The Season Begins

The Flame of Renewal

Sparks fled upwards into the darkening night, reaching towards the brilliant pinpricks of uncountable stars above.  The fire fed greedily on the driftwood haphazardly piled onto the fine powdery sand of the beach. A northeast wind blew long and cool, driving the flames to even greater acrobatics. The smell of smoke mingled with the tang of the salt air and hot dogs on the grill. The chill forced the odd collection of barefoot wanderers to shift just a little closer to the warmth. Despite the unseasonal chill, they were thankful to be where they were – nestled together around a campfire on the white sands of Norman’s Cay while crystalline aquamarine waters lapped nearby. They had finally arrived. Another season in the Exumas!

Sometimes, as we work our way over this watery world, we stumble into magical moments that just seem so perfect they belie description. This was such a moment. An idyllic welcome to our long journey from the Chesapeake and our escape from the cold. 

Departure

After leaving Miami on Friday at 4AM, here we were on Sunday at 6PM, already in the Exumas, some 200 miles south and east of where we began. Now, 200 miles might not seem like a lot if you’re zipping along on a highway at 70, but it’s a little different when you’re going roughly 10 times slower than that. Imagine how long it might take you to run 200 miles, that’s probably closer to the speed at which we typically travel.

Bahamas

This trip has been a downhill ride. The crossing of the dreaded Gulf Stream was of no consequence. We sailed most of it and only had the motor on briefly. The seas were only a little disturbed by the northwest wind blowing across the Gulf Stream. We arrived at Alice Town in Bimini around 1PM, anchored, then I went in to handle customs and immigration. By 5:30PM, we were pulling up our anchor to catch the favorable winds still blowing. As darkness descended, we navigated out of the tricky Bimini entrance and headed south and east across Grand Bahama Bank towards Chub Cay.

Dream Catcher arrives in Bimini

Our plan was to arrive at the Northwest Channel at daybreak. This channel is supposed to be marked by two pilings about 500 yards apart. The only problem is that both pilings are in disrepair and you can’t see them unless you hit them. You simply have to trust your chartplotter and assume that your guardian angel is on duty in the wee hours of the morning.

As we nervously passed through the channel and onto the Tongue of the Ocean (an 8,000’ deep area that separates Chub Cay from New Providencia) we realized that we could probably just keep going onto New Providencia (where Nassau is located). This would put us a lot closer to the Exumas. Since we had already reefed our main, we were prepared for the wind to increase into the 20s, which it did. The seas grew larger and rougher, but we were scooting along at 7-8 knots and the seas were behind us, not in front of us. They eventually grew to about six feet, but this is less than what they were a year ago, so we figured we were doing pretty well. We sailed into the calm of West Bay and dropped anchor. It wasn’t long after that we were fast asleep as the lingering effects of the swell rocked us to sleep.

Exuma Bound

Sunday was supposed to be stormy, and we had prepared to sit out the front in West Bay, but morning dawned bright and clear, with only a gentle 10 knots blowing. It was too good to pass up! We headed out of the bay and pointed our bows (we are a catamaran, after all) towards Norman’s Cay, about 50 miles away. Sun poured out of a powder-blue sky as we set our course and our sails. Before long, we were once again romping along at 7-8 knots in perfectly flat seas in the lee of New Providencia. Gin-clear water showed every rock and coral embedded in the white sands only 8-12 feet below us. We flashed above them, too quick to make sense of any of it. Just before we reach our destination, we are hailed by Kathleen from Wonderful Life who gives us a head’s up that they, and several other “kid boats,” have already arrived – great news for us!  Finally, we pulled into Norman’s Cay lagoon and dropped our anchor. The clarity of the water makes it easy to see the anchor and its long dark-grey stretch across the vivid whiteness of the sand bar beneath us. It holds us fast, secure in our latest watery destination.

We look up and find they we are right next to Wonderful Life!  Wait, there’s Makana! And look, there’s Cool Cat across the lagoon! Doug from Wonderful Life zooms over in his dinghy to invite us to the season’s first beach barbeque. Moments later, a dinghy full of kids pulls up to gather Jeanette and they are soon speeding off towards the beach.  We collect our things, make dinner preparations, and an hour later, we are on a white-sand beach, catching up and meeting new members of the lost tribe of wandering sailors.  Food is enjoyed, conversations flow, and friendships warm while falling stars mingle with sparks streaming skyward. It’s great to be back!

The view from our boat in Normans Cay