After my trip to Belize, I had a few weeks at home to celebrate my 33rd birthday, see friends and family, and catch up on my blog. Unfortunately, I caught COVID on my way back to California and spent almost my first two weeks at home, including my birthday, either recovering or in quarantine until I tested negative. By this time, Eitan was already back in Mexico moving SV Sierra Wind from Loreto to Puerto Vallarta where we would cast off for our Pacific crossing.
A few days before I was scheduled to fly back to Puerto Vallarta, Eitan forwarded me an e-mail from the family we chartered for in New England asking if we were available for a charter in the Bahamas at the end of February. Even though we were planning to depart for French Polynesia in early March and the timing would be tight, it seemed stupid to pass up the opportunity to make some extra cash before the big trip. Besides, I had never been to the Bahamas before and I had really enjoyed spending time with this family last summer. So we were eager to accept their request and looked forward to the work/mini-vacay! I also felt that being in the Bahamas would be a good distraction from the anxiety of overthinking our upcoming 3 to 4-week passage.
So began a whirlwind of plans unfolding over the next week! I flew back to Mexico and meet Eitan in Puerto Vallarta. We had a few days onboard together before two of Eitan’s friends came to visit for a couple nights. We did a quick sailing trip for them to Boca de Tomatlan and Yelapa then headed back to the marina in Puerto Vallarta to pick up our new crew for the crossing! More on them later. I worked to provision the boat with nonperishables while Eitan coordinated with contractors work to have some last-minute work done including a new custom deck box made to house our new generator and have our old solar panels installed above the dodger.
It was a crazy week but we eventually found ourselves at the airport, ready to takeoff for the Caribbean. We had a layover in Houston where Eitan was able to get his COVID vaccine booster shot, which was a new entry requirement for French Polynesia. Fortunately, I had just gotten mine while I was back home. We finally arrived in the Bahamas the following evening and made our way over to the marina to check on the charter boat. Since the charter didn’t began the next day, the boat wasn’t ready yet and the charter company put Eitan and I on a different boat for the night. It was a brand-new Bali 5.4 and it was quite luxurious with a full walk around queen-sized bed. After living on a 36-foot sailboat, I couldn’t even imagine what to do with all the space on a boat like this.
The next day we met the chartering family, did our provisioning, and hopped onboard our boat, which was a Fontain Pajot 43 catamaran. Eitan mapped out a one-week trip in the Exuma island chain with the first and last night of the charter being spent anchored off of Rose Island, next to New Providence (Nassau). Getting to the Exumas took about six hours. I looked out in constant amazement at the color of the ocean. I’ve never seen anything like it. We seemed to be sailing on a sea of blue Gatorade, only occasionally spotted by some shallow reef patches or cloud shadows. I laid on the lounge below the boom and did my best to point out reefs for Eitan to steer around since we were in less than 20 feet of water.
We spent 5 nights hopping around a handful of the Exuma islands which appeared to be mostly low-lying and shrubby, each with a different feel. The beaches at each island were insanely beautiful with white, unblemished sand. The sand felt a little different here, like each particle was the same size and soft, but not so fine as to cloud the water. Any sand that was stirred up quickly settled back down to the bed. I suspected this is what makes the water visibility so incredible, like sailing in a swimming pool. Since the depth of water around the islands is shallow, it was easy to see all the details of the underlying seabed.
There wasn’t much to see under the water in terms of sea life aside from a few coral patches here and there. In a way, the Bahamas seems like a strange underwater desert with tiny oases of reef scattered about where life is concentrated. The ocean currents shape ripples in the sandy bottom, similar to how I imagine the great dune deserts appear from the sky. I wondered how the couple of turtles and nurse sharks we saw thrive in such a seemingly barren environment. One day as I was scraping the remains of a salad bowl overboard and was surprised to see a remora (the type of large sucker fish that attach themselves to sharks, whales, or rays) swimming after the lettuce scraps. I suppose latching onto a boat provides plenty of food from the bottom growth and the food leftovers are just an added bonus!
Despite the lack of natural underwater features, on two occasions we stopped to snorkel on some plane wrecks. One about 20-feet deep and the other at the surface of a shallow bay. Similar to shipwrecks, it is always interesting to see how the ocean takes over and turns them into habitat for the aquatic residents. The metal exterior is slowly worn away, giving way to the underlying hollow structures and every crevasse seems to be occupied by some kind of fish or creature. I was surprised to find a couple lion fish sheltering under torn away plane parts. Although they are beautiful creatures, they are horribly invasive in this part of the world.
The islands don’t seem to have much life above the water either, especially compared to what we have experienced in the Sea of Cortez. One day we stopped at a bay famous for housing the largest land inhabitants native to the islands, iguanas. The shore was speckled with iguanas eager to eat fruits given to them by tourists. Eitan dropped us off in the dinghy to enjoy mingling with these locals but after being charged by a few of them, I decided snorkeling seemed like a better activity.
We spent a good amount of time onboard, relaxing with a good book in hand and just enjoying the incredible scenery that surrounded us. Afternoons and evenings were filled with family style meals and the occasional card game. One evening, we shared our upcoming plans to cross the Pacific and tried to plant the idea of doing another charter with them somewhere near Fiji. The week onboard flew by quickly and just like that we were headed back to Mexico with only 4 days left before crossing the biggest ocean in the world!
