Stopping for the night at Rum Cay (pronounced key) in hindsight, was not the best decision. But after some tough days and a long passage, the thought of sleeping in a bed, one that wasn't rolling, was just too hard to pass up. But it made for a very difficult arrival into George Town Exuma. Downwind sailing is not True North's best point of sail, as she is slow and rolly. And for entry into the George Town cut we had a deadline, as winds increased, and we had to get into the customs office before it closed. As we motor sailed as quickly as possible, it dawned on us that it was Good Friday and started to worry that customs would be closed. We tried calling every number listed with no answer and our spirits sank, knowing that wasn't a good sign. It took 11 hours to sail 55 miles and we arrived in fairly good size waves into a rock strewn area with shallow sand bars and coral reefs around. Luckily, the chart showed us the way in and Sweden gave us lots of practice with Mike at the helm negotiating the twists and turns of the passage in to the harbor.

During the sail to George Town, we studied the chart and saw mooring ball fields in several areas. Mike was able to discern who controlled the mooring field and we sent an email to see about availability. Thankfully, the harbor master answered right away and confirmed a spot. That would be critical so that we could tie to the ball quickly, launch the dinghy and get Mike to the customs agent by 3, well before the 4 closing. To still complicate things, it was a wet, dinghy ride a mile across the harbor to get to town. And the winds were now gusting to 25.

What unfolded next was just crazy. The office was closed for the holiday with no notice posted, so Mike walked down the street wondering what to do. By chance he asked a taxi driver about the situation, who told him he needed to go to the airport where there was an officer on duty and he'd take him there and wait for $60 cash. After locating the officer, she then informed Mike that I needed to be present too. Now on the Bahama's official web page, on cruising guides, and throughout the Caribbean, we have been told that only the captain may get off the boat to clear everyone ashore. So now I am a long dinghy ride away in the rising winds and time is ticking. The officer tells Mike she will go to the boat to get my signature, which Mike thinks is great because he assumes customs has a boat for doing so. But no, she wants to ride in our "boat", and it will cost $150 cash (in addition to the $300 clear in fee we already paid). Ok he says, but get your raincoat because you are going to get wet. Hmmm, the officer says, you get her and bring her to the dock, but I'm only on duty another 20 minutes (so not enough time). Mike has made clear we have just sailed 700 miles over 6 days and it is hard to time the arrival during a trip of that length. They didn't care, nor did they care that the next day winds were to gust to 35, making a dinghy ride across the bay downright dangerous. But finally after some back and forth, the officer relented and pushed paperwork towards Mike and had him sign for me. Not a smooth entry into the country. And we had already filled out the online form, been approved, paid the fees and printed it out which then only needed a stamp according to the web sites. Mike carefully made his way back to the boat where we stayed for the next two days because of the high winds.

Early on Saturday morning, we turned on the VHF radio to listen to the local sailors net on channel 72, something we had never done before. We were impressed with the charm of the monitor who went through a range of things to know about George Town, such as how to get ahold of emergency services, grocery store hours during the (4) day holiday, where to get rid of garbage. We were told about the upcoming Family Sailing Day event of small boat sailors who gather from around all the Bahamas islands to compete and celebrate. People who needed help solving boat problems or needed tools, for instance, would be recognized by the monitor to talk. There was recognition of new arrivals and goodbyes to those who were leaving. And there were announcements of gatherings on the beach.

There was a beautiful sandy beach ahead of the boat, a short dinghy ride away, so as the winds calmed ever so slightly, I finally was able to touch land after 8 days on Easter Sunday morning. There was a nice walking path and we wanted to do something different as we were missing our family. The path led to an overlook above the raging sea, and the calmer aqua blue of the Elizabeth Harbor area. The path led to a small beach resort, and beach bar where we stopped for drinks and conch fritters (which ended up being Easter dinner). It felt great to stretch our legs. The following day, Easter Monday we took the dinghy into George Town, a sleepy one road town that was in the process of setting up many, many booths for the Family Sailing event. We watch cargo ships gently unloading beautifully polished sailing sloops. We wandered the streets, shopped the well stocked grocery store. Upon returning to the boat, we took the dinghy to Chat and Chill, an iconic beach bar and gathering spot, where we enjoyed an early dinner and confirmed our plan to move on the following day.

We lost our desire to explore much of the Exumas, as we notified our attorney of our arrival and began the process to re-flag the boat. Now we just want to move north and get home safely and without problems. We are justifiably nervous about the re-flagging and any potential unknown problems that may arise with Customs and Border Patrol (CBP). We sent a long letter to our attorney asking many questions and thankfully he is always quick to reply. The flag will switch after we leave the Bahamas, en route to the US and will require many changes, including our MMSI #(identification), so we will not be able to be tracked by anyone unless you plug in the new number. Our EPIRBS will be programmed to the wrong boat. We will have to re-link our new MMSI to our tracker. And we have been advised to arrive within a certain area (we think Savanah) where customs is a bit more laid back. So we are in the process of trying to get a marina slip in that area, not an easy thing to do because of many bridges and the height of our mast. In addition to our attorney, we have a documents agent handling the entry paperwork. And separately, we notify CBP via ROAM app of our personal arrival back to the US. Then within 48 hours, we need to apply to CBP for a cruiser permit, which comes with a whole set of requirements.

With so much on our minds, entering in and out of narrow cuts in the reef to explore hidden anchorages lost it's appeal so instead we planned to move 100 miles north to Eleuthera, another Bahamas island group with a good weather window. But, because we usually cannot sail that distance in daylight hours, we would sail overnight. And because we would be entering very shallow waters, timing of arrival was important, so an afternoon departure it would be. We untied from our mooring ball in the morning as required and traveled a short distance to anchor closer to the northern path to the sea. We calculated when the tide would be highest so that we would not have problems getting past shallow spots. The night brought mostly pleasant sailing with winds a bit higher than forecast so we kept shortening sail. Our chart plotter tells us estimated time of arrival, and recalculates it constantly according to our speed; 4 am arrival was definitely not wanted, so we rolled in our main completely to slow down. It was really lovely when the bottom half of Eleuthera blocked all wave action and we sailed in calm waters for several hours.

Eleuthera is long and narrow, and has a very shallow vast sound which makes sailing there like sailing in a swimming pool. It's mostly a sand bottom, very clear and the land offers protection from ocean waves. Boats like True North must follow the curve of the land to stay in deep enough waters. We arrived to Ten Bay beach and crept in slowly towards the shallows. We attempted to anchor two times but the anchor failed to sink into the hard packed bottom. We were pretty tired by this point, so not about to give up, advanced even further towards to beach to 3 meters of water (we draw 2.1) where I definitely could see the sand bottom mixed with a little turtle grass and the anchor finally held. A stunning beach with pine trees was so near, but we didn't get off the boat, instead left early the next morning for a northern anchorage where we'd be positioned close enough to make it through a cut out to sea the next morning during high tide. The anchorage near the Glass Window, also had beautiful sand beaches and beautiful homes scattered about but we arrived late in the afternoon after a nice sail in 20 knots of wind and set about relaxing and making dinner.

Early to bed was required as timing was everything the next morning to get through the cut at high tide, with the current in our favor flowing out to sea. Areas of the cut showed depths of only 1.9 which meant we'd hit bottom if we didn't get things correct. But to be sure, we left before dawn at 6 am and carefully sailed though coral heads to the very narrow cut. After getting through we dropped anchor in a convenient spot to leave in the morning to sail 60 miles to the next Bahamas group, the Abacos. We set about getting things ready for the passage, Mike filled the diesel from two spare jerry cans into the tanks, I worked on this blog, caught up with paperwork, and did some meal prep.

Kathy posed a question about where True North will live, will she have a dock? At this point we hope to arrive in Annapolis MD to Harrington Harbor North Marina and have True North put on land for along rest. We would like to get more solar installed, and have a few repairs made. We have both decided that full time cruising is too much time on the boat as we miss our family, friends and the ease of land life. So we will discuss over the winter our next plans. We do have some requirements around the cruiser permit and need to leave the country in a years time again. We probably won't have a dock until we can eventually import the boat to the US should the tariffs be lifted. Sailing some of the Great Lakes and exploring Canada might be the easiest path to fulfill cruiser permit requirements but we will study all angles over time.