into Nassau

February 17, 2010

We motor-sailed the 57 miles from Freeport to Great Stirrup Cay in the Berry Islands.  We arrived at about 4 pm, anchored and settled in for the evening.  Great Stirrup is taken over by Norwegian Cruise lines as their private island.  The island is so flat that we could see the cruise ship at anchor on the other side.  We could even see the para-sailors across the land.  We didn’t feel like exploring so we didn’t even launch the dinghy.

The next day we had a short sail to Hoffman Cay.  Pam had read about a “Blue Hole”  there so we thought that would make a great visit.  Again, we had to motor sail most of the way since the winds were almost on the nose.  We launched the dingy, loaded  it up with Mary and Axel from Azaya and Pat and Wayne from Kolibrie and set off in search of the blue hole.

Landing at Hoffmans Cay

We pulled the dingy up on a beautiful beach and walked the short hike described in the guide book.  The blue hole was green – but very impressive – just like the cenotes we see in Mexico.

Pam found this Blue Hole at Hoffman's Cay

We spent a while looking at the rock formations in the cave and watching a fish swim in the green water.

The Mites go up... the Tites come down

Back to the boat where Glen took his first swim off the boat!  He has been looking forward to that.  We joined the other 2 boats for dinner and shared Pat’s catch of mackerel and barracuda.

Swimming off the boat!

The next day we left Hoffman for the 37 mile run into Nassau.  The winds were aft of our beam so we had a great broad reach for most of the day.  We were hit by a squall 10 miles out of Nassau so we had to significantly reduce sail.  So instead of going 6 to 8 knots we slowed down to 5 to 6.  We motored into the Nassau Harbour, looking for an anchorage but opted instead to dock at the Nassau Yacht Haven to make it easy to pick up our first guests – Mike and Charlotte Inman.

Entering Nassau Harbour