Bimini to Highbourne Cay

December 20, 2012

We had a trip of three long days to go from North Bimini to Highbourne Cay in the Northern Exumas.  The wind was predicted to clock S-W-NE Monday and Tuesday ahead of a weak front scheduled to arrive on Wednesday providing almost perfect winds for a trip SE from Bimini to Highbourne.  The forecast largely held and we had a good trip.

We left Bimini at around 10:00 AM on Monday about an hour before high tide.  There was a significant current still running, but other than a slow exit it was no problem.  We headed north and around North Rock and on to the Bahamas Bank.   The wind was 10-15 knots, and a little east of south providing a good motor sail which turned into a good close reach by afternoon.  We arrived at Mackie Shoal a little before dark and anchored a couple of miles south of the Mackie Shoal light in 12 feet of water.  Anchoring on the bank is weird!  The horizon looks like you are at sea (no land in sight) but you are in 12 feet of water. 

Note to mariners:  The Mackie Shoal marker was there, but unlit as of that night.

We got under way around 2:00 AM on Tuesday morning to allow us to reach the Northwest Channel by first light.  Winds had backed to west of south allowing for another nice motor sail.  We had a very confusing crossing involving two anchored boats and another boat (probably an inter-island freighter).  The light configuration was as confusing as I can remember.  What ended up as two anchor lights looked like a masthead range that is found on larger ships but there were no other obvious navigation lights that would indicate direction The freighter in the background added more ambigous light.  We passed the anchored boats safely as they were getting under way, but a little close for comfort at '0-dark-thirty'.

Our transit through Northwest Channel was uneventful except for the scary remains of the Northwest Channel Light.

Note to mariners:  The Northwest Channel light was destroyed as of this date.  The remains are about 1 1/2' out of the water at low tide (what we saw) but below the water at higher tides per a report from friends.

From the Northwest Chanel we continued SE across the Tongue of the Ocean where you are in sight of land in several directions, but you are in depths up to 7,000 feet.  We anchored Tuesday night in West Bay on the western end of New Providence.  The entrance is a little tricky, but a it is a nice pleasant anchorage that allowed us to bypass busy Nassau harbor.

We left West Bay about 8:30 AM Wednesday (we would leave earlier if we did it again).  Here the forecast did not follow plan.  We expected brisk NE winds, but it was almost dead calm requiring us to motor. We arrived at Highbourne Cay around 4:00PM, fueled the boat, and docked - ending our successful easting.  We are now in the Exumas!

Tom
Docked at Highbourne Cay
Exumas, Bahamas
Map of 2012-13 Cruise