Hopefully if all goes well we are going to leave here tomorrow and head back to the States. This is a trip I am NOT looking forward to. We are going to leave here and sail back to the Berrys, then on to Freeport and from there sail to Fort Pierce to Whiticar Boatyard in the Indian River.
These are all over the place..thought they were priceless |
Beautiful flowers in the Bahamas |
I guess I do not like the idea of going backwards, but we can not find a yard here that can haul this boat, her draft is to much around here.
Sailing back to the States
A couple of days before we left my hip went out and I could not walk, Jackie called her chiropractor because he makes boat calls, and he came down to the boat to adjust me, but before he got there I had tried to get to the settee and I fractured a couple of my ribs in the process so the chiropractor could not adjust me properly, I was in to much pain from the ribs. So this trip back to the states will be a experience in pain.
We left Nassau around 9:30am, the wind was light at first, then it picked up and we beat in the seas for 8 hours before reaching Little Whale Cay in the Berry Islands, we we trying for Saddleback Cay but the wind had other ideas. After a night at anchor there we got up Monday morning and sailed to Saddleback Cay. It is a beautiful place, with a blue hole right in the center, we anchored off the beach and went ashore and explored the Island, it is small but very nice!
Happy April Fools Day!
We got up early and set sail, headed to Great Harbor! The wind has finally shifted to the North East, so we are on a reach and after talking about it we decided to sail thru the night to Freeport on Grand Bahama Island.
Freeport is a very large port of call with tankers, container ships, passenger ships, cargo ships and car carriers, all waiting their turn to enter and exit the port. Freeport is a 230-square-mile free trade zone on Grand Bahama Island, established in 1955 by the government of The Bahamas. The city of Freeport emerged from a land grant comprising 50,000 acres of swamp and scrub to become a cosmopolitan centre.
There is a large Lucayan Indian influence here on Grand Bahama Island because The Lucayans (also called Arawaks) were a broad group of tribes who worked their way up the Caribbean from South America's Amazon between 5 and 7,000 years ago. In 1492, there were an estimated 40,000 of them living in The Islands of The Bahamas, with a population of about 4,000 on Grand Bahama Island. Surprisingly little is known about the Lucayans, a fact that comes from their rapid extermination by the Spanish shortly after the arrival of Columbus. It is believed they had an advanced political and social structure, and lived in well-organized cities.
After the Spanish claimed the island in 1492, there was barely a footprint to be seen on the beaches of Grand Bahama Island. The Lucayans were enslaved and transported to work the gold and silver mines of Hispanola and Cuba, and the pearl fisheries of Margarita, near Trinidad. The conquerers gave the island the name "Gran Bajamar" - great shallows - a term that eventually became the basis for The Islands of The Bahamas themselves.
After they stole away its inhabitants, however, the Spanish seemed to have completely ignored Grand Bahama Island. Once in great while, a ship would drop anchor, perhaps scavenge a few provisions, then sail off towards Europe or South America. More often than not, Grand Bahama Island was viewed as a perilous landfall, due to the treacherous shallow reefs surrounding it. So many ships would collide with the reefs that "wrecking" became a major livelihood of what few inhabitants there were, most of whom lived at West End . In hard times it wasn't unheard of for the townspeople to actually try and lure ships onto the reef with a well-placed lantern at night.
Grand Bahama Island is probably well known for its famous pirates like Blackbeard, Captain Kidd, and Henry Morgan, because its reefs were perfect for running aground vessels, a common pirate tactic.
We are now anchored up outside of Old Bahama Bay Marina on the West End Settlement, we were going to take the dink in to clear customs, but after a phone call they cleared us and told us to head back to the States. We are going to sit for a spell and wait for the wind to pick up then cross the Gulf Stream tonight and be in Fort Pierce Inlet in the morning.
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