Bahamas

Customs and Immigration 

Customs and Immigration building 

West Palm Beach 

 Finally arrived in the Bahamas.

It’s been long in coming and quite the journey to get here.

When we left Canada on November 9th, we never expected that it would take this long to get back here nor that we would have so many hoops to jump through.

It was quite the feat to travel by air with all that luggage including a ladder and cockpit table and after that it was one mechanical problem after another. Every time we solved one, another would pop up, or the old one would break down again. Ordering the right part, making sure that it’s  all there and fits was quite the challenge.

When we left Sketchy Marina,  the main motor on our boat wasn’t working well and the small outboard motor on our dinghy was questionable. We just decided to keep going and see if we could fix it on the way down. No way we wanted to spend Christmas at Sketchy 😱

We managed to fix the main motor, but had to row for ten days from our boat to the dinghy dock in Vero Beach while our motor was in the shop. What  a pain! 3 times the motor was returned to us saying it was fixed to return it back to the shop. Not fixed! We would do a one way to our boat with it, then out came the paddles again. NOT amused.😤 

Eventually the shop gave up, brought our motor back, unfixed so we had to purchase a new to us outboard motor. Luckily a couple that we knew has a friend that had one for sale. So now we have a reliable stronger motor for our Freddy (yes we do  name all our vehicles lol) 

We also replaced all our batteries including 8 house bank batteries that weigh over 60 lbs each. Any idea how hard it is to get these off the boat, into the dinghy, row across and back with a fresh set of them, back into the boat? Bah! Who needs a gym membership when you have a sailboat ( let’s not start on lugging 6 gallon jugs of  water on bord lol)

Last hurdle to jump before heading out was to get tested for COVID-19 no more than 5 days to our arrival in the Bahamas, and apply for a health visa from the Bahamian government. Made appointment through  the Florida Health Department, got an Uber to the town of Jupiter, only 20 miles away and had the results in  less than 24 hours. Bonus;  before leaving Canada, we fully expected to have to pay 200$ US each for the test. It was free even for us Canadians. Finally a break 🤪

So on Thursday night we left West Palm Beach for a night crossing. The winds and seas as per three weather sources said it would be calm and light. Not so! The swells were awful and we really got beaten around. It was  a very dark and long night. It took 13 hours for the crossing. We just came directly to our favorite anchorage and went to bed. Waited for the next day to clear Customs and Immigration because we were too tired and it had gotten very windy and we just couldn’t make ourselves to go out there for another two miles of hell.

So now even though we are in a warmer climate, it’s still winter here and there is a big blow coming next weekend so we need to find a good anchorage to hide from northern winds until it passes over.

Ah! the life of mariners, always something to fix, to do, to research but what fun 🤩 

Cheers 

Mike and Pierrette