Patience is a virtue, right? This has been a test of that for sure. First, we dropped Thom off for his flight to Philadelphia and then Greg “checked” us out of George Town. But did he really? Seems that when he went to immigration they took our declaration information and told Greg they did not want to see his departure paperwork. Unfortunately they did not tell him at the time that he needed to take that paperwork to the customs office so we left not knowing our true status.
We headed to Williams Cay to meet with “Untethered”, Richard and Kelly Nye aboard a Selene 57 from California. We have met them as they bought the boat in the Urbanna Harbor right across from where we keep Paradigm Shift. Anyhow, we exchanged stories and enjoyed some delicious food and beverage as the clock ticked away. Our next morning would be an early one as we would head to Shroud Cay which is pretty far north in the Exuma Chain. It would make for a long day setting the anchor as the sun had already disappeared for the evening but still enough of a glow to safely anchor amidst the mega yachts and sailboats.
Our next morning we would again rise early and head to West Bay which is on the western shore of Nassau. What a day……followed by a harrowing night. We took a cut to get into the bay as the clouds had formed and a strong squall had been passing through and making its way to Nassau. Within an hour we were in the midst of it with 50 knot wind gusts and boat breaking free. One sailboat lost its anchor and had to motor the entire storm which lasted a couple of hours. There were boats still trying to get in an anchor in the mess. Greg had our engines on and bow and stern thrusters working to keep pressure off our windlass and chain. The chatter was quiet on the radio until the worst was over and then folks came on checking on one another. There was a catamaran ahead of us with three children on board. I can only imagine the thoughts in their heads. I had prepared dinner earlier but we could not eat it until the storm passed and while it was not piping hot it sure tasted good at that moment.
The next morning again we arose early to head for Great Harbour where we would once again meet up with Crossroads. We were hoping to meet up with Barry and Robin and quickly prepare for departure to the states as our cruising permit expired on this day. As luck would have it though the weather gurus would advise us against leaving for at least another WEEK? Wow. Oh well, Greg and I would go see the Customs folks here at Great Harbour and get our paperwork straight and get the boys off the boat for a bit. Barry and Robin joined us and cleared out along with us so that all of our final stuff was done as far as the Bahamas was concerned. All of the stressing I had been doing over the paperwork was a NON EVENT. Amazingly easy and done!
Our week long stay would be spent laughing, eating, sipping a few final libations, walking the boys, provisioning at the grocery store and planning for our trip home. It’s great to be able to be with friends and enjoy/commiserate together.
Pictures are random of Robin’s and my beach walks, meals/libation trips and just beautiful scenery.
