Bahamas Journey Update - 4/3/24
It’s been a busy few weeks with the girls visiting. We had our daughters Abbie and Bailey on the boat, along with our niece Breckelle and Abbie’s friend Tori. We decided to do one blog for the whole time we hosted the girls from 3/21 - 4/3. This one is a little longer than most, so feel free to skim it, but I added some details about some crazy weather and other info this time for those interested.
Friday 3/22 - Big Majors Anchorage Day 1 - Girls Arrive
On Friday morning, the girls flew over from Nassau to Staniel Cay. Steve and I dinghied over from our anchorage at Big Majors to meet them at the airport. Their flight arrived on time, and we were so excited to see them. Steve took the bags back over to the boat, and the girls and I walked through the island, stopping at a few stores on the way. The seas were a little rough, so we shuttled the girls over two at a time to the boat from the Yacht Club and got them settled in. Even though it was a little windy/rough, we knew we were getting a bigger storm on Saturday, so we tried to take full advantage of activities on Friday. During the day, we took the girls to visit the pigs on Big Majors and also snorkeled Thunderball Grotto (which we had all to ourselves). Abbie’s friend Tori hadn’t snorkeled since she was super little and she did great. The girls were going to be with us for 10-12 days and we knew that most of that time would be more remote in the Exumas, so we decided to brave the seas and do dinner out back at Staniel Cay Yacht Club. SCYC was doing a Bond Night 007 fundraiser event for the local health clinic and we were able to get reservations for dinner. It was super fun to get dressed up, see the fashion show, pet the nurse sharks, and eat a fabulous dinner. We made it back to the boat and settled in for the start of the coming storm.
Saturday 3/23 - Big Majors Anchorage Day 2 - Storm Day
We woke up Saturday morning and spent time getting everything set for the storm. Big Majors was not the perfect anchorage for a westerly blow, but it was close enough for picking up the girls and we were confident in our holding and happy with our spacing from other boats, so we decided to stay put there. Throughout the day, the wind (and rain) picked up, and while we had a few breaks from the rain (during one of which the girls and Steve went over and placed a wooden sign with our boat logo at Cruiser’s Beach), overall, it was the heaviest rain we’ve seen this season. In the late afternoon, the wind really picked up, and we got some pretty crazy gusts and sustained winds, including a gust of close to 57 knots (over 65mph) just before 6pm. That gust took one of our top sunbed cushions (that attaches with strong snaps) right off the boat and sent it flying. Following that phase of the storm, Steve, Breckelle, and Abbie went on a hunt for the cushion and ended up retrieving items that had flown off other boats and also helped flip back over a dinghy that had flipped on a neighbor’s boat. We made the best of the day and played games, read, had nice meals, and enjoyed the day on the boat. Steve and I alternated staying up over night doing anchor watch, and we had some middle-of-the-night big wind gusts and a period of sustained winds over 30 knots for a few hours that were a little nerve-wracking, but our boat and ground tackle (anchor/chain) did amazingly well. We decided while the storm through a bit of a wrench in our plan for the girls trip, it was kind of cool that they got to experience ALL aspects of sailing
Sunday 3/24 - Compass Cay North Anchorage Day 1
On Sunday morning, things were definitely calmer. The local Cruisers Net (where all cruisers call into a particular VHF station at a set time to share info) was active that morning with stories of the night before and a very active lost and found section. We ended up picking up anchor that morning and moving to a different spot in the Big Majors anchorage because another boat moved in a little too close to us. Spacing is constantly something you manage in crowded anchorages. You want to be comfortable that boats won’t swing into you. While we generally should all swing roughly in the same direction (facing into the wind), different boats put out different lengths of rode (chain/rope that the anchor is on) based on what they want their scope (the ratio of the length of the rode compared to the depth of the water the anchor is set in) to be. These differences mean you need to be somewhat conservative in your spacing because everyone’s swing radius is slightly different (particularly when you have windy conditions with wind directions that are changing). During this storm, it was part of why we chose to anchor in a more exposed spot (with great holding) that wasn’t as crowded. There was a large group of folks who decided to ride out the storm between two islands near us, and that area ended up much more crowded. We heard stories of conflicts over spacing and worries about dragging anchors throughout the night from cruisers in that area. For the most part, cruisers are friendly and understanding, but when you’ve got big winds and rain overnight, and people could be dragging their anchors, tensions flare. On the morning after the storm, the boat that settled in a little too close for our comfort had moved over from the crowded anchorage, and when we asked them if they’d consider moving, and they declined, we decided to just pick up ourselves.
After moving, our plan for the day was to clean up and get the boat ready to move. The girls had met a young woman named Leila (age 21) who was traveling with her family and she came by and spent a few hours with them that morning. Leila’s family has been cruising full-time for 6+ years, and while they buddy boat (travel with another boat) that has some teenage children, I think she was excited to spend some time with other 20-somethings. After lunch and saying goodbye to Leila, we decided to take a quick jaunt north to the north end of Compass Cay. We anchored off the beach and the girls took the paddle board to shore and explored the island a bit while Steve and I explored on the dinghy. We made a nice dinner that night and settled in for a calmer night!
Monday 3/25 - Compass Cay North Anchorage Day 2
March 25 can be a tough day for our families. It’s the anniversary of the day Kristi passed away, and it’s also Matt’s birthday, so it was nice to be together and to be busy doing amazing things as we remembered them both. Knowing we had some time to make up from getting stuck down in Staniel Cay with the storm, we got up and after breakfast, we went to shore to hike over to Rachel’s Bubble Bath on the north end of Compass Cay. The Bubble Bath is essentially a calm lagoon that’s separated from the sea by a thin bar of rock. When the tides are high, or the seas are rough, the waves come crashing over the rocks into the lagoon, stirring up the water in the pool and creating a bubble-bath effect in the warm water. Steve and I had come here once before, but we hadn’t seen the bubble bath effect because the seas were too calm. Given the recent storms, the bubbles were in full effect, and it was fun to do that with the girls. From the Bubble Bath, we took a long, wet dinghy ride north to The Aquarium in the Exuma Land and Sea Park (near O’Brien’s Cay). It was some of the best snorkeling we’ve ever seen. There were so many fish and turtles and nice coral in such a small area. It was completely worth the long dinghy ride. After drying off and eating lunch, Steve, Bailey and Breckelle took the dinghy down to Pipe Cay and walked on the sandbars and found shells and sanddollars (Tori and Jen stayed back for a rest). At 4pm, we did a video call/toast to celebrate Kristi and shared some nice memories of Kristi and Matt. After a nice dinner, we decided to go back ashore and we did a bonfire and roasted s’mores. It was a long, exhausting, awesome, full day!
Tuesday 3/26 - Warderick Wells Anchorage
On Tuesday morning, we were planning to head north and the next few days would be in the Exuma Land and Sea Park with lots of opportunities to dinghy places, but we were low on dinghy gas, so we sailed back south to Sampson Cay and anchored there for a bit while Abbie and Steve took the dinghy down to Staniel Cay to get dinghy gas. Because everything on a boat is always an adventure, the gas pump was of course not working well and after filling up the tank on the dinghy, it stopped working before we could fill up our extra tank. Steve was able to go to the main gas tank and siphon gas so we got the backup tank filled and when they got back we headed north to Warderick Wells. Warderick Wells is famous for great hiking trails, snorkeling, and some cool moorings. It’s hard to get on one of the mooring balls, so we just anchored there and took the dinghy to shore to visit the park office and we did a nice, longer hike up Boo Boo hill and around the island. Our fearless hike leader Tori did a great job of navigating and it felt great to stretch our legs.
Wednesday 3/27 - Shroud Cay Anchorage
On Wednesday morning, Abbie and Bailey took over the boat and we sailed north to Shroud Cay (also in the Exuma Land and Sea Park) where we anchored just outside the mooring field. It was a beautiful anchorage, and that afternoon, we explored Sanctuary Creek/the lazy river (pulling girls on paddleboards). We saw 30+ turtles one-way on our excursion, and it was obvious why so many people told us that Shroud is their favorite spot in the Exumas
Thursday 3/28 - Norman’s Cay Anchorage
We wanted to head back over to the lazy river to see the “Washing Machine.” As the tide empties from the shallower Exuma Bank to the Exuma Sound, it concentrates as it exits Shroud Cay and creates a river rapid. The “Washing Machine” was ok, but what was even better was the beach there. Driftwood Beach was gorgeous and one of my favorite spots so far. After our morning excursion (saw more turtles and sharks), we sailed north in the afternoon to Norman’s Cay Anchorage for some weather that was coming in. Norman’s Cay is just north of the Exuma Land and Sea Park and is a private island with a nice protected anchorage that is famous for a sunken plane where you can snorkel. Jen/Steve snorkeled the plane that evening, which was super cool, and explored the gorgeous marina on the dinghy.
Friday 3/29 - Long Cay Anchorage
We spent the morning in Norman’s Cay, and the girls snorkeled the plane before getting cleaned up for lunch. We had a reservation for lunch at MacDuff’s, so we dinghied over to the marina and walked over to MacDuff’s (about a 15-minute walk). Along the way, a local resident picked us up and drove us in her golf cart. The island was super pretty, and lunch was awesome. It was fun to get to go ashore and see the development. Once we were back on the boat, we pulled up anchor and headed north towards Highbourne Cay. We decided to stop a little south of Highbourne and anchored near Long Cay. There was some amazing snorkeling, and we really enjoyed our night there. It’s yet another place where we could spend a few days if we had more time. Interestingly, this was the first spot where the charts were totally off for us this whole season. We’d heard that often the charts are off on depth (or obstructions) in the Bahamas, but in general, we’ve had great luck with our Navionics charts, but we ended up finding a shallow spot and hit some sand as we were finding a good spot to anchor
Saturday 3/30 - Palm Cay Marina (Nassau)
Abbie and Tori needed to be back in Nassau for a Sunday afternoon flight, so on Saturday morning, we got up early and sailed 35+ miles west to Nassau. It was an amazing sailing day and we cruised most of the way on sail power only at 7+ knots. It was one of those great days with nice smooth seas and just pretty awesome conditions. We arrived at Palm Cay around lunchtime and the crew did a great job getting us on the fuel dock and on to our dock for the night. The girls were able to hang out at the Pool/Beach Club and had their first real “resort” experience of the trip while Steve and Jen took a Marina courtesy car over to Solomons (a “real” grocery store) to get some provisions. We had a really nice last dinner with Abbie and Tori at The Pink Octopus at Palm Cay Marina and our last game night with all six of us.
Sunday 3/31 - Egg Island Anchorage
In the morning, Steve took advantage of us being on a dock to do a few projects (he worked on some issues with our steering and replaced the shackle on the anchor), and then we said our goodbyes to Abbie and Tori, who were going to wait by the pool for the 11:30AM taxi to the airport. Steve, Bailey, Breckelle, and Jen sailed (well, mostly motored) another 35 miles northeast to Egg Island (near Spanish Wells/Eleuthera). Lots of boaters use Egg Island as a jumping-off point for heading to the Abacos, so it was a bit crowded the night we got there, but we got an awesome spot and spent some time snorkeling a nice reef. We thought it was appropriate to be anchored at Egg Island on Easter 🙂. Probably the best part of the day was that Steve finally got a chance (on the last day of the season) to dive for lobster and he managed to get a nice big lobster with his spear (hawaiian sling). We ended up having fish AND lobster tacos for dinner. Yum!!
Monday 4/1 - Russell Island Anchorage, Spanish Wells
We spent the morning and early afternoon at Egg Island snorkeling and exploring the beach. The big highlight of the morning was that Breckelle got to swim with dolphins!! She and Steve were snorkeling different parts of the reef and were in the dinghy when they came across a family of dolphins. Breckelle promptly jumped in and spent time swimming with them (the baby was most interested in her while the parent seemed to hang back). Super cool!!! After a big morning on Egg Island, we did a 1.5 hr motor sail over to Spanish Wells area and we anchored outside near Russell Island. After getting settled we went in on our dinghy to a restaurant caled Wreckers at Yachthaven Marina for dinner. Really great food.
Tuesday 4/2 - Russell Island Anchorage
On Tuesday morning, we took the dinghy in and tied to the seawall for the day. We rented a golf cart to explore the island and tooled around checking out local shops, the west side beach/sandbars, the gorgeous little houses, and meeting people. We got some yummy pineapple cake from Kathy’s bakery and had lunch at Budda’s restaurant and generally had a really nice last day with Bailey and Breckelle. We decided to brave the water and took the dinghy to the Sandbar restaurant. The ride was a little rough, but raincoats saved the day. After dinner, we headed back and the girls packed up. We played our last game of Bitches (a fun dice game that became the game of choice for the week) and got to bed early.
Wednesday 4/3 - Girls Depart
At 5:20am on Wednesday, Steve drove Bailey and Breckelle back over to Pinders Grocery in Spanish Wells (their last wet/dark dinghy ride), where they started their long journey home. They had to take a water taxi from Spanish Wells to Gene’s Bay on Eleuthera, where a taxi met them to take them to the North Eleuthera Airport for their Pineapple Air flight to Nassau. After waiting 6 hours in Nassau, they were delayed a little further but eventually flew United to Houston and then home to Denver from there. We had such a nice few weeks with them, and we were so glad they were able to join us on the boat
Steve and I will have a week by ourselves to explore the Eleuthera area, and then the Jones family and Grandma Kerry will arrive next week on April 11 for a week.
Photos
If you’re interested in seeing photos from the last few weeks, that album is linked below
Bahamas Week 9 & 10 (+ end of 8) - Girls on the Boat
and we’ve started an album for our week between guests that’s linked below
