We are in the Bahamas!
31 October 2013 | Grand Cay, Abacos, Bahamas
Trish
Wow! Everything it’s cracked up to be . Beautiful clear tropical water, we can totally see the bottom, 84 degrees with a 12 know wind to cool us down. No other boats in sight. I guess we’re a bit early as the season doesn’t actually start until Nov. 1st. But our new insurance has NO limitations on where we go during hurricane season, so we left when there was a good weather window from Charleston. We had to motor all the way for 2.5 days as there just wasn’t much wind. We arrived at our entrance to the Bahamas an hour before sunrise, too early as we don’t want to go into shallow strange waters in the dark. So we turned around for half an hour and just as we did so, the wind came howling out of the East at20-25 knots. Too much to make landfall where we had planned. So, we went around the west side of the islands and entered through a huge opening…nice and safe. We were actually able to sail across the bay to an anchorage called Great Sale Cay (pronounced Key) which was completely deserted, horse-shoe shaped for wind protection and sandy bottomed so it was all a lovely pale green colored water. Beautiful!
We left there this morning with the intention of going somewhere to check in with customs as you’re not allowed to set foot anywhere until you’ve cleared customs. Our paperwork said it was in Grand Cay. We snaked our way into the harbor – actually hit zero feet below our keel – Yikes! - and found a spot to anchor in 2.5 feet of water (below our keel which is 4.5 feet). John went in to find the customs house and it turns out that the agent alternates between this cay and another nearby and won’t be here until tonight. We have tried to raise him on the radio to no avail…island time, eh? So, I guess we’ll just sit here in the pretty bay across from Rosies Place and wait to be legal. Too bad we can’t go ashore to Rosies for a drink. Oh well, this too we shall survive, eh?
Thursday:
We got checked in through customs…did not need to get rid of our gun or our spear gun…bummer! Oh well, onward. We took a lovely walk through the town of Grand Cay. It is extremely quaint (the locals would probably call it “squalid”, but we’re tourists here, so I’ll call it quaint. Lots of small run-down houses that double as the local bakery, the liquor shop and the grocery store. We were the only non-locals in town as this is not yet the “season.” Last night, John talked to a fisherman and was able to buy 5 lobster tails. They were yummy!!
The weather is supposed to turn and bring a strong storm by Saturday night, so we are “off the grid.” We’ll be in touch as soon as we can.