Sailing Northern Exuma’s to Nassau

The day after Dad and Ilse flew home to New Hampshire, we had restocked fresh food and water, done the laundry and were sailing north. We sailed 50 miles the first day from Georgetown to Little Bay Great Guana Cay. We stayed three nights anchored near our friends on Pegu Club.

We joined Kimberly for a meandering walk to town one day for a few groceries and a look around. Nice view of the harbor and east side of the island too!The next day we all took a walk ashore with specific plans to visit a blow hole on this windy day.

We enjoyed a lot of laughs here! We also got together in the evenings for cards and one night we watched the James Bond Thunderball movie as Pegu Club will be heading to “the cave” where it was filmed soon.

When the strong winds abated we bid von voyage to our friends. Thank you Kimberly for the great pictures of us sailing off anchor. What fun!

We took advantage of favorable winds to sail 45 miles from Great Guana to Norman’s Cay. Fantastic reach under full sail on the Bahama banks. We averaged 7 knots per hour. Crystal clear water and easy navigation.On Sunday, March 31st, we motored about five miles from Norman’s Cay to Highborne Cay Marina for diesel fuel. Very tricky navigating, but we had very good sun and clear visibility. We called Dad to wish him a Happy Birthday and showed them the anchorage where we waited for word it was our turn to get fuel in the Marina. The shadow of our mast in the absolutely crystal clear water.The Marina was inside a very snug cove beside the cell tower in the center of the above photo. After fueling up we motored around the corner to anchor in the lee of Highborne Cay for the night. The anchorage was busy with mega yachts and all their toys including inflatable slides hanging off the sides and jet skis tied to the back. Surprisingly it was a very quiet night. The next day we motored a couple of miles from Highborne to Leaf Cay to photograph the Iguanas on the beach; or as Tom refers to them, mini dinosaurs.This is the anchored on the shallow sands between Leaf and Allen Cay.Looks like another lovely, deserted beach, except for the many Iguanas 🦎 !There are three in the above photo!The sedate elder is cautious, but calm.A closer look at the many tracks left by the critters on the beach.Oh, the beautiful view. We appreciate this every day!

After our visit ashore, we motored around to the outside of Allen’s Cay to make our departure for Nassau tomorrow easier. This was a deep water anchorage with a slight sideways roll due to the ocean currents being contrary to the light winds.

We motor-sailed 40 miles from Allen’s Cay in the Exumas to Nassau Harbor New Providence Island Bahamas the next day. We have a ringside seat for all of the cruise ship activity. Four ships in port when we arrived. 

The big ships come and go regularly, but do not make a big fuss. The Tiki Bar at the beach on shore and the local huge flock of birds disturb the peace much more than the ships. This is a very secure area as their are cameras everywhere. We feel safe anchored here with a few other cruising boats.

We took the dinghy ashore the next day for a walk around town then a longer walk to a large grocery. Met a fun, and happy local Grandma, Carmen McPhee. Although she lives here now, she calls herself Exuman. When we told her we’ve spent four months in the Exumas and love them; she declared we are Exuman too and gave us a group hug. After our big grocery shopping trip we took a taxi back to the dinghy as we had too much to carry. The variety was fantastic here in a city, a bit fresher, and prices slightly lower. What’s not to love!