Good Visit to Great Harbour Cay Marina, Berry Islands, Bahamas
As Tim and Lisa Keith-Lucas attest below, Explorer Chartbooks, A SALTY SOUTHEAST CRUISERS’ NET PARTNER, has long been the standard navigational supplement for enjoyable, informative, and safe cruising through the beautiful Bahamian waters and island visits. Great Harbour Cay is located mid-way between Freeport and Nassau.
I want to preface this with a statement regarding our complete lack of experience. This is our first trip to the Bahamas and we are using, besides our navigation charts, the Explorer Chartbook for the Bahamas. The book needs some updating in terms of this Marina, so here goes:
We arrived February 29, with no plans to stay here and no reservation. We had anchored out and thought, “why not?”
We are so happy we did. The book did not really give this place the credit it now deserves. Thanks to the “campground hosts” Christel and Gary, this is a vibrant, thriving Marina with both transient and long term residents. The place is beautifully kept and clean, the water looks like an aquarium, there are resident manatees, everything works well including the wifi, and the staff is nothing short of amazing. There are activities almost every day, from dinghy convoys to places to view wildlife, festivals with food and drink from local vendors, potlucks, wine tasting, and pizza night. The marina is quiet from early evening til 8am, and people are gracious and polite. It is refreshingly safe and there is no need to lock things up.
As far as the options offered on the island, the guidebook can tell you that in a minute or two. My reason for this entry is twofold: one, these are fairly recent developments, so the guidebooks might not tell you just how amazing this place has become, and the Berry Islands are not heavily visited. Two, it is clear that reservations are going to be essential from here on, as word is getting out that this is a great place to be, so plan ahead! We are here for one more week, waiting on a spell of Easter Winds to subside, and the Marina has been full since we arrived.
Tim and Lisa Keith-Lucas
MV Santa Catalina de Guale
We’ve enjoyed our stay here. It occurred to me, as we are preparing to leave, that a note about the approach might be helpful. The charts indicate that the entrance to the channel that leads to Great Harbour Cay Marina is marked with a range and a set of red/green markers at the entrance. If you could add that the range is no longer there, the red marker is on a post outside the entrance (as you approach this post keeping it on your right, the channel comes into view) but more importantly, the green marker that the chart shows on the left side of the entrance is gone. To make it a bit more exciting, there is a green square sign welcoming you to Great Harbour Cay, but it is on the right side of the entrance!! If you keep this to your left and the red marker to the right, you will go right into a rock wall.
If you are coming in for the first time, this will be pretty confusing. Best do it in daylight.
Thanks! On to the Eleutheras.
MV Santa Catalina
Tim and Lisa Keith-Lucas
Comments from Cruisers (1)
Tim and Lisa
Many thanks for your kind note concerning this beautiful island. We first “found” this slice of heaven in 2005, and back then it was just us and one other boat in the marina for over two weeks waiting for a weather break. We had left Chub Cay headed for West End when the weather really started knocking us hard. We had to find shelter and Great Harbour was the closest to us. We now say it was “divine intervention.”
During that two weeks, we met folks from France, USA, the Bahamas who had residences on the island and they all treated us as if we were family.
The beach on the opposite side from the marina is one of the prettiest my bride and I have ever enjoyed.
Thank you for your updates. Trust the remainder of your cruise will be safe and most enjoyable. Thanks for using “The Salty Southeast Cruisers’ Net”.
Winston Fowler