Cat Cay

Monday morning brought the promised light winds and sunny skies. So we left crowded Crandon Park Marina and motored a few miles south of Key Biscayne in order to cross the reef at the Stiltsville passage.

The seas were relatively flat at less than two feet, just like the forecast promised. We put out a lure on a fishing rod in hopes of catching a tasty Mahi Mahi and headed east. About two hours out, the fishing rod was bent double and the reel had been nearly "spooled".  So I slowed the boat to idle and Larry put on a real angling display as he fought the monster "fish" - which, unfortunately, turned out to be a very large clump of weeds.

That was a disappointment.  But worse than that, during our time at idle, the autopilot picked that moment to pack it in. I had been having intermittent problems with it during the trip from North Florida, which the Simrad manual said was probably the result of a failing printed circuit board in the main autopilot computer. So now, no fish and no autopilot. This meant we had to hand-steer Spoonbill the remaining 6 hours or so to Cat Cay - all the while fighting a wicked 3-knot northerly current and building seas, quartering on the starboard bow.

Suffice to say that it was a long slog and we were very happy to clear the cut between Gun Cay and the northern tip of Cat Cay. We docked at the beautiful Cat Cay Marina about 4pm and cleared customs. Cat Cay is a private, member-owned island that caters to the very wealthy. However, they allow transient yachts to dock for up to 24 hours to clear customs, eat at their restaurant, and shop at their VERY well-stocked grocery store.

Transients are not permitted to visit the rest of the island or to take advantage of their pool, tennis, or beach facilities. However, some very dear friends of my parents, Carl & Kay Doverspike, have been members of Cat since the late 70s and have a home there. Walking down the dock, I immediately recognized their beautiful 58' Merritt Sportfish boat, "Sea D". By a lucky coincidence, it seemed the Doverspikes were indeed on the island. We ran into them that evening at dinner and they graciously offered to sponsor us during our stay - which would allow us to use all of the island's facilities.  Kay even insisted on picking us all up at the boat the next morning for a tour of the island.

Tuesday morning, as promised, Kay arrived driving their 6-passenger "Family Truckster" golf cart. We all piled in and set out to see this incredible island. Afterwards, we stopped at the Doverspike's beautiful Bahamian house, "Casa Playa", where the kids had a ball on their beautiful beach, shelling, paddleboarding and swimming. Many, many thanks to the Doverspikes for being so incredibly kind and gracious. It really MADE our stay at Cat Cay.

Monster Bluefin with Spoonbill in the background!

When we got back to the docks a bit later, one of the local sportfish boats had brought in a monster Bluefin tuna.  Larry took LOTS of pics of the huge fish and managed to get us about 5 pounds of the most amazing-looking Bluefin meat. I was even able to repair the balky autopilot.  Then a few timely rain squalls washed the salt off of old Spoonbill.  So all was right with the world.  Alas, it was time to move on as the afternoon was drawing to a close. Reluctantly, we untied our lines and headed north up the edge of the Bahama Bank for the short ride to Bimini. On the way, we all agreed that Cat Cay was easily one of the most beautiful places we had ever been.