2023 Bahamas - What I learned

 Someone during the trip told me that Bahamas comes from the Spanish phrase "Baja mar", shallow sea. And this trip definitely highlighted that. There were many places on the chart that said: "shifting sands", meaning that the chart was unreliable and you shouldn't keep going. Similarly, this was the only trip I've been on where I've actually had to change direction during a channel crossing when I realized that the bottom was too shallow. Couple that with tides and unusually difficult anchoring and harbor entrances and this is definitely not a sailing location a beginner should visit.

The snorkeling on Sandy Cay was nothing short of amazing, as was Snake Cay, which surprisingly was hardly mentioned in the guide or chart briefing! Mermaid Reef was meh, and the wrecks near Rat Cay were ok. Fish Hotel was definitely a disappointment, as was witch point. We discovered that Fowl Cay is probably a summer/late spring destination, as all mooring balls described in the book were missing and the surface so rough that the dingy was taking on water. That was probably why the local dive outfit wanted $1200 for a visit!

This visit completely destroyed my view of the Bahamas. I thought that it was a popular cruise ship destination, and that the place would be crowded and full of parties. I don't know how much of the Abacos was popular before Dorian, but years after Dorian it's clear that cruise ships don't visit the area, and the sailing is so challenging that 5 boats at Sandy Cay constitutes a crowd. We saw plenty of sail boats, but it's nowhere as crowded as the BVIs, and nobody even tried to anchor near us in a crowded anchorage or in an anchorage where there was only room for one, indicating that most of the sailors knew what they were doing.

I'm curious as to what the rest of the Bahamas is like and whether it's quite different from what we experienced. On the other hand, as skipper the Bahamas isn't quite a chill-out experience so you'd pretty much have to have your act together all the time. The water is cooler which made mosquitoes less of a problem but when the wind dies you get biting gnats which can be just as bad!

All in all, when I think back about it this was a very good trip. While we backtracked more than necessary and wasted time at bad places, we made very good decisions such as not staying at Little Harbor overnight. We probably should have spent more time at Hope Town and Snake Cay, and I should have pre-planned the route on the dinghy tour at Snake Cay better, but all in all we had a great time!

2023 Bahamas - Nov 26th: Anna Cay to Man O'War Cay

I got up at 5:30, cooked and ate a quick breakfast, and hurried to grab the paddleboard before the kids got hold of it. It turned out I didn't have to worry --- they were feeling too lazy to fight me for it. I paddleboarded around the area, visiting houses along the shore as well as Ana Cay, where a huge mansion was under construction with piers already there marked "Private".

The plan today was to visit Fowl Cay and make another attempt to snorkel there. The book listed no less than 16 mooring balls, with 6 of them marked missing to give the air of confidence. We started motoring and then realized that the wind had stiffened to about 15 knots, which meant we could sail! As we sailed we passed Man O' War Cay and started scouting locations to spend the night.

Anchoring at Fowl Cay, things looked promising as there were already two Catamarans anchor'd out there. The dive checked felt good as well, there was still surge but nowhere as bad as what we felt a few days earlier.

Getting out the dinghy, we loaded everyone and the snorkel gear into the dinghy, coaxing the kids as well. We turned the corner on the island after passing all the anchor'd Catamarans and discovered that the waves were still so high that the dinghy started taking on water. We looked for mooring balls but didn't see any. Eventually we took on so much water that we gave up and turned around. One of the other Catamarans had weighed anchor and was leaving, but at the other one which looked like they had a professional crew, they told us that all the mooring balls were gone. "You have to go all the way out to the reef where the big waves are and drop a dinghy anchor. If you wait, we'll go out there and you can follow us." We didn't have a bailer so we had to go to the Katja to get bucket out to bail the dinghy sufficiently to the point where we could get it onto the davits! We were discouraged, as it didn't seem like it would be safe to do this even with a professional crew out there to mark the way. I also had no confidence in the dinghy's puny anchor holding up against the surge.

The kids were elated as they had decided they didn't enjoy snorkeling. We raised the dinghy, taking the time to drain it out as much as possible while we debated what to do. We still had time to go to Snake Cay or Sandy Cay, but that wouldn't leave much time. We were all pretty tired. I proposed we visited the main town (XXX) in Man O'War Cay. It being a Sunday everything would be closed, but there was a path to the Atlantic side where we could take a look.

The habor entrance was incredibly narrow, requiring precise alignment with the "No Wake" sign inside the harbor. There were no depth concerns as the approach was deep, but this was not something for a novice --- fortunately in my youth, docking in narrow Sausalito slips in difficult conditions at night on a monohull had given me confidence.

We made it into the harbor, picked up a mooring ball, ate lunch, and then dropped the dinghy for a visit. This town was nowhere near as picturesque as Hope Town, but there was a street to the Atlantic, and we took it. Once again, we had the beach all to ourselves, walking the length of it and back. The town had a big shipbuilding business, and had been one for more than a couple of centuries.

After the walk, we made the call to just anchor in the northern most cove of Man O'War Cay, where we had seen a beautiful beach at the narrowest point ono the island. It looked like it could be a good place to spend our last evening with a Beam Reach back to Marsh Harbor to return Katja the next day, There were 3 other boats anchor'd out at DIckie's Bay, but there was nothing in that location to do, so we opted for the difficult cove instead.

Doing all this was easier said than done, of course. First off, the exit from XXX harbor was just as difficult as the entrance, and at close to low tide, more than a little harrowing. I relied on Arturo and Mark to help guide me while exiting. The northern most Cove on Man O' War Cay was difficult because there were powerlines that you had to avoid hitting with your anchor, which was why you had to be inside the cove before laying down the hook.

Even laying down the hook once I was done with difficult manuevering was not easy. We tried 3 times in 2 different anchoring spots before the anchor caught. However, Arturo had so little confidence that he told me not to join him in the dive check. "This feels like that time at Witch's Point!" he said. "Then if it doesn't work out, swim around and identify good anchorages. "How far in can we go?" "Not that far!" Arturo swam out to the anchor and immediately crossed his hands in the air. He swam around the cove and identified a patch of send that could serve as good anchorage. I waited for him to come aboard before we weighed anchor one last time. Arturo's judgement was sound: this time the anchor caught with no ado.

I noticed that the other side of Man 'O War Cay was marked with reefs. "Maybe it'll be good snorkeling there!" Katie and Mark went first, swimming to the beach and then walking over. By the time I got to the beach, Mark had scoped it out. "No good. Surge too much and there's really nothing to see." We settled in for some relaxation. Boen first paddleboarded to shore, then Bowen did. There was a bunch of shells that had been polished and left in the shelter straddling the Atlantic and the Sea of Abacos. One of them could be blown like a trumpet and Boen succeeded in doing so.

Once Bowen heard about that ashore he decided he would paddle to shore and pick up the conch to bring home. He actually succeeded in doing so but not without help from Arturo. The wind and waves were just strong enough to make maneuvering and pointing the paddleboard challenging.

We all made the best of our last full day, relaxing and eating the rest of the food aboard. We started sorting out all the stuff in the salon according to who owned what and started backing up photos to the laptop we had brought for that purpose.

2023 Bahamas Index Page

 From November 18th to Nov 27th, we chartered a 42' Lagoon named Katja in the Abacos, Bahamas for an 8 day sailing cruise. It was our first time in the area, and my first time in the Bahamas for any reason whatsoever. This is the index page for the day to day travelogues as well as photographs, thoughts and various equipment reviews.

• Link to Photo Album
• Sunrise Conch
• Manta Ray on Nunjack Cay
• Reef Shark at Sandy Cay

Day By Day Trip Report

• November 18th: Prologue
• November 19th: Conch Inn Marina to Baker's Bay, Great Guana Cay
• November 20th: Baker's Bay, Great Guana Cay to Rat Cay
• November 21st: Rat Cay to Coco Bay, Green Turtle Cay
• November 22nd: Coco Bay to Mermaid Reef, Great Abaco Island
• November 23rd: Mermaid Reef to Snake Cay
• November 24th: Snake Cay to Lynyard Cay
• November 25th: Lynyard Cay to Anna Cay
• November 26th: Anna Cay to Man O'War Cay
• November 27th: Man O'War Cay to Marsh Harbor

Reflection and Reviews

• What I learned in the Bahamas
• Fenix 7 Pro Sapphire Solar
• Long Term Review: Anker Battery/USB Adapter for Resmed AirMini

2023 Bahamas: Nov 25th - Lynyard Cay to Anna Cay

 

In the morning, the kids played Uber a couple of times while I swam and looked through the book. A snorkel spot named "Fish Hotel" caught my eye. Sandy Cay was on the way there, and I suggested that as our first stop. Wind was light, and despite the early hour, there was already a sailboat anchored off the island. I eschewed anchoring in the deep water and parked at the same place as the day before, where I was the only boat. It took 3 tries to get the boat to anchor, but a dive check upon the successful attempt turned out nothing untoward.

We scrambled to get the dinghy out but the boys balked and Xiaoqin elected to stay with them. This time, we remembered to start the generator and water maker during our snorkel. Taking the dinghy out, we parked at the same mooring ball before as Arturo said it was the best one.  Upon getting into the water, some other snorkelers waved at us and made the sign for a shark! Indeed there was a shark! We watched the shark chase two mating fishes around --- he probably wasn't hungry enough to really nail one to eat them --- all he was was disturb their mating behavior.

Marcie cried "Turtle!" and indeed a curiuos turtle had swam up to her. This turtle was the least purturbed by people that I had ever encountered --- it even let Katherine and I touch him. This was shaping to be a fabulous snorkel --- the surge was less than the day before and I wasn't cold at all. We swam around and explored more of the reef. "Every mooring ball is good!" said Arturo. After a while we realized that we didn't know where Niniane was. It was about 20 minutes into the snorkel so I suggested we started heading slowly towards the boat. I wasn't worried about Niniane --- she'd explored reefs on her own before and was a certified open water diver. But accidents can happen. We made it into the dinghy and looked around a bit before someone spotted Niniane. She saw everyone on the dinghy and started heading back.

With everyone back on the Katja, we put up the dinghy and were off just as more boats descended onto Sandy Cay. Fish Hotel was on Tilloo Cay, a narrow strip of an island that boasted many treacherous channels. We drove in and anchored off Tavern Cay. The dive check went well, but when we swam in search of the Fish Hotel, we saw a couple of tree trunks with a bunch of inverted jelly fish and some fish using the dead trees as a coral. Visibility was terrible and the surge was none too comfortable. After that disappointing snorkel, we debated what to do next. We were originally going to visit Hopetown the next day, but since we were all snorkeled out, a visit to hope town for lunch seemed in order.

We turned on the motor and started motoring up the straights but were soon in shallow water. A quick look at the cruising guide suggested that there was a way to get through, but I no longer trusted the book. We turned around and raised the sail, and started sailing to the other side of the straits. Once on the other side, I discovered that the Katja didn't do a good job sailing into the wind, and the straits were too narrow to keep going. After a little bit of attempting to sail in light wind, we gave up, dropped the sails, and motored into Hopetown harbor at 3:15pm It took several tries to pick up a Mooring ball, but we did pick one up and used the public dinghy dock.

Hopetown was picturesque in the little bit we explored, finding Vernon's grocery store. Vernon was an old man who was proud of the store and was famous for his key lime pies. He didn't display those, however, only bringing out one when we asked! We bought banana bread and Boen and Bowen each got a muffin. On the way out we bought a six pack of diet coke at $1.10 each, which seemed absurdly expensive but keeping everyone caffeinated seemed like a good idea. Niniane said she was going to stay in Hope Town for 4 days after the sailing cruise was over and took the opportunity to explore while Arturo, Xiaoqin, Bowen and I took the treasures back to the boat.

"How long do we have?" "We should leave by 4:30pm, latest." "OK, everyone staying, please be at the dinghy dock by 4:15pm." We took everything back, and then drove to the dinghy dock to find no one there and dropped off at the Elbow Cay Reef lighthouse. Then we saw others waiting at the dinghy dock and drove over to pick everyone up.

Arturo went to get ice (despite the closed sign on the marina office), while the rest of us walked up the Elbow Reef lighthouse from whence we got glorious views of the area in the late afternoon light. The lighthouse was the last manually operated kerosene lamp lighthouse in North Ameica. The mechanism had to be rewound by hand every 2 hours, and the light while dim by modern standards was still useful.

Leaving the lighthouse reluctantly by 4:30pm, we maneuvered out into the harbor after dropping mooring ball. It was getting late and I didn't feel like risking visiting Man O'War Cay right away and getting to do a dive check in the dark. Instead, I headed to my backup location, which was right off Ana Cay at about 6' of water. We anchored with no problems and the dive check revealed a solidly held anchor.

We got out the paddleboard and while there was a current it wasn't too bad --- the kids could play in this in the fading light. Dinner was Louis and Arturo's special --- Pasta, Sausages, and Vegetables mixed. I was still hungry after dinner and opened up a can of spam and ate much of it.

Stargazing was marred by clouds, a nearly full moon, and missing meteor showers. But since we were so close, we could see the Elbow Reef Lighthouse operating in its full glory, bright enough to be seen but not blinding.

2023 Bahamas: November 24th Snake Cay to Lynyard Cay

In the morning, while waiting for others to finish breakfast, I realized that the winds were calm enough that breaking out the paddleboard made sense. I got it out and pumped up the paddleboard and took it for a spin around the area. Paddle boarding is like having a bicycle on the water, with wind and current taking the place of hills. To my surprise Bowen and Boen (especially Boen) took an interest in paddle boarding and took it out for a spin as well. They had shown little interest in paddle boarding in previous years but I guess they finally felt comfortable enough to try it!

The dinghy tour had to be done before low tide at 10:00am, so we departed promptly at 8:00am around the corner where the cars were. Even at mid-tide, there were still many shallow spots. But this place was amazing --- there were turtles galore, and a sting ray jumped out of the water 3 times during our visit. I had tried to memorize the route the night before, but what I should have done should have been to create a course on Garmin connect and download it into the watch. Nevertheless, while we got lost several times, we managed to backtrack and make our way out of there by 9:30am after being much enamored by the sights of the salt marsh.

The boys took some time playing with the paddleboard again, and then it was time to pick up anchor and motor over to Sandy Cay, which promised good snorkeling. We anchor'd on the leeward side of Sandy Cay, where there were already 2 boats waiting. We noticed that on the other side of the Cay, where the sand was deep (25', necessitating a 150' anchor rode), there were more boats and lots of dinghys tied to various mooring balls. This place was crowded but that usually meant great snorkeling. We put down the dinghy and loaded everyone with their snorkel gear on it, and once the first few swimmers were in the water they all said "wow". This was the best snorkel spot we would find for the entire trip.

The others saw spotted Rays, but I missed it, since we had to spend much time convincing the boys to go into the water. Even then, it didn't take 20 minutes before they headed back to the dinghy.

When we were all done we debated what to do. We looked at the tide tables and realized that we could make mid-tide entry into Little Harbor and get out again and not be trapped in there overnight. We made with haste to the harbor entrance, though not without observing a couple of coves on Lynyard Cay that looked like it would make for a good overnight spot. At Little Harbor, we negotiated the entrance with 3' of bottom to spare, picking up mooring balls for the first time. The boys made use of their new found skill with the paddleboard to paddleboard to Pete's while the rest of us dingy'd over. The walk to the ruined lighthouse was recommended by the book as was snorkeling off the beach, but when we walked to the lighthouse we were disappointed by the views. I'd say that the visit only netted us the opportunity to leave a couple of garbage bags for the hefty price of $10 each.

After departing Little Harbor, we debated between Bridges Cay, the Bight of Old Robinson, and Lynyard Cay, but decided that the conditions were settled enough that Lynyard Cay was likely to net fewer mosquitoes than the alternatives. There were two other boats already in the cove, but we settled in between them with plenty of sea room between us. The wind and current were so calm in the cove that the kids could get out the paddleboard and row to the beach, scaring away the poor folks who had it all to themselves prior to our arrival. The kids played an elaborate game of Uber, where Boen would pick up Bowen, drop him off at the beach (where he would look for coconuts or conch shells), and then Bowen would shout for Boen, and Boen would come and pick him up in the paddleboard. Bereft of transportation, I got out my goggles and swam to shore without fins just for a workout.

The sunset was gorgeous. The stargazing was marred by the increasingly bright and full moon.

2023 Bahamas: Nov 23rd Mermaid Reef Great Abacos to Snake Cay

 I looked in the book and decided Snake Cay was worth a visit. Not only was it marked as having good snorkeling, the cruising guide also had a special insert map noting a dinghy tour that would be worth doing at mid to high tide. Along the way was Witch Point, which was also designated as a place that had potentially good snorkeling. None of this was mentioned during the chart briefing, and I was starting to form a poor opinion of the briefing staff at Navigare yacthing.

We first attempted to sail for 2 hours, going along at around 2-5 knots. As we headed south the wind was so light that we couldn't come about, so we dropped the sails and turne don the engines. Motoring down along the coast was straightforward, but unlike nearly anywhere else in the Caribbean I've sailed, there were lots of markings on the chart about shallow sands, shifting sands and other no-go zones. Unique amongst the places I'd visited, the cruising guide provided waypoints and markers and photos of harbor entrances so you would get grounded. Under motor this is no big deal, but under sail you would be constantly changing tack.

At  witch point, we dropped anchor. It took us two tries before the anchor caught. Arturo and I did the dive check and discovered that the anchor wasn't dug into the ground, but had caught against a vegetation root instead. It was holding, but no way would I consider it acceptable for an overnight stay. Out of an abundance of caution we decided that either Arturo or I could snorkel but not both --- one of us had to be on the boat at all times in case the anchor gave way and the boat started drifting. We told everyone to be on alert --- if the engine turned on and revved 3 times that means it was time to come back as quickly as possible. We'd turn the engine off immediately and let the anchor reset itself.

Arturo went first to scout the reef. He came back and reported that the snorkeling was disappointing but the folks had spotted turtles. We went, but didn't go very far before the kids complained about being cold. Fortunately, the anchor held throughout our short stay. Once everyone came back aboard we motor'd on to Snake Cay.

Snake Cay looked far more interesting --- at the anchorage there was no one else there, but we could see that there was some sort of ruined piers that were previously there. The anchor easily hooked the bottom at the designated spot, and after the anchor check Arturo and I went to scout the snorkeling along the pier. These were metal pillars that had holes in them that looked like they could give you tetanus. There were no less than 6 lion fish, and plenty to look at. But after we went around the corner in the narrow channel between Snake Cay and Deep Sea Cay, we found no less than 4 cars in the water that had so much fish using them as homes that we immediately knew we had to go back and fetch everyone else.

We would much later discover that even though it looked like a military base of some sort, this used to be the headquarters of a logging operation. Having ran out of wood, the base became abandoned, but we never found anything about why there were cars in the water. Past the cars, the current became strong, so we returned to the boat to prepare a traditional Thanksgiving dinner, with a vegetarian turkey which this time had a snorkel but no mask. Arturo grilled chicken as well as some pasta. It was a huge feast but we did a good job of eating most of it. As the primary fridge freed up we would move food from the bad fridge into it.

At stargazing time, I saw two shooting stars. Bowen read that there were supposed to be meteor showers 2 nights from now. We made a note to be in a dark place that night.

2023 Bahamas: Nov 22 Coco Bay, Green Turtle Cay to Mermaid Reef, Great Abaco Island

 We woke up early again to make the crossing. The seas were calmer, enough so that we thought we could make another crack at Fowl Cay. However, there were a few provisions that we were missing and we needed to re-provision, so we decided to do a put in at Great Guana Cay at Grabbers for lunch. There was much debate as to whether there was a place to reprovision --- Google said that the supermarket was closed, but looking at how crowded the harbor was at Delia’s Cay, I couldn't believe it --- with a restaurant and multiple services there must be some way to buy groceries on the island.  The alternative would have been to visit Treasure Cay but that was a long sail, not to mention I dreaded putting in at a crowded Marina where we would be at risk of mosquitoes. We put in at anchor with 2 other boats watching. I asked one of them whether there were groceries and they said it was an easy walk from Grabbers to the market.

We put in the dinghy and took garbage onto shore, where Grabbers had multiple garbage containers where we could dump garbage without having to pay for it --- unusual in the Carribean where garbage fees could be as high as $10 a bag. We walked over looking for the general store but walked past it until we hit the dive shop, where they directed us back towards the liquor store. Arturo took the opportunity to ask about diving --- Dive Guana's proprietor told us that it would be a custom charter: $1200 for 5 of us for a two tank dive, and he could meet us at Fowl Cay the next day --- today was out of the question as he was already booked. $1200 was way above the normal top end price of $200 for a 2 tank dive, so we declined.

We walked past the general store a second time before being corrected by Katherine who was paying way more attention than I was. At the general store we bought fruits, more diet coke, ice, pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving dinner, and various chocolate that wouldn't last long in the presence of Boen.

Arturo and I would make a quick run to the boat to dump the stuff we bought. We realized that one of the refrigerators onboard didn't work at all, so we'd have to buy another bag of ice. After lunch at grabbers, which had excellent food --- Rosie had highly recommended it and she was not wrong. We bought more ice and reboarded the Katja to motor over to Fowl Cay.

We anchor'd at Fowl Cay, and at the dive check discovered that the anchor was well dug in, but the surge was so violent that it would put Arturo at risk when loading or unloading the dinghy. I made the executive call to not attempt to even unload the dinghy there, but the question was where would we go? I desperately wanted to go Snorkeling and looked in the Cruising guide where Arturo had noted (another case where I hadn't paid enough attention or written sufficiently detailed notes) that Mermaid Reef, which was right outside Marsh Harbor was noted by Rosie as a good spot for snorkeling to visit.

It was a headwind, so we just motor'd there against the wind
, approaching the reef at around 3:30pm. The wind was dying and Arturo's forecast website noted that tomorrow was likely to be a motoring day. After the obligatory anchor check, we swam to the reef, which was marked by a single red dive buoy. It was a long swim, but the reef had sufficient life to justify the visit, and it wasn't too surgey. I even spotted a turtle on the way to the reef, and others spotted Mantas and other wildlife.

We dinghy'd the boys over, but they balked at spending much time at the reef and Boen gave us a hard time about pulling him aboard the dinghy and blistering his lower stomach while doing so.

Dinner once again was Hamburger. With the wind behind us, we expected the location to be bug free but the wind died enough during the evening that mosquitoes and biting gnats visited! We beat a quick retreat after stargazing time to avoid being bitten but it wasn't entirely successful --- Xiaoqin got the worst of it, being much yummier than gnats and mosquitoes than I am.

2023 Bahamas - Nov 19th: Conch Inn Marina to Baker's Bay, Great Guana Cay

 

 Being jet-lagged and worn out from the red-eye flight, we woke up at the late hour of  7:00am. I made some coffee and ate a bagel, and then ran around preparing to go to the boat briefing when Rosie, the base manager came along and told us that the chart briefing wasn't until 8:30am. Unlike other companies where the briefer would just sit down with you and figure out what you like and how to customize an itinerary just for you, Navigare had a standard briefing complete with slides. While waiting for the briefing, I discovered that we didn't have a paddleboard and arranged to pay for one.  We had asked for one previously but turned out that they had no records and it turned out that our yacht broker didn't actually convey our request nor had we paid for it. I paid for the paddleboard and it turned out that $200 got me an inflatable paddleboard in a neat compact package that we stowed away easily.

At the briefing proper, Rosie didn't seem to know a lot about snorkeling and dive sites. She seemed to care a lot about which beaches to go to, how to enter harbors (which later turned out to be well justified), and which towns to visit. We kept telling her that we wanted away from noisy anchorages and mosquitoes, and she said: "You're asking too much!" We were given tips on feeding the pigs on Noname Cay, how to buy squid to feed the mantas on Nunjack Cay (which immediately was followed by instructions on where to store the squid so it wouldn't stink up the boat --- which led to me deciding that was way too much work to bother with). We were given boundaries --- the idea was that they could provide service/rescue within those boundaries, which were big enough to explore for about a week. I asked about visiting the Exumas and was told that it was 2 days of sailing each way, which was too far. Interestingly enough, the Bahamas was far North enough, and close enough to the Atlantic ocean that there were tides! This mattered for a few things: first, while anchoring you had to do the math to add up to 3 feet more to the depth in order to calculate scope. Secondarily, there were harbors where you needed at least half tide to traverse the entrace (the Katja had 4' 1" draft, which was much shallower than most monohulls, but the entrance to Little Harbor, for instance, was 3' 6" at mean low water!). This would also turn out to be a limiting factor for dinghy exploration as well!

There was also the crossing from Great Guana Cay/Whale Cay/Noname Cay. There was a treacherous patch between them that could be avoided by crossing on the Atlantic side, but that would subject the crew to rough water, and we should do it under relatively calm conditions. There was also the possibility of getting stuck there if weather/conditions worsened and we had to return the boat, so we should do it early.

After the chart briefing came the boat briefing. We were told unusually enough that we didn't have to check the engine oil every day. "Our engines are serviced every 200 hours!" the technician said proudly. We were taught how to operate the watermaker, the anchors, the sails and the power panel.Interestingly, there was no checklist, and the signoff was all electronic. The generator had to be run 3 hours a day to fill the watermaker, and it was enough to recharge the batteries if we didn't run the engines at all.

After the boat briefing we were ready to go, and set off at 11:00am. We got out of the habor, and set sail immediately for Fowl Cay, where there was promise of good snorkeling. But on the way there, Arturo spied at the island through binoculars and said that it looked too rough for any feasible snorkeling. We changed direction to Spoil Cay, where we could at least get a swim in and there were sea shells to be found --- Spoil Cay was off the dredged channel for use with the cruise ships back when Great Guano Cay was a cruise ship destination (before Dorian destroyed all the cruise ship facilities)

We anchor'd off Spoil Cay and snorkeled ashore, where indeed, beautiful shells could be found, but there was actually nothing to see in the water. After that, it was pretty late, and we motor'd across the channel, where we anchored in about 8' of water for the night. I did my first dive check of the trip and was satisfied. Arturo set up the grill and grilled hamburgers for dinner while we got used to the boat systems, water generation, and diving for the anchor for an anchor check. After dinner there was the customary star gazing, though we noted that the moon was waxing and our opportunities would decrease over the course of the trip.

I slept for about 10 hours, having not fully recovered from jet lag from the sleep the night before.

2023 Bahamas: Nov 18th Prologue

 The thing with planning a trip a year ahead is that by the time you have to execute it you forgot how you ended up booking a place like Marsh Harbor. I think we had 2 boats available, one in Nassau, and one in Marsh Harbor, and Marsh Harbor wasn't just cheaper, but it was a place Arturo hadn't been to before. Prior to the flight, United changed our flights a few times, to the point where while we were supposed to all arrive together at 1:15pm when we booked the flights, we ended up being separated from the rest of the group and being supposed to arrive at 4:15pm. Even that was in question as our plane was delayed in Fort Lauderdale, and the pilot told everyone to hurry up and sit down as he wanted to arrive at Marsh Harbor before 6:00pm when the airport closed!

Nevertheless, we landed at 6:15pm and the airport stayed open for us. We zipped through customs and immigration far more easily than in most other countries I've been to, and it wasn't more than 15 minutes to get our luggage, get into a taxi, and head over to Conch Inn Marina, where we were told that the boat we had booked, Belight, had had generator problems, and we had been given a new boat instead, Katja. The new boat had a watermaker, which was a nice upgrade --- we were planning to have 9 people on the boat, and without a watermaker we'd be putting in at port every couple of days to refill the tank. The generator let us trade diesel for water, which wasn't a bad thing. What was strange was that the Katja flushed freshwater in the toilets --- the reasoning being that salt water would gum up the pipes eventually. Clearly once you have a water maker on the boat you're expected to use it. As it was, we would end the trip using up 42 gallons of diesel, running the generator for 3 hours a night to make enough water for all of us to shower.

Having arrived late, the rest of the crew had thankfully already provisioned the boat, walking to the supermarket 20 minutes away and then hiring a taxi to cart everything back. One thing that we had neglected to do was bring coffee beans and a grinder! I'd brought the aeropress though, so Arturo had bought pre-ground coffee. There was a list of additional items to buy for the next morning, but it wasn't very big, and the folks who weren't involved in sailing the boat proper could do it.

Along with my family and Arturo, Niniane was joining us for the third time, and both Mark and Arturo had their sisters along! We had dinner at Colors, which had good but expensive food served in a casual environment. I noted that because the wind was so strong there were no mosquitoes!

What I would also discover the next morning was that the boat also had a broken gas alarm that kept going off if you ran the stove. Fortunately, Navigare's technicians were competent and fixed it before we left. We were told that the previous charter had removed the fuse to eliminate the annoying noise!

2022 Spanish Virgin Islands: Punta Arenas to Punta Del Rey Marina

 Waking up pre-civil twilight, I did my morning routine, making coffee for everyone, including one last pancake for Boen. By first light, everyone was awake and ready to raise anchor and set sail. Weighing anchor was easy, and raising sail was also easy because of the light wind. In fact, once the sails were up I started worrying about whether that 2.5 hour journey would end up being much longer, since we did no better than 3 knots!

Fortunately, once we cleared Punta Arenas the wind picked up significantly. It also changed direction frequently, requiring us to constantly adjust our sails and course as we tried to head up as much as we could to avoid having to come about. We got to see sunrise from the Yamuy, and constantly adjusted the auto-pilot. At one point the auto-pilot started to give CAN bus errors, and we'd have to sail manually while the darn thing rebooted itself.

To our surprise, the wind picked up and gave us 5-6 knots of speed, and by the time we rounded Cabeza De Perro, we were doing the better part of 7 knots and debating whether we had time to sail further so as not to arrive at the marina too early! We called the Sail Caribe and they said they would be waiting for us so we sailed directly to the harbor entrance, dropping sails at the last minute and then motoring in slowly to give ourselves time to mount the docklines and fender lines so we were ready to dock at the fuel dock.

At the fuel dock, we were greeted by the crew members and I was relinquished of the responsibility for the sailboat. The diesel bill turned out to be $94, surprising Arturo and I as well as the dock crew. "Did you sail alot?" asked the crew to Arturo. "As much as we could for the last 3-4 days, but we ran the generator every night to make water." It was a gratifyingly cheap diesel bill.

The crew cast off, turned the boat around, and immediately docked opposite the fuel dock, surprising me. We were plugged in with the AC turned on and told that the dock taxi would be here to pick us up 15 minutes before our taxi arrived. There was nothing to do but clean up the boat, get our $500 cash deposit returned, and eat lunch. It was Xiaoqin's birthday and Google was kind enough to grant us such an amazing deal on a trade-in that she got a new Pixel 7 for her birthday.

The offboarding onto the taxi went without incident, as did Arturo's departure at the airport. Our sailing trip was over.

2022 Spanish Virgin Islands: Bahia Isla Chiva to Punta Arena

 We had a leisurely breakfast, turned on the engines, and raised the sail. With a tail wind behind us, we easily made 5 knots past the tip of Vieques, going 3 miles out to dump the septic tanks again, before turning into a beam reach and arriving at Punta Arena in less than 3 and a half hours. Upon arrival, the point seemed to be filled with boats, but we would later find that one boat after another would depart, leaving us with only 2 other boats to share the bay with. What got us to stay despite the apparent crowd was that most of the boats looked like they would not support anyone on it staying overnight, so we were confident that it wouldn't be a loud party.

We dropped anchor in 15' of water, and snorkeled around in what looked like mediocre water. The water was calm, however, making me eager to make use of the paddleboard. To deliver the kids to the beach. I discovered that the approach to the beach was very steep, so ended up delivering Bowen and Boen to separate parts of the beach as I found a better entry later. I decided I join the snorkelers, but the snorkeling was fairly mediocre.

The beach was unlike any of the other beaches we'd seen in the Spanish Virgin Islands: the sand was coarse and easy to clean off. We walked the length of the beach heading South, and unlike the beach at Bahia Isla Chiva we pretty much had it to ourselves, as one boat after another pulled off --- the only other sailboat, a Catamaran, pulled off to join a BBQ on Puerto Rico proper.

When we were done, I swam back to the boat, got out the paddleboard and ferry'd the kids back to the sailboat, making them jump from the paddleboard to swim the last 10 yards so that they'd be sand free when they got to the swim ladder. I then used the paddleboard to explore more of the Bay to the North, and found some places that looked quite a bit clearer. It would have been a pain, however, to move the boat, since the coral was interspersed with sand, making it tricky to find a good place to anchor.

Arturo and I went snorkeling to see if the snorkeling was any better --- it was indeed a lot better, and he spotted lots of stuff, but I was tired and the visibility still wasn't great --- the water had looked much better from the paddleboard than it did from snorkeling. Besides, we had to pack! The next morning had to be an early start as we had been warned that it took 2.5 hours of sailing from Punta Arenas back to Punta Del Rey Marina. We extracted all the luggage out of one of the V-berths after showering, and started packing away everything that could be packed.

That evening, we enjoyed our last beautiful sunset from the beach, had dinner, and did a little bit of star gazing before clouds came over and occluded our views. I would wake up in the middle of the night to pee and would see one last shooting star in the early morning before waking up for real the next morning.

2022 Spanish Virgin Islands: Esperanza to Bahia de Isla Chiva

 I looked through the guidebook and realized that there was an anchorage we had bypassed on the way to Esperanza, which was Bahia de Isla Chiva, which supposedly had good snorkeling. Sure, we'd have to do some motoring, but after the long day yesterday and dropping off Niniane and Dan this morning, we could go there, drop anchor, and check it out. If we found it good, we could stay there, otherwise we could sail to Point Arenas and not be worse for where.

Dropping Niniane and Dan off turned out not to be so dramatic --- despite the luggage (and they'd taken a lot of the non-perishables off our hands), when the dinghy wasn't loaded with extraneous people (i.e., my family), once they could get Niniane and Dan off they could just hand the luggage over without any drama or even tying the dinghy to the dock! So after all that, the dinghy was back on the Yamuy's davits by 9:30am, and we motor'd over to Bahia de Isla Chiva.

We were the only boat at that location, so we anchor'd in about 15' of water over seagrass, and then jumped in with mask, snorkel and fins to check our work. There was a surprising amount to see, starting with a starfish that had parked itself over our anchor chain, and then a barracuda had settled in near the island. The snorkeling was mediocre compared with past experiences, but with the water this churned up there's only so much you can do. Still it took a good hour to do all the snorkeling we wanted to do before it was lunch time.

After lunch, I paddleboarded Boen to shore, but immediately realized that it was too hard, and when returning to the Yamuy, declined to paddleboard Bowen over. We swam instead as I noticed that despite giving me a headstart, Arturo made it to the beach snorkeling faster than I could paddleboard. Swimming a shore was fine, and the kids enjoyed the beach while we walked along it.

The beach was popular, being less than half an hour's drive from Esperanza, and we met some fairly large groups, but they would all disappear around 4pm, since most of them had a bioluminescent tour to go to! Arturo had wanted to snorkel on the Western end of the point, but it looked so rough that I talked him out of it. He did find a pair of shoes that were his size and were abandoned though! At around 4pm, clouds appeared over the island and we swam back to the Yamuy.

We debated what to do the next day. The charter company recommended spending the night at Punta Arenas, but sailing back all the way to Isla Palominos was a possibility, though it was likely to be crowded and noisy with parties. We saw that Icacos was also a possibility, but if you got there and conditions were unpleasant you didn't have a lot of choices left. We decided to just sail to Punta Arenas and have a look.