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This was our second trip to the Bahamas. Jerry and I had both remarried, but needed some "guy" alone time to rest and relax. Unfortunately, Steve could not make this trip.
Jerry owned ¼ of the "Luna Sea", a 33’ Morgan Out Islander, and as with other trips, we were one for four crews that would enjoy the Luna Sea in the Bahamas for the next two months. Jerry and I were on the first leg, which meant that we needed to take the Luna Sea from Florida to the Bahamas. We would have two weeks to enjoy paradise and then I would leave and his wife would join him for another week.
I flew into Fort Lauderdale Airport and Jerry picked me up so we could buy our provisions for the trip. Again, the Luna Sea was at a friends house on a canal, so we could pack up our provisions and be ready to leave early the next morning. We let Jerry's wife take their car back home and we slept on the boat so we could get an early start. Our first experience in crossing took us 14 hours so we knew we had to leave early.
Two nice items had been added since our last trip. They had installed a GPS and an autopilot which were hooked together. Now when we left, instead of having to manually plot our course, we just entered in the Way Point for West End, Grand Bahama and let the autopilot do the steering.
We woke up at 3:00 AM, readied the boat and left Hillsboro Inlet by 4:00 AM. The winds were from the east so again we had to motor. After leaving the inlet, we turned on the GPS, turned on the autopilot and "kicked back" for a long ride. In using the GPS, it would adjust for "cross track" variations. It amazed me that after we hit the Gulf Stream, the GPS/Autopilot turned to a drastic SSE course. I thought we would end up in Cuba (not really). The cross track variations adjusted for the force of the Gulf Stream so it adjusted for the northern current of the Gulf Stream. Instead of 14 hours to cross (our previous trip) it only took 8 hours. So much for our navigational skills.
Since we arrived at West End at mid afternoon, we decided not to clear customs here and proceeded to Green Turtle Cay. Of course, we could not make it to Green Turtle Cay with the daylight left, so we anchored at Mangrove Cay, Bahama. We went for a swim, had a light dinner (no roast this time) and hit the hay.
The next morning, the weather was a bit overcast and Jerry was not feeling well, so we took our time leaving Mangrove Cay and only made it to Fox Town, Grand Bahama. We anchored out from the town dock, but could not go ashore since there was not a customs clearing point here and we had not cleared customs. We had a restless night because of numerous thunderstorms that came through the anchorage.
The next morning the weather was not improving and Jerry was not feeling well (apparently he had the flu) so we stayed anchored at Fox Town for another day. The following morning, the weather was a little better, but not perfect, but we were tired of sitting so we headed to Green Turtle Cay, Bahama. We arrived around noon and went into Black Sound to tie up at a marina to clear customs. Fortunately for us there was a fuel barge delivering gas to the marina, so we could not tie up. The fuel barge was blocking a sign that explained that there were high penalties for docking before clearing customs (which could include losing your boat). We left Black Sound and anchored off of the town docks. After straightening up the boat, we took the dingy ashore to clear customs. After walking to the customs office, we found out that the Customs official was not there and again, we messed up by not tieing up to the town dock to clear customs. Being illegal, we quickly returned to the boat and motored to the town dock to properly clear customs. After finally clearing customs properly, we had to go back out and anchor. We took the dingy back into town to walk around for a while and then returned to the boat for dinner and a few night caps.
The next morning we awoke to a little excitement. Apparently, during the night, a chartered boat from Marsh Harbour arrived at Green Turtle Cay and tried to enter Black Sound. Unfortunately, there is a small island that appears at the entrance of Black Sound at low tide. Since the charter group was not familiar with the area, they tried to enter Black Sound at night and quickly ran aground. When we woke up, the island was exposed and the charter boat was laying on its side. Unfortunately, they had not closed the portholes and it was quickly filling up with water. This is a reason I would be very leary of buying a used charter boat. You never know what has happened to it. When the tide came in, they were able to float her off of the island. After the excitement, we took the dingy to the dingy dock and walked around town. Of course, we had to stop at "Miss Emily's Blue Bee Bar" for a bit of refreshment. Since the weather was right, when we returned to the boat, we decided to leave Green Turtle Cay for Marsh Harbour, Bahama. To get to Marsh Harbour from Green Turtle, you have to go around Whale Cay out into the ocean. This should only be done when the weather is right because Whale Cay Channel can get nasty in the wrong weather. We made it around with no problem and arrived at the Conch Inn Marina in the early afternoon. We immediately got some much needed showers and planned on spending a few days here. It amazes me what boats you see that have crossed the Gulf Stream. Next to our slip was a 22' Mako (like my father had) which had a cover over the front where the couple could sleep. This was really roughing it. That evening we went to the Conk Inn bar and met a factory representative from Catalina Yachts. He had flown over to fix a Catalina 38 (number 1) which had knocked the keel lose. Apparently, the owners had taken number "1" and sailed to the Bahamas on their way to France. When entering Marsh Harbour, they ran out of desiel fuel. They tried to syphon fuel from a bucket but ran out of fuel before they reached the dock. Apparently when they ran out of fuel, they were going pretty fast and rammed the fuel dock, dislodging their keel. The Catalina representative was here to repair the keel. Unfortunately, he needed to take the boat to Green Turtle Cay to be hauled out. His only navigation aid was a photo copy of the Whale Cay Passage from the "Yachsman's Guide to the Bahamas". Since we had nothing planned for the next day and had some familiarity with the passage, we offered to go with him to help him get the boat to Green Turtle Cay. We agreed to meet first thing in the morning.
The next day we woke up and met the Catalina representative. It was a nice day to motor to Green Turtle Cay (we did not want to stress the rigging by sailing) and were ready to leave. The representative wanted to provide some liquid refreshment, i.e., beer, but it was Sunday and the Liquor store was not open. He paid a premium price for a six pack from the Conk Inn Bar. We had a nice trip around the Whale Cay Passage with no problems. When we arrived at Green Turtle Cay, we anchored out from the town docks. We then had to inflate their two man raft (which had never been used) and mount the 2 1/2 hp motor. It was a wet ride with three of us in the dingy.
After tieing up to the dingy dock, we walked around town again. Unfortunately, it was still Sunday so not much was opened. We did find a food stand and the Catalina representative bought us fish sandwiches and a beer (my favorite). Since he had to stay for the haul out, Jerry and I went to find out when the next "water taxi" was leaving for Marsh Harbour. As it turned out, there was no taxi to Marsh Harbour, only to Treasure Cay.
Our Catalina representative friend gave us $100 for our help. We tried to decline but he insisted. As it turned out, we were glad we took it. We got a "water taxi" to Treasure cay for $16.00. We then had to pay $80.00 for a taxi back to Marsh Harbour. Therefore, we were left with $4 for our efforts, but it did not matter, because we just wanted to help.
The next day, we left Marsh Harbour for Hope Town, Bahama. Being here before, we knew how tricky the entance is and were very careful getting to the anchorage. While we were there, a charter boat came in with a Blue Marlin. We went over to the dock and were rewarded with four Marlin steaks. Although not as good as "Mahi Mahi", we enjoyed them.
The next day we left Hope Town for Little Harbour. Little Harbour was the home of Randolph Johnston, the sculptor. We tried to enter the channel, but hit bottom too many times. We therefore left and anchored about a mile away. Unfortunately, because of the weather, we did not want to try to get to Little Harbour with our dingy so we just hung out near the beach. While we were there, a 60 foot yacht anchored near us and they took thier dingy (a 20 foot powerboat with 3-150 hp motors on it, into Little Harbour. Unfortunately, the Luna Sea can not drag such a large dingy.
The next morning, we left Little Harbour for Spanish Wells. The channel leaving Little Harbour is a bit tricky and you have to be careful to avoid the shoals. Once out of the cut and in the Northeast Providence Channel, we put up the sails in a strong North wind and set the autopilot on a beam reach to get to Little Egg Island. We were moving at a good clip and healing about 30 degrees in large swells. The large swells would swing the stern of the boat around and the autopilot would put us back on course. After about 1/3 of the way across, the autopilot got tired and gave up, so we had to hand sail the rest of the way. (Later we found out that the gain was set to high and after adjusting it, the autopilot worked fine.)
When we got near Little Egg Island, we decided to go around the island to the south, so we had to be careful of the stranded freighter sunk just south of Little Egg Island. After going around the freighter, we headed northeast to Spanish Wells. We anchored out from Charles Island and took the dingy into Spanish Wells. Since this was our first visit, we walked around town to look around. We had a beer at a local bar on the waterfront and then headed back to the Luna Sea. Since our trip was ending, we had dinner and turned in early.
The next morning we woke up and prepared to leave for Nassau. When we tried to bring up the anchor we had problems. Apparently our anchor was caught under the only rock that was in the area, so we had to dive on it to work it lose. Once the anchor was up, we headed Southwest to Nassau. On the way back, we stopped at Royal Island and anchored for lunch. We dingied around the bay, but did not go ashore. We then pulled up our anchor and headed to Nassau. Since the winds were light, we motored most of the way. Arriving in Nassau, we took a spot at Nassau Yacht Harbour Marina. After cleaning up the boat, we went to the "Poop Deck" lounge at the Marina for a few Pina Coladas. Although not the same as a SOP (Sunset Observance Party) we felt pretty good when we left.
Unfortunately, I had to leave the next day and (fortunately) Jerry's wife was coming in to join him on a week sail. The ride to the airport was thrilling as usual in Nassau and I caught my Delta Flight to Atlanta.
Even though the trip had ended, I can still remember "another day in paradise and good friends."