Sampson Cay Marina was a lovely, quaint haven tucked into a hurricane-hole like inside bay of the oddly-shaped cay. The buildings were stone and classic stucco, and the facilities more than adequate. A gravel road lead to one of the most stunning views available - an ocean beach on a rare sandy hillside which overlooked the back side of Fowl Cay and the intricate inter-cay passages running between Fowl, Sampson, and a number of other smaller cays. The incredible variety of shades of blue - from the narrow deep-blue deep water passages to the shimmering shades of the palest turquoise where the water skimmed over mere inches of white sand. There was a little pavilion at the top of the hill with a nice wooden plank floor and two large wooden beach chairs. It was a heavenly place to do yoga, pilates, read and just meditate with gentle ocean breezes and the sound of the surf making relaxation almost automatic. Add the vast sea of negative ions to this feast of color and warm sun and it is easy to see why the Bahamian concept of time is "relaxed" as well.
On our last evening at Samspon Cay, the marina owners held a little beach party and barbeque. Having learned my lesson at Black Point, we elected to cook on board, but could not pass up making an appearance. The school Easter vacation period was just ending, and a number of people were sad to be leaving for Nassau the following day as well. The little girl playing on the beach was the daughter of a cousin of the owners, and had been visiting with another cousin during her spring break. She was heartbreakingly cute and had been playing in the sand and water all day, hunting for crabs and bugs and whatever else she could find. I could not think of a more poignant image for this truly heavenly place.
Like the others, we awoke the next day for our own return to Nassau. In our case, however, this was a trip up to Norman's Cay and then a sail across the Yellow Banks. The trip to Norman's was ideal - a gentle wind, broad reach, and following sea pushed us up and into the shallow waters of the anchorage on the western side. The lee-side anchorage was calm and flat. We jumped into the dinghy and motored over to the beach for a reconnoitering and trip to McDuff's. We ran across some of our other cruiser friends from Nassau, and had a delightful conversation. We returned in the evening for dinner at McDuff's but were unpleasantly suprised to learn the prices had been hiked significantly and the younger generation of ownership lacked the gentility of the former. No matter, it's hard to ruin a good sail and good day in paradise.
The next day dawned upon our sleepy Norman's anchorage, and we raised the main for the sail to Nassau. This time the wind had shifted slighly and we were almost dead down-wind for the better part of the sail. Although it seems beneficial to have the wind and wave direction right on your stern, it is in fact a difficult point of sail. We tried to go wing on wing, but it just wasn't any fun and very hard to keep the Genoa full. There was, however, quite a bit of wind. We finally made the crossing on a reefed-down main and made Nassau in good time in the early afternoon. After flirting a bit with the idea of anchoring on the eastern edge of Nassau, we decided it was just too poor of a spot and went on the the Basra anchorage mid-harbor near the Harbor Central Marina. Great choice! Holding was strange but we traded our CQR in for the Danforth and hooked in well (luckily escaping most of the debris scattered about the bottom). The anchorage turned out to be more fun than we had imagined as the dinghy dock at The Green Parrot was always open to cruisers and they featured free wireless and a great happy hour. We dallied around Nassau for as long as needed in order to secure the right wind for the two-day trip to Bimini. We enjoyed a return to Atlantis and it's pools and aquariums as well as a walk around the old city. We met new friends and saw old cruising friends and had a great time in general. The weather forecast changed, and we saw what looked like a decent 3-day window to sail all the way to West Palm. So while others hesitated, we pulled up and headed out to once again face the tongue of the ocean - but this time with wind, waves, and current all pushing us in the right direction.
Pulling up the Danforth proved quite difficult, as was raising the main at the eastern end of the harbor. Wayne unfortunately aggravated an old back injury, but carried on bravely. This time we had a huge following sea to contend with - six to eight foot waves - but enough on an angle on the wind to sail up on a reach. About nine hours after lifting the anchor in Nassau, we arrived at our Northwest Channel Light waypoint and decided to keep on going as much as possible. We sailed until sunset and threw down the good old CQR in ten feet of water on the Great Bahama Banks. It was a rough and rocky night, but sleep was not the priorty. Making good time to BImini was our goal, and at the first hint of sunlight we weighed anchor and set out for the second-to-last leg of the journey. This time the wind was directly behind us, making for another diffucult sailing day. We let out the full main for a while, but the wind built and built and we had to reef it down again despite the loss of one to two knots of speed. We arrived near Bimini in broad daylight, and decided to take the "old way" into the harbor as the navigational buoys have still not been replaced. This involves lining up on a set of range markers on South Bimini and then simply reading the color of the water all the way in in order to avoid shoals and reefs. We've gotten pretty good at this. Now we are happily docked at Weech's Bimini Dock and having a SUPER time in Bimini. Our window disappeared as the wind and waves were too strong to carry on the next day but no matta, we're loving it here. That's the next story.
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