Devil Hoffman's or White Cay Anchorage

I can only admire the courage and skill of early cruisers that piloted these waters without the aid of a high quality GPS chart plotter.  The small anchorage between the larger Hoffman's Cay and Devil Cay and behind the smaller White Cay was the target of White Pepper's second stop in the Berry Islands.  However, I doubt that I would have had the nerve to enter it without the Garmin.  The beach seemed featureless rock until just a few hundred yards off and then a small entrance opened up to the SW.  We swooshed in and fifty yards on had to make a hard turn to N to avoid crashing into Saddleback Cay.  But in about the time it takes to read this post we were sailing in calm quiet, deep water.  We sailed about 1/2 mile further behind the lee of White Cay and dropped anchor in 6 feet of sand.

This spot does not get the publicity that the Little Harbor anchorage which is a few miles south gets.  Little Harbor is populated while White Cay is wilderness.  It does have good 360 degree protection and good holding which we were soon to test.  Every cruising guide comments on the rolling that goes on here.  Indeed it is rolly as the northern pass (too shallow to cross) is only 1/4 mile away.  But the phenomenon is not ocean rolls, rather the anchorage has standing waves that occur at the maximun of the flood tide.  There must be some interference pattern between the north and south passes that causes this effect.  Regardless twice a day it gets very uncomfortable.  Otherwise it is a near perfect anchorage.  The anchorage is shallow.  The moon was full so the tides were at extreme.  At low low water there was only 6 inches of water under White Pepper's  keel.  The chart plotter said there should have been another 3 feet of water there.  This was the first error I have found in the otherwise perfect Garmin Blue Charts.

Hoffman's Cay is famous for a "blue hole."  However, we could not see it and could not get off the boat.  The strong front that pinned us down at Bullock's Harbor had now started to back up at a warm front.  The wind howled and current was strong at about 2 or 3 knots.  One evening there were squalls with thunder and lightning and gusts to 30+.  However, the Rocna anchor on 90 feet of chain held fast.

By the next morning the wind was force 4 out of the SW.  This was the signal to move as another northerly front was coming.  Our original intent was to sail around the Frazier Hog Cay on the southern side of the Berry Islands and wait out the front at the reconstituted Berry Island Club.  However, this course would be a hard beat to weather.  Nassau was only 50 miles to the SE and we could sail a tight reach to get there.  Jan and I had repeated sworn off Nassau.  But this morning we tightened sheets and tore off on fast reach for showers and latte at the Starbucks on High Street.

In summary we enjoyed the Berry Islands.  Not many sailors go there and indeed there is not much available. Bullock's Harbor seems under appreciated as refuge from the north wind and the marina at Great Harbor Cay seems unknown to the cruising community.  However, there are richer cruising grounds elsewhere in the Bahamas and Berry Islands should be thought of as a way to get to them.