We like to pause and reflect on the experience at the end of long trips. At 6 months in length, this sailing trip is the longest trip we’ve ever been on and the longest break from working in our lives. Since there hasn’t been much ugly on this trip, except maybe David, and there has been a lot of sublime, we’re taking liberties with the name and hope Clint Eastwood won’t take offense.
Sublime:
The overnight sail from the Abacos in the north of Bahamas to the Exhumas on our way south was a highlight. This is still David's favorite sail even though we’ve had many great ones. The moon was up, the swells were evenly spaced and not too big, and even though the wind was light, we moved steadily through the night and it was simply beautiful.
Though we did not do as much snorkeling as we hoped, a couple of our “dives” are memorable. One was in an anchorage at Belle Island where we were able to follow a turtle swimming underwater and witness the grace and beauty of these creatures in their native environment. Two experiences with large rays also stand out. One was the same place and day as the turtle where a car-sized ray was hovering over the bottom slowly “flapping” it’s wings to dig a shallow depression in the sand. We speculate that it may have been a nest but we really don’t know. The other ray experience was at Darby Island where a British nobleman who was a Nazi sympathizer dug a very deep channel next to his island so Nazi submarines could come in at night to resupply. We were snorkeling that channel and saw a very large spotted eagle ray swimming through it about 10 feet below us. It was very eerie and unsettling, but also very cool and special.
Sunsets, especially in the boat cockpit with MB and sometimes friends and family have been special the whole trip. We’ve seen way too many to count and probably some of the best of our lives here.
Seeing the legendary and elusive Green Flash was special. Yes, it does really exist. We’ve only seen it once so far, but we both saw it and it was quite distinct.
The deep down feeling of relaxation from living the cruising life is not something we ever feel in our “real” life except sometimes during those long camping trips at Kerr Lake. Sure, there have been stressful times, especially related to bad weather and engine issues, but for the most part these six months have been delightfully relaxing while never being boring.
The Bahamas water is absolutely stunning and the air temperature is nearly always perfect. The water is like no other water we have seen anywhere. At times nearly clear, at times rich blue and at times a translucent greenish color. It is endlessly fascinating and a pleasure to look at every day. The air temperature doesn't change more than a few degrees between night and day and we were almost always comfortable in shorts and tank tops.
Lack of bugs. We really appreciate this now since we’re back in the US and spent last night in the company of thousands of biting no-see-ums. In the Bahamas, however, we had almost no bugs at all and never needed to use screens at night. We speculate that the dryness of the land and the cleanliness and saltiness of the water are not hospitable to them, but we really don’t know.
Good:
Being around each other 24-7 has been good. There are certainly times when we are tired of each other, but for the most part we’ve really enjoyed having just us for so much time. Remarkably we still like each other almost all the time and we do work together well on the boat. We share most roles but also recognize that we are each better at some things.
Getting exposed to the culture and being reminded that our American lives are complicated because we let them be that way has been good. People do fine without the infrastructure, the “stuff” we have, and the hustle/bustle and competitiveness that is America.
Getting away from being “connected” all the time has been good. While frustrating at times, the lack of internet made us spend more time reading, talking, thinking and simply being. This is a good thing that is very hard to experience for anything but the briefest moments at home.
Having time to read, pursue hobbies and “just be” has been good. There’s been less of this free time than I (David) thought there would be. Sailing is a bit of a hunter-gatherer lifestyle so things that are easy and quick at home can take much longer here, but there has still been time to read, pursue interests (I’ve started learning guitar and have studied music theory a bit) and its been nice to have the luxury of this time.
We have met so many people (fellow cruisers and locals) and formed so many friendships with other cruisers. Everyone is so warm and friendly with each other. Dinghies stop by boats for no reason other than to say hi, where you from, want to come over for sundowners. You have conversations with people over the VHF radio whom you never have met and then feel like lifelong friends once you meet them in person. You may meet people and then travel together for a week or more and go exploring new areas, sharing all sorts of interesting conversations. Cruisers come from a wide range of backgrounds and are all ages, but we are connected by our cruising experience and desire to explore the world and cultures and love to share information about neat places to go. On the other hand, people understand that sometimes you don’t feel like being socialable and it’s fine if you don’t join in. No one gets their feelings hurt. We like the mix of alone time and social time with others.
We had uniformly great sailing. There was almost always wind, although often a bit more than we would have liked! The boat handled well in anywhere between 5 knots of wind and 25 knots of wind.
We loved having our family visit us, both the kids (minus Christopher) at Christmas and MB's parents for a week in April. We hope to have more family and friends visit next year!
Bad:
Engine problems that never were fully resolved. We still don’t know what is really going on and it hangs over us like a guillotine when entering a tricky channel or pushing through a rough seaway. We have to figure this out. It’s not a good moment when you really need your engine and it is not there for you.
Communication (also in good, two sides to this coin). There were many times when we wanted to look something up on the internet, send email/text friends and family, or check for an expected email and could not get connected to anything for days on end. Even when we got “internet” it was pretty slow and flakey.
Sea sickness, though not a huge issue, did take away from the enjoyment of sailing at times for David. Meclizine is effective, but does cause some drowsiness and makes him a bit “out of it” (yes I can hear you thinking “how can he tell the difference – not funny). And the scopolamine patch is definitely off the table forever!