Nassau to Highbourne Cay

—Blogpost written by Bob

Thursday, January 16

It's finally time to leave Palm Cay Marina!  We left the marina at 9:15 AM but not without a little drama. We were wedged into a slip that was a little too small and there wasn’t a lot of room to maneuver once out of the slip. Originally I thought it was best to back out of the slip, taking advantage of the prop walk to port in reverse. However, a stiff breeze from the northeast altered my plan half way through. I ended up turning the boat around and going out forward, where I have a lot more control.  As we motored out of the marina, a number of dock hands we got to know on a daily basis waved goodbye to us. It was at this point that Maggie realized that she forgot the bag of ice she just paid for a few minutes ago.

By the time we reached our first waypoint about 2 hours into our day’s journey), we could no longer see New Providence Island behind us.

Our route from Palm Cay Marina to Highbourne
Cay (red line in middle of image).

We used four waypoints on our route to Highbourne Cay.  The latitude and longitude for each waypoint is as follows:

Waypoint #1:    25.08.844N     77.16.101W
Waypoint #2:    24 51.747N     77 14.016W
Waypoint #3:    24 42.361N     76 52.017W
Waypoint #4:    24 42.803N     76 49.680W

The reason we chose this route was because we could eliminate dodging the plethora of coral heads on the yellow bank.  (Coral heads are shown by plus signs on the above chart.)

This schooner passed us going
 in the opposite direction.

The color of the water was
just unbelievable!

We arrived at Highbourne Cay at 2:30 PM. The water was absolutely beautiful! We anchored on the west side of the cay in 17 feet of water, along with 18 other boats.

Looking north from our anchorage.

Looking south from our anchorage.

Looking down into the water just
after setting our anchor bridle.

Our anchor was completely buried in
the sand as it should have been.
(Maggie took this shot
with our GoPro.)

We celebrated our arrival in the Exumas with champagne and hot dogs heated up on our grill.  This may sound a bit unusual but it is exactly what we felt like having for a late lunch.

Friday, January 17

As I watched the sunrise, my camera couldn’t capture the expanse of the beautiful scene. There was no sound whatsoever except for the clatter of a nearby sailboat raising their anchor. The wind was light and cool. Small ripples covered the water’s surface. The only sign of civilization was a BTC tower on the island.

Looking onto Highbourne Cay at sunrise.
We were anchored about one-half
nautical mile from the beach.

I drove the dinghy to a small nearby reef where Maggie could snorkel first thing in the morning. She tried to take some pictures of the reef fish with the GoPro but it didn’t work out so well—she was too far from her subject.

We motored back to the boat and started the water maker at 9:30 AM. It seemed like, rather than put a drag on the batteries, the solar panels actually increased their output to accommodate the increased electrical load caused by the water maker. (The MPPT controllers on the solar panels detect the battery state and only permit a certain level of charging. I was wondering how this would work in combination with the water maker.) I decided to stop the water maker at 1:30 PM and just use the peak of the day’s solar energy availability for making water. The length of daylight and the intensity of the sun this far south make solar panels invaluable.

At about 11:30 AM, we took the dinghy into the small marina on Highborne Cay to have lunch at Xuma Restaurant.

A catamaran anchored just outside
the Highbourne Cay Marina.

The spectacular view from Xuma
Restaurant on Highbourne Cay.

The marina dingy dock at
Highbourne Cay Marina.

The marina/resort office and the general
store were housed in this building.

We purchased two 10-pound bags of ice ($6.72 each) at the Highbourne Cay Marina and brought them back to the boat.  (From here we intend to enter the Exumas Land and Sea Park and there will be no ice available there.  We can make ice in our refrigerator but it uses a lot of space that is better suited for other things.)  The entire island is an exclusive resort--we weren't even allowed to see the grounds without buying a $25 day pass for each of us.

After we got back to the boat, a rain shower blew through the anchorage—it was just enough fresh water to clean the salt off the boat. Shortly thereafter, the sun came out again. A little bit later, a second rain shower blew through and then the sun came out again.

We decided to move onto Shroud Cay (the upper part of the Exumas Land and Sea Park) tomorrow morning—it’s only 14 miles away. Stay tuned...

Thanks for following our blog!