DEVILS CAY – BERRY ISLANDS – January 19, 2019

Boat Monkeys next stop after leaving the Great Harbor Marina was the anchorage at Devil’s Cay. We pulled around the north side of the Berry Island chain under sail. One of our buddy boats, S/V Wandering Princess remained behind to enjoy Great Harbor. However, we were joined by Cody and Katie aboard S/V Zoe who were also eager to check out this area. The two northernmost islands are called Little Stirrup and Great Stirrup. They have both been purchased by Cruise Ship companies and are in a state of major development. A small city of trailers for the construction crews dots the hillside, while large earthmoving equipment alters the landscape to build what appears to be a large beach resort and giant barges appear to be building cruise ship docks. We passed two cruise ships at anchor as they ferried their guests back and forth to the islands.

Once on the eastern side of the Berry Island chain, our destination lay about 25 miles to the south at Devils Cay. This area is one of the most beautiful anchorages and natural areas we have visited in the Bahamas. The Berries in general are somewhat underutilized as a cruising area, and you can often have an anchorage to yourself. Once again, the weather forecasts and models were not particularly accurate and we found we had to motor sail since the wind was a little too close on our nose.

As we pulled through another narrow cut, we could see that there were almost 10 boats in the small anchorage already. The guide books said the anchorage was good for only 4-6 boats. This was the only protected anchorage nearby for a little weather system coming through so we would have to find room. Sure enough, we went to the furthest inside spot of the anchorage and found a little spot to nestle in without getting too many dirty looks for being too close to our neighbors!

Once we got the anchor set and settled in, we looked around at the several beautiful islands and beaches surrounding us. We were eager to start exploring! A huge Blue Hole in the middle of nearby Hoffman’s Cay was one of the highlights we originally learned about from our friend Corrinne who used to work on yacht charters in the Bahamas. Boat Monkey joined Celia and I along with the crew from S/V Zoe to dinghy out in search of the ¼ mile path leading from a nearby beach up the hill to the Blue Hole. We zoomed along the craggy shoreline, marveling at the strange and ancient limestone geology that makes up most of the Bahamian Islands we have seen.

We beached the dinghies and found the path. Once at the top, we were all surprised by how big the Blue Hole was…it was huge! Connected to the nearby ocean by a series of underground caves, the Blue Hole boasted the same crystal clear blue water as the rest of the Bahamas. The “pond” even had a regular tide cycle and was inhabited and visited by the usual assortment of marine fauna. There were even two “regular” sea turtles who were there each time we went munching enthusiastically on the algae growing on the rock walls. There were two ways to go in…jump from the 20 ft. high rock ledge, or walk down the path and slide on in. Compared to the old granite quarry cliffs we used to jump off of as kids in Gloucester, this was pretty tame stuff. The ledge it was! Awesome!

The next day was forecast to be the last calm wind day we would have while we were here. The eastern shores of the Berries are more often than not exposed to the Caribbean trade winds out of the east, making it difficult to dive or snorkel their offshore coral reefs. We were eager to check out the reefs we saw on the charts, as well as test out our new Hawaiian sling and see if we couldn’t bring home some fresh fish dinner. We waited for what we thought would be near slack tide and jumped in our Dinghy (affectionately called “Captain GO-GO” when it sports the 9.9hp outboard and “Captain Putt-Putt” when rolling with the auxiliary 3.3hp motor) and headed out the cut.
The reef was gorgeous! There was a long stretch of moderately shallow reef about 300 yards off shore. As we often do in the Bahamas, rather than anchor the dinghy and swim near it, we both drift WITH the dinghy as we each take turns holding onto its bowline and free-diving. This allows you to cover more ground of course, but is also safer due to the ever present currents around the Bahamas. Also, if someone spears a fish or catches a lobster, you do not have to swim with your bloody fish hundreds of feet back to the dink. WIN-WIN!

I have been a divemaster, scientific, working, and recreational diver for 20 years in the Florida Keys and Virgin Islands. It is no exaggeration when I say that what we saw stretching before us was a complete surprise! From a crest of about 15 feet down to about 35 feet was one of the largest, most gorgeous and healthy Elkhorn Coral reefs I have ever seen in my life. Elkhorn coral has become extremely rare over last few decades and I was so happy to see a little piece of what it must have looked like in all of these areas 50 years ago. Unfortunately we had forgotten the Go-Pro! We drifted about half the reef line just marveling at the beautiful Elkhorn formations. We motored back up-current and armed ourselves with the new Hawaiian sling and a traditional pole-spear (spear guns are illegal in the Bahamas). As usual, Celia was the one to spot a handful of decent sized fish under a ledge that looked to be about 20ft. down. She nudged me and said, “I spooked the grouper under the ledge but there is a big hogfish there hanging out!”. I am a little out of practice with my free-diving but can still hunt with a spear gun in 20ft. of water. Well…what looked like 20ft. was more like 35ft.! I can get down to that depth no problem but then I had to swim slowly to get close enough to try and get a shot off. I was about out of breath before I lined up a half-assed shot…and missed! The spear was now about 6ft. beneath me in the sand. No tether on the Hawaiian sling! I had to surface, get a breath and swim back down for the spear shaft. Sorry Dave Cziko! I let you down! Next time!
Celia managed to not let us go home empty-handed (again). She speared a little lionfish that would make enough for a fish bite appetizer and also found a conch which I would turn into some delicious cracked conch later that evening. All was right with the world. We found a little pocket beach which had a picnic table under a palm tree where we cleaned the fresh catch and prepped it for cooking back at the boat. After some fresh seafood and another Bahamian sunset later, and we couldn’t wait for more exploring the next day!

The next two days were filled with fun. We hiked to some old ruins we saw from the anchorage, did some more snorkeling on the inshore reef areas, and found a beautiful little beach where Cody went native and climbed a coconut palm to harvest some nuts. We cut them open and enjoyed the fresh coconut water.

Celia and Katie enjoyed some yoga on the beach in the mornings. I had just dropped them off one morning when I got a frantic sounding call on the VHF. I thought maybe someone had hurt themselves and hopped back in the dinghy to grab Cody while I answered the radio. Apparently after I dropped them off, a man on a nearby boat, Phil, had come down the beach from a walk across the little island and his dinghy was gone! The tide had come up and he had not anchored it on the beach. Phil and the ladies scanned the horizon, wondering how far the dinghy might have drifted out to sea with the outgoing tidal current. Somehow, it had managed to find its way into a tiny little crook of rock about the size of the dinghy on a nearby island and was bobbing there semi-peacefully. However, it was surrounded by shallow water and sharp rocks. I thought it probably had already been damaged. We couldn’t really get close to it without popping my own inflatable, so I dropped Cody off on an outcropping nearby with a long length of rope. He scrambled over the rocks and was able to get in Phil’s dinghy. I managed to tow it out without too much trouble and amazingly it was not hurt! Needless to say when we got Phil’s dinghy back to the beach he was very grateful…and lucky the thing hadn’t floated out to sea a half hour earlier!

The last day we were to spend in the anchorage, our friends Zac and Lindy on S/V Holiday showed up and surprised us. Sadly, S/V Zoe was leaving us to head to Nassau for a visit with family. We were trying to sail to Eleuthera and would be skipping Nassau for the time-being. We had really enjoyed Cody and Katie’s company and we all agreed to try and hook up again in the Exumas. However, Zac and Lindy were heading our way to Spanish Wells in Eluethera on the same weather window. It looked like we would have a new buddy boat for a while. Yeah!

We decided for our last night or two before heading east, we would putter down to the next anchorage at Cabbage Cay in Little Harbor to explore that area a bit and see if we could patronize “Flo’s Conch Shack” restaurant and bar. Boat Monkey was ready to weigh anchor again and sail to the next horizon. The crew was ready too. We hope you continue to enjoy our pictures and updates.
And oh yeah…GO PATS! TB=GOAT

« BACK IN THE BAHAMAS – South Bimini to Great Harbor – January 15, 2019 | LITTLE HARBOR CAY – FLO’S CONCH SHACK – January 17, 2019 »