The Many Adventures of Stray Cat: From Tiny Bimini to Big Nassau

We left Bimini Harbor at sunrise and headed north to...yes, North Rock, were we made our turn east towards Mackie Shoal and points beyond.

Early on it was clear we would be anchoring off Mackie Shoal. Once I digested this, and the winds continued to be calm if not nonexistent, I felt much more relaxed about the prospect of anchoring in the middle of miles and miles of open water. The entire trip there we could see down to the bottom and it was crystal clear water. We saw star fish and sea cucumbers and coral heads and maybe some conch and two different small schools of fish--yellowtail snapper and something else that I cannot identify. The floor of the Bank was very much like a desert where if you look close enough you can see the life but it's not obvious much of the time. We anchored nicely off Mackie Shoal and had a brilliant sunset experience in flat calm water...until the wee hours of the morning. The boat rocked hard and water banged and the motion brought water up to the second step of the scoops and at times up to the cockpit level. It was unpleasant and I was happy to leave.

We headed then to Chub Cay and motor sailed to our planned anchorage--a small cove right off Chub Cay Marina/Resort. On the way, Mark even arranged for a Valentine's Day balloon to be dropped along our heading for me...hmmm I am not sure I believe that story ;-) The winds were not exactly as predicted and it was a rough anchorage but we thought it would settle as the winds turned from the north. Well they turned but we still had no protection so I felt it was another rough night and I did not sleep well but it was at least better than the night before. The marina and resort groups are very expensive and there were hardly any people there but two boats did go into the marina so it wasn't empty. We left at 0630 for Nassau.

It was a reasonably quiet morning with good wind and we got both sails up and engines off really early...and we were back sailing the Tongue of the Ocean. You know 2000 meters deep and all. Jon put out the fishing line and we went about our morning. Then!! Whirrrrrizzzzzzzzzz!!! OMG!! "Jon you got something!" Down goes breakfast prep and the business of reeling in whatever it was started. It was a hard fight and finally we saw him. A beautiful Mahi that Jon caught. It was hard to take him all the way and Mark apologized before "ending it". They fileted it (I will not go into detail) and we now have a good deal of fish to enjoy thanks to Jon's efforts. The boys enjoyed the freshest fish ever for breakfast instead of eggs!

We made it to Nassau in great time and managed to find hold on the far eastern side of the Harbor. We are being nearly side swiped by tour and fishing and power boats but here we are. We are hosting Island Khaya for fish dinner and I sure hope the traffic does because I desperately want to sleep tonight. Tomorrow we will go ashore and look around and get some fresh fruits and veg then be on our way to hopefully the top side of the Exumas on Monday. We need to get to a comfy spot in advance of a front and blow coming on Wednesday.