Heading "Up" the Berry Island chain

 

By Saturday, March 12th we'd made it to just over the half way point heading north in the Berry Island chain.  

We've enjoyed nosing around the many beaches and seeing the rich bounty of shells and sea life. 

Basically, we sail in the deep water on the "outside" of the chain (N/E Providence channel) and anchor in the shallows in the lee of the chain (Great Bahama Bank).  I truly mean shallows as a large portion of the bank is dry at low water.  We use "Open CPN" on our laptop to show us the channels to make our way through.  Depths are often under 1 meter so routes must be strategically planned. 

                                                   "Reading" the water is imperative. 

When we tuck in to the banks (inside) to anchor at night we can see the whole Berry Island chain crescent; which is to say, we can see our previous anchorage locations. 

In the morning, I enjoy having my morning coffee while drifting in our dinghy tied to the back of Sea Star.  I use our glass bottomed bucket to check out what's happening in the sea.  (lazy snorkelling, for sure!)

                                                             4 inch dark red star

                                                                 4 inch sea biscuit