March was the busiest, but most fun month we had. It started off with my parents coming to visit which was so special to me. They introduced me to the boating world and the Bahamas, and I was so excited to share sailing, spearfishing, and this lifestyle with them. Watching the weather the week leading up, we decided on the Berry Islands as my parents had spent more time in the Exumas comparatively and it would be fun to explore some new spots. We were able to sail both ways and it was great to sail, however, the wind never let down limiting how much we were able to get in the water and spearfish.
The day before we left, we moved anchorages due to tides so we could get out in the morning. Right before we reached our anchorage spot, we hit ground. We backed out and reset, but hit again. My mom and I jumped in the dinghy with a stick to try to measure the depth ahead of the main boat, but still got stuck. Our last two options were to turn around and leave around 4 am, but still risk hitting ground in the dark, or I would jump in and look for little sandhills. I decided to jump in because I was confident we could make it and I really didn’t want to have to repeat this in the morning. We made it and soaked up our last night in the Berries watching the sunset with a glass of wine. After 4 days, we sailed back in 20-30 knot winds, 6-10 foot waves, and took about 7 hours. This was my parents’ first time truly sailing, and probably mine too at that extent; I loved every second but my parents probably won’t sail with me again. We ended our last night by going out to eat, which is rare living on the boat, and said our goodbyes the next day before we got ready for the next charter.
We had less than 24 hours to turn around for our next charter coming the following day. The girls came on for 2 nights and we had a blast. We started the trip with an evening sail to one of our favorite coves in Nassau and anchored as the sun was setting. The following day, we snorkeled the largest underwater statue in the world, then had a ‘booze cruise’ around the other side to Nassau to Rose Island. We popped champagne their last morning and dropped them off after a fun few days.
Our next turnaround was 48 hours for a 10 day trip to the Exumas, I had to fly out for the majority of it, but met them back in Nassau at the end. We had a blast at a floating bar dancing our hearts out during our night in Nassau. The following day we had two more fly into Nassau to head to Bimini to see Hammerhead sharks.
We weren’t able to sail to Nassau, but not being able to sail, we had the most perfect conditions. The ocean was completely flat and gorgeous. I took the 12 am to 4 am shift and loved every second. I was able to lay on the deck and watch all the stars for two hours, which is one of my favorite things. Being underway in the middle of the night with nothing around is surreal and so peaceful.
The first day was spent at the infamous Sapona wreck followed by a reef shark dive before getting bait to get ready for the dives. We took 4 people in total to see the Hammerheads throughout the next week. We freedive in approximately 35 feet in the clearest, bluest water you can imagine. We headed out during sunrise, spent the day with the sharks, and finished with beautiful sunsets. Every dive we had at least two hammerheads that interacted with every single person, which is always special. Freediving with sharks is so different from SCUBA as the sharks are more curious and you get more interaction out of them without the tank and bubbles around you.
Towards the end of the week, I got to celebrate my first birthday in the Bahamas here as well, which was special as Bimini is one of my favorite places. Spending the whole day with sharks in my favorite water, followed by a happy hour sunset on my favorite beach is something I will always be grateful for. We concluded the trip leaving at 9 pm after a day of shark diving to head back to Nassau. We stayed anchored at the shark site before leaving to try to take a nap, but I was still living in the moment and stayed up watching the water and the storm rolling in. We had hammerheads still coming up to the surface, nurse sharks laying all over the sand, and a huge thunderstorm rolling over the Gulf Stream with lightning lighting up the sky. Due to the lightning, David couldn’t sleep either and we left an hour before the wind was supposed to start. Once it started we were able to sail the rest of the way, which took 19 hours.