April 25-26 Great Harbor Ocean side anchorage

Judy called Mary at 8:15 to get her up.  They left for the ocean side anchorage of Great Harbour Cay shortly after.  We followed suite about an hour after.

Aids to Navigation over here are basically, just a pole.

It was a lot bigger than what the picture portrays

As we rounded Stirrup Cays we came upon a Carnival line cruise ship, Majesty of the Seas which was disgorging people into the shuttle craft and ferrying them all to the island playground.  It's equipped  with a beach, shops, jet ski rental and other recreational activities like para sailing, .

The ship was anchored right off the island in about 50 feet of water and we cruised right across its bow between it and the island.

It took us another hour to get near the anchorage where we turned in and found a nice spot in 10 feet of water over grassy sand.  It was near where Jeff & Judy anchored. 

Anchored

We got everything secured, had 75 feet of chain out on the snubber and the boat seemed stuck like it should be.  Jeff & Judy dingied over and we got in ours and followed them to the Tiki Bar on the beach which, as reported by some fellow boaters, offers the most delicious hamburgers. 

Its right on the beach.  Nice place!  We had to anchor the dinghies off the beach a ways which wading in from about 4 feet of water.  But the water was 85 so there was no chilling exit and we were almost dry by the time we sat at the round bar.

Tiki Bar.  Bartender, Mary Judy and Jeff 

Bar is right on the beach.  Nice place.  

 We had some drinks and talked with a couple whom we met the day before at the marina.  The Adams.  They recommend the pizza at this little B&B up the beach a ways named Carriearl.  So we decided to try that this evening.

The really delicious hamburgers left us satiated as we left the bar.   Jeff & Judy went off to explore Pett Cay while we went poking around Shark Creek trying to find the deeper water so we could run to the other side of the island where we were anchored the last few days.  We got in about a ½ mile before turning back.  But I had the GPS on so had a route to follow when we try again tomorrow.

Our dinghies anchored in front of the tiki bar

We got back to the boat and I got out my mask and fins and dove on the anchor.

There it was in all its glory, 10 feet down lying upright with a huge ball of sand and grass attached.  It wasn't dug in at all.  But the weight of all that chain and the sand ball seems to be keeping us plunked in the same spot so I’ll just leave it until tomorrow.

Under that big ball of sand and grass is our anchor

I  cleaned the dinghy bottom off and found 2 big gouges on the dinghy keel.  Guess I have another project.  And the darn outboard is making strange noises when it starts up again.

We dressed for dinner meaning I put my swim suite back and headed over to get Jeff & Judy.  We raced along the shore about a mile to Carriearls which is right on the beach.  I had to run the dinghy all the way up on the beach so Mary could hop out without getting too wet.  But the swells were pushing the dinghy sideways and we almost had it grounded before I got it turned around and pushed out into the water again.  Tossed the anchor out and waded out and flagged Jeff and Judy so they new where the place was located.

Inside dinning room and a gathering room

What a delight.  I don’t think I've ever felt so comfortable in a restaurant/B&B before.  Hard to explain why.  It was just comfortable.  Maybe it was all the wide open spaces and comfy furniture.  And very laid back, pressurized manner of everyone there.

Judy and Jeff who's freshly coiffed  

Angie and Marty, two Brits run the place.  It was a house they purchased 12 years ago with ideas of refurnishing it and selling it ended up becoming this out of the way B&B.  It's a 4 bedroom place which means its not very crowded.  The restaurant though, sees plenty of non-guests like us wading in from the beach.

The food was really superb.  5 star jewel in the middle of now where.

Pergola covered deck over looking the pool and ocean

We stayed until past sundown so I had to download a flashlight app for my new BTC phone and we used that to walk the 100 yards back  to the beach.  Then we had to get in the dinghy which was  bouncing heavy surf and head out in the dark towards the boat.   We’d forgotten to turn on the anchor light but I had my little $1 solar lights on the stern and bow so I found our boat rather easily.

I started up the generator to give the batteries a charge and more importantly to cool the boat down with the A/C units.  The boat can get surprisingly warm in the sun, upwards of 80's even with all the hatches and windows open.  However we have a number of successful tests with using window fans to exhaust the hot air in the rear stateroom so I think that will be an assured purchase in Nassau.

I only ran the gen set until 11.  I was just too tired to stay up any longer.  How far we've sunk, from parties until 2AM.  But I did find the Great Harbor Cay map:

Lower map is the town as it were.  Upper map shows the whole island.

Moving the boat at tortuous hour of 7:15AM

This morning, Sunday I woke up around 6AM to howling SW wind.  Remembering our unburied anchor I checks and sure enough we had drifted back a few hundred yards.  So I had to roust Mary and we both prepared to raise the anchor. and this was without the benefit of coffee.  Kudos to Mary for participating in a coffee-less anchoring procedure!

It wasn't easy since the wind was so strong.  I had to motor ahead to take the slack out of the chain so the windlass wouldn't struggle so much trying to hail it up.  At one point the wind jammed the snubber line on the anchor roller so I has to let more chain out so Mary could remove the chain hook.  But we got it done and motored perhaps 3/4 of a mile to a location closer to the western shore for some protection from the strong winds. 

This time the anchor stuck fast.  Once it did the boat swung quickly around to point into the wind.  We let out another 80 feet of chain, attached the snubber and we were done.  I'll probably dive on it later this afternoon to be sure since these winds are abating anytime soon.


Mary napped until about 1 since we had gotten up so early today.  We took the dinghy into the beach where it was much calmer and walked up to the tiki bar again.  I called Jeff & Judy on the phone and they said they'd come join us there.  

Meanwhile we met this delightful German, Jorg who was involved in a start-up energy company which was concentrating on some new, compact designs for medium sized wind turbines and a water washing machine which is the size of a typical washing machine but can cleanse 2,000 liters of dirty water per day with only 1 kilowatt of power.  The marriage of the wind turbines and this little device is pretty much complete so he's been trying to convince the government here to try one out.  

He's off to Cuba tomorrow to talk with them.  

He lives in Beirut with his family and seems to be quite comfortable existing there with his 2 kids and wife.  Beirut, he tells me is the hub of business over there.  Most business flows through a sort of, "who you know middle men".  Very interesting fellow, Jorg.

Jeff and Judy

After we all took a walk along the beach and then headed back to the boats.  We are tired after all this

Mary

boat moving this morning.  And the winds have died down now so its most calm here in the bay.  Tomorrow though the winds are supposed to be clocking around to the NW which may make thing exciting.

But I signed up for a weather service with Chris Parker so we get some concise forecasts which many have touted as been the most accurate.  We'll have to wait and see how that pans out.

View from our back window

So for now we're sitting in the boat looking out at a calm anchorage.  Very nice!