Sunday, November 24
We raised anchor on Makani shortly before 4am at our location just inside the Lake Worth inlet.  Getting moving in the dark is still an anxious experience especially when you are going offshore and know that the weather and sea conditions might be considered iffy.  We knew that the better weather window was the day before but we had been working on projects and didn’t get done until near dusk.

At that time, we were anchored about 6 miles away from the Lake Worth inlet.   We decided that getting the engine off of the dinghy and stowed, the dinghy raised, all the gear on deck tied down, and moved an hour to the anchorage by the inlet was more than we wanted to tackle.  We had been at the anchorage in North Lake Worth for 4 days ever since moving south from Vero Beach.  We like the anchorage; it’s close to a grocery store and West Marine.  We used the 4 days to finalize provisioning.  I also worked to install a new battery monitor.  Those were the tasks we needed to complete before heading to the Bahamas.

Heading out the inlet we had a tide against wind situation which causes the waves in the inlet to be larger than expected.  As we got past the breakwater, we steered southeast and were headed directly into the swells.  Most were only 2 to 3 feet but spaced only 4 seconds apart so Makani’s bow was hitting the tops of the waves and some water rolled along the deck.  The edge of the Gulf Stream is about 8 miles east of the inlet and we wanted to get a bit south before we hit the current which moves north up to 3-4 knots.  Our destination, West End, Bahamas is almost due east so by heading slightly south for the fist 2 hours we can then turn more due east, not be fighting the current and use it to move us north.

We’ve had worse crossings but also many better ones.  We motor-sailed across with the sails up mainly to help stabilize the roll of the boat.  Sasi, our cat, didn’t seem bothered at all.  She came up into the cockpit, laid down on a cushion and went to sleep.  Kathi and I took turns watching our course and watching for other vessels.  One large cruise ship passed us about 1/2 mile away heading into the port of Palm Beach.

Even though the seas were choppy, Makani and crew handled it fine.  Occasionally a set of waves 4-5 feet high would rock us and send spray flying into the cockpit but they were rare.  John had to go on-deck twice.  Once to righten 2 of our dive tanks that had been knocked down by waves and once to righten our jerry cans of extra fuel.  No matter how well you think things are secured, mother nature can teach you otherwise.

About 10 miles from our destination a pod of dolphins greeted us; riding our bow wave as if to say welcome to the Bahamas! We reached the entrance to Old Bay Marina in West End at about 2:30 pm.  We wondered what we would find and how much damage Hurricane Dorian left.  Surprisingly, we saw little damage at the marina.  The immigration officer said they were told to evacuate West End so they went to Freeport.  Freeport got hit hard while West End was virtually untouched; Dorian had stayed far enough to the east and north.  He let us know that East End was essentially destroyed but people were rebuilding. We had a smooth check-in process and could finally wind down with a glass of wine and relax.

The next day we headed for Mangrove Cay; in the past, it is our normal first stop in the Bahamas.  Nothing but a mangrove swamp but it gives a spot to stop for the night.  We performed our customary “Kowabunga” and relaxed.  Although Mangrove Cay has nothing but trees and brush, we saw that Dorian had essentially stripped the vegetation bare.  Normally green with leaves it was now bare brown branches.

Tuesday, November 26

First Lobsters

Our first real stop-over in the Bahamas will be Double Breasted Cays.  We anchored here for the first time 2 years ago.  We found lots of areas to explore and plenty of fish and lobster to hunt.  The trip from Mangrove Cay took about 4 hours.  We dropped anchor around 2pm, put the dinghy in the water and the outboard on the dinghy (The outboard weighs 120 lbs so it’s not easy for a couple of old farts to maneuver it onto the dinghy, especially if the water is bouncy which in this case it wasn’t.)  Finally, the time for our first lobster hunt of the season.  We spotted lots and lots of lobster; many of them too small, but plenty of legal size also.  We limited our catch to 4 lobster since we have so much food aboard right now that we don’t want to freeze any.  Our dinner that night was lobster, clam chowder, and grilled ham and cheese sandwiches.  We had been wondering if Sasi would like lobster and boy Oh boy did she.  She ate half a lobster and would have eaten more if we’d let her.  

One of the crucial items for us in the Bahamas is internet access.  The first year we came the internet was very sketchy.  About 5 years ago they upgraded their systems and we had very good internet in most of the areas we visitied.  Two years ago at Double Breasted Cay we had good internet from a tower on Little Grand Cay, about 3 miles away.  We were surprised that we had no internet access or other communications.  We dinghies over to the town with the intention of maybe getting a new phone or at least finding out why we might not have internet.  We discovered that Little Grand Cay had been hit pretty hard by Dorian.  We say most of the residents working on repairing roofs, rebuilding walls, clearing out debris.  They have not had any communication, except for satellite phones, ever since Dorian.  A relief ship, the Pacific Hope, was anchored outside of the Cay providing logistical and physical assistance.  The crew are from all over, Brits, Australians, Americans, New Zealanders, Canadian.  Everyone we spoke to were thrilled with the assistance they have received from the U.S.  They indicated that the Bahamian Government has done little for them but the assistance from the U.S. has been overwhelming.  We saw pallets full of roofing material, plywood, 2x4’s, water, and other goods.  No stores were open and a “Soup Kitchen” was providing meals for the residents.  The school was open though and at the end of the school day we saw all of the kids, in their green and white uniforms, heading home for the day.  We know that these people will rebuild and hopefully prosper in the future.

Thanksgiving Day.

I love the smell of turkey roasting.  Perhaps it’s because it bring back memories of childhood and perhaps it’s just because it smell so damn good!  Every year that we’ve been in the Bahamas We’ve roasted a turkey on Thanksgiving, with all the accoutrements; dressing, mashed potatoes, gravy, green bean casserole, biscuits.  Sometimes we even do squash.  

Thanksgiving Dinner

Friends of ours on Second Sojourne planned to cross on Wednesday to West End.  We had not been in contact with them since we left Palm Beach but hoped that they would make it to Double Breasted Cay in time for Thanksgiving dinner.  Around noon we went for a “Naked” snorkel;  No wetsuit.  We were not hunting, just getting exercise and enjoying the scenery.  We swam from the boat to the shore, stopping at every coral head and rock to look at the fish and see if there were any lobster.  We saw at least 50 lobster.  After about an hour we headed back to the boat.  Kathi saw another boat coming into the anchorage and warned me to make sure they didn’t run us over.  As the boat got closer, we saw our friend Mel and Gary waving at us.  Second Soujourne had arrived!  We had a wonderful Thanksgiving feast with them that evening.

Friday and Saturday, November 29 and 30.

Calm weather, hunting lobster, and enjoying dinners/lunches with Mel and Gary.  We made short work of the Thanksgiving leftovers and had an evening enjoying lobster as well.  The biggest concern with lack of internet is not having access to weather information.  We radioed Pacific Hope, figuring they have satellite communications, and asked for weather information.  A front will come through Sunday night, into Monday with increased winds clocking to the west and northwest.  The Bahamas have very few good anchorages for winds from the west or northwest.  We decided to leave Double Breasted Cay and head further south.  Second Sojourne headed to Green Turtle Cay and White Harbor where there is good protection from any direction.  We decided to go to Crab Cay where the protection is not the best but we hope to ride out the from without to much difficulty.  Part of our decision is based on how long we need to travel; 6 hours is plenty.  To get to the protection of White Sound would be another 3 hours.  Second Sojourne, being faster than us, made it an hour sooner that we would.  We anchored at Crab Cay, Kathi snorkeled the anchor to make sure we have a good hook for the night, then made turkey enchiladas with the remainder of our leftovers.  We set an anchor alarm in case we drag during the night since the strong winds are not expected to arrive until after midnight, accompanied by thunderstorms.