I’ve tabulated the numbers and the results are in: here are our sailing stats for season two! I even went all out on an infographic so you can digest your data in picture format! How many miles did we cover? How often did we sail? What was our longest trip? It’s all right here in today’s post!
If everything goes according to plan, this should be our last passage on this boat! We experience our worst storm ever while at the dock, which roughs up our nerves a little bit but we’re stubborn. We push through those feelings and hop into the Gulf Stream up to Charleston! And you’ll never guess what we see along the way!
Our visas have expired and we’re Florida bound. However, as we approach international waters we hear the Bahamian Defense Force is not letting boats leave the Bimini harbor. Do we stay here as illegal aliens? Or make a run for it as international fugitives!?
We can see the writing on the wall, it’s time to make our way back to Florida before the Bahamas truly locks down! We check things off our list, one last mahi-mahi, one last shark, one last shore explore, one last snake(!), one last beautiful anchorage!
Our stop in Black Point was mainly about fixing the dinghy, but we ran into so many friends here as well! Unfortunately, this is the last time we can be so cavalier about hanging out with people, we’re starting to distance ourselves in anticipation of arriving back in Florida.
The weather forces us to change our plans a few times, but we make the most of it by hitting up a popular snorkel destination, Thunderball Grotto. It’s everything the guidebooks say and more! We saw a huge variety of fish, we snorkeled in the cavern, and we finished off a big day by watching the grotto’s namesake James Bond film!
We made it to a new island chain! Right away, we saw some new wildlife: the largest native species to the Bahamas, the rock iguana! We also saw our first sharks, at the worst possible time! Don’t worry, there are pictures!
We caught our first edible fish! We also face some adversity when an engine hiccups and we lose some speed – and can’t see any reason for the issue! And last but not least, we have a close up encounter with some dolphins on a beautiful sail along Eleuthera!
We’re on the move! For the first time, we tried out our spinnaker sail! However, the wind was just too light so we motored to a new cay and did some underwater exploring. Sea stars, coral, turtles, and a live conch! It feels good to be on the move again.
We jumped down to Miami to ring in the new year, then crossed to Bimini in the Bahamas, and since the weather was still holding, we kept going and are now in the Berry Islands. We’re ready to start exploring!