Very Merry Berry Islands

An unexpected first stop in the Bahamas at the Berry Islands, when we finally reached Frazer Hogs Cay, we dropped our anchor on the south of the island around lunch and decided we would not be moving anywhere until both rested, so we hoisted our yellow Q flag but made no attempt to check in.  

Mark finally able to relax after some tiring days at sea

Sunsets like these make it all worth while - I say that now but not at the time!

We slept like babies and woke in the morning ready to navigate along the west coast of Frazer Hogs Cay which is a small island is the south of the Berry Islands which are made up of around 30 Islands or Cays as they are called here.  There was a very small marina which comprised of a few berths much too shallow for Magnum and some mooring buoys.  These were managed through the Berry Island club which used to have some small cottages attached to the club but we understand that it closed some years ago and have only over the last couple of years re-opened on a smaller scale.  We could have anchored in this area but we needed to get checked in and if we took the mooring the guy who manages the marina would take us to check in.  Sounds simpler than it is, there is a fancy marina at the other end of the island at Chub Cay, here you can pay $100 to dock just to check in but at the Berry Island Club, Howard will drive you across the bumpy roads and get you checked in at the airport which actually takes hours our of his day but is done for only $20.

This was a great place for us to stop as we had use of the washing machines in the club, they had wifi which was a luxury after so long and even the shower seemed wonderful – even through this was cold, in a wooden hut that drained through into the ground and you had to have the door open as there was no light but we had just come from Cuba so weren’t expecting much!

Berry Islands Club

Berry Islands Club from the water 

Would love to day it was a perfect start to our stay in the Bahamas but the first night we had strong northerly winds, all would have been fine but the tide runs very strong , and against the wind it mean that the buoy was pulled under the hull and the chain was scrapping along the keel, we were up running around the deck with head torches trying to move the buoy, this worked for a while and we were able to rest but as the tide turned again and the wind increased the buoy was causing a lot of surging on the lines and by 3am we were up having tea, biscuits and trying to do all we could to make the motion more comfortable and not damage the boat.

The next few days we did as little as possible to have time to recover, you could have a few short walks on the island – we saw a raccoon which was quite exciting. We could have taken the dingy to other islands but we did very little other than relax.

Taking it easy

About time we relaxed

We did enjoy our stay here, Howard was more than helpful and to date (from the previous year) had been the most helpful Bahamian we had met.  He was visited frequently my people from the large Bone Fishing boats and small power boat to enjoy a meal at the club, he was supposed to be an amazing chef.  We also enjoyed watching the conch fishing men, one day they had engine problems and it was amazing to see them empty their catch overboard to keep them alive, Howard told us there were around 2500 Conch onboard but full catch would have been closer to 4000, how there are any left in the sea is amazing.

The pile on the deck is the Conch