Bahamas or Bust!

Bahamas or Bust!

While recharging our travel batteries and spending the holidays in the Chesapeake, we worked out our cruising goals for 2024. We were playing around with multiple options but the ones that kept rising to the top were: 1) stop cruising and go back to Colorado or 2) stay on the East Coast for the winter and see how far north we could go once it warms up a bit, 3) make a push for the Bahamas and then head back up the East Coast for hurricane season. After much deliberation, which continues to this day, we decided to make an effort to get to the Bahamas. Making it to the Bahamas would beautifully round out our cruising experience. 

In an effort to get to the Bahamas from the Chesapeake Bay, we needed to get back down to central Florida in order to make the short and quick passage to the islands. It took us almost 2 months of ICW and Atlantic crossings to make it from Norfolk to Fort Pierce, FL. We struggled with constantly being on the go because the joy of cruising, for us, is the time we spend in a location and not necessarily the act of getting there. We did take a bit longer than some in order to dodge cold fronts and to allow ourselves a bit of time to recharge between passages. 

Once we made it to Fort Pierce, FL, we rented a car to provision spare parts for both Nymeria and Lady (our dinghy) and about 2 months worth of groceries. We don’t have much extra space on the boat but everything seemed to stow away nicely. We saw a couple of weather windows open and then later close due to storm fronts coming through so when a small window appeared and stayed open, we jumped at the chance. 

Grand Bahama Island is only ~60 miles away from West Palm Beach, making it a quick overnight passage allowing us to make land in the daylight. We plan our trips based on cruising at an average of 5 knots per hour. We can go a max speed of 6.7 knots in perfect conditions but this is highly dependent on wind speed/direction, wave height/direction, and current speed/direction. Making a passage to the Bahamas takes us across the Gulf Stream where there are times when its northerly current is only a few miles wide and flowing at 1-2 knots or it could be extremely wide and running 4-5 knots. Depending on its severity, we could be pushed north and off course, making landfall at our prepped destination difficult. The hope is to start far enough south that even if we do get pushed north, we will be able to make it to the West End on Great Bahama Island. 

We headed out from Fort Pierce, FL and took the ICW down to Lake Worth/Palm Beach Inlet and then across the Gulf Stream to the Old Bahama Bay Resort and Yacht Harbour in West End on Grand Bahama Island. It was about 45nm to get to the inlet and about 61nm to make it safely across the Gulf Stream and into the marina. It ended up taking a total of 25:22 hours with the last 2 hours anchored waiting for the marina and customs/immigration to open for the day. Once we were assigned our slip and were secure at the dock, we walked directly to customs/immigration and quickly were cleared for up to 90 days in the islands. We used Click2CLear to fill out the forms, upload all important documents and provide payment before we even made it to land. I recommend this as I have read stories online of other cruisers having to pay extra fees and only accepting cash. We did have to fill out 2 additional Immigration forms on site but they were quick and easily processed. Highly recommend checking in at Old Bahama Bay. 

With our short weather window to cross into the Bahamas, we hunkered down at the marina for a few days to allow for a good sail further east to the Abacos. We took advantage of some downtime to walk into town, explore abandoned beaches and to just relax on the beach. 

We left West End for the island of Great Sail Cay (pronounced “key”). It took 47.6nm and 9.5 hours to make it to the protected Northwest Harbour Anchorage. We arrived just before sunset and were excited to finally get to anchor and go exploring. With the water being so clear and shallow, Justin couldn’t wait to jump in and check on the anchor to make sure we were set for the next few nights. The water temperature is a bit chilly  (73°) for my taste but Justin got to have some fun and the 1st deck shower of the trip. And we knew that we were all set for the wind to pick up overnight. We spent 2 nights at this anchorage before moving on. 

Making our way further East and looking for an anchorage with protection from an upcoming South Wind, we stopped at the West Anchorage of Allan’s-Pensacola Cay. We were able to get nicely tucked into its horseshoe bay and well protected from 20-25 knots of wind that would be arriving in the next few days. We took advantage of the calm winds before the storm front to take the dinghy to the neighboring Guineaman Cay and the Atlantic side of Allan’s-Pensacola Cay. There is a nice barrier reef about a mile offshore that keeps down the ocean swell during calm winds but it can still be quite choppy with a strong offshore breeze. Allan’s Pensacola Cay has 2 trails that you can use to reach the Atlantic side and to the Naming Tree (also seen labeled as the Signing Tree). It was fun to hike through dense vegetation that opens up to a rough coral beach and gentle waves. As per the rules, you have to use trash to make a sign for the tree. We found a piece of starboard on the beach and used some leftover line to make ours. We spent 3 lovely nights at this anchorage and were a little sad to leave.

Since thunderstorms were in the forecast for the next few days. We decided to get a spot at the marina on the private island of Spanish Cay. This island is about 3 miles long and consists of 2 small beaches, 1 small airstrip, condo rentals, and a restaurant/bar. We were looking forward to a proper shower, air conditioning to get rid of the humidity in the boat, doing laundry and having someone else prepare us a meal. It is still early in the tourist season here so we practically had the whole island to ourselves. Justin has also been putting his technology skills to work by helping at the marina office/restaurant to update their point of sale system and also offered his electrician knowledge to a fellow boater having trouble with solar charging.  

1st impressions of our Bahamas experience so far: pick your window across the Gulf Stream wisely, its super easy to check into customs/immigration, the locals have been very friendly and helpful, fellow cruisers are always willing to swap stories over a beer, the beaches and sunsets are gorgeous, Nymeria and Lady are in their element, and weather forecasts have been better than predicted, so far. Even though there have been some anxious moments of bigger waves than predicted, strong winds coming from where we want to go, finding a protected anchorage for the forecasted wind direction and the overnight monitoring to make sure our/our neighbors anchor holds, we are trying to relax and soak in this unbelievable adventure! Skål