March 24-27,2010

Chub Cay and Lyford Cay

As predicted we had a beautiful day for cruising to Chub Cay. We left Bimini Sands Resort at 7:00 am with the help of Dieter and Maya (and Kalypso) to cast off lines. We will miss our new friends, but have email to stay in contact.

I caught a picture of the wreck of the Sapoma, a cement-hulled ship, that was used for rum-running during the prohibition and then after it sunk as target practice for US Armed Forces. The idea of a floating cement-hulled ship boggles the mind….

Our trip was 85 nautical miles, but for the most part, Mark was able to let “Auto” do the driving. About 60 nm was on the Grand Bahama Bank. The depth of the water ranged from 6 to 18 feet. We could watch the bottom as we cruised.

The last part of the cruise was in the Northwest Providence Channel where the water is much deeper – between 1.0 – 2.5 miles deep. Many sailboats were out enjoying the fantastic day.

We landed at Chub Cay around 5:30 and after spraying the boat down, Mark caught the sunset.

Nice docks and nice service at Chub Cay, but that is about it. The marina is recovering from bankruptcy and facilities and amenities have potential, but are unfinished or non-existent. That is why is was difficult for us to justify the $4.35/ft, 40 cents/gallon water, and 65 cents/kw electricity.

The village is charming, but very small.

We decided to try to leave early and go to Lyford Cay, our destination to pick up Monica and her friend, Jen. It looked like Friday would be an OK cruising day with 2-4 ft waves later in the day. So we waited until 11:00 am to take off. Well, as beautiful as Wednesday was, Friday was terrible. Again we were facing high wind and waves as high as 8-9 feet. Both Mark and I have commented that we are tired of being at the mercy of weather. True, we have no schedule, but we do have limited resources…..

Anyway, we finally got into the lea side of New Providence and the waves were a manageable 2-5 ft. We found ourselves in our slip at Lyford Cay around 5:20 – this was only a 35 nm trip.

But boy, oh boy!!! We are in with the “beautiful people and their yachts”.

Aquarius was across the harbor from us and it was 211 ft long – the longest until this big blue yacht moved in. Aquarius had a family aboard with younger children, and they pulled out more water toys – the waterslide was almost as big as Grateful.

One evening a fishing boat for hire came in with this catch. They estimated that the largest lobster was 8-9 pounds. After cleaning their catch the resident fish and stingray ate well.

We picked up groceries and waited for Monica and Jen. We had decided to cruise to Nassau on Sunday rather than wait until Monday. The waves were in the 2-4 ft range again according to our internet data and it was only going to get worse as a front was blowing in. We were able to acquire a slip in Atlantis for the days Monica and Jen were here. The cost will be less than the last two marinas and there will be lots of choices for all of us to do – even a casino!!!

More later – looking forward to company!