crossing and arriving at Great Cay Harbor, Berry's Island 1/20 to 1/21

Hello from the Islands

I am writing this at 9 PM anchored about 4 miles from Berry’s Island in Great Habour Cay. It is quite, the only sounds are the ones Tom and I make on the boat or occasionally the loud slapash of a fish. In the moon, star light we can see the bottom of the ocean floor. Our anchor is laying sideways, the chain a serpentine black mark in eerie blue white sand.

Our journey was uneventful even somewhat boring. The 10 to 15 kt winds never got over 5 kts and the 2 to 4 foot waves were cat’s paw wind ripples. We had very little company on our trek and after 10 AM we had horizon to horizon of ocean calm, billowing clouds an occasional fishing boat or freighter . We both speculated about sailors of old crossing this water with only wind power.  Days of going less than a mile under hot white sun – don’t think I am cut out for that life, but with Cool Hand we motored to our destination.

We decided to run till after dark getting as close as possible to our destination Great harbor Cay Marina. So here I am gently rocked, in a deep silence unlike I have ever experienced. There are lights on the shore reminding us that we are close to civilization, however the millions of stars above, reflected in the clear water, give me a feeling of timelessness.

Not many Photographs, water and clouds, sunset and clouds, I wanted very much to try and get the flying fish we see skipping along the water. They like the elusive porpoise do not pose for pictures.

The Berry Islands are a chain of islands and a district of the Bahamas, covering about thirty square miles (78 km²) of the northwestern part of the Out Islands. The Berry Islands consist of about thirty islands and over one hundred small islands or cays, often referred to as "The Fish Bowl of the Bahamas." They have a population of only about seven hundred, most of whom are on Great Harbour Cay. A cay (pron.: /ˈkiː/ or /ˈkeɪ/), also spelled caye or key, is a small, low-elevation, sandy island formed on the surface of a coral reef.

saying good bye

harbor entrance - calm compare to when we came in

last glimpse of Bimini

as I said this was just a little boring

glorious sunset

bright moon and thousands of stars

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We woke early to catch a rosy sunrise and storm clouds all around us. We would get to the marina just fine, the water sill calm but tomorrow will be rainy and blustery. 

The charts are full of markers we are to look for - and we searched and searched. The cormorant on the pole does not count as a marker. We learned later that most were wiped out by fishing boats and cruise ship tenders during Sandy as they tried to get into this harbor for shelter. The caused quite a bit of damage to the docks that the insurance just now agreed to pay.

I believe this is a big sea slug 

double crested cormorant drying its wings

looked a lot like a giant mouse.  island sun is making the
clouds look like all sorts of things.