Meeks Patch to Great Harbour Cay | 10.5 Hours | 74.3 Miles
This morning was full of mixed emotions. I was super excited that we were moving to a spot where I'd be able to walk on a wonderful beach. This feeling was tempered with a bit of sadness, however, as we'd also be moving to our final stop in The Bahamas on our 2025 Winter Cruise. At the slightest brightening of the sky, I was on deck and raising the anchor. The Meeks Patch anchorage was already a good distance in our wake as the first hints of orange began to colorize the sky. I watched from the cockpit and later the upper deck as the sun made its dramatic rise over the horizon.
To the north, the sky quickly turned blue. The low angled sunlight cast a warm glow on the clouds over Royal Island. We passed through the cut between Egg and Little Egg Islands into the deep open water of the Northeast Channel and set our course for the Berry Islands. For a while the seas were much lower than we expected and all was good.
Right up until it wasn't. We were in a building following sea and the wind was on our stern. The apparent wind was negligible and the pilothouse quickly became stuffy. Then there was my poor decision to have oatmeal for breakfast. All of those combined to put me out of commission for the next four hours. Once we neared land, the waves laid down. As we veered off to a more northerly course, a breeze returned. By the time we reached Great Stirrup Cay, a private island owned by Norwegian Cruise Lines, I was feeling much better. Work is underway on a new dock which will eliminate the need for tenders to transport guests to shore. We had to keep our eyes open for uncharted objects such as new pilings and a distinctive yellow weather buoy. There was no ship in port and all the blue chairs along the beach were empty. A short distance north was Little Stirrup Cay, better known as Perfect Day at CocoCay and owned by Royal Caribbean. The massive waterslide tower of Daredevil's Peak (North America's tallest) battled for prominence with the neighboring "lighthouse" zip line tower. Again, all of the beach chairs were empty.
The reason was soon revealed as we spotted all the passengers lined up on the dock returning to their ships. The 15-deck, 1,112- foot long Independence of the Seas can carry 4,515 guests and 1,440 crew members. The "smaller" Vision of the Seas only has 11 decks, checks in at 915-feet, and has a capacity of just 2,514 passengers and 742 crew. Barry and I joked that Crossroads was the perfect size to cruise The Bahamas. We made a U-turn around the island and enjoyed the resulting pleasant 15 knot breeze. Our eyes were still peeled as we scanned the water. We first came upon an uncharted overturned boat before passing safely by a wreck that has been here for several years.
The shallow water in the lee of the islands returned to my favorite color of blue. We followed our old tracks down to Great Harbour Cay and dropped anchor just north of the cut into Bullock Harbour. It was a long day on the water, but I still had an hour or so to read on the upper deck before dinner and the sunset to close the day.
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