After a couple of relaxing days by Honeymoon Harbour, we continued south to one of Bahamas’ many private islands, where we anchored. The island, Cat Cay, is a private club, but transients are welcome to visit the marina and the area around the marina except in high seasons. We had sailed there, because we had read about their grocery store selling fresh and cold produce, and we weren’t disappointed, though we were a bit nervous about the fact that none of the groceries had any price tags!

To avoid any embarrassing moments, we only bought a little bit with the plan of returning the following day, but the next day the island was close for everybody who wasn’t a member or sponsored by members. Sitting in our small red dinghy, it was difficult for us to let anybody believe that we belonged, so we returned to the boat and headed west towards the Berry Islands across the Great Bahama Bank, 75 nm from Bimini.

The Great Bahama Bank is a huge tableland of shallow waters that is not more that 2-5 metres deep. It’s not recommended for boats with a deeper draft than 6-7 ft. to sail across, though you might be able to go through anyway, if you trust your charts. With our 5 ft. draft, we didn’t have any problems, though we did shut off our depth sounder in the end, because it kept going off every time we hit 2 metres.

As in the Caribbean, the prevailing winds at this time of the year come from the east, so we had the wind right on the nose. All sail boats we met were sailing under engine – even the ones heading west! – but as Henrik said: We’re here to go sailing! So instead we tacked against the wind and the current with an average speed of 2-3 knots. When we left Bimini, we didn’t know, whether we should sail during the night or anchor in the middle of the bank. Generally, in the Bahamas you’re advised not to sail overnight and use visual navigation, but at the same time, I find it a bit weird anchoring in the middle of what seems like to be an open ocean – even though it’s only 2 metres deep.

Our low speed decided for us, though, and we continued though the night without any problems and reached Chub Cay by Berry Islands just before sunset the following day.

Chub Cay turned out to be yet another private island, but one where everybody was welcome. They had no fresh produce in their shop, but on the other had they price tags on everything and they sold Danish sausage! It turned out to be quite the delicacy on the island: They cut the sausage in thin slices and put it in hot sauce and eat it with crackers. We of course bought a sausage, but we still haven’t tried the Bahamian version – which of course is nothing like the Danish tradition deliciously eaten on black bread!

Signe Storr - Freelance journalist and friend of Boatshed