Unexcused Absences

Mid March to late March, 2017. After our terrific (if short) ski season at Vail, we paused in DC just long enough to help dad shovel his driveway from a late season snowstorm, then flew to Freeport, Grand Bahama to get re-acquainted with our old trawler, Miss Adventure.

The weather here has been uncommonly cold. We purposely began our cruise 10 weeks later than last year’s adventure, since last year the temperatures didn’t cooperate until early March. We thought we were being so clever, delaying our voyage until the perfect weather would be in place. But when we landed in Grand Bahama, the local taxi driver was wearing a puffy down coat (the temperature was 74). The whole drive to the boatyard he complained about the “wintery” weather. I had to break it to him gently that where we were 3 weeks previously, in Vail, one day the high temperature was zero. Still, I understand his concern, especially when a typical March day in Grand Bahama is in the low 80’s.

It’s the Bahamas; a random wrecked aircraft in the woods

After a few days of provisioning fresh food and commissioning the four engines (two main diesels, a diesel generator, and a 2-stroke outboard), we left Charlton Knowles’ boatyard and dropped anchor in Port Lucaya for a final restaurant meal (the “last supper,” as it were) before a three-day cruise to the central Exumas. Heather’s dad and step-mom, for Christmas, had given us a gift certificate to the Flying Fish, one of the top restaurants in the entire Caribbean. It was every bit as delicious as last year.

Citrus provisions

Happy hour at Flying Fish

First catch; our tuna

Tuna and rice dinner

The weather cooperated perfectly and we had beautiful, calm seas as we headed due south, where we skirted the west side of the Berry Islands, and arrived 12 hours later at Bird Cay to drop anchor for the night. On the way, just as we crossed from the ~20 foot deep “Banks” into the 3000 foot deep Tongue of the Ocean, we saw a large flock of birds diving into the water. That usually means game fish are chasing a school of smaller fish to the surface, so we quickly deployed a couple fishing lines and motored through the chaos. Nothing bit, so we looped around and passed through again, this time getting hits on both our lines. By the time we got one tuna onboard, the other one had thrown his hook, but at least we had dinner for a couple nights in the form of a 4 pound Skipjack.

Sunset in the southern Berrys

The perfect weather continued the following day, and we were again up before dawn for another 12 hour day, this time passing just west of Nassau and across the shallow Exuma Banks to anchor at Hawksbill Cay in the northern Exumas. With the props and prop shafts recently balanced in Georgia, we can make an extra 3/4 knot, which is about 12% faster that last year when we had the bent port-side running gear. That small difference translated into two days of 24 hours instead of three days to make a 27 hour trip.

Anchored at Hawksbill Cay

At Hawksbill we had time to do a short shore exploration, then pointed south again, aiming to arrive at Sampson Cay in the central Exumas just after lunch. When we arrived, though, the forecast strong winds hadn’t arrived yet so we passed through a narrow cut and into the Exuma Sound to try some fishing. We aimed for where the depth drops from around 60 feet to over 2000 feet just off Overyonder Cay, and proceeded to catch a 21.5 pound bull Mahi. He yielded 8.5 pounds of fillets, which will keep us and our friends in fish for a while.

Our Mahi filled our 42 inch cleaning table

We brought the boat (and our fish) in through the cut between Overyonder and Thomas Cay, and anchored off the old marina at Sampson Cay. It was wonderful to be “home”. We needed to stop just short of Staniel Cay to finish up some client work before diving into the continuous socializing that typically marks our time around Staniel. We didn’t go completely unnoticed, though, because within a couple hours our friend, who manages a nearby private island, [redacted] Cay, had spotted our boat and came by for a beer or three.

Cruising on over the shallow Banks

The following day we moved Miss Adventure to the docks at the Staniel Cay Yacht Club, just in time for their annual James Bond Party which was happening that evening. EVERYBODY was there, and we had a fantastic time catching up with folks we hadn’t seen since we left the central Exumas almost 11 months ago. We even got a “welcome home” (as opposed to welcome back) from our favorite waitress, Rhonda. We were again rocking our “Q-Branch” labcoats as our nod to the theme of the party.

The James Bond party at Staniel Cay Yacht Club (HT in the lab coat)

Our next stop was Big Major Spot, a mile north of Staniel. We had another social engagement, this time dinner with both the current managers and former managers of the Fowl Cay Resort, as well as a large crew of private island managers from the Staniel Cay Greater Metropolitan Area. The Big Majors anchorage was as popular as ever, with probably two dozen boats of all sizes anchored between “Pig Beach” and the narrows at Fowl Cay.

Anchored at Big Major Spot

Surprisingly, though, there were no boats we knew. Our friends on Z-Raye, Drew and Sharon, were already well past the Bahamas and cruising in the Lesser Antilles, and Brian and Susan, of Good Morning Vietnam, have their boat for sale (what are they thinking?!?) in Deltaville, Virginia. And Richard and Laurie, of Forever Young, aren’t due to arrive for another few weeks.

After the big dinner party we headed a couple miles north to anchor at Twin Cay, a pair of tiny cays that were beautiful, pristine islands but are now under development in some hair-brained scheme to open either a restaurant or bungalows or a private residence. You never quite know in the Bahamas.

So that’s where things stand; Miss Adventure is working well, all our local friends are still around, a number of changes are in the works around the area, and we’re very excited to be back cruising the turquoise waters of the Exumas.

Bahamas 2017 Cruise – Grand Bahama to the Exumas