Bahamas Journey - Update 3/21/24
Sorry for the late blog. We spent most of last week hosting Luke on the boat and then spent a few days in some more remote anchorages. Now we’re back near Staniel Cay getting ready for the girls to arrive on Friday, 3/22. It’s been a great couple of weeks.
Saturday 3/9: Black Point: Laundry Day
After we dropped our guests off, we took a walk on Staniel Cay and then we motored down to Black Point on Great Guana Cay to do some laundry and get caught up. The laundromat on Black Point is known as the nicest in the Bahamas. It’s super clean, reasonably priced, has its own dock, and has an amazing view!! We do have laundry on the boat, but since we were washing sheets and towels from guests, it was nice to get it done all at once and also nice to have a dryer (while our machine on the boat is a combo washer/dryer, we rarely use the dryer because it takes too long and we just hang dry all of our clean laundry).
Sunday 3/10: Picked up Luke at Staniel Cay; Between Big Major & Little Major
On Sunday morning, one of Steve’s friends from iBotta, Jeff Hepburn, and his wife and friends visited our boat, and we had a nice lunch with them at the Staniel Cay Yacht Club (SCYC). Jeff and his crew fly down to a different island in the Bahamas each year in his Beechcraft Bonanza (plane) and this year they chose Staniel Cay.
After a redeye flight to Miami, Luke flew to Nassau on Saturday morning and then made his way to the Titan Air charter terminal to catch his flight to Staniel Cay in the afternoon on Sunday. We picked him up at Staniel Cay, loaded him and his bags in the dinghy, and got him back over to the boat. He was pretty wiped, so he crashed for a while after lunch, and we took that opportunity to move from our Staniel Cay anchorage over to an area called Between the Majors.
Monday 3/11: Between Big Major & Little Major
On Monday, Luke slept in for a bit, and then we took the dinghy out to explore. We attempted to visit the pigs on Monday, but there were too many tour boats, so we decided we’d head back there early on Tuesday. We visited a beach on Big Major called Cruiser’s Beach, and then we headed up to visit Pipe Cay at low tide, which has awesome sandbars where you can walk forever and find tons of sand dollars. Luke had fun, and we found some cool creatures
Tuesday 3/12: West of Thunderball Anchorage
On Tuesday morning, we visited the pigs early and had a lot of fun there without all of the tour boats. We decided to move the boat from Between the Majors back to the West of Thunderball anchorage, so we’d be closer to the Thunderball Grotto for snorkeling. While waiting for the right tides to do the grotto, we took a walk on the island so Luke could see it and had lunch at SCYC. After that we had so much fun snorkeling the Grotto and then headed back for a gorgeous sunset and dinner on the boat.
Wednesday 3/13: Bitter Guana Cay
On Wednesday, we took the long way south to anchor at Bitter Guana Cay. We were able to sail a bit, which was fun, and Luke got a turn running the helm. Our main goal in visiting Bitter Guana Cay was to see the Iguanas, but it was such a gorgeous anchorage that we decided to stay there for the night. We took the dinghy around to Black Point to grab dinner in the town. There was an event going on at Lorraine’s Cafe, and it was too crowded, so we headed next door to the Black Point Yacht Club and had a nice meal there (Luke got cracked lobster)
Thursday 3/14: Bitter Guana Cay
Thursday was Luke’s last full day, and we liked the anchorage so much we decided to stay put. We paddle-boarded, flew the drone, swam a bit, and just generally had a really nice, relaxing day that we topped off with a yummy final dinner of grilled ribeyes.
Friday 3/15: Luke Flight Home, Little Bay (Great Guana Cay)
Luke had an early flight home and rather than moving the big boat, we decided to take the dinghy over from Bitter Guana Cay to drop him off on Staniel Cay. It was a little bumpy, but not too bad. We got to the airport (too early), got Luke checked in, and spent an hour hanging out in the pavilion/waiting area until Luke’s flight was ready to board. His flight took off, and he had a mostly uneventful trip back to Los Angeles. We are so glad he made the long trek here for spring break.
After Luke left, we went back to the boat for a bit and then lunch at SCYC and a quick trip to the Pink Store for Groceries. After grocery shopping, we motored down to Little Bay on Great Guana Cay (just south of Black Point) to anchor. It's a gorgeous anchorage that we had all to ourselves. We think people seem less likely to anchor here because there’s supposed to be a nude beach (marked on the charts), but we never saw any unclothed people 🙂
Saturday 3/16 & Sunday 3/17: Little Bay (Great Guana Cay)
We took it easy on Saturday and Sunday and spent a few nights at the Little Bay anchorage, lots of paddle boarding, a decently long walk/hike to town one day and just generally relaxing. On Saturday night, we took the dinghy back up to Black Point (4 miles one way) to attend a party on the beach there. The beach is pretty shallow and gets much bigger at low tide, so we had to park our dinghy out a way to be sure it wouldn’t be beached when we were ready to head home at night. It was fun to see all the dinghies parked out and everyone wading in with their chairs. They had a DJ, live band, a raffle (benefitting local charity), etc. We met some nice people, had some great food/drinks, and got to watch some local women do a cool weaving contest. It was a really fun time, but we were a little worried about heading back to the boat in the dark, so we skipped the official Junkanoo and Fire dancers. The ride back was a little slower, but we made it safely.
Monday 3/18, Tuesday 3/19: Cambridge Cay
After a few days at Little Bay, on Monday, we headed north to anchor near Cambridge Cay at the southern end of the Exuma Land and Sea Park. We wanted to try somewhere different out for a little bit and decided to head north for a few days before we meet the girls in Staniel Cay on Friday. The anchorage is really beautiful, and we hiked on Cambridge and visited Rachel’s Bubble Bath on Compass in between some storms.
Wednesday 3/20, Thursday 3/21: Big Majors Anchorage
On Wednesday, we headed down to the Staniel Cay area to get ourselves anchored in advance of a big blow that's supposed to be coming in this weekend after the girls arrive. We decided to anchor near Big Major (across from Cruisers Beach). We headed to town to do some grocery shopping on Wednesday and had lunch at SCYC. The mailboat (that brings food and supplies to the island) hadn’t come in yet, but we were able to stock up on a few things. On Thursday, we spent the morning on boat projects, made some lunch, and then headed back to town to try to shop after the stores were restocked. We pulled up to the beach to head to the store, and some other cruisers let us know that the stores were closed for restocking, so we went back to SCYC to get some dinghy gas and grabbed a drink to kill time (rum punch is good for that) before heading back to the super crowded store (the Pink Store) to grab some produce. We’re still hoping we’ll get a few more things in the morning from the other store (the Blue Store was still closed for restocking), but feeling good about our provisioning for the girls.
March 21 is Jen’s dad’s birthday, but it is also notable for the two of us because it’s the anniversary of our first date. Five years ago, Steve and I went on our first date (Sherpa House and then drinks at Golden Moon Speakeasy in Golden). We are so fortunate to have found each other, and the last five years have been amazing. We celebrated by heading back to Fowl Cay Resort for dinner on Thursday night. We had dinner there a few weeks ago with two couples who were on board and really liked it. Fowl Cay is a private resort that has 6 villas and has at most 28 guests at a time. They allow others to come for dinner when they’re not full. It’s a complete experience with staff who meet you at the dock to walk you around the grounds and up to the restaurant, an amazing bartender, a fun cocktail hour to chat with the guests and other folks, and a really nice dinner. It was a fun way to celebrate
Bailey & her cousin Breckelle and Abbie & her friend Tori are all arriving on Friday morning, and we’re so excited to have them with us for the next 10+ days.
Photos
If you’re interested in seeing photos from the last few weeks, that album is linked below
Bahamas Week 7 & 8 - Week w/Luke + Week After (Exumas)
and we’ve started an album for our time with the girls and that’s linked below
