Stage Two — Cupcake Afloat

Points for even knowing an apostrophe was an option. But…

With hurricane season ending on December 1 and with our landfall in the Berry Islands we have moved into Stage Two of our sailing adventure. Stage One was getting from home to the Bahamas. That stage was a lot of hard work and constant movement. Now that we are across the Gulf Stream and across the Great Bahama Bank and anchored at our first cay (in this case, Great Harbour Cay) our adventure has shifted from covering ground to just sailing, exploring, and chilling.

Earlier this week on our second full day in Bimini we walked the length of the island to check out the fancy Hilton development at the north end of the island. I am still getting used to the fact that cars drive on opposite sides of the road here. Almost got squashed by a little Honda. Anyway the new development is very lovely, perhaps a little (ok, a lot) sterile. And crazy expensive. They wanted $4 for a can of Coke. Funny thing, as we were exploring, one of the security guards stopped us and asked what we were up to (which was looking for a restaurant). He told us the place we were in was private. But instead of kicking us out, he gave us each wrist bands that identified us as property owners so we could go anywhere. That’s some fine security!

After checking out how the Europeans vacation on Bimini, we walked back towards Cupcake and Alice Town and our own type. Stopped for lunch and a cool drink at a hole-in-the-wall place called “Sammy’s.” We chose the place for several reasons. First, it was open. Second, it was right next door to the Ministry of Health. Seemed like a good sign. And it was: the food was delicious (because it was fried) and the place was clean and bright. The owner was friendly and when Ellen commented about the color-scheme in the restaurant, we were all buddies. Moss had her first Goombay Smash. A delicious local soda.

Now, two days later, we are in our anchorage for the next…we don’t know how long. It is the tiny and difficult to find Bay of Five Pirates just south of Bullocks Harbour on Great Harbour Cay. From sea, it is nearly impossible to find the 50’ wide entrance channel. Skillful navigation, charts, and common sense got us here, and this spot is remarkably safe. There is protection all around and we are the only boat anchored here. Even better, there’s a little grocery store and ice-cream shop just a bit further in the harbor.

Yesterday we decided that rather than get on the water at 2am to make the 80 mile crossing from Bimini to Great Harbour in one long long day, we would just get underway at sunrise and motorsail until dusk. That had us anchoring in the crazy shallow water of the Bank (we were in a 30’ spot) but farther from land than we have been in years. Thirty six miles from the nearest piece of dry land. That’s a really strange place to stay for the night. Fortunately (well, we did choose the days to cross based on weather reports) despite hundreds or thousands of miles of fetch, the seas were pretty sedate. I’m not going to pretend it was a night for building card houses aboard, but it was much calmer than we expected. Everyone was in bed by 8 and then slept more or less straight through the night until just before dawn. Ellen and I wore anti-seasickness patches and felt great for the two days. Moss is like a rock and needed nothing.

Motorboat ride today for the remaining 36 miles and here we are in Paradise. It has been a busy few months and we are really looking forward to embracing a much much slower pace.