3//13/12 THROUGH 3/17/12
QUEST HEADS HOME
After a serious
look at the ever increasing demand for Dan’s time and input into the evolving
new business, we decided that perhaps it was time to head Quest in the direction
of home. Checking the weather and
charting our course, we made plans to leave Cat Island on Wednesday.
We left Cat Island bright and early, before
7:00, and headed across the open waters to Highborne. The 71 NM made for a long day but the relative
calm waters and sunny skies made for a nice day. Dan had called the Highborne Marina the day
before for a reservation for dockage but had only been able to leave a
message. Thinking they would call if it
were not available, we made tracks for their safe haven as the expected blow
approached. Unfortunately today’s call
to the marina found them totally booked and almost insulted that we thought
they might give us a call. Imagine
that!? Our first anchorage choice was
taken but Dan quickly adjusted his plan and we dropped anchor just beyond the
marina’s entrance channel. With the
hook barely set we were scrambling to get doors and windows closed before the
rain began pelting down.
|
LEAVING CAT |
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THE STORM APPROACHES IN HIGHBORNE |
Our anchor held
fast all night but the surge was AWFUL!
We could hardly wait for daylight to arrive to reassess our plans. Checking all weather predictions we found
that there was a small-craft warning in our path to Nassau but figured it couldn't be much worse than our situation the previous night. I gathered up life jackets and prepared the
“ditch-bag” (this is a water-tight bag that should contain things like
passports, boat documentation, cash and other important things that might be
needed if you had to abandon ship). Dan made
sure there was an available slip at Nassau Harbor Club and then we took off. What a good choice that turned out to
be. While a bit rough, it was so much
better than expected and the journey was made with little difficulty. I never even resorted to setting on the
floor.
Talk about
returning back to civilization!! There
were 3 cruise ships in, jet skis zipping around, booze cruise boats
entertaining cruise ship guests, snorkelers, divers, kayakers, folks soaring up
in the air beneath colorful para-sails and just a general atmosphere of activity
all around. Dan radioed the Harbor
Master for permission to enter the channel then found Peter and crew waiting at
the dock to assist us. He did a
masterful job maneuvering big Quest into the intricate spot assigned to us.
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THE HUB-BUB OF NASSAU |
Dan spent
most of the day in the execution of business while I attempted to do some catch
up with the blog then we were delighted to find Pete from MY REWARD knocking at the door. The boating world just keeps getting smaller
and smaller. By 4:00 Algonquin had
pulled into the marina to join us.
Let me tell you
about the new Fresh Market. The previous
market was conveniently located right across the street but closed down over a
year ago. The newly refurbished store is
a dream for provisioning with a large produce section, a butcher and fish
counter, an in-house bakery and even a deli counter. Boaters Dream!
Saturday morning
found us strolling westward towards the cruise ships, shops and Straw
Market before hopping on a bus that brought us right back to the marina. We took on a bit of fuel to get us to
Bimini
and back to the US then set our sights on the anchorage at Chub Cay.
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THE SIGHTS ALONG BAY STREET IN NASSAU |
Our path through
the harbor was delayed due to the arrival of the Carnival Freedom which made
a total of five cruise ships in port for the day. Holy cow!
Think that could be messy? When
allowed to proceed we followed a stunning tall-masted sailing vessel out and
watched as she hauled up her massive white sails and begin her journey. We were lucky enough to have their company
all afternoon as they sailed about 2 miles off our starboard all day. What a sight!
The seas were splendidly calm, the blue skies peppered with white clouds
and the temperature oh-so pleasant.
|
LEAVING NASSAU HARBOR |
Arriving at Chub
Cay’s anchorage we were charmed by the large but tasteful beach cottages lining
the beach. We have heard many stories
about the development, both pro and con.
We will definitely check it out next trip over. The entrance channel for the marina passes
directly behind the anchorage and we saw lots of traffic as darkness approached
bringing the fishermen back in and crossing yachts seeking a night’s
dockage. Around midnight we were
awakened by the spotlights of a yacht coming into the anchorage. Although his bright light’s light up the quiet
anchorage, he did creep in almost silently and drop his hook.
|
CHUB CAY |
|
CHUB SUNSET--JUST TOO HARD TO CHOOSE ONE SHOT |
The alarm clock got
us up at “0:dark-thirty”and by 6:40 we were off the hook and creeping out to
start our long day’s journey to Bimini. We
were not, however, the first to pull out. Spirit, the sailboat next to us, hauled up its
anchor and snuck out in total darkness around 4:30.
This is a very popular route and by 8:30 we had faster boats overtaking
us west and were beginning to see vessels heading east that had spent the night
anchored out on the shallow bank. By
11:45 we had overtaken the slower moving Spirit and reached our half-way point
to Bimini.
|
THE POWERFUL SUN EMERGES THROUGH THE CLOUDS |
I do love
traveling across the shallow bank that leads to Bimini. You just can’t describe the sensory overload
of being surrounded by miles and miles of liquid turquoise. Large orange starfish are easily spotted resting
on the sandy bottom in the shallow 12 to 17’ waters. An hour out of Bimini we found a hitchhiker sunning
on the bow of our towed tender. Oh yes,
Dan was in seventh heaven being able to get the NASCAR race on both the radio and
the TV. He would listen to the
commentators from the pilot house then run back to the TV for crashes and race
restarts.
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THE TURQUOISE WATERS OF THE BANK |
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DAN THOUGHT THIS WAS SO CUTE UNTIL HE SAW THE MESS LEFT ON THE TENDER |
Pulling into the
narrow cut that leads to Alice Town and the splattering of marinas along North
Bimini’s eastern shoreline we were almost in a traffic jam. Three of us larger boats were lined up,
slowly entering the channel and maneuvering around the working dredge and we
sought to reach our destination. Whoops! The new ferryboat that runs from Alice Town
to Miami was loaded up and ready to take her charges back to Florida. We gave the Maverick a wide berth, allowing
her to keep to her schedule, and then approached our dock at Brown’s
Marina. Usually we stay at Blue Water Marina
located just a little further on but were impressed with the improvements we
saw going on at Brown’s last December so decided to give it a try. Gosh, the dock master, was most helpful and accommodating
and soon we were all tied up and ready for our week here in Bimini.
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A PRETTY JUMBLED MESS FOR SUCH A QUIET PLACE LIKE ALICE TOWN |
So now, picture
this. The evening’s hustle and bustle is in full swing with fishing boats coming
back with their day’s catch, cruisers arriving for a night’s stay, the
ferryboat hustling off and the dredge working to clean the shifting sands from
the much used channel. Now, in comes a
float plane gliding right down in the midst of all this traffic. He quickly
takes care of his business and prepares to take off. As I am watching this I notice he seems to
have an un-ticketed passenger calmly strolling on one of the pontoons. I pointed this out to Gosh and he started waving
and yelling at the pilot. By now other
boaters were trying to get his attention.
STOP! Arms waving! Finally he got the picture and floated back
closer to shore before opening his door, extending his leg and giving the dog a
nudge into the shallower water to swim back to shore. Bet he checks twice for unwanted passengers
next time.
|
THE EXPECTED PASSENGERS |
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AND THE UNEXPECTED PASSENGER |
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AND ALL IS WELL IN BIMINI |