Great Abaco Island to the Berry Islands

Little Harbor Cays, the Berry Islands

May 2, 2024

Dear Family & Friends:

Everywhere we sail seems to take us to more beautiful places.

On April 30, we sailed 32 nautical miles from Great Abaco Island to the Berry Islands. The trip took us five hours. The Berry Islands are a chain of 30 islands covering about thirty square miles with over 100 small inlets or cays. The main attraction of the Berry Islands is big game fishing-billfish, tuna, grouper, tiger fish, yellowtail snapper, wahoo and mackerel.

We pulled into a cove called “Little Harbor Cays” and dropped anchor. There were three other boats in the cove, one of which is owned by Canadians, Aren and Vicki, who are friends of Bill & Denise. Aren and Vicki were hosting Dale & Lori-guests from Wyoming. On May 1, we all fished, snorkeled, scuba dived, paddled-boarded, kayaked and motored back and forth between boats in small dinghies.We were frequently visited by a six foot nurse shark, which seemed curious about all the commotion in the Cay. We never felt threatened by our visitor. Denise prepared a wonderful dinner of bbq sausage, diced potatoes and salad.

On May 2, Rick and I paddled the kayak in the cove in search of turtles, stingrays and starfish. In the afternoon, we all motored in the dinghy two miles to Flo’s Conch Shack, where we met with Aren, Vicki, Dale & Lori and enjoyed rum punch and fried conch. Conch is a sea snail. It tasted great. The day was warm, so we planned to swim near the boat to cool off. That’s when we spotted a much larger, and more menacing looking, shark circling the boat. No one entered the water. After dinner, we all met at the beach around a huge bonfire.

The highlight of the day was watching the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launch from Cape Canaveral as we sat on the top deck of the sailboat.

Tomorrow, we raise anchor and sail 15 miles to Great Harbour Cay in the Berry’s.