Ep. 50 Born to Wander
30 December 2024 | same
Bill Bernaerts | Wet, cloudy and cool.

The weather here over the past few days has been pretty windy and wet. I know, compared to back home it's paradise but considering the effort we made to get here, we were hoping for more of the stereotypical Bahamas experience.
On Christmas Eve evening the boaters here organized a pot luck on the pool patio which was a nice gathering. On Christmas Day, they also had a dinner . The guy next to us cooked a turkey on 1 of the charcoal BBQ's on the grounds. I don't know how he did it but hopefully he managed to prep it on his boat via another method than this.
https://youtu.be/WChnJht1hzk?si=x3BUnIEcf0NM8KIl
We had already been invited to Lynn and Larry's for a turkey dinner which Lynn cooked on her boat!. They even had a small Chrtimas tree on their boat which was a nice touch. It was an excellent meal and we had a good time as always with them. Sam did the veggies and we try as we might, we couldn't find turnips at the local grocery store as they are a favourite of Larry's. Maybe it's for the best as turnips are very gassy apparently!
https://youtu.be/aSlaPp-kB5Q?si=EqGNZ0C7ahiKgh1a
With the winds blowing here , sometimes gusting into the 30 plus knot range we haven't had much opportunity to go out snorkelling as the sea is churned up with 4-5' waves near shore. That makes for a very bouncy and wet ride in a 9' dinghy where your butt is a foot above the waves. Awe did manage to get out the day before Christmas and we saw a large spotted eagle ray in the cut going out to the ocean and Sam spotted a stingray dug into the sand by the reef where we swam. Only his eyes and gills gave his location away.
So we're watching the forecast to see when we can head south on our next leg down to the Exumas, which are a couple of hundred mile south of here. Actually most of the boats here are also waiting to head elsewhere as this a is great stop-over spot but once you've seen everything it's time to move on. Speaking to some seasoned boaters it appears that this year has had way worse weather for open ocean crossing opportunities than previous years so everyone is itching to go. Stay tuned as we watch the forecasts looking for our escape opportunity!
The weather further south is much better than here. We have 2 hops of 50 plus nautical miles of open ocean to get to Nassau and then 1 more day to get to the top of the top of the Exuma island chain. From there it's island hopping from 1 beach and reef to another (picture the postcard images of palm trees and hammocks with turquoise water, like today's photo) Lots of water and some rare earth islands here and there in the Exumas but we're born to wander so it's time for movin' on.
https://youtu.be/KCDuaT68qXg?si=EtHyX0zj3zAP_mEW
Happy New Year!