Bahamas Part 7: The Abacos and Passage Prep
Our final weeks in the Bahamas
Greetings from the United States! If you follow us on social media, you likely know that we were heading out on our crossing to the United States last week.
Spoiler alert: we made it!
While you might be curious about how our 4-day passage in the Atlantic Ocean went - and we promise to share the details with you - we first owe you an update on our final weeks in the Bahamas, which I admittedly started writing a few weeks ago but never got around to publishing.
So let’s rewind a few weeks, back to when Michael and I were sitting in Great Sale Cay, waiting to leave the Bahamas.
Greetings from Great Sale Cay - our final anchorage in the Bahamas!
Since our last post, we’ve spent a good deal of time waiting out weather in the Abacos. Between blustery and rainy days, we’ve gotten in a bit of exploring and checked several important items off our to-do lists.
Most importantly, we’ve been resting up ahead of what we hope will be our biggest adventure yet - a 500NM+ offshore passage back to the United States.
More on that to come, but first our route overview.
Route Overview
Sunday, March 29 - Monday, March 30
Lynyard Cay, Abacos
Tuesday, March 31 - Wednesday, April 1
Aunt Pat’s Bay/ Tahiti Beach, Abacos
Thursday, April 2
Marsh Harbor, Abacos
Friday, April 3 - Monday, April 6
Man-O-War Cay, Abacos
Tuesday, April 7 - Saturday, April 11
Nunjack Cay (aka Manjack Cay), Abacos
Sunday, April 12 - Tuesday, April 14
Great Sale Cay, Abacos
A Wild Ride to Pete’s Pub and Maybe Further
If you’ve been following our blog these last few months, you know that a hallmark of cruising the Bahamas in the winter and early spring is waiting out cold fronts and blows.
Our last blog posts left off as we did just that. We hunkered down at Lynyard Cay for a few days to give the seas a chance to die down enough to let us sail further north in the Abacos.
While we waited, we had plenty of time on our hands, and not a lot to do. So we chatted. A lot. About the weather.
We were interested in weather that would allow us to sail northwest, across the Gulf Stream and up the coast of the United States. The forecast showed that we might get that on April 7th.
We discussed the pros of taking this weather window: it would get us out of the Bahamas before our visas expired on April 8th.
But there was a pretty big downside.
The wind was going to remain quite strong until then, making for rough conditions to make our way northwest across the Sea of Abaco to the place where we’d leave for the crossing.
We hashed out the pros and cons over the following days. We even texted with our sailing coaches to get their advice.
Ultimately, we decided to let that weather window go. Our decision was mostly based on not wanting to navigate an infamous Abaco cut - The Whale - in the forecasted heavy wind.
We would not be taking a wild ride through the remainder of the Abaco island chain. But, we did decide to take a wild ride to Pete’s Pubs.
Pete’s Pub is an institution. It’s one of those places that sells T-shirts that you end up seeing everywhere out in the wild - like The Hard Rock Cafe or The Salty Dog Cafe.
After several days cooped up in the boat, we were ready for an adventure.
The winds had died down considerably, but were still high enough to kick up some decent sized waves in the water between our anchorages and where Pete’s Pub was located.
We knew the dingy ride there was going to be wet and wild.
We debated staying hunkered in the boat, but then we remembered the old Scandinavian expression: “no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothing”. So we dressed for the occasion.
Michael and I have different approaches for dressing for wet dingy rides - I like to become warm and water proof. Michael simply limits what gets wet, then puts on dry clothes later. On the dingy ride, I wore my foul weather gear, and Michael wore only his swim trunks. A sight to see for onlookers, for sure.
Arriving at Pete’s Pub, we were rewarded with lobster, shrimp and conch tacos, and a delicious slide of coconut cream pie. The water views from Pete’s were also exquisite. Unfortunately, the art gallery that’s attached to the pub was closed, so we did not get to check out the renowned art of Randolph Johnson.
In 1951, Randolph, with his wife Margot and sons Bill, Dennis, and Peter, left the pressure of “real life” behind and set sail for a yet-to-be-determined destination in the Caribbean. Settling in Little Harbor, Abacos, the family established a Swiss Family Robinson style compound where Randolph could create his art in peace. Years later, his son Peter took over and expanded the art business, and established Pete’s Pub next door.
While the art gallery was closed, we enjoyed walking around the area and imagining what it must have been like for Randolph and his family to settle on this once uninhabited island.
After filling our bellies and soaking in the beautiful surroundings, Michael and I headed back to Osprey - not an island compound, but our own version of “getting away from it all” for a while.
Wrong Turn to Tahiti?
Once the winds subsisted, we continued our northbound journey. Or so we intended, until we ended up in Tahiti!
But to our relief, it wasn’t Tahiti in the South Pacific, which would have meant we took a significant wrong turn. It was Tahiti Beach outside of Hope Town.
Tahiti Beach is a long, low lying beach that dries to a sand flat at low tide. The beach is complete with a swim up beach bar that arrives by boat each afternoon, selling burgers and drinks to beach-goers.
Michael and I had a bit of culture shock on this beach. It was full of folks on land vacations. As we thought long and hard, we too could remember the time when we took vacation on land - staying at beach houses and condos with unlimited running water and electricity. No wonder these folks look so chipper and clean!
We enjoyed a few beach outings to Tahiti Beach, but decided we wanted to move on soon, back to more remote anchorages that suit our style. But not before we checked out Hope Town, one of the most iconic towns in the Bahamas.
Hope Town is famous for its candy-striped light house, one of the last operational kerosene-fueled lighthouses in the world. Michael and I enjoyed a quick self-guided tour of the light house, and took a leisurely stroll around Hope Town,
To top off the day, we satiated our long-lasting craving for ice cream - well, I did, but the shop was all out of the flavors Michael likes, so we owe him a cone of vanilla or cookies ‘n’ cream when we get back to the States.
A Long Walk to Bureaucracy
As a result of not taking the April 7th weather window to leave the Bahamas, Michael and I now needed to renew our visa to stay in the country legally. The chore required a detour to the government building in Bahamas third-largest town: Marsh Harbor.
For those curious about the bureaucratic inner workings of travelling via sailboat to the Bahamas, I’ll share an overview of the processes, including the most recent errand of renewing our visas. But if the topic sounds like a snooze-fest, feel free to skip on to the next section. No hurt feelings either way.
There are several categories related to the bureaucracy of sailing in the Bahamas: for the boat, for the dog, for the fish, and for the people.
For the boat:
Osprey requires a permit to cruise the waters of the Bahamas. Cruising permits are issued by the Customs Office and are good for 12-months. Meaning Osprey can stay here until December, 2026.
We applied for a cruising permit via an online system called “click to clear” right before we arrived in the Bahamas, and received the official permit when Michael checked us into the country in West End, Grand Bahama upon our arrival.
For the dog:
Maisie required a permit issued by the Bahamas Department of Agriculture. The permit application process included a veterinary exam and certification of several standard vaccinations.
Pet permits are good for 12-months, so technically both she and the boat can stay in the country legally until December, 2026. The pet permit process is entirely digital and there is an incredibly helpful service, called Wellington’s Pet Permit, which helped us complete it seamlessly.
For the fish:
Fishing in the Bahamas is very popular, and a permit is required. We got our original permit, also issued by the Customs Office, at the same time as the cruising permit for the boat.
Fishing permits are issued a month at a time, and need to be renewed if the recipient wishes to fish longer.
The renewal process was a headache. They are supposed to be supported by an online system, but it was plagued by glitches our entire time in the Bahamas, so we had to renew in person at a Customs office. We renewed once in Long Island, which required us to rent a car and drive to the airport. After that, we didn’t renew because of the hassle factor.
For the people:
The final bureaucratic puzzle piece is making sure we as people are here legally. This is handled by the Immigration Office.
When we arrived in the Bahamas back in December, we checked into an Immigration Office in West End, Grand Bahama where we each received a visa.
Visa length is a highly-discussed topic amongst cruisers in the Bahamas, since the length of time folks are approved seems to be completely arbitrary. Our original visa was for 100-days, despite Michael requesting 180 days. Many friends of ours received 120-day visas. We’ve heard of other people only getting 60-days.
So with our 100-day visa about to expire, Michael and I trekked to the government building in Marsh Harbour. As captain of the boat, Michael is required to handle all official interactions for the crew. So he went into the office while I waited outside with Maisie.
We visited the office on Thursday before Easter, so it was very busy with people wanting to take care of various business before the holiday weekend. After waiting for about an hour, and paying $200 a person, we had our visa renewed by 60 days.
$400 was a worthwhile price to pay to wait for good conditions to make our jump to the States.
Man-O-War Cay and Other Lessons in Bahamian History
The following morning we pulled anchor and made a short jump across the Sea of Abaco to the small town of Man-O-War. I’d heard about Man-O-War’s unique history and wanted to explore the town a bit.
Many islands in the Bahamas, including Man-O-War Cay were settled by British loyalists and enslaved people after the American Revolution. The British Monarchy granted land to loyalists as compensation for their lost land in America.
Loyalists brought with them the enslaved people who worked their lost plantations, and hoped to establish thriving plantations in the Bahamas.
However, the Bahamian land is not as fertile as the places the loyalists had come from and most of the plantations failed. Many loyalists returned to England, leaving their land to the former enslaved.
Man-O-War Cay, was settled by a woman named Eleanor, the daughter of one such loyalist, and her husband. Eleanor met her husband, Benjamin Albury, when his ship wrecked off the coast of Man-O-War Cay. When the ship was eventually repaired and the crew prepared to leave, Benjamin stayed behind to marry Eleanor.
Eleanor decided she wanted to develop a beautiful town on Man-O-Cay and went about planning the entire town - including the roads and placements for various buildings such as the school and church.
Eleanor and Benjamin had 13 children. Many of their descendants still live on the island and own multiple successful businesses, such as Albury Sail Shop and Albury Brothers Boats.
Michael and I spent a few afternoons walking around Man-O-War. We enjoyed strolling through the small museum which felt a lot like a family archive. Attached to the museum was an excellent coffee shop where I got my first latte since we passed through Charleston in November.
We’ve loved our time in remote islands in the Bahamas, and it was also fun getting a taste of history and culture at Man-O-War.
Stuck Between a Rock and a Whale
The Abacos have a series of more remote islands in the northwest corner. After enjoying a few days at Man-O-War, we decided we wanted to explore at least one of those.
A prominent feature of the Abacos are a series of barrier islands that protect the Sea of Abaco from the wind and waves of the Atlantic Ocean. These islands create a great environment for cruisers to explore the Sea of Abaco’s windward islands. However, to get to the northwest portion of the island, cruisers must deal with some more challenging conditions.
They must either leave the protected Sea of Abaco via an infamous cut called The Whale, or they must cross a very shallow portion of the Sea of Abaco called Don’t Rock Pass.
Our original plan was to cross via The Whale because we didn’t want to risk running aground near Don’t Rock. Unlike when we ran aground in Fort Pierce (oh wait - I don’t think I ever actually shared that story!) - our Sea Tow USA membership doesn’t cover us in the Bahamas.
But, after meeting a couple in Man-O-War who just crossed Don’t Rock in a similar boat as Osprey, we gained the confidence to give that route a try.
We timed our passing of Don’t Rock with a rising tide - meaning, if we did run aground, the water level would be rising and eventually would lift Osprey off of the bottom of the sea floor.
Using our visual navigation skills, we kept watch for especially shallow spots and safely passed through the most difficult areas without a problem.
From there, we were on our way to the beautiful Nunjack Cay, where some excellent wildlife encounters awaited.
Maisie Befriends a Shark
Nunjack Cay was a stark contrast to the sandy islands of Exumas we had grown used to. There were trees and birds everywhere, which reminded us of our home cruising grounds in the Chesapeake Bay. The landscape seemed to be creating a gentle transition from the sandy Bahamas to the lush US east coast we’d be heading to.
On our first evening at Nunjack, we took Maisie to the beach for her nightly play time and bathroom break. Ever since she had a close encounter with a beached fish during our time near Pipe Cay, Maisie has also enjoyed scanning the shallow waters for fish to play with. She’ll look around in the water and start pawing anything she thinks could be a fish - they’re usually rocks, sticks and conch shells.
On this night, Maisie spotted what looked like a fish, just a few yards off the beach. She started trotting towards it as Michael and giggled at her joyful exuberance. Until we caught sight of the fish she was wanting to play with!
This fish had a grey dorsal fin sticking out of the water - it was a VERY large shark!
We quickly called Maisie back before she got too close to the shark. If it were a small Nurse or Lemon Shark, it would not have been a problem. But we had heard there was a resident Tiger Shark in this anchorage, and those can be aggressive.
No more fishing for Maisie at that beach!
In addition to the too-close-for-comfort encounter with the Tiger Shark, we had another, less stressful, wildlife encounter.
Nunjack Cay is known for its shallow mangrove creek, where sea turtles congregate. One calm afternoon, I took the paddle board through the creek where I saw dozens of turtles.
I paddled slowly and quietly so the turtles didn’t notice me - it felt like I was swimming with the bale.
Another Cruiser’s First - Dragging Anchor
The calm didn’t last long, as later that night we were expecting 25-30knot winds in Nunjack. But, we had seen way worse, so we weren’t too worried.
But we should have been.
It is best practice for a sailor to always monitor VHF channel 16 while on anchor, especially during a blow. This allows us to hear if another boat calls for assistance. It’s also best practice to check your anchor a few times during higher winds, and to set an anchor alarm - an alarm that monitors the radius of the boat from the anchor and goes off should it start to move outside the normal radius.
On this night, Michael and I got caught up in chatting - obviously about the upcoming weather and if it would be good for crossing to the US - and we failed to do all those things.
Just after sunset we heard the loud blow of an airhorn. One of the boats in the anchorage was trying to get someone’s attention -someone must be dragging anchor! We quickly ran into the cockpit to look around and make sure the offending boat didn’t run into us.
That’s when we noticed it wasn’t someone else who’s anchor had come undone - it was ours!
Looking around, we realized we’d dragged several hundred yards from our original anchor spot. Luckily there were no other boats behind us - only open water for miles - so we didn’t risk running into anything.
We knew we needed to pick up the anchor and reset it back in the protection of the anchorage. Michael quickly went to the bow and I took position at the helm. Using our electric windlass, Michael hauled up our anchor as I steered the boat into the wind.
We quickly realized why the anchor didn’t hold. As Michael hauled it up, we could see a huge clump of seagrass, roots and all, tangled in the anchor. With all that mess blocking it, there was no way the anchor could reset its sharp end back into the sand.
While winds blew around us, I steered Osprey to a sandy patch while Michael cleared the mess of roots and mud off the anchor., the dropped it back into the water and let it reset.
We were all clear!
Once we were settled back down below, I checked my phone and saw multiple boats in the anchorage had sent us messages on No Foreign Land (a social media app for cruisers) asking if we were okay. That’s when we realized we hadn’t turned on our VHF radio. Many people in the anchorage had tried to hail us to tell us we were dragging, but we couldn’t hear them with our radio off.
Lesson learned.
Passage Prep
One upside of dragging anchor was that one of the boats who had messaged us on No Foreign Land ended up inviting us over to their boat for sundowners the next day. We got a lovely tour of their trawler, M/V Plot Twist, and received a copy of the latest book the wife, an author, had published. If you’re a fan of Christian Romance, checked out Ciara Knight!
Also while in Nunjack, we began tracking what looked like a great weather window for heading back to the States. This one looked even better than the earlier one - likely giving us 4-5 days to cross to the States.
This meant that if the forecast held, we could make it as far north as Beaufort, North Carolina, shaving weeks off our northbound journey.
This idea got us really excited. While we aren’t typically in a rush while cruising, we were eager to get back to our home port of Deltaville, VA to complete a few projects on Osprey before the short New England cruising season starts in late-June. If you’re curious about those projects, stay tuned for an upcoming post.
With a weather window in sight, it was time to start our passage prep.
While still in Nunjack, Michael wanted to climb up the mast to fix our glitchy wind instruments and inspect our rigging (the metal cables that hold up our mast and sails).
The other prep we would complete after arriving in our last anchorage - Great Sale Cay.
Great Sale Cay lies on the far northwest corner of the Abacos and is an excellent jumping off point for crossing to the US. While we were there, we counted upwards of 25 boats staging for a crossing!
We arrived on Sunday afternoon, targeting a Tuesday morning departure, which would give us a full day for passage prep.
On our to-do list was:
Oil change - for both the main engine and transmission
Food prep - so we wouldn’t have to cook and wash a lot of dishes on passage
Starlink - upgrade to Ocean mode so we could check weather and send messages to our buddy boats while offshore
Make water - we can’t desalinate water underway, so we needed to fill our tanks ahead of time
Prepare a ditch kit - in case of emergency, we wanted to have a few days of water, food, clothing, emergency communication and other survival gear at the ready
Weather routing - upgrade our weather forecasting software to support more detailed passage planning
Check in with our coaches - before heading off shore, we wanted to run our plan by our coaches from Sailing Totem to make sure we weren’t missing anything
By Monday evening we had everything on our list completed and were ready for our final pre-passage call with Sailing Totem.
Totem encourages us to wait an extra day to allow the seas to calm down after the latest strong easterly winds. We decided to heed their advise and planned to leave Wednesday morning instead of Tuesday.
A Wednesday departure meant we had an extra day to rest, relax and meet some of the other cruisers in the anchorage who planned to cross at the same time as us. We met a couple on S/V Sapphire who also planned to cross to Beaufort, NC and made plans to communicate with them during the passage, in case either of us needed support along the way.
As we waited, the excitement grew for what was going to be our biggest adventure yet! We have been away from civilization before - both on the boat, specifically down in the Ragged Islands, and on land when we thru hiked the John Muir Trail in 2016.
But our passage from the Bahamas would bring us further away from civilization than ever before. It would require resilience, endurance and teamwork.
We were ready! And so was Osprey!
Stay tuned to hear how our crossing went, including:
How we keep watch for over 80 hours
How Maisie did
What we ate
Where we're going after we make landfall
Until then, cheers!
-Jen, Michael and Maisie
Maisie the shark hunter! I’m so glad you guys are knowledgeable and cautious enough to stay out of trouble and still have adventures. Each episode is better than the last!
You make a great Rosie. You all are quite adventurous and learning alot from your blog what this lifestyle requires...and l admire you both! Maisie, thanks for your marine inquisitiveness
Anyway, first time l have read 'sundowner' as a positive spin!!