Hanging in the Berries

 Mon 1st Jan 2024 - Happy New Year! 2024 greeted us in the marina with a crisp morning and azure  skies. We spent the morning on a dinghy ride through Shark Creek, heading south from Grand Harbor Cove. The creek runs through the island, via a narrow tunnel through the mangroves. Navigating the 2 meter wide alley, with the mangrove canopy overhead, crystal clear water underneath was super peaceful even with the abundance of clinging spiderwebs crisscrossing the creek (reminded Gerda that she is really a city girl at heart). We spotted a couple of sharks, turtles, numerous fish and rays🤦‍♀️ We were rewarded by arriving at Shelling Beach on the east side of the island, a beautiful beach with turquoise water. We walked around on the beach a while and then ventured back before the tide turned, a fun trip.

Tue 2nd Jan 2024 - No more chill in the morning, it’s getting warmer! Doing some cooking today with our last fresh produce. 🤯 The lack of fresh produce in the stores is really disturbing (to Gerda anyway, Rob is happy with a tin of peas), how do people stay healthy? There are only 2 reasonably sized supermarkets in the Bahamas within our reach, one in the Ábacos and one in the Exumas. (There are more in Nassau but from a boating perspective it is considered dangerous to stop there so we never go there.) Even in these bigger stores, you have to go shopping within a day of the arrival of the weekly provisioning cargo ship if you want everything on your shopping list. Currently we are in the Berries and there is only one small grocery store that didn’t have anything when we were there a few days ago, we walked there again today but the lady said they haven’t had any shipment for a few weeks due to the holidays and to come again later in the week. 🤷‍♀️First world  problem for sure, but distressing all the same. Mostly for the people who live here who have to compete with the tourists for staples. 😞 And Gerda. 😩Started getting really windy in the afternoon but by the evening the wind was gone. 

Wed 3rd Jan 2024 - Quiet, chilly morning. As it warmed up later in the day we cycled to the Beach Club for lunch (Fries!) and drinks. Beautiful view over the bay with turquoise waters as far as you can see. It’s a great anchorage for north, south, west component wind and swell. 

Thu 4th Jan 2024 - Gorgeous warm day today! The resident manatee (Manny?) paid us a visit this morning to the delight of boating neighbor’s small kids. ‘Dad’ attracted the manatee by spraying fresh water on the seawater surface; the manatee chilled in the spray seemly drinking the fresh water. Who knew? Lovely to witness how excited the kids were. Later cycled to the northern tip of the island, mostly between the mangroves and the ocean, the views were exquisite. In spots there are new houses being built along the beach front, it’s still largely open but in a decade will it be? We are fortunate to be here now when it’s still open and uninterrupted by structures. We realize progress is inevitable and good for the local economy but…

Fri 5th Jan 2024 - Pleasantly warm today, with cloud cover. We heard a rumor the supply ship had arrived yesterday. Always on the lookout for fresh produce we cycled over to the local grocery store to find produce hadn’t been unpacked yet. We returned a couple of hours later to purchase a few nice vegetables and salad stuff. 👏 Attempted our first tortillas using sourdough dough, needs some work but the potential is there. 🤞

Sat 6th Jan to Mon 29th Jan 2024- We decided to hang out at Great Harbour Marina for a while to avoid the active cold front weather cycles; it’s better in a marina during a loco wind event versus on anchor. On Muti, exercising patience is difficult but necessary when it comes to weather! 🤦‍♀️ Warm sunny days, warm rainy days. No sweaters required! Did boat chores, walked, cycled and yoga’ed quite a bit. Went on some very interesting walks (including through a garden of “sea trash”) and long scenic bike rides around the island. Lunched at the Beach Club numerous times (with the obligatory beer and a rum punch or two) with Mike and Doralyn, who arrived during this time. It appears we have a new defective membrane for our water maker. Man, what a pain to import it from the USA. We are so spoilt with Amazon, order it online and get it delivered within a couple of days. Not so in the islands! It’s been a month and still waiting. 🙂 We think it’s being processed through customs but no word yet. 😤

Tue 30th Jan 2024 - (Great Harbor Cay - Great Guana Cay, 155 nm; 25 hrs)

On our way again! Buddying up with Mike and Doralyn on their catamaran Two Tickets. Heading south to the Exumas, we have a small window of good weather to get as far south as we can. Beautiful sunny day on the water with almost no wind. Rob tried to fish with not much luck, story of his life as he says. (Rob: Yeah, I’m pretty useless stocking our freezer.) We passed New Providence Island on the west side in the early evening just after dark. Since Nassau (with all its high rise hotels) is on the east side of the island there was not much to see. Traversing the shallow water at night with a full moon is not for the faint hearted. The water is so clear and the moon so bright one can see the bottom and every dark patch of coral we sail over causes involuntary bracing for impact. It’s well over 4 meters deep so just mental gymnastics. 

Wed 31st Jan 2024 - Arrived in the Exumas in the early hours of the morning and eventually anchored just behind Black Point on Great Guana Cay in the morning. Will continue further south tomorrow as the weather turns foul early next week; we are checked into a marina just north of Georgetown for a few days. Winter fronts in the Bahamas are a real drag. 😬

Peace out