Day 12 – Trip Update – Berry Islands Back to Bimini

We had the best time imaginable in the Berry Islands! Our sail to the Berries across the Great Bahama Banks was quite nice. We pulled into Chub Cay Marina for fuel and water. The marina facility was excellent and the people there were very nice. We pulled around to another dock to moor temporarily while the kids checked out the store nearby. They are supplied by boat each month, so they didn’t have much. John got a pack of frozen corn dogs. After our fuel stop, we circled around the Berries from south to north, about halfway up the chain to our favorite place – Hoffman’s Cay. We actually anchored between Hoffman’s and Devil’s Cay nestled in around some other smaller cays. While there, we spearfished, line-fished, swam in the Blue Hole on Hoffman’s Cay, caught a shark, paddle boarded, ate a lot of fish, and otherwise enjoyed our time in a beautiful place. One highlight – we built a fire on the beach at night – that was awesome. For our last night in the Berries, we sailed south to Bird Cay because that would position us better for the return trip to Bimini. A new anchorage for us, it turned out to be a good one. It was very calm and the fishing was incredible. There is a steep drop off on the southern tip of Bird Cay that made for great spear fishing. Josh caught a nice amberjack there. Yesterday, we returned across the Bank to Bimini. Our intention was to stop at Great Isaac Island, but the first half of the trip was rather slow due to strong winds on the nose. We did stop at 3 Sisters off the west shore of Bimini to spearfish – a good stop. Afterwards, we motored to the inside of Bimini Bay back to the vicinity of Big Game. There is a little anchorage just to the north of Big Game that had no boats in it when we were here last week. Last night there were two boats in it making it a tight squeeze for us, but we did it. It turned out to be a sweet little spot in protected water and close to civilization. We tidied up the boat and had a good night’s sleep. Today is a recovery day after our trip from the Berries. We want to be well-rested when we take off for Florida tomorrow. We all had much-needed showers last night. Some oatmeal and coffee this morning got me going for the day. Later, we’ll head down to North Cat Cay to top up on fuel, water, and ice. We’ll anchor in the lee of Cat Cay for an early morning departure for Florida. Tomorrow night we should be at anchor nestled in behind Rodriguez Key very close to Key Largo. The winds are expected to be southerly, so it may be a slow trip. All our sailors are doing well – happy and healthy. We all wish for you a great day!