Life at anchor in the Bahamas

 We knew that going to the Bahamas we were likely under prepared. However I am happy to report we are doing ok. The one good move we made was adding a new solar array to the boat. Mind you it is only 400 watts BUT on a normal sunny day we run the generator for about an hour while we make coffee and by about 2 pm the batteries are full again. Now water is a different story. Here in the Bahamas water is a premium at $0.50 per gallon. Typically we go go about six days before we have to fill up our tanks. Conserving we can go almost two weeks. Thats less than 20 gallons per day. So water rationing is a must but surprisingly you really don’t need much water if you are careful. Turning on the faucet means cracking it so just a small stream comes out. Yes we get a very brief shower at the end of the day.  Many of the cruisers down here have water makers on board. Fortunately our boating buddy has a legit portable water maker that he lets us use. It makes about 35 gallons per hour.

We  have to run the generator but having fresh water is a good thing. So to date we have been at anchor for over two weeks without going to a marina. We are truly off grid.  Restaurants are around but to be quite honest none of them are very good. We are still looking for a good one but have not stumbled across one yet. They too are suffering from both supply and help issues. It’s sad but the Bahamian people seem to take it all in stride. 

So Sunday morning April 16th we began our journey north. Our first stop was Rudder Cay about 40 miles north. Rudder Cay is largely uninhabited. Musha Cay is just to the north and is owned by famed magician David Copperfield. Monday night they actually had fireworks that we watched from the boat which we learned are launched from David Copperfields’ rental property. In case you are interested you can  rent the island complete with full staff for up to 12 people for a mere $50K per night with a minimum of 5 nights.

Damn well better include fireworks. Who’s in? We spent the afternoon snorkeling around. That evening I worked on the dinghy which developed yet another leak. This one was from a failure of the large patch we had done in Annapolis. Now having a dinghy is critical in the Bahamas. Fortunately the leak is in the center tube so we can still get around. I tried to repair it once but it failed pretty quickly as the patch from the inside let go. I was fortunate enough to get some of the correct glue from another boater in Georgetown via the Cruisers Net. Now taking off recently applied glue that was put on too thick is no easy task. It was a couple of hours work over two days but I got it done. My strategy this time is to use 4200 on the inside patch and then use the contact cement on the outer patch. So far the 4200 is working such that we can partially inflate the tube. Tomorrow I will glue the outer patch and hope for the best. That dinghy is possessed. As soon as we get back to the states and I can get my hands on another one this baby is gone.

On Tuesday our plan was to cruise 26 miles to Black Point Settlement on Great Guana Cay but we delayed our departure until late in the day as we wanted to explore Darby Cay which has an old abandoned castle built back in 1938 by a plantation owner. He reportedly was a Nazi sympathizer and would signal German U boats by way of flashing lights at night. It was pretty neat and must have been quite the place back in the day.

It has a commanding view of both the sound and Atlantic Ocean. The history of it all makes your mind run wild. Truly one of those places, “if the walls could only talk.” To think that location is only about 300 miles to Miami. After we walked around the place I made another attempt to spear fish in a nearby reef but was unsuccessful. However snorkeling around reefs is never dull. When I got back to the boat we pulled the anchor and cruised on the outside in the ocean hoping to catch dinner trolling behind the boat but no luck.

When we got to Black Point we ran into the crew from Salt Wife and Inked Mermaid who had arrived earlier. We got their late in the afternoon so we just stayed onboard. Back to life at anchor once again the weatherman lied. Winds were supposed to be out of the south but instead they clocked to the south west. What does that mean you ask? In short, think about trying to sleep on a rollercoaster. The anchorage is exposed completely to the west so waves and swells come in and make for a rough ride while  at anchor.

So when we went to bed I dug up some old Ambien from a previous international trip we took. We popped one of those and lights out. I know many of my boating buddies are rolling their eyes. When we woke in the morning our bleary eyed friends came by and asked, “what did you think of that storm last night?” Sue and I looked at each other and laughed. We replied, “what storm?” Turns out a pop up storm came through about midnight with intense lightning and 45 knot winds. Better living through better chemistry! My only comment is, God looks over drunks and fools. Looks like we checked both boxes as our anchor held us securely and nobody else near us drug their anchor. In the morning we took our bikes to shore and pulled the dinghy up on the beach as I wanted to reglue the patch that had come lose. When I opened the tube of glue it was bad. Ughhhhh. We made the best of the day and rode our bikes around the island and stopped to look at a blow hole. This one made a eerie deep noise as the waves crashed on the shore. For dinner we went back ashore to Black Point Yacht Club for dinner. It was actually quite good for a change. We enjoyed sitting at the bar conversing with a couple of locals hearing about life in the Bahamas. It was another great day at anchor.