goodbye........bahamas!

We had planned an leisurely route through the Bahamas, taking our time up along the main town of Nassau and heading up through the Great Island, and through Freeport, but after pulling up anchor at Little Halls Pond Cay, we had great wind and a good line to just make our way on to Florida. So we thought......hey..... why not?!

In fact, once we were clear of the shallows of Bahamas by 50-60 miles, we found ourselves in the Gulf Stream and made great time north. The gulf stream can add as as much as 3 knots to your speed, and we found Mehari cruising along at 8-9 knots all night! It certainly wasn't boring night watches! 

So, here are a few photos from our last weeks in the Bahamas, next post will be about the good 'ol USA!

Zoe, playing with a giant sting ray!

Georgetown, Exumas, Bahamas

We're in a 'civilization' called Georgetown, the main town of 900 people on a chain of islands called the Exumas. There are dozens and dozens of islands almost touching each other over a 120 mile stretch. Most of the islands are uninhabitaed, and several are owned by celebrities like David Copperfield, Shakira, and Roger Waters of Pink Floyd. In fact, you can rent David Copperfield's island and five bungalows for only $325,000 per week. Keep that option in mind for your next family vacation!
We've been doing a couple of civilization things in Georgetown like loads of laundry and picking up a few groceries. We often do laundry on the decks with buckets of fresh water if it's readily available, but every couple months, it's nice to take everything into a real laundry-mat and get the clothes "clean-clean". The lifestyle is just way too hard on clothes, drying in the salt air, sitting in bilges, stains, etc All of our clothes are pretty thrashed and all most cruisers who have been at this for a while, have a scraggly look somewhere between island castaways and homeless, which I guess is true! We are!
We also met another cruising family here in Georgetown. They had heard about our family and were waiting to meet us knowing we were coming this way. They are the first cruising family we've met with 6 kids! They are on a catamaran as well, and spend part of the year in the East Coast, make a trip back to their home in Canada, and spend most of their cruising in the Bahamas and the Dominican Republic, where they are able to do mission work as a family. It was really great to meet them and we had a couple of fun nights hanging out playing games, playing and singing some worship songs, and analyzing this boating life! They winter their boat in North Carolina, which is where we are heading in a little over a month, so we'll make sure our paths cross again. Thanks S/V"Ruakh"!!
Our plan now is to keep heading north, through the Exumas, and on to a group of islands called the Berry Islands, before we make the overnight jump to Florida's East coast. We are also trying to meet up with another family on S/V'Imagine' who we sailed off and on with through the Med, and haven't seen since the Canary Islands!
We are all very excited for a mini family reunion in Florida at the end of the month, with Erik's parents coming from Costa Rica, and his brother Aaron, his wife Darla, and their new addition, little Addy, coming to visit. Addy is only 5 months old, we've never met her……...and are all dying to give her a little squeeze!
See you soon!

bahamas!

We're alive and safe after a long 500 mile trip :)
We left Puerto Rico late Sunday night and for the first couple of days, had pretty calm weather, mostly motoring with the sails out just in case. That was just fine with us, especially since we'd heard horror stories about the Mona Passage. We were glad it turned out to be a bunch of hype for nothing. There was a slight swell coming from the north, but overall pretty calm. We spent the first day crossing the passage and then the next day cruising up the coast of Dominican Republic. We were never within 20 miles of the "D.R." but we could just make out the lights of the bigger cities in the dark.
By day three, the wind definitely showed up and picked up to 20-25 knots. Just in time to head north toward the Bahamas. We spent the next 36 hours, through Thursday morning sometime after midnight, making great time. But as usual, when we're making good time, we all end up feeling pretty seasick :( We also had our share of beds wet from waves that made their way inside, and with Maggie, Levi and I taking the night shifts, we were trying to encourage each other to hang in there. The most wind we saw was just over 30 knots. Then the wind started to subside a bit , but it still took almost 12 hours for the seas to calm back down.
By late Thursday afternoon, we weaved our way though the southernmost islands of the outer Bahamas, and made our way to Acklin Islands. We also had a welcome from a pod of dolphins, which was very cool! and found an anchorage in 'Jamaica Bay' with a booming population of 80 people. Not the calmest anchorage, but we were all tired enough for it not to matter. We were all asleep VERY soon after sunset, with damp sheets flapping on the clothes lines.
This is a really remote part of the Bahamas and very few tourists make their way down this far(or anyone for that matter). Usually, the only people are cruisers either coming or going from the Caribbean. This makes for some very stark scenery. It feels like the absolute end-of-the-world. Miles and miles of empty beaches on low sandy islands with nothing but a few scattered bushes and scrubby trees. The water is crystal clear and every shade of turquoise and blue, green, aquamarine.........incredible.
We're still several days from Internet, so we'll try and post some photos of Bahamas in the next few days. Thanks for your prayers! We'll see you soon!