Cat Cay (from 17th Dec)

We have just spent the last three days on holiday - at least thats what it feels like.  We are anchored in the lee of a small island called Cat Cay and have spent the last few days living onboard, swimming, reading etc.

We spent a couple of more days in Port Lucaya waiting for a weather shift and decided on a field trip for one of the days to Freeport which is very close to Port Lucaya.  There was an international market which Nic especially wanted to see.  One afternoon we all set off to catch the local bus.  The buses here are little mini-vans with only a rough schedule.  They hang around the bus stop until there are enough passengers and then take off on a determined route.  We got let off at Freeport near the market but it was pretty disappointing.  We were told later that Grand Bahama was hit by two hurricanes in 2004 and it did some real damage and the island is still struggling to recover.  A lot of the tourist dollars have disappeared.  You can still see remnants of the damage around the streets and buildings including major hotels lying empty.  We wandered around a bit and then headed back to the boat.  The island reminds us of the Sunshine Coast in Queensland - same type of tropical vegetation.  It is surprisingly green with lots of trees.  On the road they drive on the left but the cars are both left and right hand drive, I guess due to the proximity of the US car market.

Sam learning to paddle

Dulcinea berthed at Port Lucaya

While we were moored in the marina there had been a sportfishing tournament going on so each evening. The sportfishing boats return from the days fishing and the catch is weighed.  The jetty beside us was the centre of all the action.  A bar is set up for a few hours in the evening and music is played while the crews mill around having a drink and cleaning the fish.  There are some cleaning tables set up at the end of the jetty and when they start cleaning the fish scavengers start appearing in the water.  On the first night there were some big Tarpon and a shark of some sort circling the jetty and our bow.  Its all over within a few hours.  The fishing tournament used to be huge with tens of boats entered but again due to the economic downturn its has been drastically reduced and this time there were only about 4 boats.

The shark and tarpon

Sunday morning we slipped the lines and Nic navigated us out of the narrow marina entrance and into clear water where we found a brisk easterly blowing.  We set a course for Isaac Rock which lies north of the Bimini Islands about 40NM away.  From Issac Rock its about another 20 miles south to North Bimini.  Once we had the sails up Sam got the fishing line in the water.  It was not long before we heard the whirring of the line being pulled out indicating a strike.  This time we were all ready - we pulled in a good sized Mahi Mahi, doused it with rum and then killed it and set it into a storage bin.  We set the line again but with no luck. Sam was so stoked with his catch.

Sam and the second Mahi Mahi

The sail to Bimini was superb.  The wind stayed in the east and we reached all the way down getting up to 10kts occassionally.  There were a few showers around but we managed to avoid most of them.  The wind moderated in the afternoon as we turned south around Isaac Rock and the sea calmed, I guess due to the calming effect of the Great Bahama Bank off to the east.  At around 1600 we set the anchor off the beach off North Bimini and spent the night.  The islands are all very low lying with beaches or reef all the way around.  From our anchorage you can see buildings lining the shore line but it does not look developed - more kind of rustic.  Although around the other side is where the marina and resort are.  There are no other boats anchored off the beach but there are a few entering and leaving the channel into the island marina.

Sam and Scott set about cleaning the Mahi Mahi and did a pretty good job cutting off two huge fillets that fed the family for two nights.  We have also kept the head to make a fish head curry later - thats those SIngaporean influences coming into play.

• Processing the catch

The weather was forecast to move into the South and West for the next few days so we headed off  to another anchorage in the morning about 12NM further south at an island.  On one of the reefs there were the bones of a ship wreck silhouetted against the morning light.  It was a pretty big vessel and a reminder of  how treacherous this coast can be.  We tried fishing but caught nothing although we did have a strike when I was talking with Graham P (- apologies for my abrupt end to the conversation but when that fishing line starts flying out its pretty exciting).  

The anchorage we had selected was around on the other side of Cat Cay and to get there we had to negotiate a narrow pass between Gun Cay and Cat Cay.  The controlling depths were down to 2.2 meters in places so we had timed our transit to coincide with high tide.  Even so at some points we would only have a couple of feet under the keel so we had to be extremely careful.  We edged our way around the south point of Gun Cay extremely close to the rocks and then turned and glided between a couple of sand banks off cat Cay before dropping the anchor about 300yds off the beach in 4.5m of crystal clear water.  This was home for the next three days.  

The anchorage is off this beautiful beach lined with palm trees and studded with a few houses.  Up one end of the beach about a mile away is the entrance to the marina.  This island is a resort but it is very quiet with little or no movement onshore.  During the day two or three boats may come in or leave the marina but thats about it.  We have seen no-one on the beaches.  The sea bottom is sand with a light covering of weed.  The water is so clear you can see how the anchor is set with out actually getting in the water.  It is a beautiful aquamarine colour exactly like the brochures and warm.

Sam taking Calley out for a paddle

We all have been relaxing for the past couple of days enjoying the sun, swimming, snorkeling and kayaking during the day with some schooling thrown in.  At night we have had a simple dinner and then set up Nic’s computer on deck to watch a movie under the stars.  We watched Forrest Gump to show the kids some of the places we have visited where the movie was filmed.

Tomorrow we take the boat back to North Bimini where we will moor it outside the rental house for Christmas and we can catch up with Scott’s family who are coming down to spend Christmas here.

***** Huge congratulations to Keith and Susan - hope you guys had a great day.

***** Happy happy happy birthday to dear Jess on the 23rd!

***** A special “shout out” to Peggy - Nina’s good friend in Bradenton - who keeps Nina updated when she can’t get onto the blog. Thanks for reading, Peggy! :)