Christmas & New Year Bahamas Style

Our fist 10 days in the Bahamas was just incredible - the sea was so calm and clear with a maximum of 15 knots of wind it was just paradise and we took full advantage to explore the northern and central Abacos - the pictures tell the story of our time from Double Breasted Cay to Treasure Cay.

Conch harvest at Double Breasted Cay - I got 6 huge ones but opening them was a disaster so I set them free!

Clear Water Sailing - Christmas Day we sailed from Double-Breasted to Allens-Pensacola Cay 

Huge Sea Star in the shallows

Time for a glass of champagne on Christmas Day (and my birthday)

Arrival off Allens-Pensacola Cay

Boxing Day - Hike around Allens-Pensacola Cay

Some 'sailors' like to make a bit of a mess on some of these Cays - not sure I agree with this.

Boxing Day exploring the Windward Side Allens-Pensacola Cay 

We met Neil & Sara on boxing day and later that day both sailed to Crab Cay for a few drinks on English Sally

Our first anchorage close to other boats at Nunjack Cay - English Sally came for drinks and then next day Andrew helped out with their leaking shaft seals

Heading out to the reef looking for Lobster

Off Snorkelling at Nunjack - it was fantastic on the outer reef but no lobster

Nanjack Cay - Beautiful Beach

I loved this sign on Nanjack Cay - didn't find the pet Chickens though

We had a great sail from Nanjack to NoName Cay- I still find it a bit freaky when only a metre of water under the keel

Snouter on the beach - wild pigs now fed by tourists

Pig Beach at No Name Cay - pigs being fed sweet white bread and chips - not interested in my veggies

We didn't stop long at No-Name Cay and found the beach too crowded - we hope to see more natural wild pigs in the Exuma's. So we sailed on and went back out into the Atlantic Ocean for about two whole miles - the Whale Passage into the Central Abaco region. We made for Great Guana Cay and found a lovely anchorage in Fisher's Bay - really close to shore.

Fishing through 'Whale Passage' - one fish on but lost it!!

Arrival in the Central Abacos - big boats off Bakers Bay

Fishers Bay - nice spot

Beach at Grabbers Beach Bar - Great Guana

Time for my first Bahamian Cocktail

Sunset at Great Guana Cay

The next morning the wind had swung around and being on a lee shore we upped anchor before breakfast and went out to Fish Cays for some protection. 

Heading into Treasure Cay - we got really close to the shallows and then snuck inside on a rising tide with 0.1m under our keel at the first turn but found more water inside. My heart was beating so fast.....

Treasure Cay - home to one of the best beaches in the world, it was a bit stormy but warm

We went to explore 'Don't Rock' by dinghy

Don't Rock

Swimming on the sand bar at Sunset Point Treasure Cay- such clear water

Hills Creek - turtles galore

New Years Eve - we opted to have champagne on board before heading to the bar

We had a fun New Years Eve - met Jeff and Dawn and partied into the small hours

Happy New Year - Jeff looks obsessed with the bar dancing

Our perfect beach at Treasure Cay

Hangover Cure - 1st January 2018

The New Year brought about a real change in the weather and a really strong weather system that came off the US East Coast - referred to by many sources as a 'Bomb Cylone', this also brought really strong winds and cold weather down in the Bahamas. We went into the marina at Treasure Cay and hunkered down. We saw over 30 knots in the marina for two days and this was really protected, however there was reports of 50knots locally. This was coupled with really low tides so we didn't want to take any chances with swell, as it happened at the height of the wind we were aground in the marina - luckily only sludgey mud/sand.

Sunset Point - during my run on 3rd Jan - yuck

Hi winds and no water - see the depth at the top of the screen reads 0.0m