Bahamas - Round two

October - November, 2013.

Was fortunate enough to get a good allocation of leave time from the boat I was working on as it was going into dry dock, and I wanted to make the most of the opportunity. Having left the boat in Florida over the summer period I had some cleaning up to do. The humidity had caused a reasonable amount of mildew through most of the interior, although it really wasn't too difficult to remove. The deck too had suffered from a bit of discolouration due all the leaves/pollen that had fallen. Again nothing to be concerned about, a good little mix up of cleaning products and a couple of scrubs later all was looking much better.

New Generator

Other than that I wasn't planning on doing too many jobs as such, it was all meant to be about getting out and enjoying time on the water. Unfortunately the generator had other ideas about that! After checking out all the fluid levels, belts, etc. it started up no problem. All good so far, but after running for about 15 mins there was quite a racket coming from the engine room. It had ultimately decided that it no longer wanted to be of any use and some of the internals had separated from where they were meant to be. The generator was getting on, and in it's history it had been re-built before. With this in mind, and the fact that I eventually intended to be out and away from it all I decided the best option was to go for a complete replacement. Sure it's not cheap, but my piece of mind was certainly worth it.

So with this having delayed me somewhat, I did manage to get away from the dock and made my way once again across the Gulf Stream to Bimini. A little bit of chop again on the passage, although had a good stiff breeze which got me across in pretty good time. With the delay in getting moving it meant I was only going to have just a little over 2 weeks. I looked over the charts and decided that I'd stick a little more to the north than I had the trip before, and why not visit as many different places as able.

Allan's Cay - Resident Iguanas

I did make a stop again at New Providence, another quick catch up with Chang & Terri, and went round to Nassau to get a few supplies to see me over. From here I was planning on heading to Eleuthera Island, but on clearing the Nassau port limits the wind was coming directly from where I wanted to go. I was looking for a relaxing days sail, and so instead I changed tact and set course for Allan's Cay at the northern end of the Exumas group. Had a great sail with a steady 15-18 knots on the port beam.

A couple of days later, with hardly a breath of wind, I then made my way north to head towards Eleuthera as originally planned. Found some nice quiet anchorages, and had a bit of a wonder about checking out towns and some old ruins on one of the cays. After a few days of this, and with my mind on keeping track of time, I started to make my way back towards Florida. Still had time to stop off in a few more places along the Berry Islands group. Found my way to an inland blue hole, which I dragged dive gear to just to see how deep it went... only 22 meters.

Stopped off in Bimini for a few days waiting for a good weather window to get back across to Florida. The wind was blowing in from the north quite strong, and conditions wouldn't have been nice with that going against the relentless current of the Gulf Stream. But it was good, several other yachties were hanging out in the marina too and got to chatting with them. Some interesting stories. By the time a window of opportunity came I had also picked up a passenger, a lady that had been with friends on their converted trawler but had had enough, just wanted to get back. And so with an early departure out we went, still a good breeze blowing, and I was back and docked in Fort Lauderdale by just after midday.

Time to pack up Dream Odyssey again, and head back to work in Europe.