Greetings from the Bahamas!

A post by Mark

Hi all – we finally made it to the Bahamas!

Last Friday, we started making plans to head out on Monday afternoon. On Sunday afternoon, it looked like we were going to be in Marathon for at least another week. On Monday morning, we got an improved weather forecast. On Tuesday morning, we departed Marathon – heading for The Berries in the Bahamas. On Tuesday morning, we arrived in Bimini (not The Berries – but ~70 miles closer to FL). We’re all good – and here’s the story of how we got here…

On Friday, we got a mixed weather report – saying that there was a weather window to the Bahamas – but it may be short (and uncertain). Since the next window was at least a week out, we figured we’d plan to leave Monday – knowing that we could always decide to stay put if the window wouldn’t work. The biggest thing for us to do was to get Willie to a vet – as he needs to get checked out by a vet 48 hours before arriving in the Bahamas. We make an appointment for 9:00 AM Monday.

On Sunday, the cruising community in the harbor had a great potluck brunch – at least 50 or 60 people all hanging out having a good time. We brought Monkey Bread – which appeared to be a hit – as it was all gone by the end of the brunch. After the brunch, we had a meeting with most of the folks who were planning to head to the Bahamas. In that meeting, we got a bit ‘scared’ – as the vast majority of folks were deciding to stay put. The only boats going over Monday were two ‘kids’ (a senior in college and his brother who is taking a gap year between high school and college) and a pretty experienced crew (we think from France) who were delivering relief supplies to Puerto Rico. Both of these boats are on a schedule – so we were reluctant to sail with them. Looks like we’re staying put for a bit… Since we weren’t going on Monday, we decided to cancel our vet appointment.

Monday morning rolls around – and the forecast has improved! The front that was coming through stalled a bit, and now Tuesday morning is forecasted to be a good, solid window – and the best one for the next ten days. Furthermore, the seas are projected to get smoother and smoother as the day progresses. Later in the morning, we catch up with a family from Maine who got the same weather report as us and is also now planning to head out on Tuesday. This is great – because now we have a ‘buddy boat’ to sail with. Things are looking up! The downside to the forecast is that there is a big front coming in right after this window – with winds blowing up to 40 knots and gusts even higher. Thus, wherever we go on our crossing, we should expect to stay there for at least 4 or 5 days until the front passes. Knowing this, we decide to head to Great Harbor in the Berries – about 70 miles East of Bimini – kind of the middle of the Northern Bahamas. According to the guide books and folks we talked to, there is a nice anchorage with good holding there, along with some great snorkeling, pretty beaches, etc.

So, Monday morning, we call the vet and get an appointment for 2:45. The rest of the day, we finished getting ready to go…. Topping off our water, picking up a few last-minute things from Home Depot and Kmart, a final shopping trip to Publix (and I’m sure one or two other things I’m forgetting – turned out to be a really busy day). All was going smoothly – until about 7:00 pm as Julie and I were walking home from Publix with a very full wagon full of groceries. It’s only a mile or so from the marina – so we ended up walking home (we thought about getting a cab – but we didn’t have our phone with us to call one and didn’t have any luck flagging one down). Tuns out, we should have tried harder – as our wagon broke down about 1/4 mile or so from the marina. So, while Julie hung-out out with our broken wagon, I ran to the marina, get a cart, and headed back. What a pain in the neck – but all part of the adventure. The rest of the night was uneventful (thankfully).

On Tuesday, we head out at sunrise to this beautiful view.

When we leave the harbor and head out, we start our sail in pretty bumpy water. Sally and Lucy don’t fare too well in the waves (Sally quite a bit worse than Lucy). Turns out, our buddy boat is also having a tough time with the waves – as a ‘few of them’ are getting seasick (didn’t get much more info). Given this, they decide to cut their sail short, skip the crossing and head towards Miami to wait for the next weather window. Since both Lucy and Sally were OK (not good at this point – but surely OK), we decide to press on. It turned out to be a great decision, for about an hour or so later, the waves really began to lay down and the ride got smooth. By the time we got to the Gulf Stream – the seas were perfectly calm – with almost no wind. While this made really smooth sailing (mostly motoring), it wasn’t great for making progress towards the Berries. Since the wind died so much, we were going a bit slower than we thought – and realized that we may not be able to make it all the way to the Berries by nightfall the next day (we were already planning to sail overnight). Next came an hour or two of ‘hard thinking’ – mapping out different paths, modeling different current and boat speed assumptions, and looking for good anchorages with protection from winds from the North and East (where the big winds were forecasted). The only place we could find that we could comfortably get to was Bimini, but we’d have to stay in a marina there – as the anchorages there aren’t very good. While we weren’t happy about staying in a marina for up to a week – it was the safest and smartest thing to do. We were able to call a marina on our satellite phone and get a reservation. That relived a bunch of stress. NOTE: I’m writing this on Friday morning – in ~30 knot winds and after a night of 40+ knot winds. I can definitely say that I’m happy to be tied up to a dock and worrying if our anchor was going to hold!

Our crossing through the Gulf Stream was pretty uneventful – except that we had to dodge 2 cruise ships and a container ship. Nothing unexpected or dangerous – but the amount of commercial traffic in the Straights of Florida will definitely keep you on your toes!

Other than knowing that we’d have to pay to stay in the marina for a while, the only other downside to going to Bimini is that we arrived around 4 or 5 AM – and thus, had to just hang out outside the harbor entrance until the sun came up and we could get ahold of someone at a marina. No big deal – but for the first time since we left on Columbus Day, I may have gotten bored for an hour or two (I was also pretty tired – as the stress that both Julie and I took on trying to figure out the best path forward took a lot out of us).

All turned great again around 8:00 am. I got in touch with the folks at the marina, they gave us some guidance on how best to get through the channel into the harbor, and we were again on our way. By now, all the girls were up – and along with Julie, were at the bow of the boat helping guide me in by looking through the crystal-clear water at the bottom to make sure we weren’t going to hit a rogue sand bar. From the bow, the shrieks of joy erupted as we passed over a school of dolphin (the fish – AKA mahi-mahi), a spotted eagle ray, and a bunch of other tropical fish. The rest of the ride to the marina was smooth, and we got tied up in our slip without any issues. Within an hour or so, I cleared us through customs and immigration – and we were finally legal visitors to the Bahamas!

The rest of the morning we took Willie for a walk on the beach, took care of a few things around the boat, and had lunch. After lunch, we walked to another beach and went snorkeling. As we got to the beach, the winds shifted and started building from the North and dropped the temperature about 10 degrees – signs of the front coming. Not a lot to see in the water – as we just snorkeling went off the beach, and not to a reef, but we still had fun looking for shells and just being in the water. After a little while in the water, we were ready to head back to the boat and rest a bit before dinner. All in all, a great day!

Willie enjoying his time at the beach