Riding out the cold fronts

Our stay at Chubb Cay Marina turned out to be longer than anticipated. This was due to the frequent cold fronts that have been sweeping across from Florida, bringing 25 – 30 knot winds and high seas. However, we enjoyed our stay in Chubb Cay very much as we were joined by two other Canadian boats – ‘Knot – a- Gain’, a 37 ft Island Packet from Nova Scotia, and ‘Steel Away’, a steel boat from Port Dalhousie, Ontario. Chubb Cay Marina is in receivership, and we had the place to ourselves apart from a few sport fishing boats and a luxury motor yacht. There was a lovely beach and a beautiful infinity pool, complete with swim-up bar. There was also one far distant shower which actually worked! Each evening we would take our ‘sundowner’ drinks down to the pool and beach, perch on the bar stools beside the pool, and pretend we had waiter service! As the sun sank below the horizon we avidly watched for the famed ‘green flash’, and thought we had caught a brief glimpse of it one time. We were all pleased to be tied up to a dock because many nights the winds gusted to 30 knots and the boats tugged at their lines and bounced against the docks.
There were two other Canadian boats about four miles further on from us, at Fraser’s Hog Cay - ‘Rhama’ and ‘Madcap’. We had thought of moving round there too, but were not sure how secure the moorings were. It turned out they were fine – thank goodness!
We also met Andrea from New Zealand. She is the personal assistant to the owner of the large and luxurious motor yacht in the harbour. We were fascinated to hear tales of how the ‘other half’ lived – private jets, race horses, and houses in every corner of the world !
After four days of strong winds the weather settled, and we set off for Nassau on Monday. We left at 7:30 a.m. and arrived at 2:30 p.m. The seas were fairly flat on the crossing over the extremely deep Northwest Providence Channel, however there was quite a swell in the narrow and rocky entrance to Nassau Harbour. You must call Nassau Harbour Control before entering the harbour, and we could see why! A huge cruise ship towered over the harbour as we entered. Squeezing past this monster in the harbour entrance doesn’t bear thinking about!
So now all the Canadians are together again – tied up snugly at Nassau Harbour Club Marina and deciding whether to make a run for the Exumas before the storm of the decade hits on Friday ( so says Chris Parker, the weather guru we listen to on our Single Sideband Radio), or stay until the beginning of next week and maybe visit Paradise Island and all the ‘delights’ of ‘Atlantis’ – Sol Kertzner’s playground for millionaires and ‘wannabees’!