(Not sure if we’ve explained that the Islands are called “Cay”…pronounced “key”, and Conch is pronounced “conk”…you will read about both of those)

We finally got out of Bimini.  We had to since the Bimini Bread was just too good!  Going across the bank from Bimini takes two days, so you just stop and anchor at night in the middle.  You are 35 miles from land in any direction and in 15 ft of water.

It was a little rough that night and the following day with winds 15-20 kts. on our nose…again.  The Bank ends at the “Tongue of the Ocean”.  That’s where the water gets deep right in the middle of the Bahamas.  When we say deep, we mean 10,000 ft., and real dark blue.  We spent two days in Chubb Cay.  A nice marina surrounded by a new development.  Very posh, and expensive, but they have a late night place called “The Dungeon”.  Kim learned how to play dominoes with the locals.  Lot’s of rum and fun.  We got water ($0.40/gal.) and fuel ($4.00/gal) and left for Rose Island just east of Nassau.

We went to Chubb after meeting a boat on our port side when we were getting close to the Tongue of the Ocean marker.  We started a radio conversation with them (Chandelle) only to find out they knew Fine Lion as they are from Annapolis and live near Cantlers.  We crossed paths back in our racing days in Annapolis.  It’s a Swan 44.  They were next to us in the Chubb Marina.

The wind finally cooperated and we had 20 kts. on the beam.  Wow, what a sail!  We flew!  To get to Rose Island, you go through Rose Rocks.  It’s a narrow channel with huge rocks on both sides.  Needless to say a little challenging with 6 ft. following seas that were breaking.  Once past the rocks, it flattened out nicely.  We spent one night there before going to Allen’s Cay.

Allen’s Cay is where the prehistoric Iguanas live.  When you take your dinghy on the beach, they come out of the rocks and expect some food.  These are very large (3 ft) critters, and they aren’t bashful.  There are no people or services on the Cay.  The water there is fantastic so we did some snorkeling and just plain hanging around.  Another boat from Annapolis came in and we went over to say hello, then we realized they were all naked.  We said “hello” and kept going.  You see
all sorts of things in the Bahamas!

We then went to Highborne Cay about 5 miles away.  It has a very nice market and marina, but the sailboats anchor outside in the lee of the Cay.  Again, very nice water.  When we got there, we saw that Chandelle was also anchored there so we had happy hour on Chandelle that night and talked about Annapolis.  It’s so nice there; we decided to stay a couple of days.  We made friends with a boat from Australia (Matsu) and had a combination TGIF and Happy Hour on Fine Lion with the other two boats.  Highborne was where we could get water and gas for the dinghy.  Water is $0.50/gal and gas is $4.00/gal.  Beer is $65/case.  The little store has some nice grocery items, but very expensive.  While there, Fine Lion was “adopted” by three Remora fish.  These are the fish with “suckers’ on the top of their heads to attach themselves to sharks.  That allows them to pick up the crumbs.  Evidently, they will do the same to boats and divers.  Well, they were with us for a couple of days.  These were 2-3 ft. long and really went after food scraps that we threw away.

We left Highborne for Normans Cay…only 6 miles.  Normans Cay has a very colorful history.  It was the headquarters for Carlos Lehder, a major drug lord in the late 70’s.  There is a partially sunken airplane in the harbor as the result of the US government’s raid.  He was “put out of business” in 1981, and the Cay is being restored.  We hung out at MacDuff’s Beach Bar and Restaurant.  It has great burgers, for which they are famous, and fantastic cracked Conch.  Really good food, great bar, neat people, what else would you want?  Oh yea, we watched the Redskins beat the Vikings on a HD big screen TV after a dinner of cracked conch. 

We were invited to a Christmas Eve party that had a bonfire, great Christmas Grog, a white elephant gift exchange, hot dogs, chili, and great people.  It was held at a family’s beach house.  We got to meet lots of people that have houses on Normans Cay, plus some cruisers.  This was lots of fun! 

On Christmas Day, we went snorkeling on a neat reef behind the boat.  Lots of fish.  Later that evening, we were invited to the “employees” Christmas Dinner at MacDuff’s.  It was fantastic!  It was also Stefan’s (the manager) birthday.  We felt very fortunate to have been included.  There were around 18 people that welcomed us into their celebration.  We were very lucky!