Finally Here

About a year ago, we started planning our first trip to the Bahamas. After a lot of patience, some luck and heaps of willpower, we finally made it happen.

We’ve both crossed the Gulf Stream before on sailboats and power boats, but never alone or on our own boat, which also happens to be our home. People make this trip every single day but it still felt daunting.

With a planned week off of work coming up, we had one more day of forecasted southerly winds and relatively calm seas, so we decided to take it and make the crossing to enjoy our 10 days off in paradise.

We were up before 3 a.m. after what was probably the worst night sleep we’ve ever had on the boat, with wind and opposing tidal current all night plus the anticipation of a 4 a.m. alarm. We made coffee, fed the pups and picked up anchor to start heading east. We know the West Palm Beach area well but navigating at night was a first on the catamaran. Once we were out of the inlet, the seas and wind were a bit more than forecasted but nothing that we couldn’t handle.

At first light, we raised the sails and put out our trolling lures with hopes of landing a tuna or mahi along the way. A few hours later, the wind and seas calmed, forcing us to throw on an engine to keep our speed up. The Bahamian customs office closes at 5 p.m. and we hoped check into the country before then.

The middle half of the trip was great. We settled in, listened to music and enjoyed the views. It’s easy to see how sailing can become so addicting in conditions like these. But as we approached the end of the Gulf Stream, the wind picked up again to over 20 knots. We reefed the main sail and continued to make great speed at a close reach.

The last four hours of the trip became a bit sportier. The swell picked up significantly more than forecasted with 25+ knot winds on our nose. We lowered our sails, turned on the motors and while we were never unsafe, it certainly was no longer comfortable. That’s mother nature for you though, right?

With the West End water tower in sight, we raised the Q flag and made our way to Old Bahama Bay Marina to check in through customs and immigration. The whole process took less than five minutes and they didn’t even look at our paperwork, just stamped our passports, issued our cruising and fishing permits, and sent us on our way.

Fun fact: West End a.k.a. Settlement Point is the oldest town and the current capital of Grand Bahama.

Back on the boat, we swapped our Q flag for our Bahamian courtesy flag and proceeded to the anchorage we picked out for the next couple days. We knew a frontal boundary was quickly approaching, which would bring storms, gusty winds and big swells for the rest of the week.

We found the abandoned development a few miles away, which was dredged and never built (probably around the time Hurricane Dorian hit). With the company of five other sailboats in the anchorage, we dropped the hook, checked on engines and bilge compartments, made some dinner and crashed for about 10 hours. All-in-all the 63 NM trip took a little over 13 hours.

After spending two days getting waked by mega yachts in Palm Beach with the bright, downtown skyline as our backyard, the quiet darkness was a stark but lovely contrast. A “pinch me” scenario, for sure.

Over the next couple days, we enjoyed the freshwater wash downs and planned sails to our next destinations. The rock wall perimeter of our little home was unforgiving but we had amazing protection from all directions. We’ve built a lot of trust in our ground tackle and once again performed like a champ in the gusts.

We ventured to shore one evening, walking around the town and checking out two local stores. Knowing our next stops would be uninhabited islands, we grabbed a couple “nice to have” groceries to support the local businesses and add to our boat stocked with provisions.

You have to be intentional to get out of the scarcity brain mindset. We are so used to having a mega grocery store right down the street and I have certainly struggled to trust that we have all we need.

Our stop in West End is the first of many and tomorrow we set sail to the next destination. If you don’t already, follow us on Instagram for more pictures and regular updates.

As promised, the white sandy beaches part of this story is finally here!