Water, Sand, and Sun

After arriving in Nassau on the 15th, we first had to clear customs. We had prepared everything ahead of time and had all of our paperwork in order. Except.....we hadn't had time to have our cat Tiger seen by a vet, for his health certificate, prior to leaving Florida. Now, we had heard multiple versions of what might happen to those with pets on board, when clearing customs. We knew what the rules and regulations were, and what paperwork, vaccines, health certificates, etc were required. What we weren't sure of is whether or not we actually needed any of it. People with dogs don't have much choice, as they have to take their pet to shore on a regular basis. However, we have a cat, who never leaves the boat. So did we even need to clear him into the Bahamas? Many people told us that they don't even come on board, when you clear into customs, so they will never know we have a cat. Others told us how they had a cat and a dog on board, so they cleared the dog through customs but simply didn't mention the cat (since the cat stayed on board and typically hid). So we had pretty much decided it would all be fine. As we were motoring over from Florida, the guy we buddy boated over with asked us if we had all of our paperwork necessary for customs upon arrival. He told us to be sure we had the cat's paperwork. We asked if they would actually board the boat. His answer was: "Yes, that's standard procedure. They will come aboard to do your customs paperwork. If you don't have the paperwork needed for your cat, then he will be instantly euthanized." What?

We looked at each other and slightly panicked! Okay, time to whip out the computer skills. Since customs really likes paperwork, but never really verifies any of it, time to come up with a health certificate! So the Admiral sat down and spent a few hours creating and filling out a fake health certificate. Now, typically this is something we would never do, but our cat had everything else he needed to enter the country, and had been seen by a vet within the last month. However, we didn't get a health certificate, because we had to have one dated within two days of entering the Bahamas. We waited, but then didn't get a chance to take him back to the vet before we left. Also, the cat was never going to leave the boat or go ashore. So, we tucked the newly made health certificate into the cat's 'passport,' with all of his other necessary paperwork, and crossed our fingers.

We had buddy boated over with a friend of ours, who was putting the boat he brought over into the Atlantis Marina. If you have a boat in the Atlantis Marina, you get free tickets to the Atlantis Waterpark for everyone on board. We thought about putting ourselves into the same marina (and enjoying the waterpark as our Christmas present to the kids), but at five dollars a foot (with a fifty foot minimum) per night, the price was a bit steep for us. We typically don't stay in marinas, but Nassau isn't a great place to anchor. Since we weren't up to the increased odds of a fouled anchor, nor were we yet prepared to anchor "Bahamian style" (where you put out two anchors instead of one), we decided to spend a few nights in Bay Street Marina. Their prices were much more reasonable.

Once arriving into the marina and tying up, customs was called to arrive and clear us in. Until that time, we were confined to our boat with our yellow "quarantine" flag flying. It was apparently a busy day, so it took customs a few hours to show up while we paced and worried. Finally, a gentleman arrived, and seated himself in our salon to fill out the paperwork and take the fees. The Admiral noticed right away that the gentleman seemed in a hurry. He was finishing a phone call, when he came on board, about how he just had "this one more boat real quick and he'll be done." So the Admiral quickly grabbed the cat's paperwork and removed in from the pile. We figured last minute, that if he asked for the cat's paperwork, we would give him what we had. But, if he didn't ask.......well, you get the idea. Fortunately, our cat Tiger was blissfully asleep down in the starboard bow cabin. The customs gentleman was there and gone within fifteen minutes. He never searched the boat, nor did he even notice the cat's food and water bowls directly across from where he had been sitting. We thought we were in the clear, but were confused that he didn't look at or stamp our passports. Upon further investigation (and asking the marina personnel), we discovered that it had been his job to clear in the boat itself. Someone else would be coming to clear in the people on the boat. Okay, so now more waiting.

It didn't take but about fifteen more minutes for a lady to appear at the edge of the boat. We welcomed her aboard and she sat in the same location in the salon as the prior customs gentleman. She looked through everything (except the cat paperwork - it was still hidden), stamped passports, and chatted with us. While she was talking, our cat Tiger decided to venture upstairs to see what this new female voice was. The Captain (standing right next to the customs lady, on top of the stairwell to the starboard hull) saw Tiger and attempted to thwart the cat by sticking his foot in the way and pushing the cat back downstairs. Tiger, not to be deterred, hissed at the Captain and skirted right around his foot, behind the custom lady's legs, and wandered under the table. We all held our breaths. After a few seconds (which felt like several minutes), the customs lady stood up, shook our hands, and departed the boat. As she walked across the dock directly behind our boat, Tiger stuck his head out from under the table and looked right at her. She continued on her way and never noticed him. We all looked at each other and burst out laughing. We couldn't believe that we had just managed to sneak our cat into the Bahamas! We quickly changed out our quarantine flag for the Bahamas courtesy flag, and headed off for dinner on shore.

We spent a few days hanging around the marina, going to the grocery store, and washing our boat. We had seen our buddy boating friend a few times on the dock, as he had another friend's boat in the same marina. Our friend was very grateful to us for buddy boating over with him, so he decided to give us all an early Christmas present. He was only dropping the boat he brought over off, and flying home. The owners of that boat were not arriving on the boat till after Christmas. Since he wasn't going to be using the Atlantis Waterpark tickets, and the owners weren't around, he gave us his marina key card good for four persons into the park. Yay! Free tickets to Atlantis were not be refused! Needless to say, that was our Christmas present to each other. We went and enjoyed two full days at Atlantis!

The Atlantis Waterpark is on Paradise Island across a bridge from Nassau. It is Atlantean themed with neat architecture, pools, and underwater tunnels. It has water slides, river rides, beaches, pools, and shopping. It also boasts aquariums and water habitats. It is definitely a must see for anyone near Nassau. We all had a blast. It was definitely a great start to our adventures in the Bahamas!

We spent a full week in Nassau before departing. We had run out of funds to hang around a marina, so it was time to get out of Nassau to be back on the hook. We went 30 nm (nautical miles) to Highbourne Cay (pronounced like 'key'). It was the first time we had actually sailed to our destination. We've put up the sails before to gain extra speed, or for a few hours when the wind was right, but never for the whole trip. As soon as we were out of the cut, the sails went up and the engines went off. We sailed all the way down, hearing only the wind and waves. The water was crystal clear and beautiful. We anchored over sand and could actually see the anchor, chain, and bridle under the water. No risk of fouling an anchor here! We spent only the one night and immediately moved on to Shroud Cay.

It was a short trip to Shroud Cay. There is a marina there with a lot of mooring balls, but we anchored around the point from there to be all by ourselves. People don't anchor in there because it's shallow and there are a lot of rocks to watch out for. We took it slow, watched the depth, and stood watch for rocks. Fortunately, you can see the rocks with the water so clear. So we wormed our way in, dropped our anchor, and stared in awe around the place. You would have thought that we were the only people in the world sitting in paradise. We dropped the dinghy and took the kids snorkeling. The rocks, while treacherous for the big boat, were great snorkeling spots and easy to get to with the dinghy. After snorkeling, we dropped the kayaks and the kids paddled around enjoying the afternoon. When night fell, it was so dark you couldn't see your hand in front of your face when you were out on deck. We had never seen so many stars before. We decided to spend another day in the area to check out a beach.

Shroud Cay is in the Exuma's Land and Sea Park. We were anchored very near to the opening of Shroud Cay Creek, which winds it's way to the other side of the island (surrounded by vegetation and mangroves) to a hidden beach. We set off mid-morning to check it out. We had been warned that the entrance was a bit shallow, but we were still surprised at just how shallow. We had taken the dinghy only halfway through the entrance when our outboard began chewing sand. We sat for a few moments wondering how we were going to get through when the Admiral suddenly told our son: "Get out and tow us, it's only knee deep." Sure enough, he jumped over board, grabbed the painter, and hauled us across the entrance to deeper waters. We then slowly began to make our way through the creek. We were watching both for shallow spots and rocks. The deepest water (only waste deep) was directly on the edge of sand and rock. So we began pointing out large rocks to go around. As we were moving along, the Admiral saw a large rock off our port bow. She yelled, "Rock, right there. Wait, it's moving! That's not a rock, it's a huge fish!!!" Sure enough, three more times the rocks "moved." The Captain thinks they were groupers. We continued winding our way through the mangroves, around the rocks, and across the shallows. We bottomed out near the exit and had to be towed the last twenty feet. It was worth it. We had arrived at what is easily the most gorgeous beach we had ever seen. The sand was like sifted powder sugar. The water was brilliant turquoise with blue accents. We walked the beach in awe of its beauty. The kids played in the water while we watched on.

Shallow Entrance

Eventually we hiked the small trail to Driftwood Camp. Apparently a hermit used to live there on his boat and had made a trail to the top of the island. He had collected driftwood and made various things in his little camping spot. The stuff has all been cleared out now, but a sign remains informing you of the location. With it comes a spectacular view of the entire island and its surrounds. Picture perfect is not an adequate term to describe it, as no picture could ever capture how beautiful it is. We spent several hours there before making our way back. We had the beach pretty much to ourselves. A few people had come and gone in their dinghies. One other family was spending the day on a small part of the beach. The entire rest of the place was ours. We stayed until sun and thirst drove us back to our boat. The winding trip down the creek was easier (high tide) and we made it back easily. Weather was coming our way with high winds, so we decided to move on to Staniel Cay.

Views from Driftwood Camp

Staniel Cay is touted as the gem of the Exumas. We're not necessarily in agreement to that statement, but it is definitely an interesting place. The trip down was fairly exhausting. We were headed straight into the waves with fairly high winds. The waves were easily six to eight feet in height. So we had five to six hours of roller coaster riding. We literally caught 'air' with the boat several times. She would plummet down, and then launch up (sometimes slamming into the next wave, but other times soaring over it). We were not the only ones heading that direction. We were surrounded by several boats, all heading the same way, all see sawing up and down like we were. You'll be happy to hear that no one got sea sick, not even Tiger. In fact, Tiger literally laid under the table and slept most of the trip. I'm not sure how, with the slamming and banging of the waves, but he managed. It was hands down the roughest ride we've had to date in the boat. But with that behind us, three to four foot waves now seem tame.

So we arrived in Staniel Cay exhausted. The wind and waves were still pounding, so we opted to stay put on the boat for the remainder of the day. The next day was Christmas day. Obviously everything on shore would be closed, so we spent the day hanging out together. The kids opened their presents while we made a pancake breakfast. The Captain spent time talking to his family over WhatsApp, and the Admiral spent time talking with her brother over Skype. We eventually whipped together a decent dinner for the four of us to cap off the day.

 We had accumulated three bags of trash as we'd had no where to put it since Nassau. So the third morning, we decided to try getting to shore anyway to drop off trash and get some groceries. We knew that it was choppy and windy out, but opted to go for it anyway. That was a huge mistake. Where we were anchored wasn't nearly as bad as the waters around the point towards the marina and trash dump. We kept ourselves from being completely wet prior to achieving the point, but then it got worse. Wave after wave was crashing into the dinghy. The dinghy would go over a wave, then crash down sending water over the bow and onto us passengers. We had only gotten about forty percent into the trip and we were all soaked, the dinghy had water standing in it, and we couldn't see for the salt and spray. The Admiral yelled at the Captain to go back and try another day. Frustrated and wet, we pulled the dinghy back up. The Admiral quietly asked the Captain to fire up the generator so she could have hot water for a shower.

The fourth day finally arrived sunny and calm. We took the dinghy over to the trash dump and disposed of our pile of trash. Then we took the dinghy over to the dinghy dock (which is actually a small beach - so you just beach your dinghy) and set off on shore. Having heard so much about Stanial Cay, we must admit to being a bit disappointed. Other than the marina and the small grocery store, it doesn't really have much on the island. We walked the island three times before stopping and eating lunch at the marina. Our beached dinghy had become even more beached with a pile of dinghies behind her. The four of us attempted to pick her up to put her into the water, but she proved a bit heavy. Fortunately, just as frustration was setting in, two burly guys showed up asking if we needed help. The Admiral quickly confirmed the need and they easily hoisted the dinghy up and back into the water. We went back to the boat with plans to go visit the pigs.

Pigs? Yes, pigs. Stanial Cay has a small island full of pigs. They are used to people and will swim out to your boat for food. Of course, they've gotten a bit lazy and now just hang out on the beach knowing people will beach their dinghies up there and bring them food. So that's what we did. We took a head of lettuce and a bagel over, beached the dinghy, and fed the pigs. The kids were very excited as they had never seen a pig close up, let alone touched and fed one. The Admiral was not so keen on the idea. The pigs were big and pushy. The Admiral stayed in the dinghy and warned the kids to run for it when they ran out of food. A few other people in other dinghies actually got bit, since the pigs didn't feel they were getting their food fast enough. One large pig tried to get into our dinghy where the Admiral was sitting and taking pictures. The pig had assumed the camera was food and was preparing to board the dinghy in order to get it. The Admiral quickly set the camera down and showed the pig both hands empty. It took a few times, but the pig got the message and wandered off. It didn't take long for the kids to run out of food (thankfully they didn't get nipped) and we ran for it. The area was beginning to fill up with mega yachts coming in for some fun, so we decided to move on the next day to Black Point on Guana Cay.

She thought the camera was food!

The trip to Black Point was quick. It was less than two hours south and we were anchored in a beautiful little area. Black Point has a few restaurants, a grocery store, and a coin laundry. With three loads of laundry looming, a coin laundry sounded great. They also had Bahama bread. We bought three loaves which were consumed within twenty-four hours. We spent the night and did laundry the following morning. We had planned on spending a few days in Black Point, but a cold front was coming through with high winds out of the north. We decided that perhaps it would be wise to use those winds to get to Georgetown. If we didn't take advantage of it, it would be close to a week before we could head that way in calmer weather. So we quickly went over to Big Galliot Cay to spend the night to stage for Georgetown the next day.

Sunrise on the 30th

The morning of the 30th dawned early. We had set an alarm for 5:00am to get up and moving at sunrise. It was a long way to Georgetown and we wanted to be anchored before the high winds reached us. It proved a smooth trip and we arrived in record time to Georgetown. We anchored off by ourselves and then took the dinghy into shore. Groceries were a must since we really hadn't had a grocery run since Nassau. Things in the Bahamas close on the weekends, and it was a holiday weekend. So we made a quick grocery run, but unfortunately not quick enough. The front arrived while we were shopping. So we received a rough wet dinghy ride back to the boat. After spending the night in what felt like a washing machine, we decided perhaps we should move to another location. Georgetown has several anchorages, so it was only a matter of finding space in a different one. We looked a two anchorages before finally settling on the main anchorage in front of the 'Chat & Chill.' Georgetown is THE cruisers places to be. They have lots of things specifically geared towards cruisers. The Chat & Chill is supposedly the place to meet new people and hang out. We took the dinghy over and beached it for the afternoon. The place was crawling with cruisers. Also, there were kids everywhere. Finally, we had reached an area with lots of kids. Our kids ran off to meet others their age while we sat, watched, and chatted with others.

So we will begin 2017 in Georgetown. There was a fireworks show at midnight. Georgetown will be an interesting place to be for awhile. We're not sure how long we will stay. Certainly a few weeks, maybe a few months. We'll let you know how it turns out. Happy New Year!


Don't forget to like our Facebook page: www.facebook.com/driftingfree