The 6 boats still traveled together as we left Bimini.   Ruthie and Rich on Equinox were our guides, since they had been to the Bahamas before.   The 5 other boats were first timers.  We are extremely grateful for Equinox being our guides and our friends.  Rich and Ruthie kept talking on how wonderful it was to sleep on the shoals.   When you leave Bimini, it is around 100 miles to Chubb Cay, a stopping point to get to Exumas.   The 100 miles or so is in very shallow water, mainly 20 feet deep.  However, you cannot see land so it really looks like ocean.   A cool thing to do is anchor overnight on Mackie Shoal, in 10-15 feet of water, where you feel like you are in the middle of the ocean.  The sky at night is like a planetarium, stars and galaxy everywhere without obstructions.   A very special evening.   

After Mackie Shoals, we headed to the Northwest Channel.  We went from 8 feet of water to 6000 feet of water as left the great bahama bank to the tongue of the ocean.    We spent the night on anchor in Chub Cay.   This was the worst night every on our boat, rolling back and forth all night (no pictures).  We left there as soon as we could to head to our next stop, Morgan Bluff at the North of Andros Island.   Gary and I did not get to explore Morgan Bluff, since our freezer decided to quit on us.   We had a full freezer which was not working now.   However, we did host the BBC crew on our boat for cocktails and snacks.     

The next day we sailed to the north side of New Providence Island to an amazing harbor called Old Fort.   Great sail and even greater scenery.   The rest of the BBC went on to the Exumas next, but we decided to see if we can fix our freezer.   So we went to the big city of Nassau, and stayed at the Nassau Yachting Center. 

Nassau is a very large city, one we haven’t seen since leaving Miami.   The restaurant at the yachting center, called Poop Deck, graciously took our food that was still frozen and put it in their freezer.  At least we could save some food.    Unfortunately, our freezer could not be fixed, and because of VAT and taxes, the mechanic could not stock our freezer.  So we stocked up on Rum, food, fuel, and even met a couple from Rhode Island.    Nassau is a great place to replenish or get repairs, but it is not a beautiful as the rest of the Bahamas.   We did see Atlantis, which is only partially open because of COVID.  Nassau really misses the cruise industry, since a lot of the markets and restaurants are closed.  It is sad, and hopefully will open next season.  

From Nassau, we finally went to the Exumas, and met our friends in Norman’s Cay.