After we made the tough decision to keep Alaya on the mainland this year, we shared the news with our friends on SV Pokey and SV Victoria. They had crossed the Gulf Stream a few days prior and were getting into the swing of sailing in the Bahamas. While they understood our decision, they were bummed for us. Through a series of hilarious group chats, a plan was hatched. If we could get ourselves to the Bahamas by some other means, we could stay on one of their boats.
Honestly, in hindsight, I’m not really sure if they invited us or if we invited ourselves but I don’t plan on checking on the transcripts.
So, we spent an entire morning trying to find the cheapest way to get our butts to the Bahamas.
Was it on a Margaritaville cruise ship to Freeport that we would just treat as a one-way ticket (don’t worry, we called to ask them if that was an ok plan – apparently it was!)? Almost, but then there was this “hidden” $100 per person cruise tax added on in checkout that made it too expensive.
Was it crewing on another person’s boat? No, that didn’t pan out either – totally understandable, that’s a BIG ask for another boat.
Was it flying? Bingo! Turns out, we could book a pretty inexpensive flight from Fort Lauderdale to Freeport. Lucas booked our outbound flight for the very next day. By a computer glitch, he actually booked us eight seats on this plane but we eventually got that sorted out.
We then started packing. Even though we have been traveling for the past eight months, it always feels weird to pack a suitcase. One of the best parts of traveling by boat is that you get to take all your stuff with you. Not so on a plane. We carefully packed what we thought we would need and then started prepping Alaya for our extended absence.
Our general plan was to fly to Freeport and take a taxi to Lucaya. Our friends, Sean and Anna on SV Pokey, were docked at the Grand Bahama Yacht Club in Lucaya. We planned to stay with Sean and Anna for a few days and then figure out the rest of the plan after that. I’ve never traveled with this much uncertainty and it was a blast.
We’ve heard that food in the Bahamas is very expensive. Most sailors, including us before we canned our boat trip to the Bahamas, stock up on as much food as possible before crossing. Since Pokey hadn’t planned for us to visit, I wanted to bring some food with us to contribute to the ship’s stores. I spent a lot of time reading about what you can and cannot import for free into the Bahamas. Unfortunately, I didn’t spend any time researching what I could take through TSA. That meant my precious bulk peanut butter jar and two jars of jelly were confiscated at security. I guess they are considered a liquid? However they seemed to work as red hearings, the Velveeta mac and cheese went through unnoticed.
Peanut butter loss aside, we had a lovely 23-minute passage the next day across the Gulf Stream. The flight was so short that we reached cruising height and then immediately started our dissent.
And just like that we were in the Bahamas!
We walked off the plane onto the tarmac and went through customs and immigration. Our taxi driver, Roderick, met us at the airport. He gave us our first introduction to Bahama life – cars drive on the left hand side of the road however since most of the cars are imported from the US most are left hand drive… Roderick drove us to the yacht club where we reunited with Pokey.
As soon as we arrived at the marina, we could just feel how different cruising in the Bahamas will be compared to the US. The island vibes are real and so lovely. The water is just stunning. We could right down to the bottom through this beautiful blue water.
We spent the next few days exploring Lucaya. In the 1950s and 1960s, private developers dug canals all along the coast creating the community. Many of these developments have been abandoned either from lack of funding or after hurricane damage. The most recent hurricane to hit Grand Bahama Island was Dorian in September of 2019. Dorian ravaged Grand Bahama Island and the damage was still pretty evident four years later. Despite this, Lucaya is a beautiful place and a popular first stop for boaters entering the Bahamas.
One of the highlights for both of us was snorkeling in these canals. I have snorkeled twice in my life and I was pretty freaked out while doing it. Lucas has never snorkeled. This was our first chance to try out our snorkel masks since my fateful dive on Alaya way back in Harbor Beach, Michigan last summer. We started off at a small beach where we could walk (aka hobble with our flippers on) into the water. After getting used to that, we took Ding Ding (Pokey’s trusty dinghy) to a cool spot on the canal recommended to us by other cruisers. This spot was near some underwater freshwater springs. It was so awesome! There were a ton of small fish, especially around the springs, and lots of other features to look at. After our first snorkel, we were hooked! We snorkeled as much as we could for the rest of the trip.
Once the weather allowed, we cast off the dock lines and headed south east approximately 70 miles to the Berry Islands. Pokey, despite her name, is much faster than Alaya and we made it to our Berry Island anchorage before dark. It was a great sail, a little rolly but beautiful. To get to the Berry’s we had to cross from the Little Bahama Bank to the Great Bahama Bank, which means crossing very deep sections of the ocean between these banks. Once you arrive at any of the Bahamian banks, the water is 10 – 30 feet deep but between the banks the ocean water is thousands of feet deep. This depth variation, and tidal swings, is what gives the Bahamas its stunning water.
On our sail we saw whales for the first time and a large group of dolphins. Most excitingly, Sean and Anna caught their first fish – a stunning Mahi Mahi! It was so fun to be able to witness their fishing dreams coming true. They handled the first catch, including fileting it while underway, with style and grace. While Sean and Anna were the victors of this particular fishing battle, the Mahi Mahi didn’t go without a fight. Somehow in all the chaos of getting the fish onboard, she was able to spew her last meal all over Pokey’s stern. We kept finding more fish spew everywhere we looked. Ding Ding took the biggest hit but so did Anna’s sweater, Sean’s shorts, Lucas’ hat and the back of my sweatshirt. Well played, Mrs. Mahi, well played.
We laid anchor as the sun set. The water was unbelievably blue (I know I keep saying this but it’s impossible to really describe it). Sean was able to dive on the anchor and saw that it was buried deep in the sand – perfect! Anna made a delicious meal with the fresh Mahi Mahi and we all, including seafood-reluctant Lucas, practically licked our plates clean.
We spent the next two days exploring and snorkeling. One of the coolest parts was finding a blue hole near where we anchored on the second day. After a short hike through the jungle, we came to a cliff. About 20 feet below was a massive blue hole of seawater, more than 100 feet deep. We scurried down the cliffside trail and jumped in. The water was extra salty, I’m not sure why. Despite the crystal clear nature of the water, you couldn’t see the bottom – that’s just how deep it was. Lucas and Sean worked up the courage and jumped off the higher jump. They nailed it! We snorkeled around the edges of the hole, seeing the vertical walls just climbing up from the dark depths to the water’s surface. After, we snorkeled from the beach before heading back to the Mothership. Anna taught us how to make sushi for dinner, we even made a roll with the remaining Mahi. After a rousing game of Mexican Train dominoes, we all agreed that this day was in the top 20 of our entire lives. Pretty amazing!
While the Berry Islands are beautiful, they don’t offer much protection from westerly winds. Unfortunately, that’s exactly what was forecasted for later that week. So, we took our weather window and crossed from the Berry’s to Spanish Wells in the Eleuthera Island chain. This sail was about 50 miles long and took us across the top of the Tongue of the Ocean. At more than 11,000 feet deep, this was our deepest area to cross yet. Once you leave the bank, the depth doesn’t really matter though, you just see dark blue water everywhere you look. We had another good sail but the waves were a bit bigger than we expected. We persevered through and pulled into our anchorage around 4 p.m.
My favorite part of this sail was watching the water as we closed in on Spanish Wells. The depth sounder on most boats, including Pokey, stops displaying depth after about 300 feet. As we got closer to the island, we watched the depth go from unreadable to 10 feet in less than two minutes. Freaky for a keel sailboat like Alaya and Pokey (we both draw 5.5 feet) but so amazing for a spectator. All of the sudden you can see everything on the seafloor in great detail.
We spent the next two days, which included Lucas’ birthday, relaxing at a marina in Spanish Wells. We were all pretty salty after the past week. Luckily, the marina had amazing showers! The community of Spanish Wells is beautiful and unique. We walked all around the island, exploring grocery stores and beaches, enjoying a few fruity beverages along the way. The birthday boy had an amazing day, not a bad way to start your 35-year on earth. We even met up with Mary-Bec, a friend of a friend from Toledo. She and her husband are building a home on the big island east of Spanish Wells. We had a lovely breakfast with Mary-Bec, it was fun learning about the island from a local and swapping Toledo stories. Thank you for your hospitality, Mary-Bec!
After nearly 10 days in the Bahamas, imposing on our lovely friends’ trip, it was time for us to go home. Our trip back to Alaya required a few modes of transport, including walking, a golf cart, a ferry boat, a Tahoe (thanks for the ride, Mary-Bec!), a propellor plane and a Tesla. On our ferry ride from Spanish Wells to the big island, we met two women, Aleah and Lyla, who were on the same flight. We chatted all morning and they were kind enough to offer us a ride back to Stuart from Fort Lauderdale since they were passing it on their way to St. Augustine. Thank you guys so much! It was a great way to end our amazing trip.
We are eternally grateful to Anna, Sean and Pokey for putting up with us for so long. While we would have loved to get Alaya to the Bahamas this year, I’m so glad that we were still able to get a taste for sailing life there. Lucas and I are counting down the days until we can get back there with our floating lady next season!
