Crossing to the Bahamas and the first few days

Three weeks after we anticipated leaving, we finally did! Of course, owning a boat means all kinds of maintenance and money. People say boat is actually an acronym for Break Out Another Thousand [dollars from the bank] and the preparation and start of this trip really illustrated that for us. It has been one thing after another and each time we feel like we've been kicked while we're down and there's no where to go from there except for up. Joke's on us, apparently!

The crossing from Lake Worth to Bimini was uneventful. We had 1 foot seas, peaks at 1 feet, at 7 second intervals. What does that mean? The average wave height was 1 foot tall with the tallest waves being 1 foot and each wave would peak every 7 seconds. Basically, it was a DREAM crossing. We had no loud slamming of the boat, no large waves, nothing scary. Since Ben installed the new autopilot, he just set the waypoints and we were on our way- adjusting our heading every now and then, making sure we wouldn't hit any other boats along the way. Jamming out to tunes, laying out on the deck, hanging out and napping in the cockpit were among our favorite activities. It took us a full day (somewhere around 13 hours) to cross, averaging 5 knots. At one point, wasps flew out of one of the headlights, so Ben started swatting at them and getting them to leave the nest, while the kids and I moved from port to starboard and back, on the bow, screaming, ducking, and trying not to get stung. He probably killed 8-10 wasps and the 10 or so others flew off to new homes. It would have been pretty comical to anyone around who saw us.

Since customs was closed when we arrived, we couldn't dock, so we anchored for the night and checked in the next morning. Got our local wifi set up, loaded up on some Goombay Punch and Pink Radlers (drinks you can only get in the Bahamas!), and began day 1 in the Bahamas.

After going through customs, we debated continuing on another 8-10 hour leg to the Berry Islands (our next destination) or staying for a day on Bimini. The kids needed time to stretch, play, and run around so we looked for an open, clean, non-reef area in the anchorage we saw on Navionics, and anchored off the northeast side of the island, away from the cruise ship area and people. 

I started making lunch while Ben dove down to check a few things under the boat and the kids were shark lookouts. After eating, we all started putting on sunscreen and getting ready to take the Chicken to Blue Lagoon Beach. Ben went upstairs to the cockpit and gasped. Apparently the anchor didn't set like we thought it did and we were drifting toward the shore. We all kicked it into high gear, pulled up the anchor, and went back to the other side of the island.

Turns out, that beach wasn't our favorite. There were new houses being built right on it, that Ben and I decided couldn't be anything other than VRBOs because they all had infinity pools and a private beach in their backyard. We landed the Chicken in a vacant lot and spent a short time exploring. All 3 kids were psyched to snorkel and jumped right in. We could hear their muffled-screaming, trying to communicate with each other and were glad we were the only ones on the beach because they were loud. There were a ton of rocks and seaweed, so it wasn't the most friendly beach and we didn't last long before calling it a day.

We have been in the Bahamas for 4 days and have spent much of those days traveling and making long passages. Our first visitors embark on their journey with us in less than a week, so we are trying to get to them before they land here! Twice, we arrived to our destination for the day early enough to stretch legs and have some beach and exploration time. It's always funny to be on land after a while of being on a boat. I almost felt landsick- seasick, but on land- in Great Harbour Cay, Berry Islands. Last year one of my big concerns was that we'd all be seasick often. By the end of the summer, Ben & Bear threw up zero times, I threw up once, and Moose & Roo had each thrown up 2 or more times. This year, so far (*knock on wood*), no one has! 

While we were walking around Great Harbour Cay, Bear spotted a shark in the little area between the boat docks and the land. We all were super excited to look down and see a 4 foot nurse shark and its remora fish friend. Shark sighting- check!