Christmas, New Years Eve and Island-time in the Gorgeous Bahamas!

After a stressful 8 days in Fort Lauderdale our December 20th exit from Florida wasn’t quite as we imagined it would be. We had planned to be leaving with a spotlessly clean and well provisioned boat with new signage and every single last piece of boat maintenance attended to…

But in reality Tika was filthy, Russ had only snatched 2 hours sleep after project managing our super speedy re-fit, the signage had (tragically) slipped off the list and a bunch of other ‘non-priority-but-nice-to-have’ boat- work was also left un-done…..

Screws, tools, metal shavings and dirty work-boot prints still littered our decks and our provision shop had been rushed and incomplete. Our leisurely 2 week stop in Fort Lauderdale had been squished into 8 days due to a weather window that gave us a ticket to the Bahamas. We where determined not to be in the marina for Christmas and we had our sights on the Bahamas so we cleaned up Tika as we crossed the gulf stream just hours before a front and we were in calmer waters and tucked happily into an anchorage in the ‘Big Majors’ the following day when the weather deteriorated. We had covered 220 miles in 24 hrs (2 engines on to get across gulf stream then rode the front south at 10-12 knot boat speed)  

We hunkered down in the gorgeous, turquoise waters of The Central Exumas. The next day we found the famous Pigs on the beach and Jaiya was in heaven feeding veggie scraps to a very healthy looking sow with 10 piglets. The small runt got special Jaiya-love, extra food and very nearly ended up coming home with us…

We love our new dinghy and think she looks very sexy in the clear waters of the Bahamas.. We call her Tika –Taka….

From The Big Majors, we meandered South along the Exuma Island group, spent a few nights in Black Cay and then arrived in Georgetown. We found a thriving Yachtie community, an expensive but well stocked supermarket, ravishing beaches and….other kid boats!!! yay!! It was well and truly worth all the stress of getting out of Fort Lauderdale. The whole town is set up for boating. Even the supermarket has it’s own dinghy dock….Very handy for last minute Christmas provisions!

The kids had been a little deflated given it was fast approaching December 25th and our boat had felt more like a workshop than a home during the intense pre-Christmas re-fit….We set about making Tika ‘Christmassy’

It started with a dead branch that we found on the beach. We painted it silver and splashed some glitter around- one Christmas tree! Next, Jaiya and I hand-made some decorations.

Then we sent Kai up the mast to attach Christmas lights…

Some Christmas carols, home-baked and decorated cookies and we started to feel like we were finally (just in time!)getting into the swing of the silly season.

Miraculously, somehow, Father Christmas found Tika and we were amazed to wake up on Christmas morning to a saloon table covered in…presents! and lots of them!

Volleyball Beach is the main stretch of sand for chatting and chilling in this area and comes complete with volleyball courts, a bar and restaurant, a lovely beach and yachties everywhere! We made friends with a couple of families and Kai and Jaiya defrosted and were soon running around with the rest of the cruising children. We have noticed that the boat kids we meet are socially very confident. They have learnt to make friends quickly and to make the most of the time they have with other children. They walk up to each other and it is literally “hi, my name is……I am from this boat…lets be best friends” They know that friends come and go as boats are headed in many directions and they go with the flow just as their boats go with the wind! We listened in on the local VHF channel that is dominated by kids chatting to their friends and organising beach time, sup paddles, game nights and sleepovers…. 

Although we did meet cruisers from all over the world, the Georgetown ‘boater’ community is dominated by and run by Americans. We were told that Georgetown’s nickname is ‘chicken-city’ because it is a ‘jump off’ or ‘decision point’ from the States- where a cruiser either turns around and goes home, keeps going down the leeward and windward island chain (usually via Peurto Rico and Dominica Republic) or, puts down an anchor and decides to stay a while….

In true, American style we found a radio net every morning that invites sailors to introduce themselves as they arrive and say goodbye on their day of departure. It also covers social events, local business announcements, has a ‘buy, sell, swap, give-away’ section and a ‘quote/saying of the day’ There was aqua aerobics just off the beach every morning, yoga classes, regular pot luck lunches, a beach church, live music nights, sailing regattas and evening bonfires.

After cruising Cuba for 5 weeks and having met only a handful of other cruising boats our entire trip so far, we were blown away by all this and enjoyed the community spirit and many opportunities to meet and chat to other cruisers.

Volleyball beach was a very chillaxed place- where cruisers of all ages could be found playing cards, strumming guitars, teaming up to form volleyball squads, cooling off in the shallows and talking anchors, wind directions, boat systems and best home-baked bread recipes. The owners of the island feed conch flesh to the the giant manta rays and they come gliding up to you in the shallows looking for food- they kind of wrap their wings around you to see if you have anything for them! It was a little confronting but very cool.

We jumped into a Christmas Eve beach bonfire and a pot luck Christmas day lunch that included a couple of bottles of wine and a few fun games of volleyball. Perfection!

The turquoise water in The Bahamas is cool, refreshing and perfect for splashing around in for hours…and days…weeks even! Actually, I could spend months here.

We rigged up Tika-Taka and played dinghy sailing. It was pretty cool to be able to sail over the channel to the supermarket or laundry and get those mundane tasks done in style.

We loved Monument beach because it had a great hill to hike up (and a breath taking view at the top), kid boats galore, a lovey beach and of course, that light blue water that just makes you want to dive in at every given moment. At the top of Monument Hill, a couple of massive Ospreys had built their crazy, twiggy nest and were busy raising their baby bird who would pop her head out and look down at us from high above her perch at the top of the ‘monument.’ Magic.

New Years Eve was another ‘all welcome’ pot luck and bonfire. We were surprised when the majority of people left at ‘yachties midnight’ 9pm (?) Not to worry, there are always die-hards (including the family from ‘Saltshaker’ and another Canadian family and friends who happily played charades, sang songs and were delightful company as the bonfire slowly burnt down to glowing embers and 2016 was upon us. Kai, who had received a big box of fireworks for Christmas, shared them with the stayers and we got to see in the new year with bangs, fizzles, sizzles and colour!

We had days and days of fun in the sun with the ‘Four Coconuts,’ ‘Saltshaker’ and a couple of other sailing families. We got our paddle boards and windsurfers out and there were games of baseball, capture-the-flag and a few sandy challenges of who-can-dig-the-biggest-hole (you know that one don’t ya?) Bonfires at night were a social affair where fun games, glasses of Pinot Noir and toasted marshmallows were consumed. Happy days!

Jaiya got her first ever hoist up the mast to remove the Christmas lights…

Georgetown itself is quaint. The British influence shows up in the buildings (and they drive on the left) but it is very much a Caribbean island. The Creole dialect is an informal blend of English, Rasta talk and West African Pidgin English. Most of the time I couldn’t understand them (‘where is that boy?’ = ‘weydatboyiz?) but I could listen to them for hours….Impressive dreadlocks, pastel painted buildings that are never too far away from the ocean and an ‘island time’ vibe makes this place. The bridge under the main road allows dinghy’s to pull up at the dock right in the centre of this cute little town…

We finally left the Exumas with our friends on ‘Four Coconuts’ for a cruise to Long Island and the stunning Cape Santa Maria. We anchored just off the beach from an exclusive resort with dazzling water, a white sand beach, wifi and a beach bar/restaurant….

We enjoyed a very pleasant, downwind sail to Conception Island with the Four Coconuts. Our days at this island were spent snorkeling, spearfishing, sharing meals and hilarious games nights! We shared an anchorage with a 450 ft long super yacht that sported a floating toy dock with 2 mega zodiac tenders and 6 jet skis hanging off it. We were curious when, from a high point on the island where we had taken a walk, we witnessed the super yacht take off at about 15 knots, leaving all the toys and 2 crew behind. We walked along the beach to chat to the crew who were struggling to control the the string of jet ski’s in the rising swell. Apparently the super yacht (owned by a 39 yr old!)  had answered a distress call  and didn’t have time to load up the toys. It was starting to get dark and cold and we were worried about the young guy and girl who had been charged with the task of looking after the gear. We figured the mother ship was at least 3 hours away and the mosquitoes and sandflies had started their sunset feasting. The Four Coconuts helped them move the ribs and jet ski’s to a more protected position close to the headland and invited them on board. The super yacht did return in the night but we are pretty sure the crew ended up sleeping out on the ribs (maybe it was too rough to load them up in the night?) That would have been a long, cold night!

Below: Hanging with the ‘Four Coconuts’ at Long Island and Conception

Next Post: Heading straight out into The Atlantic en route to The British Virgin Islands…

This entry was posted in The Sail.