Story of my life, right? We’re pinned down by weather again! We’re still at Great Harbour Cay, which is where we were last time you read a blog post from me! We’re starting to feel a little trapped, my mantra lately has been bad luck, bad timing, bad decisions. We’ve been plagued by all three this week!

1.4 – Saturday

This is where you left us, we’d just arrived at the marina. We had a stellar relaxing day, but we kept moving. That night, there were a few people in the pavillion at the marina, we didn’t want to interrupt a private party but we figured it was a whoever-is-here-let’s-hang-out type deal. And we really wanted to. But after being awake all night and busy all day…we went to bed at 7:30pm. Bad timing. We hoped there’d be another gathering tomorrow night. Bad luck, there wasn’t.

1.5 – Sunday

We went for a hike! There is a scenic overlook about a mile from the marina, and we had a hand-drawn map that was part of the official marina welcome package. I checked it against an online map and nothing matched up, that’s how you know you’re in for an adventure! The “overlook” was some ruins with a nice seawall overlooking the Bahamas Banks that we’d just crossed!

We kept walking and we arrived at the rock cut that we’d entered the harbor through. The water is really beautiful here!

When we got back to the marina, I wanted to buy some ice cream – I confirmed that it was available yesterday, but we didn’t buy it because we were exploring and not heading towards the freezer. Well, today is Sunday. Nothing is open. Bad timing!

Also not open today, the best shop name I’ve ever seen: T’ings Necessary!

1.6 – Monday

Okay, we’re well rested, the northern blow is over, it’s time to get back to anchored life! I finally picked up a pint of ice cream – pineapple coconut was the only flavor they had, and it cost $10. Absolutely worth it though! We watched boats leave the marina all morning while we finished up a few dock chores, then it was our turn. We headed out to the anchorage and tried to get close to an DC3 airplane wreck that we wanted to explore. There were a bunch of boats in the anchorage, so we’d finally get to meet some other cruisers! Then we watched as one by one…they all left. Bad luck, bad timing.

1.7 – Tuesday

We were hoping to explore the wreck today, and at one point we saw three other dinghies there (they’d come from the marina) so we thought it looked like a good opportunity to meet people. (side bar: as I was typing this my ‘a’ and ‘n’ keys stopped working, which is the latest in a long litany of laptop problems that have started in the past week. If Kyle didn’t have a spare wireless keyboard this would have been the end of blogging for a while!)

We met people, they were just wrapping up snorkeling and spearfishing around the wreck, so that was really interesting! They were going to head in for lunch, then invited us to join them on a dinghy-explore of the mangrove canal this afternoon! Awesome!

We waited and watched, and finally by 4pm we decided to go explore the mangrove canal on our own as it was high tide (good timing) and if we didn’t go soon we’d run out of daylight. We went up the canal for a mile or two, and saw…nothing. There were a couple little fish, but I was hoping for turtles, sharks and rays like we’ve seen before! Bad luck?

As we headed back we at least saw a sea star on the bottom, but there hasn’t been much life around here at all!

1.8 – Wednesday

We went to the beach this morning to fly the drone. I got out all my stuff and started setting up. The bugs were pretty bad on the beach, so I worked quickly. Then the drone refused to launch. Apparently we are in between two airports, each about 2 miles away (in both the US and the Bahamas, you must be 5 mi / 8 km away from an airport to fly). Oops! Bad luck? Or ignorance, I should have checked the map before we went ashore. I quickly packed things up, the noseeums were no joke!

One of the couples we met yesterday asked us what we were doing about the strong weather coming in – we’d watched boats head into the cut all day yesterday, either heading to the marina or into the harbor anchorage. Strong wind is typical of this time of year, but we had a strong east wind coming in and this anchorage is totally protected from the east. It’s basically the same weather we had all month in Lake Worth – yes, the wind is strong, but my anchor is stronger, and as long as there’s land to block the swell what’s the problem?

On the other hand, the harbor and the marina are where all the people are, and we’re eager to make friends. I’m not willing to spend $80/night for the privilege of staying in my own home just to make friends, but maybe we should move into the harbor anchorage so we’re nearby and can hang out? We took the dinghy in to town for a quick wander, then dinghied over to the harbor to scope out the anchorage. Totally full. We could have squeezed in, but then we have to worry about boats dragging, swinging too close to us, and if we drag shore is really close by. At our current location, I have zero worries. So is it a bad decision?

As we buzzed by the anchorage, one of the couples we met yesterday called out to us and invited us over for drinks! So we exchanged thoughts on the weather, marina life, and exploring the island! We headed home before dark since we had no lights along, but they offered to let us use their boat as a dinghy dock anytime (all the docks in the Bahamas are fixed, not floating, so they can be quite challenging at low tide!).

1.9 – Thursday

I woke up in the middle of the night, my legs were burning. I grabbed first aid kit paraphernalia and emptied the bins in search of anything that would help. The bug bites I sustained had me almost tearing my hair out. I had upwards of 50 bites on each thigh, and a handful more on my ankles and arms. It felt like I was breaking out into hives.

I ended up spending the entire day on the couch in a Benadryl coma, with burning, tingling legs. The bites didn’t look like much, they were barely even red, but it felt like I was either having an allergic reaction, hives, or just the sheer quantity of bites had me down for the count. BAD LUCK!

1.10 – Friday

Today was a quiet day. The only excitement we had was when another boat in the anchorage (there are a couple here now) dinghied in towards shore, then stopped midway to fuss with the engine. When they got out the oars, we dropped our dinghy in the water and launched a rescue operation. In these strong winds, rowing may or may not be successful. We invited them over for drinks, but then postponed until tomorrow.

1.10 – Saturday

We smoked jalapeno poppers and invited our new friends over. They brought over some delicious Gullywash, and we chatted and listened to the basketball game on shore. We decided to head into town, since Saturday night is the night everyone goes out. We instantly made friends with some locals at a cafe where we ordered some fried fish and conch, then we wandered down the street to one of the watering holes while we waited for our food to be prepared. The bar scene was such an experience, our drinks were served in cups but we saw a couple water bottles with the tops cut off being used as cups. There was just so much. It was a blast.

The fried snapper Kyle and I shared was amazing, but shortly after we ate the scene started to deteriorate so we opted to head back to the boat. It was a great night, I learned a lot about Bahamian life (our new boat friends lived in Bimini for a few years so they are in tune with the culture and people). It feels like we’re starting to get better at meeting people and enjoying ourselves.

That being said, we’re still pinned down in a very unpopulated area. In our explorations, we haven’t found much to hold our attention. There hasn’t been much sealife, the beach was full of bugs, and the town is very tiny. So tomorrow we’ll try something new!

1.12 – Sunday

We dinghied in to the marina and tied up at our friends boat. It sounds like they’re moving out to the anchorage tomorrow so we’ll have to host them and feed them some fresh sourdough or something.

The real point was to take a hike to the other side of the island. From the marina, it’s about a mile across. We originally intended to explore the east side of the Berry islands by boat, but with the strong east winds that don’t seem to stop, I don’t think we’ll have that opportunity. The east side anchorage has a lot of interesting things – beautiful beaches, a huge barge wreck, a Shark Creek to dinghy explore – but with the big swell it’s untenable as an anchorage.

The beach was indeed beautiful, with pale sugar sands and the bluest water we’ve found. Our anchorage has clear water, but it’s very grassy and green, the difference from one side to the other is enormous! We wandered along the beach, this side is built up with resorts and villas, but they all seem empty.

There are a bunch of mini palm trees on the island, they look kind of ridiculous but I love them. We could totally fit one on the boat, right?

I hope this post didn’t sound too down, I’d like to think that we’re pretty neutral on the current state of things. This is just what the weather is this time of year. And the Berries are pretty remote. This is where we are now. I have some complaints, but we’re still trying every avenue to keep this adventure going and keep our optimism up. As soon as we can start moving again we’ll feel a lot better about everything!