The Thorny Path to Windward is well behind us and we are in the British Virgin Islands. We did it! We sailed here from the Tampa Bay area, covering 1600 miles. We battled lightning storms, repaired boat issues, gathered paperwork for importing the dogs, withstood our fair share of high seas, and spent several sleepless nights behind the helm on overnight passages. We are no longer the greenhorns who had trouble setting the anchor and who laid awake all night checking every 15 minutes to make sure it was holding. Nor are we the newbie sailors that didn’t realize that 20-25 kt winds on the nose in open water is near suicidal. We are no longer intimidated by docking in tight slips. We are now intimately familiar with our boat’s systems. We now have a good understanding of Kairos’s and, more importantly, our own limits. We have learned a lot over the last 130 days at sea. We’ve learned about our boat, about sailing, about liveaboard life, about ourselves, and about each other.
Category: Beaches
A Short Visit to the US Virgin Islands
We only spent 5 short days in USVI, but they were fabulous. Now that we are in the Virgin Islands, everything is so close. We are no longer tackling 140 mile overnight passages. We aren’t island leaping anymore, we are truly island hopping. We stayed in three mooring fields in USVI: Christmas Cove, Maho Bay, and Leinster Bay.
Adios Puerto Rico
We spent a fabulous four weeks in Puerto Rico filled with street food, lighthouses, sandy beaches, and amazing snorkeling. Puerto Rico really has it all and we are looking forward to returning in a month for hurricane season. After our weekend get-a-way in San Juan, we were ready to leave Salinas behind and sail to Culebra, PR. However, mother nature had a different plan for us. The trade winds were blowing strong, creating the choppiest seas we’ve seen yet. So instead of a 75 mile sail to Culebra, we broke the journey up into three legs, stopping in Puerto Patillas and Palmas Del Mar.
Mayaguana: Our Last Stop in the Bahamas
After topping off our fuel tanks at the Flying Fish Marina, we left Clarence Town around 10:00 am. Even though we replaced our fuel filter system and tightened all of the hose connections, we weren’t convinced that our fuel supply issues were fixed. This would be our first overnight sail and we expected to change filters and bleed fuel lines along the way. Sure we’ve left anchorages at dark before, but this would be the first time we’d watch the sunset while in route. The last thing we wanted to do was repeatedly bleed the engine fuel lines while underway in the dark, but there is only one way to test fuel supply issues—and that’s to run the motor. We planned to bail out into Atwood Harbor in Acklins Island if things became too difficult. All of our safety equipment was set up, we emailed out our float plan, and we had a backup plan if something went wrong. We were prepared for our first all-nighter.
Where There is Yin, There is Also Yang: Conception Island and Clarence Town
Where there is Yin, there is Yang. Where there is good, there is bad. Chinese philosophy believes that these contrary forces are actually complementary and interconnected; that they give rise to each other. This is probably true for most things in life, but it is especially true for sailing. For each wonderful day we get to lounge on a pristine white sandy beach, we also have days of frustrating boat maintenance that make us want to throw in the towel. Our first two legs after Georgetown are a perfect example of the boat life Yin and Yang.
Great Exuma
Being at anchor on a sailboat is pretty amazing. Your boat is always facing into the wind, so there’s a nice cool breeze running through. Bugs like land, so I don’t have to worry about any more noseeum attacks. And the views are usually spectacular. My favorite moment is after we’ve eaten dinner in our cockpit and we are watching the sun set with cocktails in our hands. Life on the hook can be pretty magical. But there are some pretty nice things about staying in a marina: hot showers, laundry access, free internet, unlimited water, no long and wet dinghy rides to shore to walk the pups, and better protection from strong winds. When we pulled into the Emerald Bay Marina, we figured we’d stay a few nights…we had no idea we’d be staying eight!
Staniel Cay and Black Point Settlement
Our first stop after exiting the Exumas Cay Land and Sea Park was Staniel Cay. As we neared the island, it was obvious that Staniel Cay was going to be a very different atmosphere than the solitude we just left behind. Surrounded by all of these mega-mega yachts, we instantly felt a stroke of jealousy. I wish our boat had a 3 story slide into the water, jet skis at our disposal, and cool vintage Italian speed boats to zip around on.
Exumas Cays Land and Sea Park
We left Palm Cay Marina in Nassau on Sunday March 6th and headed to the Exumas Cays. The Exumas are arguably the best cruising in the world and we couldn’t wait to get there. The first places we visited are inside the Exumas Cays Land and Sea Park. These islands are all uninhabited and are protected by the Bahamas National Trust. It’s considered a NO TAKE ZONE, so fishing and lobstering are not permitted. You aren’t even allowed to take shells out of the park. These are absolutely gorgeous islands and the Trust does a great job of protecting and managing them—so we were happy to obey the rules. Not to mention we still had a freezer stocked with mahi mahi to consume.
Crossing the Gulf Stream
Well the good news is…WE ARE IN THE BAHAMAS! The bad news is…wait, there is no bad news! We are in The Bahamas and nothing broke. I’m so used to taking the good with the bad while cruising, that even as we were tightening our dock lines at the marina, I was sure the engine would crap out. Or the dinghy would fly off the davits. Or our bilge pump would break. But none of these things happened. The weather turned out to be just as nice or even milder than predicted. We made great time despite fighting the easterly winds and found ourselves in Bimini in just 9.5 hours. All in all, it was a rather boring day. When it comes to sailing, I’m 100% in favor of boring.