Since we still didn’t have a weather window thanks to continued northerly winds, we decided a sail to Grand Cay would be a fun way to spend the day, plus we’d get a chance to visit a new place. Our sail was beautiful, and Windara loved the conditions. We flew along at 7-8kts and were briefly joined by a couple dolphins.
When we first came to the Bahamas last year, we thought about stopping at Grand Cay, and I’m glad we didn’t. Not because I didn’t enjoy visiting, but because even now, it’s probably the least rebuilt of the islands we’ve visited and coming from New York, it’s in the kind of condition that would have set off all kinds of alarm bells in my head – I wouldn’t have understood. It’s not that the locals here aren’t trying, but I get a clear sense that this island hasn’t gotten the help it needs to get back on its feet, and given its remote location, supplies aren’t easy to come by. All the locals we met were kind, friendly and helpful, and everyone said hello and made us feel welcome.
The cut between Grand Cay and Little Grand Cay (where the settlement is) is winding, shallow and has a lot of current… I was glad we were in Squall. We had a late lunch at Etta J’s Takeout – chicken wings and french fries (the menu was limited because the mailboat had JUST arrived and was still offloading while we were there). It was basic, but the chicken was well-seasoned and well cooked, and we were starving! We went back for dinner at Rosie’s – again, it was a limited menu, but it was good, authentic Bahamian food. After dinner, we took a quick walk around the island before returning to the boat for sunset.
I loved all the random art we found on homes (or what was left of them), and my favorite was this mural right behind Rosie’s.
There were a few other boats in the anchorage with us, and we met the owners of Imagine, a Manta catamaran, who dinghied over to chat departure plans. While we always do our own planning, it’s nice to get an idea of other cruisers’ plans. They were looking at the same window as us – Saturday/Sunday. It was short and would only get us to St. Augustine, but we were out of time for a longer passage anyway and were thankful to see a crossing opportunity at all.
With a bonus day to relax, we had a lazy morning and then hopped in the dinghy to check out the wrecked barge. I had hoped to snorkel around it, but there wasn’t a great place to anchor Squall so we settled for a slow pass around before going to check out the coastline of Grand Cay.
We found a nice little spot where we could anchor Squall in shallow water and go snorkeling. Laura hadn’t snorkeled before, so we wanted to keep it simple. I know it took me a lot of time to get used to and if she needed time to acclimate, it’s nice to be able to just stand up.
After she was done, Chris and I took a quick swim out around the point. There were tons of fish and lots of healthy coral and I wish we could have spent more time, but the current was starting to run out pretty good. The swim back was easy – I basically just let the current take me. Chris wanted to check out one more spot before we headed back to Windara, so we anchored while he hopped in. I thought about going back in too, but we were close to the ironshore and I wanted to be able to move Squall if I had to.
When we got back from snorkeling, we got Windara ready to go, got Squall squared away on deck, enjoyed a final Bahamian sunset (we think for real this time!), did another weather check, and made it an early night so we could be up before dawn.
Thanks to Laura Olsen for her photo contributions!