when we swung. So. off we went again at 11PM and anchored yet again, this time close to the now sleeping Canadians.
The next morning we saw the Canadians looking at us crossly, so we decided to go over and extend the olive branch. We explained the predicament we had been in overnight when the other boat came so close to us, and they settled down. When we saw that they had 4 bored teenagers onboard we offered up our Starlink password. They all thought we were better than Santa Clause, especially the parents who were tired of listening to them fight.
When we first came from Canada we had the same sorts of ideas about how far away boats should be anchored from each other. Close anchoring is something that sailors from areas where there is no density need to learn to get comfortable with. Luckily we had already learned this when coming down the river where we were all crowded into tiny creeks and bays together!
There was very little wind protection at Hoffman from any direction and we were all on edge as the storm intensified. The wind stayed strong but clocked around from different directions, testing our anchor and our nerves. It was also very much more stressful knowing that we were responsible for two other people onboard. The sunk ship at the harbor entrance stood by, reminding us of the danger if we dared to relax a bit. I decided to sleep above deck with our anchor alarm on and get up to check the position of the other boats near us every half hour all night for two nights. I’m not sure it helped our situation, but it did allow everyone else to get sleep knowing that I was on watch. It did make me exhausted though and made me start to rethink if this is the life for me. Luckily, months later I can honestly say that we have never had an anchorage that bad again!
The poor weather kept up for days, so there was no leaving Hoffman Cay for several days. We did a lot of swimming and snorkeling around the boat, as well as playing board games and chatting. We also harvested some conch and after processing it made some really tasty ceviche. Douglas and our friend Tony snorkeled around the sunk boat while I stayed onboard because our situation was so precarious there. While he was gone the wind switched a bit and the tide went out, leaving the boat kissing the bottom of one of those lumpy spots I mentioned earlier. The depth sounder read 5 feet, so we were just barely bumping it.
We did take the dingy to shore a few times and had some nice walks and a lot of stingray sightings. One day we went for a hike to a nearby blue hole. The dingy ride was really nice and the short hike was really pretty. At the end of the hike you are standing above a pool of blue water in the forest. A few people jumped in, but the rest of us went down the bank to stand next to the pool. There were really neat caves around it and it was really pretty. All in all a very cool place, and a good way to break up the days of being stuck in one harbor.
Finally the weather broke and we had a great sail back towards Nassau a few days before Katrina had to fly home. On our way back to Nassau we stopped at Rose Island for snorkeling on the reef. It was really cool, with great snorkeling. From Rose Island we went to a marina in Nassau for the last few days of Katrina’s visit. We did a little more exploring town and did some provisioning at a really good grocery store we found there.
On the day Katrina and Tim left I was doing laundry at the marina. To go to the laundry room I walked under a set of concrete stairs leading up to the second floor offices. When I left the laundry room, I decided to turn to the right and walk down a longer pathway to the docks. I was about 100 feet away when the whole stairway I had just passed under collapsed. If I had gone the other way, I may have been killed. So maybe land is more dangerous than the sea after all!
