Back in the Berry's

Lynn & Mike ..around the world
Mike Drinkrow & Lynn v/d Hoven
Mon 4 Apr 2011 23:08
25:36.7N 077:43.75W   Between Fowl & White Cays, The Berry Islands
 
After 4 weeks on the marina, we finally set off from Palm Beach on Saturday morning. It was nearly a false start, as Mike woke up in the middle of the night not feeling comfortable with the hydraulic oil levels. James had been thinking about joining us for the crossing to the Bahamas and so I quickly texted him at 6.30am telling him of our delay. But to our rescue he came, rushing by his workshop to pick up some oil and so we were able to get away just before 8am...sadly without James, or his boys. We hope they will be able to join us later for a few days.
 
It was a perfect day, virtually no wind or swell and we did the 83nm to Lucaya very comfortably in 10 hours. Time 2 performed brilliantly and our only problem was the new AIS which seems to have a loose antenna connection and makes a very irritating beep from time to time. We were also using our new Furuno VX2 chartplotters for the first time, and we enjoyed the much larger screens.  Sadly we had no bites on the way over ..but the freezer will be filled soon!  We stayed on the same marina we visited last year with the Learmonths, clearing customs (slow!) and cleaning the boat (very salty)
 
Sunday morning we headed south to the Berry Islands, again a beautiful clear day. We had intended to head down to Bullock's Harbor on the west side, as we knew some strong easterlies were expected. Unfortunately our deep draft (just over 2m) lead to a rather nervous passage as we got on to the banks. Mike decided not to proceed, as we passed over a pinnacle about 30cm under the keel. He backed out quickly and we anchored off Little Stirrup Cay for a bit of a bumpy night. It may not have been a good anchorage, but the sunset was magnificent!
 
This morning we headed into the deteriorating weather to go to our favourite anchorage, between White & Fowl cays. It was a good test for us on the new boat with far rougher weather. What a pleasure to be on Time 2 - doing this trip on Indigo would have been a nightmare. With the wind and swell on our nose, she just punched straight through. We had water spraying up over the windscreen on to the flying bridge, but we were very cosy inside.
 
We spent a lay afternoon lying on our bed watching movies (Yes - we have a TV/DVD in the cabin!) and then at sunset Mike decided to try to catch a fish. I 'donated' some prawns from the galley and very quickly he caught 4 little Groupers!. Yum - we have a delicious dinner ahead.