Sailing Ohana

Our weather and wind predictive apps showed that we would have small, frequent waves and wind about 20°-30° off our nose on our trip to Allen’s Cay in the Exumas. That’s not great, but it could definitely be worse, and we really wanted to get to the Exumas. We were going past Nassau, so we could stop there if needed.

The only way to describe this day is to say it was a SLOG. The waves were more like 4-6 feet high in very short intervals, and the wind was directly in our face. It was like riding a giant, loud, drunk hobby horse. We tried to fish, but it was almost always too bumpy. The only fish we “caught” was a flying fish that got washed into our deck by a wave. I always plan to get a lot done around the boat during passages, like clean and organize, read, chart, write, or work, but it takes so much energy to just exist that I end up sitting at the helm and staring out at the water any time I can take a break. The boys were total troopers and we all made the best of it. Nobody has thrown up this season, so I consider that a success so far! At one point Spencer and I were sitting at the helm, staring off into waves and at the same time commented that we could jog faster than the boat was moving… Just not for 14 hours, which is how long it ended up taking us. Again we showed up at an island we’ve never seen before at sunset to anchor. It was rolly on anchor that night, but the more settled anchorage looked really full. We didn’t want to squeeze into a tight spot near other boats in the dark. I had my eye on a lovely cove that looked great (on the chart, at least) for just one boat. We ended up moving there the following day, once that boat left. It was just as I had hoped… A perfect “welcome back” to our beloved Exumas.

Allen’s Cay is famous for its population of Bahamian Rock Iguanas which are on the endangered species list, and this is their only habitat. The iguanas were so much more interesting than I expected. I had read that they have been known to bite toes (if the nail are painted with brightly colored nail polish) so I expected them to be like so many reptiles I’ve known…. grumpy and boring. But these guys were such cool little dinosaurs! They were friendly, curious, intelligent, and fascinating to watch. There are a couple special birds that live there as well.

We went snorkeling and exploring the little cays and rocks around Allen’s, and Spencer and I hung out on the beach with the iguanas for a while in the afternoon. Tommy and Jackson went spearfishing and and Jackson got his first lobster of the season!

As I mentioned, we moved to a protected little cove that only has room for one boat and is just beautiful. We had our own little beach with a bunch of iguanas on it. We played dominoes and were very entertained by three charter boats who were rafting up together in the anchorage across from our little bay. It was like watching a circus as they tried to line up in an area with very strong current and ended up making some pretty “unconventional” choices. It was a good illustration of why charter boats are on such rough shape when they get taken out of the charter fleet.

The boys took the dinghy to our little beach to practice skim boarding and visit the iguanas again before dark. Tommy and I stayed on the boat to prepare dinner. We got an urgent call from Spencer on the radio, saying they were safe, but they had had a problem with the dinghy and would be slow on their return. He said they would explain when they got back. After they got the dinghy off the beach, we realized that they were actually swimming behind it, pushing the dinghy with no motor running. As they approached our boat, I could hear Spencer saying, “Jackson, we are going to be in so much trouble.” Ugh. Our hearts sank. Tommy started calling out questions to them about what happened, but I was worried they were wearing themselves out and didn’t want to distract them from getting back to us, so we just stood there waiting. They finally got to our boat with a gleeful shout of, “TRICKING YOU!!!” which is what they used to say when they played a joke when they were very little. We were SO relieved and frankly impressed with their commitment to the prank. It took a lot of effort to kick all the way across the cove while pushing a very heavy dinghy!