Persistence

Persistence can pay dividends. About a year later than planned, we are in the Bahamas. (Please forgive me for a small exclamation here….yaa! That’s for you Richie and Jayne).

After what has, at times, felt like a tortuous battle to get south from Canada, we finally dropped the hook at lunchtime on Christmas Eve.  A night crossing of the Gulf Stream under a bright and full moon delivered us here.  So bright that when we reached the shallow Bahamas Bank we could see the bottom. This was a slightly disconcerting experience when you still have about 50 miles to the anchorage, sailing in such shallow water.
Dave always said we’d get to the Bahamas for Christmas….can’t honestly say I believed him as we battled 45 knot gusts across the bow one day. And this was on the protected Intra Coastal Waterway, not even out at sea. That would have been particularly unpleasant with bold capitals. However, that ‘all be history’ now. The double duvet is packed away. The kerosene stove is redundant. Hats and gloves are firmly back in their drawer. Shorts and T-shirt’s have an airing again. White flesh is on show. The brits are in town.
Christmas Day, passed at a relaxed gentle loping speed. 33rpm. Ignore 45 or 78. We’d chosen a secluded protected anchorage tucked up off the mangroves on an uninhabited cay with a sandy beach a short walk away. Dave bought me something sparkly. An unexpected lovely surprise. We had no comms so were not able to let anyone know where we were. We’d have loved to chat to family but my inability to read instructions meant our Bahamas SIM card wasn’t activated. Doh!
On reflection, now it’s over, we did have some positive memorable experiences coming south. We caught our first tuna. It was feisty. We probably didn’t bleed it for quite long enough but it was a fine way to end the day. We had our second curry since leaving the UK in July 2016, in a place called a Palm Coast. Dave provided the sweaty entertainment while tackling his jalfrezi. Definitely out of hot spicy food practice there. And we saw a rocket launch as we sailed past Cape Canaveral, a space x rocket carrying a GPS satellite up into orbit. We weren’t actually that close, 45 miles away but clearly saw the burn as this thing hurtled skyward.
I messaged my brother. His response, “an Easyjet flight to Belfast came right over our house earlier.” No bragging needed big sister!
Finally…..uploading any pictures was taking forever so revel in the written word and look forward to piccies at a later date. 🙂

 

8 thoughts on “Persistence”

  2. Jane Frazee says:
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    A big sigh of relief from us!..
    Finally, welcome to our beloved Bahamas. Where are you? We have all kinds of suggestions.
    Are you still in the northern Abacos? Don’t miss ‘Double Breasted Cay’
    All good here. Ritchie pushing day 32 on the mountain. I’m trailing behind at 21 or so.
    Keep an eye out for those ‘Shifting Sand Banks’ especially with your draft. You’ll get used to it and the good news is… its just sand.

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  3. skibreezy says:
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    So, congratulations, hope the sparkly thing is not too revealing????
    Just heard from Miv who says that Steve Bookers lad is working in Argentiere and wants us oldies to take him out (on the hill). Think he’ll get very bored very quick and dump us.
    Just seeing guests in then preparing to go out to diner in Chamonix.
    Have a wicked New Year and loads of love from us both!!!
    xxx

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