Titusville – 1 mile by dinghy, 6 kilometres walked
Today was slow, relaxing, and mildly productive. We had our empty propane cylinder filled, stocked up on a few groceries, did laundry, went for coffee, went for ice cream, made a delicious chicken stir fry for lunch, and spent a lot of time at the marina walking from dock to dock looking for manatees. Sadly, they did not appear. One of the staff said that when these extended cold fronts blow through the manatees will sometimes leave in search of warmer water. I was really hoping to see one, but we’ll keep our eyes open in the coming days. We did find two very large alligators sunning themselves in a nearby drainage pond, strangely situated right next to a playground and dog walking area. Snacks for reptiles?
Ana had a three-hour long Newport Yacht Club board meeting in the evening so I spent that time researching Bahamas and doing some route planning. We have two main options for getting there. One is to sail to Miami then anchor out and wait for a weather window to cross the Gulf Stream. We would then travel east to Bimini and check into the country there. From here it's further east to the Berry Islands, south-east to Nassau, then south to the Exuma island chain. The Exumas are the gold standard for cruising and any sailing photos or videos you've seen from the Bahamas were probably taken there, as there are a multitude of sights, amazing anchorages and many other sailors. Georgetown, Exuma is the epicentre of Bahamas cruising and there can be hundreds of boats at anchor there in peak season with activities planned every day and night.
The other option is to depart from further up the Florida coast and cross the Gulf Stream to land in West End, Grand Bahama. From there we would sail north east across the top of Grand Bahama and into the islands of the Abacos. From my research it seems the Abaco option would be the one with fewer cruisers and provide many places for us to anchor on our own, explore hidden beaches, snorkel and spearfish, but also meet other cruises in busier places like Green Turtle Cay and Marsh Harbour. Once the girls arrive after Christmas we will sit down and figure out which way to go.
Stella is getting so excited about her upcoming trip to see us and spend part of her gap year sailing around the Bahamas. At this point we don’t know how long she will stay for as she hasn’t yet booked her return flight, but I hope she stays for a long time. Her friend Anna will be with us for about three weeks, then Stella will be on her own with us as long as she likes. There is no compelling reason for her to get back home (besides working and saving money) as this trip is going to cost her very little and she will already have applied for university by the time she gets here so I am really hoping she takes a good long time to relax, explore, adventure, and sail the boat around with us. It really is a once in a lifetime experience.
Hi Kris, just wanted to see what you've been up to. I would still volunteer for crewmember even with all the walking :) See you when you get back.
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