Berry Islands Club – Frazier’s Hog Cay
An effort is being made at BIC (Berry Island Club) to provide something much needed in the Bahamas and that is sanctuary for sailors who don’t want to spend a ton of money at a marina but want a safe place to weather the fronts that, at least this year, blow through much too frequently. We also don’t mind a nice place to have a few drinks and get some good food. BIC provides just such a place.
BIC had gotten a bad reputation in the past for questionable moorings. All nine (or ten) moorings are now new. The balls are attached to 5500 pound blocks of concrete with 3/8″ galvanized chain. New pennants of polypropylene are attached to the balls. Picking up the pennant is very easy as the poly floats but be aware that chafe is high on poly as well as it is nowhere as strong as nylon. As should be the case whenever a mooring is used, the system should be checked visually for chafe and deterioration of the system. We weathered winds to 45 mph on the moorings and never felt insecure. One boat came loose when a shackle pin (not seized) backed out. This would not have happened had it been inspected. Our pennant had some chafe (considerable for a new line) that had been caused by improper mooring technique. The loop in the pennant is not to be secured directly to the cleat on the boat. A line should be passed through the loop (better a double line) and this line attached to the cleats. This increases the scope of the system as well as protects the pennant from chafe. In very high winds an emergency pennant should be run directly to the ball.
Herbie, who manages BIC, is working real hard to make sure everyone is safe and has a great time. Fuel and gas is available as is r/o water. The club itself is very nice and the prices are very reasonable. The food is outstanding, the blackened grouper my favorite. Usual favorites such as chicken, fish, conch, shrimp, steak and lobster are on the menu. I had a conch salad that rated among the best I’ve had. No entree is over $18.00. Drinks are reasonable with $3 Kaliks. Because of the food, we ate ashore too many times.
We stayed five nights, weathering two blows. In the break between blows we dinghied out for some exploration.
A “looky” bucket is a required item in the clear waters of the Bahamas. You can check your anchor or mooring and look clearly at the stuff on the bottom. Here we look at a starfish in about 4′ of water.
After beaching the dinks, we strolled the sandy beach in a small cove not far from our moored boat. There were more star fish and other critters.
It must have been mating day for seas slugs as we saw many slugs and what we assumed were egg clusters. The next day when we were there they were all gone.
Be careful where you step! We saw this large sting ray buried in sand.
The big blow came Friday night. We set an emergency pennant to the mooring and watched as the black squall line headed our way. As the first line passed and darkness set in, Mary heard voices pass outside. I looked out to see a boat passing by. It had been moored but the shackle had come loose and they were unsuccessfully trying to set an anchor. I called Herbie on the VHF and told him what was going and set off in the dinghy to see if I could help. I convinced them to try another mooring and took a line from their boat over to Herbie’s skiff. The wind was blowing a steady 30 by now and it was hard to make way with the 10 horse outboard. I finally got the line over and they safely secured themselves to the new mooring. I headed back just before the next squall hit with gusts to 45 mph.
During this time we heard a distress call come in from a sailboat somewhere between Whale and Little Whale Cays, not all that far away. The sailboat (Wild Hare) was in fear of running aground. A cruise ship received their call and said they would relay their call to authorities as the ship could not get to where they were. That was the last we heard until the following morning. BASRA had asked Herbie to go check near their last reported position to see if he could find anything. He found nothing. This would be our first real acknowledgement of how alone we are.
Sunday was a bit chilly and the wind was still blowing enough to keep the Tongue rough. We went ashore and talked to Herbie for a short while. He was working on the Internet network and he remarked about not getting much rest on his day off. Little did he know that his day was going to be packed with adventure.
After a nice long walk we returned to the boat. The VHF crackled, “Mayday … mayday, this is motor yacht Lysdo! We’re taking on water.” Fiscal Stray, our buddy boat, answered their call. After getting their position we plotted on our chart. They were only three miles away passing from Chub off Bird Cay. Briefly I could see them visually and on radar until they drifted behind Bird Cay. Tod on Fiscal Stray coordinated things on the radio while a local boat, Our Way, and Herbie raced to see what they could do to help. As it turns out the motor yacht was towing a 25′ center console fishing boat with dual 225 hp outboards, had an additional center console dinghy as well as life rafts. No one was really in danger but understandably they didn’t want to lose the $3 million dollar yacht. We listened as they tried to figure out where the water was coming in and tried unsuccessfully to tow it back to Chub Cay. It was distressing for us to listen as Chub Cay, who had so eagerly taken their money for a slip (very expensive place) were totally disinterested in helping out in any way.
They eventually abandoned ship, one person taking the dinghy, two crew going with Herbie and the owner, wife(?) and captain taking the 25′ boat. The 98′ six year old yacht slowly rolled and sank in over a thousand feet of water. As it sank the fenders and the hot tub floated to the surface. What a shame. It leaves many unanswered questions as to why it would sink.
The next morning as we prepared to leave for Andros we remarked to Herbie, that he really knew how to relax on his day off.
