The Bahamas

We spent the last few days in Palm Beach getting ready to leave and buying the last bits and pieces.  If we were here for another month we would probably still be buying additional bits and pieces at the last minute - there is always something else.  Nic is concentrating on the victuals and Scott on the boat equipment.  In addition we had to visit the customs and immigration people to “clear out”.  The process was very straightforward and with our cruising permit did not require us to attend the customs office - a fact we found out only after visiting the customs office.

We also had a visit from Nina and Walt our friends from Bradenton who we visited last week.  Nina and Walt stayed on the boat for Saturday night and we all had an enjoyable time looking around the marina and Palm Beach and generally relaxing.  Palm Beach certainly is full of contrast - we visited Worth Avenue for a look around.  This is the Champs Elysee of Palm Beach where all the ritzy shops are.  It was early evening by the time we got there so luckily a lot of the shops were closed.  It was very clean and orderly and all the shops looked extremely expensive but not much in the way of soul about the place.  Not that far away are the poorer areas which are pretty run down.  Some areas we were told not to go walk around in or to be very careful if we did.  I am sure there is more to Palm Beach but we had limited time to see any more.  It was great to catch up with Nina and Walt before we left.

Worth Avenue

One of our neighbours in the marina

Walt and Calley on Worth Avenue

On Tuesday morning first light we bade farewell to our alongside bar/cafe and maneuvered out of the marina basin.  It was pretty tricky as we were hemmed in by boats behind us moored mediterranean style i.e. stern into the quay, boats alongside us to Starboard and the quayside to port.  We used the spring lines to “spring” the stern out into the middle of the basin and then turned around and motored clear.  The forecast was good for the gulf stream crossing with a south easterly wind.  We had a course plotted which was just south of east allowing for the influence of the gulf stream current.  The transit was 54NM and was anticipated to take approximately 8 hrs.  It started off pretty windless so we motored for the first couple of hours until the wind started up.  When the wind came it came in with immediate effect - the wind speed went from around 7 or 8 kts to 15 to 17kts in a few minutes. 

Last look at the Mega Yacht Marina

The Gulf Stream western wall starts about 4 miles off the Florida coast at Palm Beach.  The warm waters contain lots of predatory fish and is why there are so many sport fishing boats in Florida and the Bahamas.  We decided that this would be a great place to start our real ocean fishing.  Once into the Gulf Stream we rigged up two rods - one with an expensive lure and one with a Ballyhoo (a frozen fish embedded with hooks).  Within an hour we had a strike on the Ballyhoo.  As we were reeling it in it became entangled with the second line.  So, bit of a shimozzle, but we eventually landed a nice looking Mahi Mahi.  We stunned the fish using rum poured down its gills - apparently thats the thing to do.  It worked a treat and made killing the thing a lot easier.  Turned out the reason the other line got tangled was because a fish had already taken the expensive lure off the line and so it had drifted over the other one.  Sam and Scott gutted and filleted the fish immediately but at this point the wind started and on deck was chaos with fish bits, and fishing gear everywhere, two fishing rods and lines in a hopeless tangle and Scott ranting away trying to get control of the boat.  To cut a long story short we lost our prized fillets over the side when Scott went to drain blood off the fish plate but let the meat slide off as well.  So our first day’s fishing resulted in no fish for dinner and the loss of one very expensive fishing lure but we did learn a thing or two for our next outing.

Sam and the first of many

We sailed for the rest of the day in lumpy seas and made landfall off the west end of Grand Bahama island around 1600.  The island is very low lying with little in the way of vegetation showing and holiday houses dotted on the coastline.  The waters around the Bahamas are notoriously shallow and a vessel with our draft has to be extremely careful.  We were too deep to moor at the marina and so had to find a anchorage “outside”.  The protected northern coast was too shallow for us so we were left with no alternative but too anchor off the exposed western side in an area the guide books described as dubious holding ground.  We went as far south as possible to get in the lee of a old breakwater and let the anchor go in about 6m of water.  The water here is so clear you can see the anchor going down and lying on the bottom.  After a bit of dragging we finally got what we figured was a secure hold.  Finally we were in the Bahamas albeit in a slightly rolly, windy and exposed anchorage with questionable holding.  Not exactly what we had been picturing.

Next issue was customs and immigration to “clear in”.  First we had to run the yellow “Q” (quarantine) flag up the starboard flag halyard.  This shows to all and sundry that we are a newly entered vessel into the country.  Next  Nic and Sam took the dingy into the local marina where the customs officials were located.  Again the process was relatively straightforward and required the filling in of a few forms, payment of $320 for a cruising permit and we were legal.  Next when Sam and Nic returned we took down the yellow “Q” flag and hoisted the Bahamian flag in its place.  We have to fly this flag as a courtesy flag while we are cruising Bahamian waters.  We still fly our red ensign off the stern.

The next morning the weather was still a bit rough - 20kts and a swell rolling into the anchorage but the anchor was holding well.  We thought we must have  hit the ideal spot to anchor.  With the anchor holding so well we decided to stay put and wait until early the next morning to move to a less exposed location approximately 20NM away.  The next problem encountered was when we went to start the genset and it would not start.  Again immediately thought the worst.  Turned out to be a stripped impellar on the raw water pump.  Scott was feeling seasick with the anchorage and havng to fix the pump did not help but it had to be done.  A couple of hrs later the genset was purring away.  Around mid morning a couple of locals in a speedboat came out and shouted to us that our anchor was hooked underneath the main power cable from Florida to the island.  No wonder we had held so well.  Luckily with the locals help we were able to remove it from the cable and reset it.  Scott went into the water to check the setting.  The clarity underwater is just amazing.  Its just like a clear day on land.  You can see all along the anchor chain to the anchor. However it was not a day for swimming due to the swell and so we hunkered down in the boat and did some schoolwork waiting for the weather to abate.

Scott and Sam off to inspect the anchor

Around three in the morning (Thursday) Nic and Scott got up and we moved out off the West End anchorage headed for Port Lucaya.  It was approximately 4 hrs steaming so we arrived just as the sun was rising.  More importantly the tide was at its highest.  The wind and seas had died down confirming that this had been the right move.  Port Lucaya is a major destination on Grand Bahama alongside Freeport.  There are a number of marinas in the area however this was the only one with the necessary depth for Dulcinea.  We lined up the Bells channel marks and headed for the entrance to the marina which consisted of a cut through the beach about 40m wide.  The water is shallow and we could only make this at high tide.  Inside the entrance there are a number of different connected lagoons.  We looked around, decided against anchoring and then obtained a slot in the Port Lucaya Marina.  After a bit more tricky maneuvering - had to reverse in - we were safe alongside.  Not an idyllic secluded anchorage as we were looking for but a great location nevertheless and the weather was definitely Caribbean when we pulled in - beautiful sunshine and a slight breeze.  The marina itself is quite compact and is surrounded by low key stores, bars and restaurants.  We need to have a look around but apparently there are a number of stores and a market place close by.  After squaring away the boat we all felt like we had finally arrived in the Bahamas proper.

The first thing Sam and Calley wanted to do was to try the new standup paddleboard and kayak.  They have been hanging out to use these since Jacksonville.  We put the standup paddleboard in the water and both kids had a try.  As soon as we started clouds rolled in and it started raining but they couldn’t care less.  They had great fun playing in the water at last.  In the afternoon we did some more schoolwork - always schoolwork. 

Sam on the stand up paddle board

And to finish a great day we have just bought some lobsters off a guy on the jetty who came around the boat.  So we are now off to prepare dinner.