Egg Island to Nassau

Egg Island to Nassau – 32 nautical miles sailed, 1 mile in dinghy, 1 kilometre snorkelled, 1 lionfish

It was time to return to Nassau after a spectacular week in the islands. It was again a clear, calm, and hot day and we took an early dinghy ride into the mangrove lake on the interior of Egg Island, hoping the high tide would provide enough water depth to get in. We motored through most of the narrow channel and had to paddle for only one shallow part of it, then were in the lake. It was very quiet, with no signs of fish or rays in the water, and few birds, but quite pretty. On the way out we did see two small turtles gliding through the water.

We decided to try the west side of Egg Island for another good snorkelling spot, so we pulled anchor and motored over but all we could find was sand and rock so we instead motored back to near the Arimoroa wreck for a final swim. Last time we were here we had seen a local boat anchored east of the wreck site so we dropped our anchor to see if we could find what they were looking at. As we were in the cockpit preparing our snorkelling gear something out in the water caught my eye and we looked over to see a giant leatherback turtle surfacing, with his massive dark body and head like a basketball taking a gulp of air and a look around. By the time I grabbed the binoculars to take a closer look he had already plunged back down, and despite scanning the ocean surface for a while we did not see him again. But he was a magnificent beast.

Once in the dinghy we dragged Dave around with his face plunged into the water and long legs sticking up in the air as a sort of human sonar, but after finding nothing of interest we returned to the wreck and dove there. It was once again an incredible experience and we saw many fish including a big barracuda and a giant white grouper as we circled the wide area of wreckage. I spotted a lionfish on the bottom so dove down, missed my first shot, then reloaded and speared him right through the middle of his body, but the barb had broken off my spear so he evaded capture but did not escape becoming an invasive species snack for a hungry lobster.

Dave and I swam the lengthy distance from the wreck back to SeaLight, hoping to find what the other boat was interested in, as the girls trailed us in the dinghy. There was little of interest until we were very close to the boat and noticed the hundreds of conch shells covering the grassy bottom in 23 feet of water. I dove down many times looking for a harvestable adult but could find nothing but juveniles so we surmised the local boat had already picked up the big ones. Still, it was reassuring finding such a massive quantity of them and gave me some hope for the durability of the conch fishery.

The 32 nautical mile ride back to Nassau through near glassy water was peaceful, calm, and uneventful, and the time passed quickly. I’d been hoping the tremendous luck Kira and Dave had brought with them throughout their visit would result in a beefy mahi mahi or tuna catch, but our fishing efforts were in vain.

The gas dock at Nassau Harbour Club was available so we pulled in to fill up on diesel and, hopefully, on water. Ana was able to sweet talk the reluctant owner into selling us water, which he usually reserves for marina guests only as he claimed it just took too long and used up dock space for fuel buyers. It was true the water fill was very slow, but there were no other boats looking for fuel, so we were able to leave with full tanks all around, a fine feeling indeed.

After dropping the hook at our usual spot near the Nassau Yacht Club we poured sundowner G&Ts using the pretty blue indigo gin Kira and Dave had brought, then group cooked a fantastic meal of New York Strips for the meat eaters, mahi mahi for Kira, fried plantains, and a superb vegetable stir fry. The hours melted away as we enjoyed our final dinner together with our friends and lounged in the cockpit until we could no longer remain awake.