The Berry Islands

The Mass Family, skiffing off to Flo's Conch Café for lunch

The biggest problem with the Chub Cay Club was not the incessant no-see-ums.  Nor was it the beautiful built-in spa by the pool that was full of green algae and scum.  It wasn’t even the fact that everything in the resort seemed frozen in mid-construction.  It was the price.  $4.25 per foot plus power is exorbitant – even for the Bahamas.  So we got up and left the marina about seven o'clock on Friday morning.  First stop?  Little Harbour Cay – home to the locally famous Flo’s Conch Café.

The Guide Book says that you “haven’t really been to the Berrys unless you have eaten at Flo’s.”  Plus, they were supposed to have moorings in their harbor outside the café.  So the plan was to eat there, spend the night, and get an early start towards Great Harbour in the morning.

After a fairly long slog up to Little Harbour we radioed in and were unhappy to find out that, since the Guide Book was published, old Flo had died and the channel to her café had silted in during the last hurricane. But, the café was indeed still open.  So, the intrepid Mass Family set off for lunch in the skiff while I stayed aboard Spoonbill, anchored precariously on a lee shore along the west side of Little Harbour Cay.

Alas, as with many good things, this one seems to have come to an end.  So, after an unmemorable lunch, the disappointed group returned to Spoonbill.  We pulled anchor and headed north.  Next stop:  Great Harbour Cay Marina.

All was wonderful for the first few hours with a 2’ following sea.  But a dark purple sky ahead announced in no uncertain terms that we were soon to be in for some weather.  A few minutes later, the wind shifted to the north, it got chilly, started to rain, and the seas began to pick up.  I had only tethered the skiff to Spoonbill with one small tow line (normal procedure on a benign passage).  However, now the poor little skiff was bucking and heaving behind the big boat as the seas shifted around to the bow and quickly grew to 4’, then 5’, and then well over 6’.  I was sure the tow line would part at any second.  So I pulled Spoonie back to idle, grabbed another tow line and asked Larry to help pull in the skiff.  Once pulled up close, the skiff and swim platform were heaving up and down uncontrollably, so Larry steadied the skiff as best he could while I jumped aboard with the tow line.  I laid down on the front deck and ducked my head and shoulders under water to secure the line to the lower tow eye.

Once underway again, the sea state continued to worsen, but the skiff wasn’t about to break loose now!  The bow of Spoonbill was slamming down with each set of huge waves and we had to put a cutting board through the refrigerator doors to keep the doors closed and the food inside.  But as soon as we made the turn into the lee of Little Stirrup Cay, the seas went back to the stern, the wind died down and everything was right with the world again.

Entrance to Bullock's Harbour

The beautiful little Great Harbour Marina

We pulled through the narrow entrance cut to Bullocks Harbour at 5pm and tied up to beautiful little Great Harbour Cay Marina.  It looks like we might get a chance to relax for a day or so before a weather window opens up on Sunday for the passage back to Spoonbill's home waters in Abaco.