The Crossing and the Northern Abacos

 

Our destination across the Gulf is the turquoise waters of the Bahamas.

This shows our route from West
Palm to Little Grand Turtle.  This
app also highlights our speed.
White is over 20 mph.  The colored
sections are where we slowed down.

Multiple weather, wind and wave forecasts all point to Thursday, 3/17, being a good day to cross the Gulf.  We wanted that, particularly for Molly’s and Tory’s comfort, and also given that we were picking a 100 nautical-mile route to Little Grand Cay, one of the northernmost islands of the Abacos. 

Many boats exit the Inlet with us.

We leave Florida’s Lake Worth Inlet around 9 am and are soon cruising at 20 knots on a compass course across the Gulf to famous Memory Rock.  It is choppy, but not uncomfortable.  In a few miles depths increase beyond the 1000-foot range of our depth sounder, and the water temperature increases 1.5 degrees, indicating that we are now in the Gulf Stream.

Slower vessels are significantly impacted by the 2-4 knot northerly flow of the Gulf Stream, but we go fast enough to maintain our compass course without much, if any correction.  For the first 2 hours the wind and waves are as forecast, 15 knots from the SE and 3-foot waves off our stern quarter.  Then we see the dark clouds ahead indicating that the squall line is much more northerly than forecast.  Soon the winds and waves are from the west, right off our nose, and wave height increases first to 4 feet, then 5 and an occasional 6. 

We had no idea what Memory Rock looked like.  It is the
only visible landmark for 40-50 miles in all directions.

Tory is not finding a comfortable position anywhere, and throws up a little on the floor.  After cleaning it up, Molly moves back to the sofa, an indication of her discomfort.  Our speed is now down to 12 knots, and after two more uncomfortable hours we finally cross the Gulf and reach Memory Rock on the Little Bahamian Bank, where depths are typically around 10-20 feet.   The large swells reside, and while still very choppy we are once again able to increase speed toward our destination.

Conditions continue to improve and before long Molly is back in her co-pilot seat.  Around 3 pm we can see our destination ahead.  Soon we are in the protected harbor and docked at Rosie’s Place in Little

We docked at Rosie's Place after our 100 nautical mile crossing.

Grand Cay.  Molly has to stay on the boat while Tory and I (as the boat captain) walk through the quaint Bahamian town to the Customs Office.  The check-in process goes smoothly, and we have our 3-month cruising permit.

Residents of Little Grand Cay returning from work at the
resort on nearby Walker's Cay.  Molly is in the foreground.

We always prefer docking in local communities rather than the fancier resorts, and Little Grand Cay fits the bill perfectly.  This is a Bahamian community of few whites.   The houses are a mixture of quaint, brightly-painted cottages and other dwellings still showing the from Dorian, the 2019 hurrican that devastated the Abacos and Grand Bahamas.

We had a great dinner at Rosie's.

Everyone is very friendly.  Oliver greets us at the dock.  Jonathan is able to figure out how to get around our locked Verizon phone to use a Bahamian SIM card and also point us to a nice shower in one of the little nearby cottages.  Raquel serves us a great meal of cracked conch and fried lobster.   We thank Jonathan with a beer, and he tells us he is the mechanic and deckhand for the private speedboat ferry that races the 90-minutes to Freeport, Grand Bahamas, a few times per week ($130 round trip).   Most island residents go at least once per month for grocery shopping.

Getting the anchors ready.

The next day an older gentleman tries to tell us that the best way to find the fuel dock is for him to go stand on it and wait for us.  After fill-up, we cruise out of the harbor to our nearby, next destination, Sand Cay, next to Double-Breasted Cay.  This proves to be one of the most beautiful anchorages in the Bahamas, and a great place to unwind on flexible Bahamian time.  The pictures tell the story.

Where to anchor in these
beautiful waters?

Salty Paws off Sand Cay,
anchored Bahamian style.

As there are strong tidal currents in the anchorage, we anchor Bahamian style, which is basically two anchors off the bow, but in opposite directions.  One anchor holds the boat on the incoming tide, and the other on the outgoing.   There is only one other boat near us, Leeway.  We meet Diane and Kevin on Sand Cay for cocktails on our 2^nd afternoon.  They are from Vancouver, and the majority of sailors in the Bahamas  seem to be from Canada.  They are waiting for a weather window to cross back to Florida, where they keep their boat, after spending 4 months in the Abacos.

Going ashore on Sand Cay.

Tory and I walked the white sands exposed at low tide.

The sailing catamaran Leeway was our only neighbor.

Tory at the opening I cut
through the mangroves.

The boats anchored off Carters were all
seemingly abandoned.

The next day we depart for the 25-mile cruise to Carters Cay with its deserted US missile tracking base.  Upon arrival, however, it is clear that this is may not be as inviting as the book suggested.  Abandoned boats dot the anchorage, although they might be used by Bahamians for sleeping when fishing in the area.  A short distance away is Hogstye Harbour, a hurricane hole that only a shallow draft vessel like Salty Paws can enter.  This proofed to be a very comfortable anchorage, but the shoreline is only tangled mangroves.  Fortunately, I was able to hack out one short path to a rocky clearing for Tory’s benefit.

The deserted beach was on a small cay where the dock
and the house had been destroyed by Dorian.

Pulling the dinghy through
the shallow waters.

The nearest beach access was a mile away through shallow waters.  We went there twice, once by kayak and once by dinghy, and Tory had the time of her life, chasing her ball into the water and digging holes in the sand.  On both trips I had to pull our boat through the shallow waters.  I welcomed the exercise, but wasn't prepared for the 5-ft shark that swam by me! 

We activated our anchor alarm on our chartplotter, and
tracked our boat movement.  The black dots reflect our boat
position through the night and indicate that the anchor held
firm in the changing winds and tides.

After two nights there we continued our trek southeast another 25 miles to Allans/Pensacola Cay, now combined as one large cay because of a past hurricane.  Because Salty Paws draws only 2 feet or so, we almost always go inside of all the boats in any anchorage.  Here, however, the bottom is mostly marl, rock-hard dead coral with little sand.  We worked for over an hour trying to find a patch of sand where our anchor would grab.  Most observers probably thought that we didn't know what we were doing!   A local boater finally came by in his dinghy and pointed us to one sand patch, which worked but was very far from shore.

The trail across Allen's was
marked with flotsam.

We explored Allans a little and hiked the trail marked with flotsam across the island to the signing trees, decorated with boat signs and other trinkets from the thousands of boats who have visited the cay over the years.

View of the setting sun from one of the beaches on Allans.

At the dock at Donny's Marina in Black Sound, Green Turtle Cay.

Our plan was to spend two days there, but the rolly night at anchor had us off early the next morning to go the Green Turtle Cay where we can dock at Donny’s in Black Sound, explore the local village and ride-out the strong winds forecast for the next couple of days.  Many have told us that this has been the windiest couple of months in years.

We had a great breakfast with
Merydie and Ken at Plymouth
Rock Cafe and Liquors.
Great combo!

Greeting us at the dock were our friends Ken and Merydie, whom we met in the Exumas five years ago.  They keep their boat here permanently and fly here from Nova Scotia for 4-5 months each winter. It has been great having them show us around Green Turtle and introduce us to the many friends that they have made over the years.