Hosting visitors to Alaya is a special treat that requires planning, flexibility, creativity and a little luck. So, we were thrilled when Nellie, Lucas’ cousin and Paul, Lucas’ middle brother, expressed interest in visiting us while in the Bahamas. Once we crossed the Gulf Stream, we started scheming to get them here. Nellie’s logistics were the most complicated, she was traveling from Alaska on her Spring Break from her teaching job in a remote village only accessible by prop plane. Paul’s were a little less complicated but tricky nonetheless; he was traveling from San Diego where he is serving in the US Navy. Both would be traveling across the country to an entirely new country. What could go wrong?
Paul flew in on Friday, March 7. He took a red eye flight from San Diego to Miami and then switched planes to fly into Marsh Harbor, the largest town in the Abacos. As Paul was flying over the Gulf Stream, we left the Hope Town harbor and sailed six miles across the bank to Marsh Harbor. We laid anchor near a public dinghy dock and made our way to shore. We then walked about three miles to the biggest grocery store in the Abacos. It was time to restock some supplies, especially since we were hosting guests. It was a beautiful store, stocked to the gills with every grocery item one could need. Prices were reasonable for the Bahamas, much cheaper than the small shops on Elbow Cay.
While we shopped in this grocery heaven, Paul landed, cleared customs and hailed a taxi. He convinced his cab driver to pick us up at the grocery store, saving us from having to carry our groceries back to the dinghy. Reunited with Paul, the taxi dropped us all off at the dinghy dock. Next, we had to figure out how to load Paul’s luggage, our groceries and three adults into Margaret’s hull. The tide had gone out during our errands, so this task was made more thrilling by a 10 foot drop down a ladder. Somehow, we managed to load everything and all of us without any losses and slowly motored back to Alaya.
And just like that Paul was cruising with us! We spent the afternoon catching up and showing Paul all of our improvements on Alaya. The weather was looking a little sketchy later that week, so we decided to head south to check out some snorkeling spots before returning to pick up Nellie later that weekend. We had a fun sail down to Snake Cay and found a quiet spot to anchor for the night. Within 10 minutes of anchoring, we all had our swimsuits on and jumped in, ready to swim in the beautiful sea once again. After showers and dinner, we had a quiet evening and went to bed early. My favorite way to end any day!
The next morning, Paul and I went to the bow to start hoisting the anchor and immediately ran into a problem. The windlass, a motor which pulls up the anchor chain, wasn’t working. It took us a few minutes to find our manual handle and then a few more minutes to figure out how to use said handle. After some noodling, we started hoisting. With two people and light wind, Paul and I actually got the 75 feet of chain up pretty easily. I guess this is our plan until we can fix the issue.
Once underway, Lucas and Paul worked on setting up our spinnaker sail for the first time. Paul has practiced with spinnakers on race boats in San Diego, so with him onboard, Lucas decided to give it a try. Spinnakers are light wind sails, designed out of a much lighter material than normal sails. Because of this material difference, they are often built in fun, bright colors. Alaya’s is no exception, it is straight out of the 1980s and we love it so much.
With the spinnaker up, we slowly sailed south on the bank towards a snorkeling spot Larry and Ginny told us about near Sandy Cay. Conditions were a bit rolly but manageable just for the afternoon. We quickly launched Margaret and suited up. It was time to snorkel.
Diving into the water was amazing, I have never seen such a huge and colorful reef. There were neon yellows, greens and blues everywhere. Large schools of fish swam all around. I was still a little nervous to be swimming in such an open area but I stuck close with Lucas and Paul, as we explored the reef. We were soon joined by Emily, Mark and their friends visiting from Florida. Safety in numbers, right?
As we were swimming around while later, someone yelled, “Shark!” Oh shit.
Logically, I know that most sharks in the Bahamas don’t want anything to do with humans. Knowing that, I still have no interest in swimming near them. I quickly swam closer to my husband and friends. While swimming along in their wake, I started having second thoughts, “Oh wait, I think they might be swimming towards the shark.” Sure enough, everyone else wanted to see it and so, I got to see my first shark while snorkeling. It was a small, 3-4 ft reef shark. Deep breathes, Emily.
After snorkeling for a while post-shark sighting, it was time to head back to Alaya. We needed to move her to a more protected area for the night. We slowly sailed five miles back to Tilloo Cay and found a cozy spot for the night. After such an exciting day, we had another quiet evening and went to bed early.
The next day, Sunday, was Nellie’s day to arrive. She had already been traveling for approximately 30 hours when she boarded her last plane in Florida bound for the Bahamas. We motored Alaya back to Marsh Harbor, dodging a thunderstorm along the way. Lucas found us a new anchorage closer to the airport. The plan was for me to drop Lucas and Paul off at the beach near the anchorage. We didn’t see anywhere to securely tie Margaret, so I would drive Margaret back to Alaya and stand watch on her while Lucas and Paul walked a mile to the airport on hopefully open roads to meet Nellie. I’ve been practicing my solo dinghy driving skills in Hope Town and this would be my longest solo trip. No pressure.
Was it a bit sketchy? Sure, but it actually worked out better than we all expected. The most dramatic part of the pick-up was actually getting Nellie out of customs. The agent asked where she was staying and Nellie tried to explain that she was staying on our boat but the agent wasn’t satisfied. Luckily, Nellie could see Lucas and Paul waiting outside the terminal and convinced the agent to verify her story with her cousins. Phew!
I successfully got Margaret back to the beach when called and then drove us all back to her. With all guests officially on board, we manually hauled up the anchor another time and headed back across the bank to a different anchorage along Tilloo Cay. We went for an afternoon snorkel and swim, introducing Nellie and Paul to the fun of halyard jumps. After a delicious dinner onboard, we spent the evening catching up. It was so fun to introduce our cruising world to Paul and Nellie.
That next morning, we decided to haul anchor again and head back to our mooring ball in Hope Town. Unfortunately, the wind forecast was not pretty for the next few days. Good thing Hope Town and Elbow Cay are such amazing places to be stuck in. On our way back, Paul opened up the Amazon.com fishing supplies he brought with him. Nellie is the family fishing expert and tried to teach the Kizer brothers how to fish. Despite Nellie’s best efforts, no fish were caught. As we approached the harbor, Paul and I spotted our first Bahamian dolphins! It had been so long since I had seen my favorite animal. The wind was already blowing pretty good, so it took us two tries to pick up our mooring ball. Once settled back into our spot, we made vegetarian sushi for lunch before heading to shore.
We walked all over Hope Town, ending up at this cool cave. Later, we continued our walk to On Da Beach, a popular beach bar for drinks and appetizers. The evening ended with our first game of Settlers of Catan. Reliably, Paul kicked our butts. Another successful Bahamian Day.
The wind was really blowing on Tuesday but it was still warm and sunny. I stayed behind to clean up the boat while Lucas, Paul and Nellie went on a hunt for caffeine. Something that may surprise readers is that we don’t have any caffeine on board Alaya. I like to tell people I’m naturally-caffeinated. That is cute until you are a coffee drinker staying on Alaya. Paul and Nellie were good sports about it (Paul even brought a travel french press) but by day three they were jonesing for some real beans.
Luck would have it that Ann Arbor coffee icon, John Roos, who I mentioned a few blog posts ago, was still in Hope Town. He invited us over to his coffee laboratory, aka sailboat, to try some new roasts. Paul, Nellie, Lucas and John picked me up two hours later very well-caffeinated and ready for lunch. We had a fast-talking, hilarious lunch, each trying a Bahamian classic – “Chicken in da Bag.” Thanks for your hospitality and caffeine, John!
The next day, Wednesday, the wind was still blowing from the east, so we rented a golf cart, packed lunches and a few adult beverages and headed to Tahiti Beach. Protected from the east winds, conditions on the beach were idyllic. For the first time in our cruising life, we busted out our old inner tubes, last used to float down the Huron River in Michigan. We tied the tubes together and attached ourselves to the dinghy anchor. We spent the next few hours floating, chatting, snacking and drinking. It was a wonderfully relaxing afternoon. My only regret is not reapplying sunscreen. Yeah, that was a big mistake. I got so sunburned. Mistakes were made. So many sunscreen-related regrets.
Thursday was a slow day, mostly because we all, except Lucas, were hurting pretty badly from our sunscreen mistake from the day before. We stayed on Alaya, reading books, chatting and playing another round or two of catan. We went for a shore walk that afternoon, choosing to head north along the more shaded trails outside of town. I wore lots of sunscreen, long pants and a long shirt, lesson learned, Mom.
All week, Paul had been talking about wanting to harvest a coconut. On our Thursday afternoon walk, we finally found an area that looked like an ok spot to go coconut hunting. Paul spotted a good candidate and after some trial-and-error involving a large piece of rebar, we separated the coconut from its tree and proudly carried it back to Alaya. Turns out that was the easy part, especially for rookies like us. Nellie and Paul hacked away at the coconut all afternoon, using a variety of tools and techniques. Finally, they got it open. I was very impressed. It was full of tasty water and good-looking meat. We shredded up a lot of the meat and roasted it in the toaster oven.
After the coconut excitement of the afternoon, we cleaned ourselves up and dinghied over to the Abaco Inn and Marina for a fancy dinner out. It was Nellie and Paul’s last night in the Bahamas and it was time to splurge. Since we all have winter birthdays, we decided this would be all of our birthday dinners. It was a delicious spurge and a wonderful way to celebrate our time together.
Paul and Nellie took the ferry from Hope Town to Marsh Harbor the next morning, starting their long journey back to the west coast. We are so grateful that Nellie and Paul chose to come visit us on our little boat in a beautiful place, thousands of miles from their homes.
And yes, three days later, I was still very sunburned.
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