Through Bombie Alley to Rose Island

Hi everyone,

Today we motored and sailed from Highbourne Cay to Rose Island, via 'bombie alley'.   Rose Island is immediately east of New Providence Island with Nassau on its NE coast.  Bombie alley is a shallow bank littered with even shallower coral outcrops.  Its actual names are Yellow Bank and Middle Ground, depending on which part you cross. 

Motoring across 'bombie alley'

The passage started as a motor to the bank since there was less than 5 knots of wind.  We slowed down to 3 knots as we crossed the bank.  Once clear we killed the motor and set sail in a 6-10 knot SE breeze.

Overall Track

'Bombie Alley'

Arrival Track

Graphs

The anchorage in Highbourne Cay was nice and quiet overnight.  Almost a dozen motor yachts there, ranging up to full-on superyachts.  And half a dozen sailing yachts.  Nice sunset.  At twilight we saw a shark cruising around under the boat.  Yikes!

Highbourne Cay sunset

We were up at 0700 to greet a pretty dawn.  And we were on our way by 0730.

Highbourne Cay sunrise

Interesting cloud formations

Nicki on bombie duty

Crossing 'bombie alley' we used both Explorer and Navionics charts.  The latter's crowd-sourced SonarChart is very detailed across parts of the banks here.  This clearly indicates where most vessels go!  We also used satellite imagery which shows many of the bombies very clearly.

Motoring across the bank in 4m of water

We had planned to anchor on the SW side of Rose Island since a northerly is forecast for Monday evening.  But as we approached the island the wind came up and we didn't fancy a lee shore tonight.  So we went around the W side of the island to a better protected anchorage.  We're here with six other boats from several different countries.

Approaching Rose Island

Rounding W side of Rose Island

Anchored in the bay on NW side of Rose Island

Several reefs nearby for snorkelling

Anchor well dug in

Zen Again

It's great to be very close to New Providence but in a cruisy anchorage.  We have a week until we'll move into a marina in Nassau for a few days.  Looking forward to some snorkelling and 'chillin'.

Trust all's well where you are!