WEEK TWO – Nassau to Warderick Wells, Exuma

This week we are slowing down the pace of travel dramatically – no more all day open water crossings, instead we will be working our way south along the Exuma Chain, where there is a fabulous anchorage with lots to see and do every couple of miles. We can’t see them all, but what we miss we will try to catch on our way back in a month or so. Click any image to enlarge. 

Click here to see live Google map with details.
Red pins = marina stays & blue pins = anchorages

Leaving Nassau Harbor Club Marina around noon on a windy day, we did a short trip to west bottom anchorage on Rose Island. You can still see Nassau from here, and excursion boats come and go, but it is very well protected from the northeast wind and makes a perfect jumping off point to cross the banks to the Exumas proper.

This is our anchorage spot just off of Rose Island about 8 miles from Nassau.

Sometimes I wonder if it weren't for Bella would we take the time to launch the dinghy and visit these amazing deserted beaches. It's a lot of work but it comes with much reward.

Sunset at Rose Island anchorage. Tomorrow we cross over to the Exumas.

The next morning we got underway at 0900 for the 32 miles to our first stop in the Exumas, Allens and Leaf Cays. About halfway, there is a large area of patch reefs you have to cross called the Yellow Banks. A few of them are shallow enough to threaten a deep-draft boat at low tide, but for us they are just an interesting diversion. When we hit the Yellow Banks, we put out a big-lipped diving plug and slowly trolled it along and around the patches we came across, just in case a big grouper wanted to come out from his lair and grab it. After doing that for a while, we stopped and anchored near a couple of patches and I went for a snorkel. I figured a reef out here in the middle of nowhere might have some good fish on it, but no luck. At least it was a pretty snorkel. We pulled in to Allens and Leaf Cays and found a nice spot to anchor in this stunning archipelago of rocks and reefs. These cays are home to an endemic population of the southern Bahamian rock iguana, found here and no place else on earth.  The iguanas are anything but shy, since tourist boats come over from Nassau just about every day full of people who feed them. Bella took an instant dislike to them, and we had to find beaches void of iguanas to land her. We stayed here for a total of three nights hiding from a strong south wind. We found a couple of really nice little shallow reefs to snorkel, and we met another Endeavour power cat, Waiting to Exhale.

Leaving the anchorage at Rose Island early.

Lunch today while underway is a plant based taco bowl with all the trimmings. We bought it because it is a shelf stable option and turns out it's pretty darn good. It's pre-seasoned but I add extra cumin, oregano & cayenne pepper to amp up the spicy/savory. https://www.urbanaccents.com/product/meatless-chipotle-taco-mix/

One of the many tour boats that zoom over here from Nassau. They feed the iguanas grapes on a long stick so these endangered critters are like trained seals at a marine park. 

A typical "iron shore" shoreline on the many cays (keys) throughout the Bahamas

This is one of the larger iguanas who is absolutely standing his ground

BellaGatto way in the distance

When approaching the beach where the tour boats land the iguanas run from near and far for a handout. Honestly it's a little creepy. Feeding wild animals changes their behavior and we don't do it.

It's great to be snorkeling again! We saw very nice reef structure teeming with healthy hard and soft corals, tons of tropicals, some lobsters (out of season) and a couple of large black groupers who were big because they are smart. We had chicken for dinner 🤣

The Allen/Leaf anchorage at night.

Our Endeavour Catamaran neighbor, Waiting to Exhale

When the wind finally laid down a bit, we set out from Allens and Leaf Cays and had a very pleasant 22 mile trip south to Norman’s Cay. This is one cay in the Exumas that a lot of people have heard of, since in the late 70s and early 80s it was the center of Carlos Lehder’s cocaine smuggling empire back in the Miami Vice days. Now it is a playground for millionaires, but one reminder of the old days is still there. In about 6-8 feet of water near one of the anchorages lies the remains of one of the drug smuggling planes that crashed on a test flight and is now an artificial reef of sorts. We snorkeled there, and also on some hardbottom flats out in front of nearby Wax Cay, where we did manage to get a couple of nice conchs.

The new channel to the yet to be completed marina that will eventually be here in Norman's Cay.

This is a pretty impressive private boat ramp cut right through the limestone on Norman's Cay

Jonathan doing a quick recon of the reef while I finish gearing up

We are happy campers with our catch of two conch. This will be plenty for some fresh conch salad.

This is NOT my photo, I scraped it from the web, but it is an excellent shot of the wrecked drug plane that was so much fun to snorkel. 

I no longer collect actual shells, only photographs.

Beautiful sunset and Norman's Cay

Dinner tonight is one of Jonathan's specialties, lobster sautéed with celery, shallots, and mushrooms in a white wine sauce. These were frozen Florida lobster tails we got from our good friends Steve and Debbie before leaving on our trip and we thought we better eat them as they are out of season now here and we don't want to have to explain ourselves.

Morning Bella walk exploring the ruins of this house that was never finished on a tiny cay adjacent to Norman's Cay. Broken dreams.

Looks like some fuel is being delivered to Norman's as we leave for our next destination, Shroud Cay

The next morning we set out south again and entered the Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park, a national park and no-take marine reserve that stretches 22 miles from Wax Cay cut in the north to Conch Cut in the south. We had intended to go to the headquarters of the park at Warderick Wells, but a steep and choppy head sea on the banks changed our minds, and we pulled in to Shroud Cay, the northernmost island in the park, instead. I’m very glad we did. Not only did we find an anchoring spot (mostly) out of the slop and chop, but one of the star attractions in the park as well. There is a little tidal creek that cuts through the mangrove flats all the way to the other side of the island. This is not the brown silty mucky water you find in a Florida mangrove creek, it is crystal clear bright blue water full of turtles and fish. We followed the creek through to the other side of the island and a white sandy beach.

So what is the first thing we saw when we entered the cut in our dinghy? A jet ski from one of the megayachts towing 8 people on a giant blow up raft. In hind sight I think he was rescuing them as they got caught with the wind and tide but...

These mangroves are in such a healthy ecosystem. We saw plenty of bonefish and green turtles on our tour.

Lounging around in the shallows to cool off.

We hiked up to the top of Camp Driftwood at Shroud. It was pretty steep and we were barefoot but the view was well worth the effort.

Everything chopped for the conch salad and ready to mix!

Yummy!

The Exumas are lousy with Cats. Mostly sail but some power as well.

Sunset at anchor in Shroud Cay.

We ended a full day of adventure with a game of Five Crowns.

The wind died down a good bit overnight, and by 8:30 the banks looked pretty good, so we continued our route to Warderick Wells. The anchorage right by the park headquarters is one of the prettiest and most photographed in the Bahamas and is a very popular spot. The park maintains 22 mooring buoys here, and we were on the radio at 9:00 am sharp to see if we could get one of them. By lunchtime, we were on our mooring and ready to explore. We hiked the trail up to Boo Boo Hill, where you are treated to a panoramic view of both the anchorage and the deep water of Exuma Sound. That afternoon we joined a floating cocktail party at the park headquarters beach. I think it was somebody’s birthday, as if you need a reason. The next morning we had to hike back up to Boo Boo Hill to fulfill a tradition. The tradition here is to leave a piece of driftwood at the top of the hill with your boat’s name on it, and BellaGatto is now represented in good standing. That afternoon was another round of amphibious cocktails, this time with our new friends on Waiting to Exhale.

There are dozens of cays in the Exuma Land & Sea Park but Warderick Wells is where the park headquarters is located.

This is a 50+ foot sperm whale skeleton that was found on this beach known as Whale Beach.

This is the north mooring field which has about 2 dozen mooring balls for boats of all sizes. Boats 40ft and under pay $25 per night on a first come first serve basis. We opted to join the fleet support membership for $60 which provides 2 free nights and the ability to reserve a day in advance. The little extra goes to a very good cause.

Our Endeavour neighbor, Waiting to Exhale, with BellaGatto in the background.

We found a nice piece of pressure treated 2x4 driftwood and made our plaque to add to the pile.

We found a nice spot to place our plaque.

This is the blow hole but on a calm day like today there is little to no action to see.

Low tide reveals the large flat and mangrove nursery with BellaGatto on the mooring in the background.

Next week we will continue our way south. We may make it to our ultimate destination of Georgetown next week, or we may not. See you then!

Bahama 2021 - Miami to Nassau

A year after our Great Loop adventure, we are setting off on another bucket list adventure – a two-month long trip to the Bahamas! Our journey will Include Bimini, the Berry Islands, Nassau, the Exumas, Eleuthera, the Abacos, and then back home to Florida. We are still in the age of COVID, so there are some extra hoops to jump through, but it will be totally worth it. Let’s get started!

Click on any image to enlarge

Miami to Nassau click this link to view live map with details CLICK HERE

WEEK 1 – Miami to Nassau 

After a couple of months up in Melbourne getting the boat and ourselves ready for the trip, we got ourselves down south to our jumping-off point for the trip in Miami. Here we took care of the last minute things on the list, including getting a negative COVID test and getting Bella’s veterinary health certificate, both of which have to be done no more than 5 days prior to our arrival in the Bahamas. We took care of business in swanky Coconut Grove, and then we moved over across Biscayne Bay to Key Biscayne to wait for a good weather window to cross the Gulf Stream to Bimini. We spent three very pleasant nights in a little anchorage near Bill Baggs State Park at the very southern tip of Key Biscayne until the winds laid down a bit.

Upon our arrival in Dinner Key the winds picked up as expected but clocked around more than predicted and by morning mooring field a very nasty place to be so we moved over to Bayshore Marina at $4.00 per foot which is a bargain by Miami standards. The wind kept up for a few days which made it worth every penny.

BellaGatto in the anchorage after we spent a few hours in the water with Jonathan cleaning the bottom and me cleaning the tanin off the hull sides. The effort paid off well.

Bill Baggs near the lighthouse

Manatee sighting in the bay off Bill Baggs. Every manatee I've ever seen has had boat prop scars and this one was no exception.

Pulling out of our slip at Bayshore Marina where we were wedged in the shadows of mega yachts

A wonderful lunch with my longtime friend Carol at Glass & Vine  

Iconic Miami skyline from Key Biscayne

On April 7, we got underway at 7:00AM for the 42-mile crossing to Bimini. The ride started out a bit bumpy, but smoothed out as the day progressed. Once we hit the 100-foot line, we put out some trolling baits and kept our eyes peeled for weedlines and birds the whole way across. We arrived in Bimini about 1:00PM and began the always confusing and aggravating process of clearing in with Immigration and Customs. We were done by 3:00 and we left the Bimini Big Game Club dock and went about 10 miles south to anchor out behind Gun Cay to get up early for a dawn departure the next day. We anchored near the nice little beach at Honeymoon Harbor so Bella could have a nice shore leave.

The excitement of a crossing never wanes

The lighthouse at Bill Baggs as we round the corner of Cape Florida to set our heading due east

The sun is just rising over the horizon

Bella says, "Are we there yet?"

Long at last the entrance channel to Alice Town, Bimini

I've heard other cruisers say that Bimini is a ghost town. These are the docks at Big Game club and we are the only boat.

The dockmaster at Big Game said we had to fill out these forms even though we had completed the new and very clunky online Bahamas customs system of Click2Clear. What the what??  Turns out we didn't need to do this but whatever it takes!

Our beautiful back porch sunset at Gun Cay where we are well positioned for a very long crossing to Chub Cay in the morning.

The next morning was another early one, because we had almost 90 miles to go to get across the banks to Chub Cay and the Berry Islands. All in all, it was a 10 hour nonstop headsea bash. When we got off the banks and back in the deep water of “the pocket” we put out trolling baits again. No luck, but we did see a big pod of pilot whales, which was pretty cool. We past the swanky sportfishing mecca of Chub Cay and went another six or eight miles to find a nice protected anchorage at Bird Cay and finally dropped the hook and shut off the engines for the day. We went ashore at a pretty little beach on nearby Cat Cay for Bella’s walk. She was very glad to get ashore, and we also found a big beautiful conch in knee-deep water.

Bella must be saving her strength for another long day underway. Have not seen her do this before.

Underway bright and early as we round the corner of Gun Cay for a long day of banging away on the Great Bahama Bank.

This is one of the pilot whales we saw once we entered the deep water in the pocket of the Tongue of the Ocean

We made it to Bird Cay which is about 5 miles East of Chub and we are now well positioned to explore the Berry Islands. This is Bella's shore leave on the adjacent Cat Cay.

Bella is very happy to be on dry land!

Excellent beach walk for the three of us

Well how about that! Our first conch and we didn't even have to get wet to get it!

Delicious and tender conch salad fresh from the sea

Rather than immediately pushing on to Nassau, we decided to explore the Berry Islands for a while first, so the next day we cruised along the eastern side of the cays in deep water to Little Harbor Cay, maybe about 20 miles. Trolling along the way, we caught a big but unprestigious  black jack, which we released. To escape the south wind, we picked a spot at Comfort Cay at the north end of Little Harbor, where we stayed for the next two days. We were able to get a great lunch at the iconic Flo’s Conch Bar, and we met some very nice cruisers who make Comfort Cay their home base and had sunset cocktails on the island.

Fish on!! Ah the sweet sound of the reel clicking. Even though it was a stinking black jack it was still a lot of excitement.

Sharing cruising stories while enjoying happy hour with our anchorage neighbors

BellaGatto swinging on the hook in the Little Harbour/Comfort Cay anchorage

Cracked conch, hogfish fingers and all the fixin's. No menu here at Flo's Conch Shack. You eat what they are serving and they are serving what's fresh.

Getting our Bahamian on with some cold Kalik and hot conch fritters.

The one thing about anchoring is the amazing sunrises and sunsets with nothing blocking your view. 

Beautiful endless white sand beach on a deserted cay adjacent to our anchorag

By now it was time to do our required 5-day COVID test which is a part of the Bahamian health visa process. The closest place to do that was up north in Great Harbor Cay, which is either 45 miles in deep open water of Northwest Providence Channel or 22 miles via an unmarked shallow path across the banks. We set out at 8:30 to catch the rising tide, and with a combination of Navionics, Garmin, and the Mark I eyeball we picked our way through the shifting sandbars and arrived at Great Harbor Cay Marina before noon. We took care of the COVID test and borrowed the marina’s rickety loaner bikes to explore the nearby town and did a big bunch of laundry. The marina here is a super-well protected hurricane hole, which came in handy just after dark when a wicked squall and thunderstorm came through. Total luck we happened to be docked there that night and missed a blow that had many anchored cruising boats driven ashore all through the islands.

Entering the narrow channel entrance into Great Harbour Cay

Here comes the squall line

We were lucky that the worst of the storm missed us and that we were tied up in a slip. We vow to pay closer attention to the weather forecast.

It's nice that the nurse comes right to the marina to administer the required 5 day the rapid Covid test. Negative results for both of us which is always good to know.

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Leaving Great Harbour Cay

The next day we had to wait until about 11:00 to let the last of the storms blow through before starting on our trip back south across the flats. This had us on a not quite favorable tide, so the water was a little skinnier, but we had our GPS breadcrumbs to follow from yesterday, and we made it to Hoffmans Cay without incident. Hoffmans Cay is a lovely little archipelago of rocky islands and white beaches just a couple of miles north of where we were before at Comfort Cay. There is also an inland blue hole that you can reach via trail from one of the beaches. The hole is very deep, very clear blue water, and we all three went for a swim, followed by some dinghy exploring and a very pleasant evening.

The Blue Hole at Hoffman's Cay

Jonathan and Bella scoping out the water entry options

The caves here at the blue hole are spectacular

A great day followed by a yummy one pan dinner of chicken marsala

Sunset at the anchorage

Bella's morning shore leave excursion. Having a dog onboard is a lot of work but it also motivates you to go to shore and explore

After the storms, the wind had clocked around to the northeast instead of the usual southeast, and that gave us a good opportunity to head southeast to Nassau without banging straight into the wind and seas. We left Hoffmans at 9:00AM and a good, slightly rolly 46 miles to the big city of Nassau. Along the way, we were in water over 7000 feet deep. We trolled the whole way, and despite finding weedlines, floating structure, and birds working along the way, we got no action on dolphin or tuna. Entering the busy port of Nassau, we stopped to top off our fuel (prices here are at least a buck a gallon cheaper than we will find later, we filled up for $3.65 per gallon). We got a Marina slip for the night at Nassau Harbor Club Marina and hit the Fresh Market grocery across the street to load up on provisions. If you think Fresh Market in the states is pricey, you need to check this one out!

Our course to Nassau will take us though some very deep water

Here fishy, fishy. Nothing to see here!

Several of these large weed mats holding nothing but trash. I was horrified at the amount of trash and debris in the water the closer we got to Nassau

The light house as you enter Nassau Harbour

Nassau is a bustling metropolis with a population of over 250,000 and the tourist trade is huge here. Pictured here is the mega resort, Atlantis on Paradise Island. I'm sure the moth balling of the cruise ships during Covid has hurt the economy but the impact of that much tourism certainly is very hard on the environment.

Topping off the diesel for the boat and gasoline for the dinghy.

Nassau Harbour is where the majority of goods are imported before shipping off to the smaller islands

Click to see the larger image of the Fresh Market receipt

If you think Fresh Market is expensive you should see it in the Bahamas!

BellaGatto in her slip with the setting sun

Nassau has a high crime rate and tourists are advised not to wander around after dark. The shopping center across the street from the marina is walled, gated and barb wired for security.

This might be the biggest mahogany tree we've ever seen!

We covered a lot of water this first week, next stop is the Exuma island chain, where we expect to slow down dramatically.

Please leave us a comment below. See you next time!