Chub Cay and Frazers Hog Cay Anchorage, Berry Islands

March 25, 2018
ANCHORAGE AT FRAZER’S HOG CAY
After crossing the Gulf Stream and the Bahama Bank, it had been a long passage and it was mid afternoon on our second day under sail. We had been blessed with good weather as was forecast and were feeling good but tired. We had reached Northwest Channel Light which for all intents and purposes is the Gateway to the Berry Islands, Abacos, and Exumas regions for cruisers coming from the U.S. East Coast. Normally, anchoring on the shallow (less than 15 feet) banks can be uncomfortable or even a little dangerous in high winds. However, it was nearly calm; and rather than motoring on for 15 more miles just to anchor up at Chub Cay too late for clearing customs anyway, we decided to anchor where we were and get some rest.

We started fresh early the next morning and even got a nice little sail for the next couple hours heading over to Chub to clear Customs and Immigration. Chub Cay is kind of snubbed by “salty” cruisers as being uninteresting and uninviting for sailors. The marina, airport, and facilities there are centered more on upscale clientele who come to the posh resort and marina located on the west side of the island. This area is a haven for sport fishermen who come to this area to catch mahi, tuna, wahoo, and other pelagic fish who flock to what is known as “the tongue of the ocean”. The northern part is called “the bowl” and is the dead end of deep water that comes up from depths exceeding 10,000 feet to less than 10 in just a few miles. There was only one sailboat mast in the harbor.
My experience however was quite pleasant. I found all the staff friendly and helpful. The dock master was happy to let us top off the small amounts of diesel and water we needed without charging us the “docking fee” they can charge people who are coming to only check in (not a marina guest). They even arranged a free ride over to the airport a mile or so away where the Customs and Immigration offices were located. The driver, Dan, was the most genuine and friendly Bahamian I have met to date. He chauffeured me over to the airport (more like airstrip) to a little trailer like building which contained a small lounge, a bathroom and two offices; one each for Customs and Immigration. Inside was the fireman for the airport who didn’t seem to have to do much as there were not any planes at this time. The customs officer was at lunch with the airport’s police officer and would be back soon. My driver and the Fireman decided to kill the time with a lively game of backgammon while we waited. The Immigration Officer was kicking back watching a movie on his laptop and laughing. It was good to be back in the Islands! The officer left the movie going and invited me in. He was very friendly and simply stamped some papers, answered a couple of my questions and told me we were good to go. A few minutes later, the Customs Officer arrived and stamped the passport and that was that.
Just around the corner from Chub was our first planned stop on the trip. A cool little anchorage off of Frazers Hog Cay. Until this day we were under the impression there was a fun, laid back little local business here called the “Berry Islands Club” that catered to cruising boats with little rental rooms, showers, laundry, fuel, etc., as well as a fun little bar and restaurant. They were also supposed to have 23 moorings if you didn’t want to anchor or the anchorage was full.
Unfortunately, the Berry Islands Club was now defunct! It was a victim of Hurricane Matthew and had never been rebuilt. It had been highly recommended by friends and we had been looking forward to it. However, it ended up being a really cool spot anyway, and we were happy to spend a few days in a nice protected anchorage to tidy up the boat after our crossing and enjoy our first shore time on a beach in the Bahamas! The fact that the only business (or thing really) on the island was not there actually meant we pretty much had the place to ourselves. We had some beers on the beach and enjoyed the sunset.

The next day, we decided to go explore the ruins on the north end of the island that were visible from the anchorage. We hiked up the old road that had once been there from the beach and found the path that used to be the driveway to the first property. It had been ravaged by some storm likely decades past and was basically the raised concrete foundation of what looked to be a large house or fishing lodge at one time. There was a separate building that looked to have been a generator room. We made our way through the brush to the house and poked around. I almost stepped into the cistern where some of the concrete floor was collapsed. The foundation still had remnants of the big pipes that used to deliver rainwater to what were pretty big cisterns.

Climbing up to the top of the foundation afforded us sweeping views of the bay and our boat. We took some pictures and then decided to see if we could get to the second set of ruins from what was left of the old road. Unfortunately, it dead ended at what could only be described as a dump for old cars and appliances. We went back to the first ruin and went out the front of the house to where the concrete remains of the dock had been to see if we could follow the rocky shoreline up to the second property. The shoreline was craggy limestone which had a very interesting look to it.

Eventually, we made it to the shoreward edge of the second set of ruins. I was regretting that I had not brought my little machete that I had bought before leaving the states. We finally bushwhacked through the brush and came onto what was once the front porch of a rather large structure. Celia is a great amateur naturalist and was paying attention to the native vegetation. Lucky for me because she was the one who noticed the poison wood trees which allowed us to avoid them. (For those friends not familiar, they are a tropical tree which has an oil on all of its parts that causes a reaction similar to poison ivy) This structure appeared to have been some kind of lodge with numerous bedrooms, a commercial kitchen, a common room with a big fireplace, a generator building and some overgrown remnants of landscaping. Why they wanted or needed a big fireplace in the Bahamas was a mystery to us. This place had also been ravaged by a storm and apparently abandoned since. Judging by the floral patterns on the pillows in the common area and some food containers in the kitchen, we guessed that this place saw its last guests sometime in the late 80’s or early 90’s. It was a little creepy…kind of like the abandoned places in some of the post-apocalyptic movies; it really looked like no one had bothered with the place since the storm that wiped it out.

As Celia and I were poking around, I went to the backside of the property and found one of the uses for the fireplace; on the outside part of the chimney was a big hearth or bread oven. I was looking out into the overgrown back yard and generator house when I glimpsed a big healthy citrus tree through the overgrown bush! It was full of beautiful ripe fruit! I called to Celia and hacked my way through to get to it. Celia was convinced it was just sour oranges but I thought they looked more like lemons. We took a bunch of the fruit and stuffed them in our backpack. We figured even if it was some kind of sour fruit, we could marinate some meat in it.  When we got back to the boat and cut one open to taste, it ended up being the sweetest, most delicious lemons I have ever tasted! We wished we had taken even more to give away, as it was certain no one had been that deep onto the property in a long time.  Now its our little secret.  We will certainly be stopping there again if our route home takes us that way!

The walk back was highlighted by a giant stingray and a curious trigger fish in the shallows. We had been here for a few days by this time and were ready to move on to Nassau to top off fuel and water, do some laundry, take a hot shower, and restock our fresh vegetables. As I write, we are in the Exumas. I have the feeling we will regret not spending more time in the Berry Islands as we already see that the Exumas are very “discovered” and we will likely not see as many remote or isolated anchorages like Frazers Hog. Many seasoned cruisers enjoy the Berries best for just this reason; they are less crowded and often overlooked by people eager to head south. I have a strong suspicion we will be back to explore more of this area before we are through. I hope you enjoy a few of the pictures we took. We had a lot of fun relaxing and exploring at Frazers Hog.
Tune in next time to hear about our brief experience in Nassau and our trip down to Allens (aka Allan’s) Cay in the northern Exumas to kick off what should be a fun month or two exploring this famous chain of southern Bahamian Islands! Thanks for checking in with us. Don’t forget, you can track us in real time at the bottom of the web page with our PredictWind subscription. If you’re on a cell phone, you have to turn the phone sideways to play with the map. It’s much better on a tablet or computer.  There is a button at the top of the map to get the Google Earth (satellite) map to really see what the area is like. Much Love!

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