1st January 2020

One of the hardest things about cruising the way we do is choosing our own itinerary, its great but sometimes we cant do everything.   On New Years Day Freeport holds its annual festival and street parade, its very famous and is called Junkanoo with its spirit, music, dancing and colourful costumes.  It has its roots from the slaves that were brought to the Bahamas from Africa's West Coast it is actually a competition to see which group can create the best costumes, do the best dancing and make the best music and all the guide books say "if you get the chance to see one, don't miss it". We had to make a decision, do we stay one more night (paying US$100) or miss it and get moving to the next place where we will see the stunning blue water and white sandy beaches we are looking for. 

We decided to move on, leaving the dock at first light we motored out following our incoming track the tide was much lower this morning, it had been scary the first time and we were even more nervous navigating the narrow channel on a lower tide.
We are headed to Little Stirrup Cay at the very northern tip of the Berry Islands,  in search of our own deserted Island.

We upped the sails once we were clear of the entrance channel, we are heading further South towards our first real Bahamas anchorage.  The winds were on our beam and pulled us along for most of the 60 nm trip. But it did ease off and we had to put up big red for spell.

Sailing along using Big Red, our spinnaker used for light winds 

The water is so blue and clear

 We put out the fishing line, and had it trailing behind us most of the way, we caught a fish !!!
it was a  tuna, the same as the last one we caught.  But as we were reeling it in a - shark attacked it!!
The shark was so fast - bang it was there and bit into our catch we tried to reel in our fish with the shark trying to steal it, eventually we won but the poor fish's head was caved in.

A SHARK attacked our catch 

We are getting better at containing the mess when we catch a fish 

There were so many Cruise ships passing us, eventually we realised why, our destination island is the cruise ship owned  Coco Island where the ships anchor for the day and let the guests off to play on the beach, snorkelling, jet skiing even para sailing.  On the way up we could see things up in the sky it turns out they were all activities related to the cruise ships we anchored on the west side in Slaughter harbour, I don't know where the name originated from but pirates did frequent this area.  We have a  clear view of the beach that the cruise ship passengers would use    -  so much for our deserted island.  

What we could see as we approached Coco Island

There were cruise ships everywhere on our passage and then once we reached our anchorage 

The next day we arrived at White Cay only a short 16 nm sail away, we dropped the dingy and motored over to the beach it was sooo beautiful, There is a Blue Hole only a short walk off the beach so off we went to check it out, its a huge inland hole that is very popular with people jumping off the cliff down into the water, Craig did it but I declined, we actually forgot to take our cameras so no photos but we did meet up with Kyra and Jack a young Canadian couple travelling on Yellowbird, we ended up back on the beach chatting to them for a while, another family who were at the blue hole at the same time as us, handed out some beers and we finally felt like we had arrived.

The family are from California they have a house on one of the Cays and they charter a private plane to fly into the Bahamas and so they can bring their own supplies in, they were like have a beer, we have plenty, we understand how hard it must be for you on your yachts.

Finally !

Only a short dingy ride to the beach 

"Yellowbird"

That night we experienced the very worst night aboard Adriana EVER !!!  We knew the winds were forecast to increase and sit at a sustained 20-25 knots with gusts over 30 but it was the fetch that got us, at one stage we were nearly thrown out of bed Craig had to lie with both arms outstretched to keep himself for being thrown around.  I spent the night wrapped in a blanket in the cockpit on anchor watch.  The movement was like nothing we had experienced before we were being rocked from side to side in short sharp bursts, things were flying off shelves it was even worse than being in heavy winds out at sea.  
Thank goodness our anchor held secure and the next day after taking the dingy around the corner a bit and chatting to Jack and Kyra we decided to move, we had to do something so that we were more comfortable than the night before.  Yes we made the right choice and our new spot was much more relaxing, the beach was gorgeous and we had a nice walk and swim meeting up with Kyra and Jack again (Yellowbird the cutest little yellow 28ft yacht, towing a yellow dingy) for a chat on the beach.

Up early the next morning we are headed to Nassau the capital city, we have heard lots of bad things about Nassau and we had not planned to visit but now we will be going right past and it is the capital city so there must be things to see.  The seas were a bit lumpy after the previous few days high winds so it was a bit of a bumpy sail but we managed to sail all the way.

Nassau the cruise ship capital of the world 

So many wrecks in the harbour 

Paradise Island playground of the rich 

We anchored between the City Downtown and Paradise Island just behind the Cruise ship dock !!

There was a bit of a blow winds gusting to 30knts the first night, we had read that the holding was not the best in Nassau Harbour, so put out tons of chain plus we had our anchor alarm on.  Sure enough around 1am we heard a commotion outside, the 2 boats anchored next to us were both dragging their anchors, Yellowbird was one of them, they  lifted their anchor and left, we found out later that the other boat had anchored too close to them and once things went pear shaped they decided to just head out of the harbour and

go under the 2 bridges and anchor on the other side away from everyone.  Celia the other boat re set their anchor and went back downstairs,  I sat in the cockpit with the anchor alarm and the  charplotter on, taking my bearings from land lights and keeping a watch on our position until daybreak. 

Our first day in Nassau we decided to complete some maintenance - there was SALT water under the engine - and our generator was overheating.

Adriana's generator with the engine behind 

It turns out the seal on the propeller shaft had deteriorated, not an issue until we are motoring then salt water is leaking in.  Consulting google Craig realised that the system has a spare seal already installed - which was a relief we were looking at having to be hauled out of the water to fix it... so with much cursing Craig managed to remove the old seal and put into place the replacement, nothing is ever as simple as it looks on you tube.  It was a very stressful 15 minutes when he was having problems repositioning the seal and salt water was flooding in through the gap !!

Our generator needed a new impellor and gasket seal we were prepared and had spares onboard these two jobs took all day, we have to remove the stairs to work on the engine, I don't think I went upstairs until about 4pm !!

Monday 6th January 2019

We felt we could not miss out on seeing another capital city so we dropped the dingy, and attached the motor.

On our way to the dingy dock (at a marina where we had to pay $6) we stopped in to see Alexi (from The Magdalene Islands) his engine had stopped, he had previously had engine trouble in West Palm Beach and had anchored close to us, Craig being quite fatherly had gone over and had a look, one of his previous boats had had the same engine. They had managed to get it working.

Alexi had a friend onboard who had spent Christmas with him they had travelled down the US coast,  he had a flight booked from Nassau, to get back home, he had flown out the previous day and Alexi was back on his own with an engine that wasn't taking in water to the cooling system.

Craig went through a few things with him and we left him to sort it out

Alexi did get his engine working and made it to Georgetown before us

Walking through the streets of Nassau there are very few pavements and what's there is all broken and uneven, so many closed businesses and empty shops, you can see hurricane damage everywhere.  As we got closer to downtown there were more shops all geared towards the cruise ship passengers.  Pandora, Jewellery, perfume, souvenirs, tiki bars and restaurants.

Taken in our first 10 minutes in Nassau, we cant believe we are here

Lots of empty abandoned shops

The pavements disappeared and we were walking along the side of the road for most of the day 

Up a side street we stumbled across a food outlet that was full of locals sticking our head in we found the best roast chicken served with corn, potato salad and the traditional rice and peas (chick peas).

Bahamian version of KFC

The chicken was really delicious

We walked up towards one of the old forts (there are 3) but there were no pavements so it felt a bit disconcerting, we were passing all the government buildings Police Headquarters, consulate buildings etc, walking uphill we found ourselves walking through the suburban streets. It all seems poor and rundown, we did feel slightly uncomfortable. Turning a corner we came across the 66 steps built by slaves in 1793 as an escape route from the fort.

Stone steps leading to the old fort carved out of the stone in 1793

It was lovely and cool at the bottom, photos make it look prettier than it actually was 

Once we had descended the steps we realised the fort was back up top so we never actually made it to see any of the Nassau forts.  We kept walking back towards downtown and we came across the Historical Society Museum, we spent about an hour inside with the president of the society giving us the full guided history of The Islands interesting past, I  think we were very lucky to have her attention for so long.

After that we were done, we walked back to Adriana passing a restaurant supply shop we stopped and picked up the juices needed to make rum cocktails and a coconut, condensed milk and gin drink that the islands are famous for.

We could have picked up so much more, they even had items that we could not find in West Palm Beach, such as shitake mushrooms, spring roll wrappers and yeast but as usual we can only buy what we can carry.

After a relaxing morning pottering around, I was reading the Nassau News online, and Nassau had just had their 3rd shooting fatality since the new year, that explained the screaming police and ambulance vehicles that flew past us yesterday.  It turns out the shooting was in a street that we had walked up, on our way to the stairs/fort it was then we decided to up anchor and move on we had seen enough and even though there was food we had wanted to stock up on we were ready to go.

Around 11am we lifted the anchor and sailed under the bridges on our way to Highbourne Cay, we passed Alexi who had fixed his engine problem and was on his way to Euthera where he planed to do some windsurfing.

There is another weather front heading our way and we are headed for Highbourne Cay in the Exhumas to find a sheltered spot to hide from this incessant wind. 

31st December 2019                                  

It always amazes me how we can lift the anchor so easily even after it has been embedded in the sand for weeks, our stay in West Palm Beach ended up being for 18 nights.

To lift the anchor we did our usual process, myself on the helm and Craig using the electric winch to wind it up, all the while giving me hand signals so I can steer the boat in the right direction so that we are positioned above the anchor and it lifts straight up and in.

Our patience paid off, the course we set to Lucaya ran 70 nm in a straight line, allowing the winds to push us southwards and if we had any pull from the Gulf Stream pulling us back Northwards we could reset our course once we were across the Gulf and the winds were behind us.

After and early dinner while we were still anchored in the shelter of West Palm Beach we headed back out through the entrance, passing all the families playing on the beach and the fishermen fishing of the harbour rock walls, there are surfable waves a little bit past the entrance, we could see the surfers floating on the water waiting for their next wave.  It was a bit of a feat motoring out over the incoming swell, dealing with the outgoing tide clashing with the incoming waves, it was fairly turbulent with salt water crashing over our bow.    

Before we left we had gone through the boat and tidied everything either into cupboards or made sure the things on the shelves were wedged in or behind the lip of the shelf, that helps hold everything in place.  We have to ensure all the windows and hatches are closed and locked and all the cupboards and drawers have the button locks engaged.  its quite a process.

Our friends on Doriana Peter and Joyce were unable to join us on the crossing as they have encountered engine trouble and instead of crossing to the Bahamas had to be towed in to a marina.

We seemed to arrive straight into the gulf stream apparently the gulf stream is constantly changing either closer or further from shore and tonight we seemed to hit it almost straight away, you can tell you are in the Gulf Stream as the water changes to the most incredible deep blue and the water temperature rises, tonight it is sitting on 28c !!

A huge cruise ship exited just behind us, we were directly in its path, these cruise ships can average 25 knots we do about 8 but this one changed his course and veered off to the left and around us  the ship was with us the whole trip, and actually went really slow.  I guess their schedule allows them all night to reach their destination and its not that far.  At one stage looking on AIS we were going faster than them.

Apart from the cruise ship we also had some other boats for company and as soon as the lights faded from Miami we could start to see the navigation lights on Grand Bahama Island, we did not feel alone on this passage not like some of the others we have done.

The white boat us Adriana, this is fairly zoomed in the other boats were not as close as it looks here 

A couple of the boats were talking to each other so we were eavesdropping on their conversations to keep us entertained on our passage.

We flew across with absolutely no issues, we averaged about 7.5knots with the main sail and the foresail up . Adriana heels over as monohull yachts are meant to do and we have to brace ourselves with our legs, you are almost standing leaning back on the seat it sounds more uncomfortable than it is but it does make going below a bit of an adventure, we took it in turns to have 2 hour sleeps but the boat traffic was really busy and I know I had much more sleep than Craig. 

We wear our life jackets and strap ourselves on to the boat using stretchy life  lines.  The chart plotter and radar screen were pretty hectic with traffic.  We did have to put on our warm fleecy jumpers during the night but Craig wore shorts all night, we marvelled at how warm it was even out at sea in the middle of the night.

We had to bypass the top of Grand Bahama Island as it is still recovering from Hurricane Dorian, Lucyca is way south of the northern most tip of the Grand Bahamas.  Adriana was going so well that we had to pull in the foresail and reef in the main to slow her down so that we didn't arrive before the sun came up.

As the cloudy pink skies brightened to daylight we could see the channel markers leading us in to Lucyca entrance.

Sunrise in a new country

The clouds were so dark and full of rain

We were more than a little bit excited to be landing in another country, Craig has dreamed of this for at least 10 years, going to sleep at night visualising this very moment.

We made it !!

  

Its a funny narrow entrance and as the water is sooooo clear you can see the bottom which is very disconcerting as it makes it look too shallow, there were rocks and some debris underneath us that we could clearly see.  A right turn and there in front of us was Lucyca Marina with someone there to catch the lines and help us tie up.

Some photos of the passage into Lucaya

We had done plenty of research and spoken to lots of people who had recommended Lucaya and it certainly was a very easy place to check in.
We topped up with diesel $80, not a bad price to get to the Bahamas on.

The customs office is right there on the dock.  Craig went ashore but law states that other crew and passengers must wait onboard.   Craig was allowed to come back onboard to complete the paperwork.

We have a 3 month visa for The Bahamas, check in was really easy 

Before we are checked in we have to fly the yellow quarantine flag, its always exciting checking in to a new country

The customs lady was great and the whole process was very easy.  I tided up and literally sat and marvelled at the clear water with the tropical fish swimming around the dock.  

We had planned to anchor around the Marina area but it all looked too closed in and the Marina man (I never did get his name) explained that there is no longer anchoring around here plus its New Years Eve and he will take us into town for the music and the street party if we stay at the Marina.  OK,he talked us into it, but really we were hustled,  we decided to take a berth just for the night, he was very nice and only charged us for 42 foot instead of our 50 feet but it still worked out to be US$100 after adding taxes.

Once we had tidied up and had showers we decided to walk the couple of km into town to stretch our legs and have a look around.  There is evidence everywhere of the hurricane damage whether it was from Dorian or one of the many other hurricanes that hit The Bahamas most years.  There are broken empty buildings, lots with their roofs ripped right off or just the corners showing damage, the roads were uneven and no real footpaths, still with palm trees and lucuous undergrowth it was a mixture of run down and pretty.
Again we picked the worst place for lunch we always seem to go to the most touristy unedible rip off places on our first day !!  But we did try Conch and as the waitress said it does taste like Calimari, we are looking forward to finding and cooking our own.

Conch (pronounced Konk) produce and live in these beautiful shells, so hopefully I can find one and clean it up enough to keep as a souvenir.

We returned to Adriana and had a restful afternoon, I walked over to a little wooden tug boat called "Rosie" that had crossed at the same time as us and was also in the Marina, to see what (Steve and Kate) were doing for the night, they were planning to go into town

too.  

Our water taxi 

Our dockmaster picked us all up at 8pm and ferried us in the marina boat around the corner to the town square, there was a huge Christmas trees, lots of tables and chairs set up in front of the stage with bars and restaurants all around the outside.

The band was great we sat and enjoyed the festive atmosphere, Kate and Steve went off to have something to eat and we sat and enjoyed our BYO beer and champagne.  Once Kate and Steve had eaten they were ready to go home, it was actually getting a little chilly so we headed back too.

Lucaya Town Square

New Years Eve and we were in bed by 10pm, Craig heard the midnight fireworks they were right above us but didnt get out of bed.  Me I didnt hear a thing, remember we were catching up on the previous nights broken sleep from being on passage on passsage.

We are here in The Bahamas and cant wait to explore this amazing country.