Back in Hope Town
It has been awhile since I posted anything, but we have been very busy getting our new boat ready. We took possession of Satisfaction in Miami, FL in early July. A friend and I moved the boat from Miami to Stuart, FL where he made many upgrades to the boat until mid-August. At that time my wife and I flew from Maryland to Florida to move onto the boat. We spent 5 weeks making upgrades to enhance our living and getting Satisfaction supplied for our trip to the Bahamas.
My wife’s brother and his wife flew down to Florida to help us move Satisfaction from Florida to the Abacos. We went out the St. Lucie inlet at first light and motor-sailed to the Bahamas bank. The winds were from the NW at about 10-15 knots with the occasional 20 knots and the waves were 3 to 5 feet with the occasional 6 to 7 feet. The wave duration was long about 6 to 7 seconds so the wave height was tolerable. We flew across the Gulf Stream averaging 7.5 knots. It took us only 7 hours 10 minutes to get from the St. Lucie inlet to the Bahamas bank at White Sand Ridge about 54 nautical miles.
After crossing onto the Little Bahamas Bank we motor-sailed about 9 more hours and anchored the first night at about 10:30 P.M. at Great Sale Cay. We made 2 more overnight stops at Allen-Pensacola Cay and Manjack Cay before checking in with Bahamas Customs and immigration at Green Turtle Cay. We stayed one night at the Bluff house Marina in Green Turtle Cay to relax and fill up with fuel and water. The next day we motored 5 hours around the Whale Cay and arrived in Hope Town.
Our new home
We are now back at our old stomping grounds at Elbow Cay staying at the Hope Town Inn and Marina. We arrived here the third week of September and it is pretty quiet. Not all restaurants are open and even the grocery store has limited hours of operation. However the 2 liquor stores are open with regular hours.
We bought Satisfaction without paying Florida sales taxes. This meant we had to have Satisfaction out of Florida within 90 days. As a result we did not get all our boat projects completed in Florida. There are several things we must do here in the Bahamas which would have been easier to do in the US. So even though we did save some money by avoiding sales taxes, it made us very rushed to do all the things we needed to do. Generally, this is not the best thing to do when buying a new boat. It is better not to be in a hurry. Another thing that caused us to lose time is we had to prepare the boat for a possible tropical storm that never happened.
School kids racing in Hope Town harbour
I did all the things that I thought was absolutely necessary, but, being in a hurry, we likely paid more than we otherwise would have. Additionally, other than moving the boat from Miami to Stuart, we did not have a chance to have a “shakedown” cruise to check everything out. Maintenance things have come up that we were not aware of in Florida.
But it is nice to be here in the Bahamas. It is still pretty hot, but the water is very warm and we have been swimming almost every day. Other than a few groups chartering sailboats for a week, there have been no other cruisers here. The winter season crowd will start arriving at the beginning of November.
Hope Town beach where we regularly swim and snorkel
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Ted and Dena…CONGRATULATIONS on living your dream. I stumbled upon your sight tonight after hearing from out of the blue from Kathryn. I am so envious of you all living on your boats in Hopetown and cruising the beautiful Bahamian waters. My life has been crazy fun and like,you have done a lot of travelling…China, Japan, Malyasia, Alaska, UK,,and also living and sailing in Australia. My home base has been Vancouver over looking the ocean which I love love love! It would be so nice to see you folks again sometime. But if that never happens keep the blog going, Ted your blog really is good.