Market Fish and Soldier Cay Part II

I will start off by saying that we have not yet figured out how to get our SSB radio to work.  Without internet we had been using the VHF in the Abacos to get the weather, but in the Berries there is no broadcast on the VHF.  We have spent the past few days fighting the weather with no clue of what the day will bring.  The only manual missing is the SSB radio and we can not get it to pick up anything.

We left Market Fish Cay around 9:00 with the intent of going to Flow's Conch Bar for dinner which was only 10 miles away.  As we pulled out of the pass by Market Fish the seas were 4-6 feet and the wind was 15 knots right on our nose.  We spent the day being bounced up and down and made it to Frozen Cay around 4:00.  It was low tide and so we could not make the pass into the bay with Flow's Conch Bar and tried anchoring just outside but the anchor would not grab.  The bottom was hard and the wind was picking up to 20 knots and the current was strong.  We left the shallows to anchor in deeper waters that was more protected from the wind and waves.  We had no luck again as the bottom was hard rock again and the anchor just kept dragging.  It was starting to get late and the weather was getting worse and then we heard on the VHF something about a cold front moving in and the worst was yet to come.  Preston heard a few mayday calls coming from Nassau and we decided to head back to Market Fish Cay where we knew we had a good holding and protection for the night.  As we were headed back another sailboat was hailing on the VHF for any boats anchored in the Berry Islands.  After his second call and no answer I decided to answer to see if he was near us and looking for an anchorage.  Turns out he was in the same place we were trying to hold anchor with no luck as well.  I told him our plan was to head back north and that we had just left the pass between Frozen Cay and Little Harbour Cay where a reef lies in the middle and the wind was growing at 20 knots and the waves 10 feet.  He answered back that they would throw up sail and head our way trying to make it before dark.  Being the novice sailors we are were only motoring at this point until Dan and Preston decided that if he was going to sail so could we.  We only unfurled the jib 1/3 and were soon surfing down the 10 foot waves at 11.4 knots.  A new speed record for Jalapeño.  Watching the waves gather speed and height coming up from behind us was scary, but every time we just surfed right on top of them.  We pulled into our private bay leaving room for Sanctuary, our new friends we met on the VHF.  They hailed us on the VHF an hour later to let us know they were not going to make it before dark, but were thankful for the advice and would keep an eye out for us in the future.  We had a very restful night of sleep and the next morning decided that with the worst of the storm coming we no longer wanted to fight the elements and would head back to the top of the Berries hit the marina for a night, fuel up, stock up and use the internet.

 Preston caught a fish and while reeling it in something else caught it and left us with just the mouth

It took us all day and when we pulled into the Great Harbour Marina at 5:30 we tied up did some laundry and went to bed.  Oh guess who pulled in just before us and was in the slip right in front of us?  Sanctuary!  We were able to meet them and a few other liveaboards.  It was nice waiting out the storm in what they call a "Hurricane Hole."  Completely surrounded on all sides by land where the water doesn't even have a ripple let alone a wave or current.  We stay here for 2 nights and were able to walk about 5 miles to town and back.  It was nice to get off the boat and stretch our legs.

The locals use the dirt road to the left for a smoother ride

 The canal we enter to get to the marina