My family takes a boat trip to the Bahamas for 3-4 weeks every year. Since moving to Florida, I have been a part of the preparation. I flew back from the Bahamas at the beginning of April to help get her ready and leave to go back to the Bahamas on May 1.
Some of the projects included waxing the entire gel coat, polishing the stainless steel, installing a new display for the computer, installing a new watermaker, changing the oil, changing every filter, and detailing the interior. One week before the boat leaves we started running the engines daily for a few minutes to make sure they worked and were warmed up. Once again, after no issues all year, the port engine decided to act up and not start but was fixed the day before leaving. The two days leading up to leaving, we do multiple grocery runs to provision for the entire month, filling up over 8 shopping carts of food.
May 1 came around and I decided to depart at 6 am, sunrise. We were going to stop at Tiger Beach since we were going to the Abacos, which we hadn’t been to in 6 years due to our love for the Exumas and the recent hurricane. Two hours in, my port engine suddenly stopped. We troubleshot but decided to go into the nearest marina in Grand Bahama. We spent 5 days there, working on the engine, exploring small islands, and spearfishing. We ended up leaving the Bahamas and had the engine fixed in less than a day and were able to continue on to the Abacos. We rushed through but found some amazing anchorage locations and reefs for spearfishing and snorkeling.
We then went onto the Exumas, however, we had wind blowing the entire time, which limits what you can do in the Exumas. We stopped by some of our favorite islands; Staniel Cay and Highbourne Cay, among some others. Every second was enjoyed nonetheless, and I loved showing new places to my family. After a week in the Exumas, we headed back to Nassau where my dad was flying out.
We spent about 5 days in Nassau before some of my mom’s friends flew in to join our trip back to Fort Lauderdale. The wind continued to blow, but I was able to go spearfishing and diving with a few of my good friends that live in Nassau.
The day the girls flew in, we picked them up from the beach and went snorkeling immediately as we weren’t going to get another chance for them to see a healthy reef. We started the night with a charcuterie board and ended the night perfectly with a night swim off the back of the boat.
One of the highlights of the trip for me was getting to introduce everyone to swimming with sharks. On their first morning, we went to one of my favorite spots for shark diving. Everyone got in and got to see the sharks underwater for the first time. This is always so special for me as so many people don’t understand sharks and their perceptions change a little bit when they see them underwater first-hand.
The rest of the trip was spent slowly heading back to Florida. We stopped in the Berry Islands for two nights and spent the days by the pool and beach, drinking Pina Coladas, and relaxing.
The day we left, we trolled for a few hours before hitting the flats. Right after I was told we wouldn’t catch a fish where we were, we got a mahi-mahi on the line, which is my favorite fish, and I was ecstatic and excited for fish tacos that night.
Next, we headed to Bimini, which has given me a challenge docking from the first time I tried. I have always been successful, but have also had to back out of the marina quickly to avoid something going wrong. The wind can be strong here, upwards of 20 kts/hr with a strong current. This time, they wanted me to squeeze between two yachts on the t-dock to get into the marina. I had a 25-foot clearance in my boat with a 20-foot beam and the current was ripping me towards the larger of the yachts. I attempted three times, and each time my stern swung towards the yacht. I backed out and asked for a new slip and had no issues.
Here, we watched the sunsets, drove the dinghy around, snorkeled, and soaked up our last few moments in the Bahamas. This first night we went to watch the sunset, we ran into a few local kids and had a blast talking to them. It is one of my all-time favorite things to talk to local kids and learn more about where they stand regarding the ocean and their education. On the last day, we took the dinghy around, spent time at the beach, and got drinks by the channel, enjoying every second of the beautiful blue water. We arrived back in Fort Lauderdale on June 1 and I began getting the boat ready for the next trip.
