Back in 2016, we decided to take a long sailing trip in the Bahamas with my family (parents & brother). This was just a few weeks before Angela and I got married. The trip was a bit of a culmination - we had taken all of the ASA sailing courses and we felt like we were finally ready for a really big trip…
2016-03-25
We landed the night before, but day one was when we finally met our boat. We boarded around noon (after the cleaning crew was done) and did some outfitting and hanging around for a while. Our boat was a Lagoon 38 I believe - 4 cabins and 2 heads and probably the coolest part for us was the galley on the bridge deck - where you could see out and get light while you were making dinner and hanging out. The next few hours were spent getting a tour of the boat systems by one of the captains, stowing away our food and gear, and getting to know the boat a little bit.
I think they would have technically let us leave that evening, but they offered to have one of their crew captain the boat out of the causeway so that we didn’t have to do it - and we took them up on the offer - which meant leaving the next day. Our captain gave us a few itinerary options and we chose one we liked. Then he sat down with me and gave me a bunch of notes about what to see, where to anchor, etc in all of the different areas on the itinerary.
2016-03-26
The next morning around 9 or 10a, we were off. The captain took the boat out to just beyond the end of the narrow channel out of the marina and then he was picked up by a dinghy and we were on our own. We had a long sail that morning that would take us to our first anchorage.
We dropped anchor by like 3-4p and after messing with it for a while, we got it set and were comfortably set for the evening. We were informed that the best restaurant on the trip was a short dinghy ride away, but we were so excited to hang out on the boat and this was our first night on anchor on our own - so we decided to just do some nearby snorkeling/swimming and cook dinner aboad.
2016-03-27
The next morning we got an early start to head to Warderich Wells. This was a small anchorage in a national marine park and we were told it was a highly sought after location, so we should arrive early. The sail was short, but fun.
This was our first time grabbing a mooring ball, so we had to take a couple of passes at it. The crux of the problem was that I wasn’t accounting for the fairly strong current and I had Angela back off of the mooring with the motor - which caused us to pull off of it way to quickly. Finally, I just jumped in and grabbed it which worked great. Afterwords, Mark reminded me that I probably shouldn’t be the one to jump in next time given I had the most experience helming the boat. It was a really good point.
Not long after grabbing the mooring ball, we had our first visitor. He was probably 4-5 feet long - massive fish…
This place really was one of the coolest anchorage on our trip and probably the best stop overall. Our itinerary had us spending two nights here and we probably could have stayed one more. The anchorage itself was a big lazy “S” shaped channel carved into a sand bar between two islands by the current. As with many sandbars on this trip, you had to navigate by sight because the sand moved and the charts were usually incorrect. Looking at the anchorage from a far, you could see this cool line of boats that followed the channel (where the moorings were).
We took our dinghy ashore and got the lay of the land - there were several good snorkel spots nearby the anchorage and two big hikes that took you all around the island to various beaches, blowholes, and lookout hills. I think this is when it first dawned on me how cool this trip was going to be.
After paying for our moorage, we took a quick walk to the nearby lagoon where mangrove trees were just starting to take hold and grow up. The place was beautiful - but rugged and hot.
These mangroves were a haven for various animals and with the mangroves just starting to take hold, we could watch them far easier than in the more mature forests. Here was a ray just 6 in below the water surface.
There were also some nearby blowholes that, at certain times of the day when the tide was coming in, would trow water 50 feet in the air. It was not the right time of the day, but we got right up on them and you could hear the water gurgling underneath - pretty cool.
We had dinner aboard that evening - excited to have a whole day to explore tomorrow.
2016-03-28
The next morning, after breakfast, we went exploring on the short loop hiking trail, there was a cool lookout back towards the anchorage and a pretty amazing view out at the open ocean from the other end of the island.
After that, we decided to checkout some of the nearby snorkeling areas. There were several small schools of fish surrounding a shipwreck and a few invasive lionfish hanging about.
Then a sizable bull shark showed up - he swam with/around us for a little while and that was about the end of our swimming for the day…
In the early afternoon, we decided to do the long loop hike - this was perhaps a poor decision given how hot it had become, but the hike was amazing - pretty rugged, but lots of fun things to see and explore.
One of the highlights of the trip was the hidden beach - which wasn’t as much hidden as it was a surprise to see as you approached it. This was a fun place for a break, and I thought the half buried picnic table was a fun addition.
Another highlight was Boo Boo hill - where cruisers left a huge pile of drift wood. The tradition was to paint the name of your boat on the wood - and a lot of them had this. Many of them were also unadorned - weather having stripped the boat name off, but leaving a pile showing the number of boats that had come through the area.
We also discovered an old fort, dating back to the 1800s. The Bahamas have an interesting history where people were essentially abandoned here after the cotton plantations were no longer economically feasible. This was a relic of days long ago…
After returning to the boat, we continued our maritime activities - snorkeling, fishing, drinking, repeat.
2016-03-29
The following morning we left our mooring and made our way to our next destination - Shroud Cay - where there was a famous lagoon to explore.
Apparently, this lagoon was used in a movie about called African Queen - which I still have not watched almost a decade later as I write this. The lagoon was amazing - long maze like channels in the mangroves that seemed to go on endlessly. We spent several hours here - taking our dinghy along the seemingly endless channels.
We eventually had to retrace our stems and make our way back out of the lagoon and on to the boat.
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We spent the night at Shroud Cay - getting ready for the days ahead.
2016-03-30
The next day we made our way to an anchorage I do not remember and went on a short hike, followed by our one and only fancy dinner of the trip. The dinghy landing site had a skeleton of a sperm whale - which was old, but really showed the impressive size of these creatures.
Then we headed ashore for our fancy dinner - the dinner was good, but overpriced and not exceptional. Our captain laughed at us when we got back for going to this restaurant and not the one on the first day - oh well, we still had fun.
2016-03-31
The following day we moved again to a new anchorage (which I don’t remember) which had some amazing beaches - including barefoot beach.
There is only one mammal (a large rodent) that lives in the bahammas, but there are many lizards of different sizes. These pictures were from the whole trip.
There was also a lot of birds of different types and shapes.
And while we are on the topic of wildlife - a live conch in a shell.
2016-04-01
Our last day involved a morning sail back to the marina - we had to arrive before noon, so they could clean the boat and turn it around for their next charter. I sailed as much as I could but the wind was not cooperating, so we had to motor a good part of the way. Sailing was a great way to extend the trip, but we had to get back!
I saved all of my sunset pictures for the end. The sunsets here were really amazing…
Goodbye Bahamas - see you again someday!
