Nassau

We left Alice Town Bimini Tuesday morning. And, we needed to be in Nassau by Friday because Miriam, Melissa, and Allison are flying in on Saturday. Thursday was going to be strong winds, so we planned on sailing overnight to arrive on Wednesday.

There are three routes we could have taken to Nassau. The shortest is south of Bimini and across the Great Bahama Bank. This is shallow water and we were not comfortable sailing it at night because we’d be unable to navigate around coral heads or shoals in the dark. It was too far for us to make it across before sundown and we would have had to anchor in open water with no protection. The strong east wind would have made it very miserable.

The next route is north of Bimini and cuts across the Bank and end up on the south side of the Berry Islands. Again, more shallow water and we wouldn’t have made it to deep water before sunset.

The third route was to head north and go around the Grand Bahama Bank and end up on the North side of the Berry Islands. It was a longer route but it was all deep water so we wouldn’t have to worry about running aground in the dark. Since this is all new to us, we decided to take the safe deep water route.

The sail north to the Great Isaac Light was perfect. Winds out of the east and the waves were very manageable. Once we hit the Great Isaac Light, we had to turn into the wind. Sailboats can’t sail directly into the wind, so we had to zigzag our way east towards the Berry Islands. This is also a high traffic route with cruise ships, cargo ships, and Mega yachts.

The private islands owned by the cruise lines are in the north Berry Islands. A couple of them have popular anchorages. You can anchor, swim, fish, and paddle board, you just can’t go to shore.

From the Berry Islands we turned to head south towards Nassau. The wind had been blowing out of the east for a few days and the waves were larger than we like, but we made it into Nassau Harbour by Wednesday afternoon.

On Saturday, we’re moving to the Atlantis Marina on Paradise Island. Three nights at the most expensive marina we’ve ever stayed at. But, it includes access to all the water parks and other perks at the resort. Still cheaper than a slip in Boston.