Alders Cay to Great Harbour Cay
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Alders Cay to Great Harbour Cay
Just a short ride away from Chub Cay in the southern Berry Islands is Little Harbour Cay, Frozen Cay and Alder Cay. We picked out this area to anchor because of Flo’s. We anchored near a catamaran in sky blue clear water. We could see the sting rays swimming in the water. We took the dinghy across this clear water to a beach area where Piper and Steve took a walk. I enjoyed sitting in the sand looking out at the ocean. The current was somewhat strong as it pulled our mushroom anchor down the beach and threatened to take the dinghy away. Steve and Piper returned so we got in the dinghy for more exploration. We headed through very shallow clear water to Flo’s, tied up alongside the dock and wandered inside. We found Chester and a helper busily awaiting a party of 12 for a meal. We made reservations to return for supper then headed back. I took a nap on the fly bridge while Steve napped inside. The boat had begun to rock side to side, making the anchorage not so comfortable. The catamaran near us picked up and left. We moved across the way to sit behind Frozen Cay and Alder Cay closer to Hyperion which anchored just on the corner of Frozen Cay.
We made our way to Flo’s for dinner at 6:00 after anchoring. It was not a smooth ride over to Flo’s. The waves had kicked up making the ride bumpy. Our dinner at Flo’s was hindered by the thoughts in the back of our minds that we weren’t completely satisfied with the protection from the winds at our anchorage. After watching the news with Chester, we headed back–this time I put on my lifejacket to feel a little bit more secure. We noticed that Hyperion had left. I wanted to call them for I feared if they were leaving, maybe we should leave too. Mr. Adventure took Piper for a quick walk on Alder Cay–a private island onto which one should most decidedly receive an invitation to land. I could see a home, an outbuilding, a dock from where we were anchored. I watched closely with the binoculars as Piper took a quick walk and they returned. I discovered later that this home is for sale with tennis court, caretaker cottage, pool, landing strip, and dock.
Mr. Adventure tied up our dinghy with two lines for added security. Around 9:00 he went to bed while I kept an attentive eye out, wishing the boat to stop rocking. Around 10:00 I gave up and climbed into bed. The boat continued to rock. All of the glass shook and rattled throughout the night. We got up about every 3o minutes to check that we had not drifted away. We could see the lights of Flo’s, the lights of the home on Alder Cay and the anchor light of a sailboat anchored a little distance from us.
Close to midnight, Mr. Adventure ventured out to set a second anchor. I made him put on a lifejacket since the boat was rocking so wildly, it would be easy to lose balance and tumble into the water. Around 3:30 I slept a little more soundly until my internal clock went off at 5:30 when I got up for coffee. It was a truly miserable night worrying about the anchor holding and being pushed aground or into rocks. It was most definitely our worst night aboard.
I have very limited capacity to estimate distances during the daylight– is impossible for me to estimate distances at night–but it looked like we had drifted further away from land than when we had set the anchor. When Steve got up he determined that we had indeed drifted about 100 feet, we were holding on with our second anchor–the first had slipped during the heaving rocking and winds. We decided against his walking Piper this morning and leaving me alone with an anchor that might not hold–a recipe for danger. We got the dinghy loaded and secured everything as tightly as we could. We put Piper in our bedroom and latched the door so that we could head out to the safety of a marina at Great Harbour Cay. The weather report we saw on the television at Flo’s indicated that the bad weather in Florida was heading to the Bahamas. We knew we were not staying at this anchorage for another sleepless night.
It was 7:30 when we got the remaining anchor out and secured both. It is always a little tricky to get the anchor in and not drift into some hazard, but when the seas are rough it can be a little more frightening. We knew we had to avoid an area of rocks as we exited the cays. They were easy to see because the water was marking them clearly as the waves broke over them. The waves were probably 6 to 8 feet in height as we left. Steve handled everything masterfully—he got us out and headed north toward Great Harbour Cay Marina.
My job while Steve was steering us was to hold on tightly. I learned how to go down the steps like we taught our kids years ago–sitting down. There was no walking–the water was too rough. After a few rough waves just moments apart, the refrigerator doors flew open. We don’t know if the safety latches were on or not–we are usually pretty good about keeping these latched, but with the hectic nature of our morning, we aren’t sure if we closed these–it may not have mattered the force of the rolling may have prohibited them to stay in the down position. I edged down the 3 steps to try to close the doors while maintaining a death grip on the hand rails. I had to peer around the door to see that all the drawers were out as well causing the refrigerator to have all its weight forward. I was afraid the refrigerator would fall on top of me if I stepped in front of it. I couldn’t remember if it is bolted down and I didn’t think it was a good time to ask Steve about this. Losing the refrigerator seemed to be the least of my worries. I twisted my leg around the door and pushed the freezer drawers shut, slammed the freezer door and put down the latch. I tried to close the other door but the milk, orange juice and yogurt were blocking the door. I tossed these into the sink shut the door and put a chair in front of the refrigerator to keep it from happening again.
Fortunately, we made it out of these waves in about 20 minutes. While I was wrestling with the refrigerator praying that it would not fall and pin me to the floor, Steve got a call on the VHF from Blue Planet, the sailboat that had been at anchor near us in Alder Cay. They wanted to know how we made it out –they told Steve that the night was the worst they had ever spent aboard too. They were headed to the same marina as us, but were sure they would take longer in their sailboat. We kept our ears open for them on the VHF.
I held on to the hand rails most of the morning with a white knuckled grip. This was not going to be a day for picture taking. I have to write that while I was very frightened both on Wednesday night and on Thursday morning, I was not worried about the structural soundness of Meandering Joy. The boat took the pounding without any trouble. I was most worried about my ability to walk around without getting injured or if out on the deck, thrown to the sea–not a real danger because there was no way I was heading to the deck. Steve laughed at me for wearing my life jacket. He didn’t realize I had it on mainly as padding so that if I did fall, I wouldn’t break a rib.
We arrived at the south end of Great Harbour Cay and had to go all along the eastern side, to the northern point then back down to the western side to enter the marina. We heard a call on the VHF from Juliana which had grounded early in the morning. They had just left the marina but ran aground. We listened to their plight for a few hours. We heard numerous calls to the marina–everyone had the same idea to get out of the weather. At the north end of Great Harbour Cay are Great Stirrup Cay and Little Stirrup Cay. Both of these cays are the play ground areas for some large cruising lines. We had to pass a Norwegian Cruise Ship at anchor just outside these two cays.
Although the channel markers were missing (not uncommon in the Bahamas) we made it to the marina safely with no problem about 11:00. One by one the empty slips filled up. After naps, we wandered around the marina to meet our new neighbors.