Chased Out of Cat Cay

The rules have changed at Cat Cay.

One of the reasons that we decided to sail to Bimini on our way back to the States, was to provision at Cat Cay.

Over the last ten years, we have stopped by Cat Cay in Bimini to clear customs, fuel up, and stock up on provisions at their grocery shop (always stocked with fresh produce, chocolate, and other good stuff).

We did that again last April, when we completed our Gulf Stream crossing from Florida and needed fuel. 

As in the past, we cleared customs on the island (although this time around we waited over three hours for the customs officer to show up and sign our documents). The dock master let us know that the Club would reopen to the public in a few weeks, once they finished hosting a wedding.

And so we launched aboard Newt one bright morning, after completing our recent passage from Chub Cay, shopping list in hand, in anticipation of fresh tomatoes, peppers, onions, lettuce, and maybe ice cream :)

Aerial view of Cat Cay Yacht Club and Resort. 

Within five minutes of entering the shop, we were met by a uniformed Cat Cay security officer, who politely but firmly explained that we were not allowed on the island (after we confirmed that we were not, in fact, members of the Cat Cay Yacht Club). 

Fortunately, he was good enough to allow us to complete our shopping run, after seeing that Brenda had already half filled our cart with provisions. Brenda's a fast shopper. After paying at the counter, we were escorted back to the dock. 

The dock master also showed up, lecturing us on the need to let him know by VHF radio that we were planning to visit, so he could have stopped us from getting to the island in the first place.

Apparently, the rules changed recently after they had a crowd from Nassau visit the Club and cause problems, prompting the membership to boot everyone (except members) off the island until further notice. 

Oh well. That will likely be our last visit to Cat Cay. But, we did get our shopping run in! 

And now our pictures are probably on the wall of the Cat Cay Post Office.