We got up just before dawn so we could leave our beloved Hope Town before the tide got too low to leave and anchored outside. We dinghied back in to take one last walk on our beach and visit the farmers market (I scored some delicious-looking mango jam and we bought donuts that we really […]
After a couple days on Lynyard, the wind shifted around making the anchorage rolly and uncomfortable, so we moved up to Tilloo Cay just off Tavern Cay. It was much more settled and put us that much closer to Hope Town, although with Windara’s draft, we could no longer pass between Lubbers Quarters and Tahiti […]
It felt good to put some miles under our keel again, and it was nice to return to a familiar place after exploring for the first half of our time in the Bahamas. Our friends on Minx (and their adorable cat, Peanut, @imaboatcat) were anchored at Lynyard, and it was great to catch up. We’d […]
Harbour Island is often called “Briland” by the locals (in the lilting Bahamian accent, “Harbour Island” is pronounced more like “Ar-br island, where the “br” is slurred into the “island”, hence “Briland”). It’s a short hop from Spanish Wells but in order to get here, you have to navigate the Devil’s Backbone, an infamously tricky […]
We love anchoring out, so we were excited to be able to cast off the lines and spend some time out on the hook throughout our time in the area. We had some stunning, clear nights and enjoyed some quiet stargazing. The weather was generally pretty settled and it was so calm at times that […]
Spanish Wells is made up of two islands – St. George’s Cay and Russell Island. St. George’s Cay is where most of the infrastructure is, while Russell Island is almost entirely residential. Although Spanish Wells is set up well to support cruisers, it’s primarily a fishing town – tourism isn’t their main industry. There’s a […]
As much as we loved Great Harbour, we were excited to move on and check out another part of the Berrys. We had a slow sail/motor around Great Harbour Cay in some of the most stunning water I’ve ever seen, and dropped the hook with four other boats in the lee of Soldier Cay. We […]
Great Harbour Cay was a retreat for the “Who’s Who” list of celebrities in the ’60s and ’70s, but hurricanes, poor planning/management, and the drug cartel presence on Cistern Cay in the 80’s lead to the decline of high-end tourism on the island. The 18 hole golf course, 9 holes of which are still maintained […]
Our sail to Great Harbour was one of our best so far on Windara. I got some practice hand-steering her in a beam sea, and it’s amazing how responsive and manageable she is. We started later than we’d hoped, but it was a quick sail, and we got within 2 miles of Island Dream who […]
Our overnight passage to The Bahamas was perfect. We had to motor pretty much the whole way into a bit of leftover swell, but the Gulf Stream was kind to us and it felt SO good to know we were Bahamas-bound once again. The sky was clear, and we could see so many stars once […]