As I started writing this post, I was admittedly bummed to not be in the Bahamas yet, and it was hard to watch the mass exodus when a weather window opened without experiencing a little FOMO. The last two years, we were able to cross during the holiday break and take some time to enjoy the islands. But you know what? It’s not the end of the world. Cruising is about adapting, letting go of schedules, and learning to embrace the experiences the journey sends your way – and we’ve had some great ones here. The weather’s been nicer (still wonky, but better than farther north!), we’ve gotten to meet some great new people and catch up with friends, and Windara finally feels like home again rather than a constant work zone.
When we arrived, finding a spot to anchor was a challenge – there hadn’t been a weather window to cross in weeks, and West Palm felt pretty darned full. We found a spot just off the Palm Beach Country Club – unfortunately when we got up in the morning, we realized we were entirely too close to our neighbor when the tide was running out, so we apologized (thankfully he was cool) and found a different spot a little farther west in the same area.
We had strong winds, and when we woke up on Christmas morning, the clearly-derelict steel ketch anchored near us had dragged down towards the boat behind it and was sitting over their anchor. There were a few dinghies out trying to push its stern aside so the boat could haul anchor, but it didn’t budge. We thought about going over to help, but we figured we’d be of little use given how big/heavy it was. They finally called Tow Boat, who was eventually able to push the ketch aside enough for the other boat to get to safety. They weren’t able to do anything about the dragging vessel, and we watched it continue to slowly slide back for another few hours until it finally seemed to grab. A few days later, in much lighter air, it slid right back to where it had started.
Celebrating the Holidays
We spent Christmas Eve day walking on the beach, got ice cream, and picked up ingredients for Christmas dinner. Christmas Day was chilly, windy and raw, so we stayed on the boat all day. We were a little bummed not to be able to have our traditional Christmas beach day, but we called home, texted with friends, and had a nice steak dinner.
My birthday was sunny and warm, and I got the lazy, chill day I’d been hoping for. Chris took the day off to celebrate with me, and we started the day with breakfast at Green’s Pharmacy followed by a walk on the ocean beach. It felt good to have sand between my toes, even if the water was on the chilly side. Later on, we made up lunch and snacks and headed to Peanut Island for a few hours of beach time. To end the day, Chris surprised me with dinner at Cucina.
On New Years Eve, Jim and Susan drove down to hang out. We debated heading downtown but decided to hang out on Windara at Rybovich Marina. One of the super yachts had a party with a DJ (who was actually pretty good) so we had music taken care of, we shared wine and cheese, and at midnight, we were treated to a crazy mix of private fireworks that lasted at least a half hour.
Watermaker Update
I’ve mentioned before that our watermaker has been the bane of our existence since it started acting up in Hope Town last year. Chris spent HOURS rebuilding it and troubleshooting with Halden Marine, and we exhausted the possibilities without having someone look at it. Since Halden is located in Florida, they said they’d send someone out when we got here, but we needed to be in a marina. We called around and the only place that had space was Safe Harbor Rybovich, which typically specializes in slightly larger yachts. It was a bit of a budget-buster, but we had access to a nice gym, on-site cafe, a shuttle that would take us anywhere in a 5 mile radius, and when we came back with a bunch of provisions, they drove us out to the boat in a golf cart.
The watermaker is now fixed, and it turned out to be one stupid little o-ring on the membrane housing end cap. Chris told the tech that he hadn’t seen it in any of the videos, to which he laughed and said, “yeah, it’s not in the videos,” and it was missing when we took the unit apart. So while it was a simple fix in the end, there was no way we would have known. After this whole ordeal, though, Chris now knows the watermaker inside and out.
Social Scene
The unexpected upshot to being forced to take it slow this year is that we got to meet so many more people stateside! We’re usually in port for a week while we work and on the go on weekends, so the US is a little more isolating for us. But this year, we’ve gotten to meet people from various digital communities we’re part of as well as making friends with dock neighbors.
A few friends mentioned that The Boat Galley was hosting a get-together at a local bar so we decided to go, and I’m glad we did! We met so many interesting people and made some new friends. I’m constantly reminded how awesome the cruising community is – people we’d only just met offered up their cars, laundry, or whatever else we may need while we were in town. Over the next couple weeks, we had lunch a couple times with Leigh and Austin on Alibi II, dinner with David from Rising Sun, and drinks with Chris who’s a local yacht manager. One of Chris’s former co-workers came to visit with her family, and we enjoyed catching up over dinner at the Sailfish Club and having them out to the boat.
After we left Rybovich, we anchored out by Peanut Island (in hopes that we’d be able to take our morning walks there, which didn’t end up happening). Once we were anchored, we got a text from our friend Evan from St. Augustine – we unknowingly anchored right behind them, and he joined us for sundowners. Today, we brought the boat in to anchor right off the city docks and ended up beside our friends on County Girl who had been slip neighbors in St. Augustine and got to catch up briefly. It’s still so funny to me how often things like that happen!
Weather
We had a few big blows come through while we were here, which seems to be par for the course this season. One system that came through was particularly gnarly for the entire east coast, spawning several tornados north of us. We debated moving the boat downtown for better protection, but the anchorage between the bridges was pretty full and we heard there’d been a boat dragging around. While we were relatively exposed from the south where we were, all of our neighbors were fellow cruisers – there weren’t any derelicts in our immediate area – and since we’d already ridden out one 30+kt blow there, we knew we were set pretty well. Winds started gusting up on overnight, enough that Chris and I chose to stand anchor watch in addition to setting an anchor alarm. I knew I wasn’t going to sleep well anyway, so may as well keep an eye out in case we, or someone else anchored near us, started to drag. The night passed without incident, but the next day continued to howl away. It finally started to settle in the evening, but the system threw one last hurrah with intense thunderstorms both north and south of us – we got off easy with some big gusts and heavy rain. On the plus side, we were treated to lots of beautiful sunrises and sunsets!
Final Departure Prep
We’ve been watching the weather like hawks, (both due to the intense weather and in hopes of finding our chance to cross) and there were only a couple windows while we’ve been here. We were waiting for a weekend window, but we were chatting about crossings with Leigh and Austin over brunch, and they talked us into taking the mid-week window we’d been jealously watching. We’ve never traveled on a school night, so to speak, but this narrow window was too good to pass up, as weekend conditions continue to look poor. We were positively giddy with the prospect of FINALLY being able to cross… it almost felt surreal to have a departure date in mind.
First thing this morning, we fueled up and anchored off the city docks so we could take Jack for his appointment at Clematis Animal Clinic (highly recommended if you’re in need of a vet in this area for your pet’s Bahamas health certificate) and do a final provision run. We’d been provisioning bit by bit since Charleston, so we didn’t have a ton to get. Everything is prepped and we’re about to haul anchor for the last time in the US.
Getting to this point this year has been an exercise in patience and going with the flow. We’ve adopted the mantra “misery is optional” (thanks to our wonderful mentors on Sailing Totem) and sat for weeks waiting for better weather for our passages. We’ve learned to let the journey take us where (and when) it may, and we’ve had a blast doing so. It’s crazy to think that by this time tomorrow, we’ll be in the Bahamas.
