News & Views for Southern Sailors - Southwinds Magazine

Another Adventure anchored just outside the mouth of the harbor, waiting for high tide in Fresh Creek on Andros. The Chickcharnies
Hotel is in the background.
have embraced GPS to the point of no longer maintaining
lighted navigation aids on the shallow banks (for that matter—many
of the navigation aids are just plain missing).
That said, crossing the bank is pretty straightforward, day
or night, with a good chartplotter and a copy of the Explorer
Chartbook. We needed two books for this voyage: The Near
Bahamas and The Exumas.
Morgan’s Bluff on Andros Island
After transferring Echo back onboard for a dawn departure,
our second hop took us through the North West Passage
where we turned south to Morgan’s Bluff on the northeastern
tip of Andros (the North West Channel is not to be confused
with New Providence Channel, located farther north).
Alternatively, we could have turned left to Chub Cay and
cleared customs, as both are a day’s sail from Nassau. We
chose Andros, the largest island of the Bahamas, because
we’d never been there and it is not heavily visited (most
guides ignore this interesting island), and we were well
ahead of schedule—time to explore. The Morgan’s Bluff outer
harbor was easy to find at the end of a well-marked ship
channel, and by 2 p.m., we were entering the outer harbor.
The outer harbor is wide open to NNW through NE
winds, so we threaded the short narrow passage past colorful
Regatta Park to the very small inner harbor—so small
the only anchoring was a bowline to a tree and stern anchor
in the harbor. Four vessels pretty much had that space
claimed. There was also a ferry ramp and cargo dock
reminding us that island freighters would be maneuvering
in this tight space. The fuel dock (a barren concrete wall)
was unoccupied, and we were invited by islanders to raftup
there for Sunday night as the fuel station was closed. A
phone call from Willie’s bar brought a personable customs
agent from the airport to our boats. Three hundred dollars
later we had our clearance and cruising permit.
We were told by Keith, a long-time British inhabitant,
that the population was about 25,000, or one person per
square mile—just about perfect in his estimation. He took us
on a short tour in his Rover; first to the water dock at the
outer harbor, then on to the Morgan’s Bluff Caves. Water
dock sounded redundant; aren’t most docks on the water
We learned that this dock in Morgan’s Bluff is the departure
point for the motorized barges that carry about 4.5- to 5-million
gallons of fresh water to Nassau daily.
The caves were a short walk east of the inner harbor.
They were low but spacious, 6- to 8-feet high inside with
several side passages that led to other rooms and tighter
exits. One could easily envision early island inhabitants
gathered around fires with their sleeping mats on the
packed sand floor, sheltered from the wind and rain.
The plan was to stay a night, then sail south along the
eastern Andros reef visiting Fresh Creek and perhaps
Middle Bight. Strong NW winds and high seas made staying
another day seem wise. Even the water boat stayed safe
and snug in Nassau. The local (self-appointed) harbormaster
visited to see if we needed water or were positioned so
as to owe a mooring fee Our polite request of the fuel dock
owner and a fuel purchase opened the door to another night
at the fuel dock. After carrying jerry cans of fuel to the boats,
we started the several-mile walk south to Nicholls Town
and Pineville to get a data connection from BATELCO, do
some banking and explore. Friendly islanders made the trip
easier by stopping to give us rides. In Pineville, we noticed
a truck van box sitting on the round beside the road, learning
it was the water store. The clerk explained that they sold
water bottled in Nassau. She believed folks returning from
Nassau developed a taste for New Providence water and
wanted it on Andros so they bought it bottled (isn’t Nassau
water shipped from Andros) While walking back to the
boats, we saw the large ponds used to hold water for transfer
to the water ship.
Farther South to Fresh Creek on Andros
Next, we elected to hop south along the eastern Andros reef
to Fresh Creek (our alternative would have been a 48-mile
run east to Nassau, but we were running early for
Junkanoo). There is a shallow, winding unmarked channel
between the reef and the island, which we felt was wisely
left to those with shallow draft and local knowledge. While
Fresh Creek was picturesque and interesting, with the wellworn
Chickcharnies Hotel, batik factory, post office, groceries
and the nearby A.U.T.E.C. facility (a naval testing
facility, strictly off limits) the town is not heavily visited. The
narrow harbor (essentially a river) is not suited for anchoring,
as we were advised by several concerned residents calling
from the bridge. George, the self-reputed harbormaster,
helped us tie to an unused part of the crumbling government
dock for the night. We find it hard to tell who has
authority and who doesn’t on the less developed islands,
since “officials” dress the same as civilians, with the exception
of customs and immigration.
During the night, a ship turning around at the government
dock swept through the area where we had been
anchored earlier. That would have been a rude awakening.
News & Views for Southern Sailors SOUTHWINDS November 2011 45