S/V Querencia - A Swirish Sailing Adventure: Tuesday 8– Sunday 13 December 2009, Great Harbour Cay to Devil’s

What a trip over! Leaving Fort Lauderdale Monday December 7th we traveled 23 hrs to arrive at Great Harbour Cay. The Gulf Crossing was a little rolley polley with 5’ swells but it was the hobby horsing at 3am until 7am across the banks that was taking its toll on the crew. With 2 hour shifts Jorgen and I were fairly knackered upon arrival. Once the skipper had been cleared through Customs and Immigration we popped open the Champagne on Querencia and shared a few bottles with our buddies Karen & Kevin, on Dream Seeker. We had lunch at the charming little restaurant at the dock and slept the afternoon away.

We trekked the island the next day looking for the elusive Beach Club Bar, oh boy what a treat we strolled the pristine beach in attempt to burn off some calories then hitched a ride back to the marina via the epicenter of the island.

We left Great Harbor Cay Marina at about 09:00 December 10th and headed out the rather tricky channel heading for Devil’s – Hoffman Cay, about 35 miles away. In order to get there we first had to sail around the north point of Great Harbor Cay and then head SSE towards Devil’s – Hoffman. We had a fantastic sail around the head until we were pinching the wind off our nose. The weather was stunning and we made decent time to our destination

We got in around 15:00 and after advice from Kevin, dropped the hook in a sandy patch (grassy patches offer less good holding) and we were set.

A bunch of local fisherman came around and Kevin bartered a Hogfish and we purchased 7 beautiful lobster tails for $20. Surf and Turf was enjoyed aboard Dream Seeker that night, fantastic tucker!!

Friday was spent fixing a burnt out shore power receptacle and waiting for the cold front to come in. The front came as forecasted and Jorgen spent the night sleeping in the cockpit listening to 25-30 kts of wind howling while our anchor hung tight.

Saturday was still windy so we basically hung around the boat and took it easy and slumbered off the previous sleepless night.

Sunday it was off on Dinghy Operations to hike up to the Blue Hole on Hoffman’s Cay. What a fantastic sight – the bottom is unfathomable and God only knows what critters lurch below the surface. Later we dinghied 3.5 miles down to Flo’s Conch Bar for lunch, easily recognizable from the big “YOU WELCOME” painted on the roof. Greasy Conchs and a bunch of Kalik’s were consumed at Flo’s followed by a dip in the crystal clear waters.

Monster provisioning in Ft. Lauderdale - The boat threw up...