West End, Grand Bahama Island
Trip Start
Jul 21, 2001
1
39
45
Trip End
Apr 22, 2002
Where I stayed
West End,
Bahamas
Tuesday, January 15, 2002
At 10:20 p.m., we upped anchor and ran into the first of several problems. NICOU's bow lights were out and couldnt be fixed. Dave quickly replaced them with his portable dinghy lights and off we went. Going through the entrance channel, we were met by a tug with a large ship under tow. Our three boats scattered to the edges of the channel trying to stay off the shoals but out of the way of these two monsters in the dark. This experience would have been easily handled in the daytime but doing it at night, watching the sideways set of the incoming ocean current with only two red buoy lights in the distance to guide us, was a challenge. Once outside and on our way, NICOU's second problem showed up. The autohelm refused to follow a straight course. Dave and Judy were forced to steer by hand for the entire crossing.
The weather was perfect for Margaret, dead calm, not even any large swells left over from the previous days winds. Under motor, we cruised into a very dark night but with NICOU and RIVERDANCE providing radar updates it made for a very safe traverse of the shipping lanes.
January 12 and 13
After 11 and a half hours we arrived at Old Bahama Bay Marina and Resort at West End, Grand Bahama Island. We raised our yellow Q flag (quarantine flag) and went to check into customs. Only the captains are allowed off the boat until one receives clearance into a foreign port. At West End, they make it very easy with the customs office right at the marina. I encountered a minor delay as our import papers for the cats still hadn't arrived even though we had sent to the Bahama office two months previously. We did have all the health certification documents of their rabies shots etc., and we were allowed to proceed after a phone call to the head office in Freeport.
What a beautiful marina and resort complex. An excellent beach, two heated pools, recreation area, restaurant ships store etc. We received first class treatment during our two days here. It was the site of the old Jack Tar complex but all that is gone and all the buildings are new within the last three years. The area around the resort has a lot of construction going on as they have dredged canals and surveyed lots which will have an ocean frontage and back onto the canal system to dock your boat. Most of the lots have been sold at a price of $600,000 and the owners have two years to build a home which must have a value of at least 2 million dollars. Yes, definitely a first class resort area.
On the second day, we went snorkeling off the reef in front of the marina and then retired to the pool for Bahama rum punch and to enjoying the sun.
John and I took advantage of the free bicycles and took a three mile trip into the town. What a contrast. POVERTY!!! Very dilapidated homes, numerous abandoned homes now open to the weather. Two small stores. Twenty years ago this was a relatively prosperous area with many of the people working at Jack Tar Village but with its collapse people moved away and those who were left eked out a living fishing or working in Freeport and commuting . Times are improving with the new construction and in the next few years we were told we wouldnt recognize the small town.
January 14
We left West End at high tide to sail to the northern end of the Bahamas to start our exploration of the Abacos. To sail from the north end of the Bahamas to the southern tip would be about 700 nautical miles. Within this area, the Bahamas separate themselves into several groupings. The Northern Bahamas, where we will cruise this winter, is the cruising ground known as the Abacos and we will be sailing in the waters of the Little Bahama Bank. Southward, in the Grand Bahama Bank, are the Bimini Islands, Eleuthera, New Providence (Nassau), the Berry Islands and the Exumas. Together they make up a cruising area of over 700 island and cays (pronounced keys) scattered over 100,000 square miles of the Atlantic Ocean.
As we left West End, we encountered our first navigational difference. In North America, there are many types of buoys marking channels and shoals but they are universally painted green or red. Our first way point was a STICK. It was a narrow wooden post with a board nailed across it down low with no indication of whether to pass it to starboard or port. We were told we would never see a numbered day mark in any channel in the Abacos and not to be surprised if a daymark shown on the chart was missing. That morning only two of three expected daymarks were present. Thankfully we are using the GPS coordinates and charts in the 2002 Cruising Guide to the Abacos by Steve Dodge. NICOU and RIVERDANCE also have the Explorer Charts and I have the Maptech Charts for the Bahamas. We double check all our coordinates in the three books and they have proven to only have slight differences.
That evening we anchored at Great Sale Cay (pronounced Key) and celebrated Judy's birthday aboard MYSTIC LOON.
