Bahama

We continue to explore and enjoy the culture, weather and community here in George Town. Three Sons is moored in Elizabeth Harbor which is about a mile wide with George Town on the southwest side and Stocking Island on the northeast side.

Since arriving in George Town, we have been watching the “big blow” that was expected to stir up the water in Elizabeth Harbor. High winds were predicted to roll in on Monday night, February 5th and continue for a couple of days before calming down. Monday started out a beautiful day, sunny with just a few clouds. We spent time batting down the hatches, walking the beach, a dinghy ride and of course some time at Chat N Chill. We headed back to the boat around dinner time and got ready to sit still and rock.

We arrived in George Town, Exuma one day earlier than planned to avoid an either a really bad travel day or a 3 day delay waiting for lower winds. George Town harbor is a cruisers mecca. There were over 200 boats in the harbor when we arrived and the number is expected to rise close to 400 before we leave. George Town harbor is pretty well protected with Stocking Island running parallel with Great Exuma Cay.

Our next planned stop was an anchorage outside of Little Farmer’s Cay. Taking advantage of the weather window, this stop allowed for a good travel day, a interesting, tiny place to explore and a convenient anchorage.

We have found paradise!

Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park is a 176-square-mile enormous open aquarium with pristine reefs, an abundance of marine life, and sandy cays. The park is a collection of cays and the surrounding ocean that spans 22 nautical miles long and 6 nautical miles wide. Exuma Cays Land & Sea Park is a no take zone by land and sea. The motto is “Leave no sign of your visit but footprints in the sand and ripples in the water.”

Seeing a small weather window, we decided to make a big jump over to The Exumas.

The Bahama Islands are more than 500 NM in total which is about the distance from New York to Charleston. The Bahamas consists of 700 tropical islands with only about 30 of them are inhabited by people.   These islands are grouped into several archipelagos, each having a different vibe and unique cruising features. For our second stop, we chose to visit The Berry Islands, one of the smaller, less visited archipelagos. This j-shaped cluster of nearly 30 islands and 100’s of cays, mostly uninhabited, totals no more than twelve square miles of landmass.

A magical night on the Bahama Bank!

Leaving Bimini one must transit the Bahama Bank to get to almost any other Bahama Island. Once again, the deciding factor on the day to move is weather.

Key Largo, Florida to Bimini, Bahamas

In boater lingo, a crossing is when a vessel moves from either side of the Atlantic or Pacific Ocean. This was our first ‘crossing’ cruising from Key Largo, Florida to Bimini, Alice Town, Bahamas. It is also the first time Three Sons has been outside of the USA. Planning for this trip was a bit overwhelming, we did tons of research, figuring out where to leave from, how long the trip will take, what course to steer and what weather conditions are best. In trying to understand and finding the perfect weather widow to make the crossing we became mini (super mini) meteorologists.