Our Bahamas Adventure

March 5 Through March 31 (Click on the images to see and scroll them in full size)

On March 5th, we crossed to the Bahamas. It was a good crossing with a light north wind and 2 foot swells, Glenn reported 81 degrees water temps in the Gulf Stream. The Gulf Stream did not disappoint, when we entered about 30 miles off of Florida our speed over ground dropped from 10 mph to around 6 mph. That night we anchored off of West End and we flew a quarantine flag until we cleared customs the next morning.

The next morning Glenn and I dinghied in to clear customs, filled out all of the required paperwork and paid for our cruising permits. Glenn got charged extra $150 for the 4 inches his boat was over 34 feet. I had my first conch salad from a stand near the customs office. We also were reminded about tides. When we returned after clearing customs, our dinghy was hanging from the dock as the tide went out. After that, we brought the boats into the marina, walked the beach, sat at the pool, ate dinner at Old Bahama Bay restaurant. It was a great marina and we stayed for 2 nights.

March 7 we took Indian Rock Cut to shave 30 miles off of our run. We left at high tide, and never had less than 9 feet depth even though it looked really skinny on the charts. We arrived at Big Sale Cay, a great anchorage, dinghied ashore, walked, and Chris found shells and sponges. That evening, we played cards and dice with Glenn and Carole after dinner.

Due to rough weather, we spent an extra 2 nights at Big Sale. More cards, beach walks and beautiful sunsets.

March 10 we left Great Sale and made the long run to Green Turtle Cay. We stayed at Bluff House Marina which had been totally rebuilt after recent hurricanes. The next day we rented a golf cart to tour the island. We visited a local school art fair, ate at a great restaurant on Black Sound, drove over a rough road to a beautiful beach on North End and saw a famous cross. We also met a really friendly golden retriever on the trip back that decided he would like to move into our golf cart.

March 12 I did some needed maintenance to our waste system so that we could empty our tank when we were offshore since pump out facilities are pretty much nonexistent in the Bahamas. I replaced Duckbill valves on the macerator and replaced our fresh water pump. We also had to pass through the "Rages" at Whale Key which were infamous for huge breaking waves that could damage boats, but all we found was 6-7 foot swells but no breaking waves.

March 13 we walked to Maxwell's Grocery to get groceries, hung out at pool, docktails for me. Went to Colors for dinner afterward, and had an awesome conch salad at Fatties, who showed us how to open and clean conch.

March 14 was our last day at Marsh Harbor, I had to have the tropical conch salad from my new friend, Fatty before we left and the awesome showers at the marina were the best of the trip. I checked weather with Glenn, and we are a go for tomorrow.

March 16 we made a 57 mile birthday run to Spanish Wells. We had 8 foot plus following waves, and a very tight entrance to the harbor. I got really shallow, and as usual, Glenn had my 6 and warned me to turn around. We came in at high tide, ate birthday dinner at Wreckers, had birthday tarts and played dominoes at Glenn and Carol's. It was a great birthday!

The next few days were spent walking the huge sand bar across from our marina. Glenn and I also planned the rest of our Bahamas trip.

March 19, we headed to Allan's Cay, passing lots of coral heads, Glenn lead the way through them. We stopped at Iguana Beach and fed the iguanas, did you know that they eat chicken? There were tons of them out and they were HUNGRY. Doing my good deed for the day, I towed another dinghy that had engine failure back to their power cat . I also had to cut rope off of Glenn's prop shaft after his dinghy line got wrapped up. We rafted that night and got a rude awakening the next morning when the swells started smashing our boats together around 5am. No damage and no one got hurt, so lesson learned.

Our next stop was at Staniel Cay and Pig Beach was Christine's favorite of the trip. We fed and played with the swimming pigs. Glenn developed a slow air leak in his dinghy that I helped him patch later in the day.

March 22 Glenn and I dinghied in to snorkel Thunderball Grotto. Pretty cool, we walked to the top and were able to look down into the grotto. We obviously had to watch the 1965 Bond movie Thunderball, that night with Glenn and Carol which was partly filmed the in the grotto.

March 23 we left for Highbourne Cay around 8 am and arrived at 1:30 PM. We dinghied in to walk the beach, and saw lots of Cairns at the north end of beach. We had dinner at Xumas restaurant at the marina.

The next day we left at 7:30 am arrived at West Bay 2:30 Clifton Bay anchorage on New Providence, ate on boat near Nassau. March 25 we crossed to Andros Island and took our dinghy out to see several shipwrecks from previous hurricanes, and unfortunately ran into some really mean horseflies that BIT!

March 26 we headed over to Alice town on Bimini Island. We walked to Bimini Seafood Company and had dinner. We walked to the beach, and spent our last Bahamas day visiting the Dolphin house, which was amazing. We were led through a tour by the builder that has been working on it for over 30 years. After that we walked the beach, and ate at 3 sisters food truck, and Christine found lots more shells.

March 28 we crossed the gulf stream for the final time, but this time we had the current at our back, which increased our speed by almost 4 miles per hour! The crossing from Bimini to Florida was about as good as it could have been. Fueled up at Pickle Rick's Barge and got the best price on diesel so far on the trip. That night we anchored at the north end of Lake Worth.

The rest of the week we spent at Tarpon Springs Yacht Club relaxing, doing minor boat repairs and resupplying for our trip along the ICW north. We also celebrated Glenn's birthday and met some of their family. Our next leg will take us north towards Norfolk Virginia, where we will leave our boats to head home for month.