Bahamas, just a taste.

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We made reservations in the southern part of the Berry Islands at Chub Cay for one month since we couldn’t go to Marsh harbor in the Abaco’s due to Hurricane Dorian last September. After two weeks at this wonderful marina, we saw a weather window to explore other areas. We left for an 88 mile trip to Highborne Cay on February 28th and decided to stop in at Atlantis Resort on Paradise Island for 3 hours. We had a nice breakfast and continued on through the canal between Nassau and Paradise Island to Highborne which is at the tip of the Exuma Cays. Keeping ahead of a cold front and high winds that were chasing us, we pulled into our Highborne Cay Marina slip by 2PM, one hour before the winds slammed in.

Highborne is a favorite spot by many including celebrities’ like Jimmy Buffet who happened to be there at the same time. There was another 124 miles of Exuma’s that we could have explored but we decided not to. Seeing another short weather window, Spanish Wells at Eleuthera Island was in our sights. On March 4th, we took off for a 93 mile trip to Nassau for fuel and then Spanish wells for two nights. After renting a golf cart and checking out this whole Bahama island, weather was not looking good to stay two nights. On Thursday March 5th, we took a ferry to Harbour Island to check it out and made it back to the boat to leave for Chub Cay by 2PM. After a 76 mile 3.5 hour trip, we pulled into our same slip we had at Chub Cay by 5:30 PM. Harbour Island is a place that we know that we want to return back to some day.

Val wanted to keep going down to Turks and Caicos and explore more of the Bahamas as many other boaters that we met were doing. I was to cautious or chicken since I was not prepared with charts and spare props to do any more at this time. We now know that the best place to be in Florida is the east coast somewhere between Stuart and Marathon Key to make easy crossings to the Bahamas.

Tip of the Day: There are many resources to help predict weather and waves for boring crossings. The best is Chris Parker at mwxc.com who we have contracted with and used four times for predicting and planning safe crossings. So far he has been 100% correct on what we were going to run into.

This was our first Bahama 177 mile trip from Key Largo to Chub Cay in the Berry Islands That 55 mile white area is the gulf stream that has a strong current that runs from south to north.
We stopped into Atlantis at Paradise Island for 3 hours after a 45 mile run from Chub over ocean depths of over 7,000 feet.
Atlantis is a nice resort we stayed at three years ago, it was kind of surreal to us that we brought our boat all the way down here.
At the Atlantis Marina, the yachts are so big that some have helicopters on them.
A 43 mile trip from Nassau and Paradise Island to Highborne Cay. The Chris Parker predicted north western high winds that day started in Miami at midnight, then Chub by 10am, Nassau by noon, and then Highborne by 3pm. We pulled in at 2pm, one hour before it got real bad. Check out Chris Parker that we contracted with at mwxc.com.
The HB beach at the lagoon in Highborne was beautiful.
We had the whole beach to ourselves, how relaxing is this?
We buddy boated from Chub to Highborne with Geoff, Betsy and Jeff. The restaurant cooked up the Wahoo they caught that day near Nassau for us. We buddy boated the right way, we all said see you there.
If you like seeing sharks, Highborne is the place for you.
5 nights and 5 great sunsets in a row.
They have free bikes to use and said just grab any bike you want. Val got real embarrassed when the owner of these bikes asked if we took their bikes.
And as the story goes, Rick from “Reo” and crew Doug, Sarah and Dane invited us to a steak dinner on their boat after I gave them a bottle of wine for stealing their bikes. Sometimes crime pays.
What else is there to say but Ya Mahn, no problem?
We wondered what the wooden floating dock was for, then we saw the sea plane pick up some passengers being dropped off by boat.
Funny story. We were going to take the dinghy out but after listening to the transmission on the radio, they said boats will not be able to enter or exit the harbor for three hours due to the east wind coming in. An hour later, the container ship “East Wind” showed up for three hours.
Many boaters anchor in safe ports at all the islands and dinghy in for provisions, there are numerous safe places to anchor but sometimes it can get pretty rocky with winds and swells. We prefer to stay tied up in marinas.
We waited for hours for the bus that never came.
Instead of staying 6 nights in Highborne, we decided to take off for a 93 mile trip to Spanish Wells at Eleuthera Island. Choosing not to go through the Yellow Banks, we took the long way back to Nassau for fuel and then to Spanish wells.
Spanish Wells has a nice marina and the town is a simple fishing type village with not much to see.
Harbour Island is place that we ferried to and we do want to go back.
Like this church, the buildings are all colored and landscaped very nice.
The pink beach at Harbour Island stays the same temperature all year round and is quite stunning.
You can even ride horses on the beach besides snorkel, dive, fish, shop, and eat at many restaurants in Harbour Island.
Had a quick lobster salad sandwich for lunch at Coral resort before heading back to Spanish Wells.
The $5 ferry. Two of these and a $30 cab ride gets you one way from Spanish Wells to Harbour Island.
Pulling out of harbor at Spanish Wells, we saw are buddies Betsy, Geoff and Jeff pulling in for the next few days.
After spending one night in Spanish Wells and three hours on Harbour Island, we left at 2pm for a 75 mile trip back to our home base at Chub Cay. The next day the winds were changing again and we would of had to take on 3-4 footers on the bow all the way.
Back to our pool at Chub where all there is to do here is swim, fish and eat. They do have very good internet also. We will be here for the next two to three weeks waiting for the right weather window to cross back to Florida.
This young osprey is a frequent visitor.
God Bless America from Chub Cay Bahamas.
  • FACE BOOK COMMENTS:
  • Carmen Mamo Thank you for taking us through your beautiful journey.❤️?
  • Don Mamo I just went through all the pictures and info you had on this last blog. Wow awesome. Funny sitting waiting for the shuttle?.
    Also, who is the Spanish guy sitting next to Val in all these pictures with the Blue outfit on? ?Delete or hide this
  • Cindy Yassay Awesome read. Thanks for sharing. You’re living the dream. I loved reading that you are too cautious Dave. ?? Stay safe!
  • Carmen Mamo So beautiful. You guys must be having the time of you life. So great❤️
  • David Mamo We found one of the best beaches we ever saw today. Had the whole beach to ourselves.
  • Linda Reed Awesome so envious and jealous
  • Jeanne Wunderle How perfect!
  • Barbara Henk So happy for you two! How wonderful!
  • Karen Craddock Mattson How beautiful ⛱️?‼️
  • Susan Demorizi Oh my gosh, this is gorgeous!
  • Carmen Mamo How romantic .
  • Joanne Dettloff Awesome! Jealous! Enjoy!
  • Cindy Yassay Do you have a favorite yet? You’ve seen so much we will never see. So happy for you. Enjoy every moment. I take comfort in seeing the beauty of our world thru your eyes. Stay safe. ?
    • Valerie Mamo Loving the Bahamas. If up to me would have followed the Exumas chain that the post was about all the way to Turks & Caicos. Doable in our boat. Skipped over to Eleuthera’s found a magnificent pink sand beach on Harbour Island. Both worth a return. It’s those ocean depths of 9000+ that are daunting.2Hide or report this
    • Cindy Yassay Don’t look at the depth gauges. ?Hide or report this
  • Carmen Mamo Beautiful place ♥️
  • Loretta Van Schoyck Love that beach!
  • Marla Smith What a great spot to play violin! Just find an umbrella.
  • Susan Demorizi Is that a storm coming in the distance?
    • Valerie Mamo No worries, we were in port. Rain doesn’t last long if at all. It’s the wind that is problematic.1Hide or report this
  • David Mamo Harbour Island is the one place I would go to spend a one week vacation or honeymoon.
  • Laura Boodaghian Looks so so beautiful
  • Steve Beck Fantastic!
  • Steve Beck Absolutely beautiful!
  • Tammy Mamo Wow nice just to be able to see this. Beautiful, thanks for sharing.
  • Deborah Sullivan Conant Taylor Beautiful! Have a great time Val!
  • Cindy Yassay Awesome read. Thanks for sharing. You’re living the dream. I loved reading that you are too cautious Dave. ?? Stay safe!
  • Joe Mamo Awesome trip of a lifetime Dave. Continue to enjoy the journey!!1
  • Loretta Van Schoyck Would rather be doing it than reading it…BUT… your read is the next best thing! Living large through your adventures! Stay safe!
  • NowBud Pennington I love reading the stories that you write, thanks for taking the time to share with all of your fans!!!!
    ????

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