Every year one of my favorite things has been our family trip to the Bahamas. On the 2020 trip, I was going as captain for not only my parents but also additional weeks for other family members. I had every reservation made by February 2020, right before Covid-19 lockdowns began. During lockdown with my parents, after getting evacuated from the Colorado slopes, the thing we looked forward to most was going to the Bahamas during summer; but had no idea if that would even happen as they were in total lockdown; no international or inter-island travel.
May came around and we started to lose hope, but I flew back to Florida anyway to start getting the boat ready as I had it hauled out for its bottom job and to add bow thrusters 2 days before the country started shutting down. It was eventually announced that travel by boat was allowed starting June 15. After waxing the whole boat, fine-tuning the engine, detailing the interior, and provisioning we left Florida June 24 with our covid tests and health visas in hand.
My mom, grandfather, and his partner started our journey with a beautiful, flat ocean and a run-in with dolphins on our way to Chub Cay. We did a bit of fishing and ended up in Andros for 5 nights, one of my favorite places in the Bahamas. One night, my mom and I went to explore coral reefs for the next day, and on our way back we saw dolphins. We jumped in and had a great interaction with them. As they swam off, we played with them in the dinghy and gave them waves to jump, for the first time in my life I saw a dolphin jump so high it felt like I was watching a movie. It was simply amazing. We got to Nassau, where my mom and I would get off after getting the boat ready for some other family members to board. Two weeks later, once again we had our covid tests and health visas in hand and I met my parents, brother, and his two friends in Miami airport to fly into Georgetown for part 2 of our vacation. This was our ‘real’ trip, filled with outer island fishing, freediving, and adventures.
Our trip started out with rough seas, which resulted in us skipping another one of my favorite islands, San Salvador, and we headed straight to Cat Island. The weather kept us landlocked for a few days until we could go out fishing and head back over to the Exumas. After one week and rough weather and a tropical storm forming down south, we were in Staniel Cay. On day 1 we showed my brother’s friends the pigs and Thunderball Grotto. On day 3 we were planning to leave after showing them one of my favorite dives, however, our boat and the weather had other ideas. Day 3 when we woke up, we checked the weather again and the tropical storm had developed more and switched paths. We kept our plan of doing our dive, then leaving to our next spot; now not knowing exactly where that would be. We started to leave, but our dinghy wasn’t working due to a fuse, then the boat behind us at the dock had to leave, and we had to move our boat for that to happen. As I was having my family untie the lines, I realized my starboard engine never started. To make sure, I turned off port and went to start starboard. It started fine so I went to start port; which didn’t turn on. I tried 5 more times with no luck. We continued to pull the boat forward to allow the other boat to leave and went down to the engine room. We looked at everything and decided to call a mechanic. While the mechanic was arriving, we loaded the dinghy and started to plan our next steps, and checked the weather again. The storm had developed more and Staniel Cay announced closing down that day because of it. Now, planning on having only one engine, my options for protection during the storm were, 30 nautical miles (nm) south, 10 nm north, or 30 nm north. My hope was that we could go 10nm north to Compas Cay where we had secured a slip, the storm would pass, and we could continue on our trip. The best option for protection was 30nm south, however, we had limited time due to the boys’ work at home, and with one engine, it didn’t make sense to backtrack. Amidst the storm being moved to a Cat 1 within hours, boats leaving, and slips filling up, I called the marina 30 nm north and secured a slip. By this time the mechanic could not find anything with our engine and we all determined it was the engine’s computer; something we couldn’t fix ourselves.
At 3 pm, I started my one, starboard, engine, left the marina, and headed to Highbourne Cay. Normally, running on one engine isn’t too bad, however, our rudders are too small for our propellers, which results in a slower reaction time when turning. Traditionally, going into Highbourne I would play with the throttles and steer to make the cut, especially in strong currents. Now with one engine and minor steering, I was the most nervous about docking than I ever had been. After 3 hours, we made it to the channel entrance and I lucked out with slack tide which made navigating easier than it could have been. The marina told me to go bow into my slip due to one engine, which I never do, but I tried it, didn’t like it, and had to completely reposition and back in. This was one of the most challenging times in my captaining career, but I felt confident and loved every second.
After redocking and tying the boat up for high winds, we were informed the hurricane was predicted to be a Category 3 when it hit in 2 days and Highbourne would shut down for that, but wouldn’t decide until the next day. I knew that I wouldn’t have much control over the boat the next day in 7-10 foot seas and it could take a full day to get somewhere, leaving no time to secure the boat, we made calls, and got one of the last slips available in Atlantis, a hurricane certified marina. I pulled out of the marina at 7:30 pm and arrived in Atlantis at 12am. My first time ever docking at night with minimal light, let alone on one engine. The next day was spent securing the boat, making friends, and of course, a hurricane party. Two days later, the storm passed as a category 1, and we headed to Chub then back to Florida for everyone to make their flights out on August 5.
August 4, during a 12-hour crossing from Chub Cay to Fort Lauderdale, I was able to fulfill one of my dreams. A few miles before entering U.S. waters, I saw a whale spout, of course, I turned the boat and headed to it… just a little slower than usual, honked the horn, and had my dad start driving. As we got closer I saw that they were Sperm Whales, I had seen them twice before, but they always dove as we got near. These specific ones stayed at the surface and I decided to jump in. I didn’t give the boys with me a chance; this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and I wasn’t letting them miss out. The whales swam faster than us, but we got to see them from behind for what felt like only a few moments. It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience, but I can’t wait to see them again. We got out of the water, and still saw multiple whales around us, blowing from their spouts, but it was getting late and we had to head back to Fort Lauderdale to make it before dark. I was so relieved docking being done with the pressure of traveling on one engine, but also a bit sad that the Bahamas trip was officially over. My family flew out the next day and it was back to my normal routine and work the next day.