Following the experience of flooding, we were still able to make it to the Bahamas for a few days, thanks to everyone making our boat a priority. Our Covid tests and travel visas were still good to go and we made it to Bimini the night before they expired. We cleared immigration immediately to make sure our covid tests would be fine and cleared customs the next day.
It was a rainy, lazy morning but it was nice because we had to clear customs anyway. The Bahamas has been switching to Click2Clear and for the second time, I had no luck clearing using the system. My dad went up to the office and had to use the computer to enter all the information instead of submitting the paper forms we had filled out. After being cleared we left the dock and headed towards Andros.
It is about 70 miles in total; starting over the shallow bank and to the tongue of the ocean where we were planning to fish for the last 20 miles. We got to the tongue around 5 pm and the ocean was gorgeous. It was flat and its electric blue color was captivating. We trolled some weed lines with no luck then headed in before sunset.
We anchored in one of my favorite areas. The people in the town are some of the sweetest I have met; they even found an anchor for us 8 years ago (and we still use it today). The sunset was gorgeous and there were fish jumping in the bay while it was setting. We turned on the underwater lights and after dinner, we had an eagle ray swim by and a few squid hung out under the boat.
The mornings were relaxing; by mid-morning we would be loading up to go snorkel and spearfish. The shallow reefs are gorgeous and healthy with a slowly declining flat reef beyond the reef break. There was no wind while we were there and every day was magical on the water. Besides the few rain storms we had, my mom and I would have stayed in the water all day. I caught us fish and lobster for dinner for a few nights and we went into town one night and spent time with the Bahamians. This place is so special as it is one of the few islands that is still the true Bahamas and not overrun with cruise ships and tour boats.
After a few perfect days, we left at sunrise to head back to Florida. We fished to the tongue of the ocean (with no luck) and motored the rest of the way; through the bank and gulf stream). The wind had picked up to 20 knots by the time we hit the gulf stream and had 4-6 foot seas, but we made it back and I soaked up the last night with my parents and reminisced on a perfect trip.
