We left the western side of the island and headed for the Current Cut. This has to be timed with the tides because it's a relatively skinny channel through the island and a strong current can be going through there. We heard someone on the radio the day before trying to do it and wasn't making any headway and had to turn around. We had no problem and the other side was gorgeous. The color of the water here is unreal.
Our end game was the Lower Bogue area near the Glass Bridge. On our way, Jesse yelled "dolphin!" We all came out onto the deck to see seven dolphins hanging out at the front of the boat. It was amazing. They hung around for at least 5 minutes.
We got to where we were going to anchor, and the waves were super rolly. Joe and Ben went to shore to scope things out, only to decide that it was too sketchy to bring anyone else ashore. Rick picked them up at a different beach, which was still pretty rough.
Our main goal at this spot was to go north to a Bottom Harbor Beach where sea turtles supposedly congregated, so go to the Queen's Baths and to see the Glass Bridge. On Sunday we went to the Queen's Bath, which was very pretty. After naptime, Joe had found someone to drive us to go see the turtles. It wasn't quite what we were expecting, but we did get to see quite a few turtles, which was fun. Ash loved it, Eli saw one and then just wanted to play in the water.
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We wanted to check out Preacher's Cave and the Sapphire Blue Hole, so after the boys played on the beach for a bit in the morning, we moved the boat over to Bluff Settlement. While on the way, Chelsey put lines out and caught a Mutton Snapper. Once we anchored, Joe went onshore to see what he could figure out. He said everyone was super friendly, and on Wednesday he managed to find a taxi that could bring all of us to the northern part of the island to check those two things out.
Rick stayed on the boat and the rest of us hopped in and went to Preacher's Cave first. It was a big cave where people lived after they had shipwrecked on Devil's Backbone (a reef near the island) in the mid-1600's. After exploring that and walking over to the beach where we could see the reef, we hopped back in and took the short drive to the blue hole. Sapphire is definitely an appropriate name. I stayed with the twins and watched Joe, Jesse and Chelsey jump in. Ben climbed down a little ways before jumping in and swimming. We had it to ourselves for about 15 minutes before a couple more groups showed up. The timing was perfect.
For dinner that night, Jesse cooked up the Snapper that Chelsey had caught. It was super yummy.
On Thursday, there was going to be some wind from the west, so we headed back to Meeks Patch. While there, we had to spend a lot of Thursday on the boat because of the winds, but the kids got some more beach time on Friday, and the work that Chelsey and Rick had done on the paddle boards was put to work. We took those into the beach because the dinghy started giving us trouble again. Ben got a chance to try and paddled around the boat a few times.
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We headed to the West End because there appeared to be a channel dug into the island that didn't have any buildings within it. When we got there, we had Joe and Chelsey watch from the bow of the boat incase any obstructions were in the channel, but it was a solid 15 feet deep, which is what it was dredged at originally. We found a good spot to anchor and were there alone. It is apparently an abandoned development. On some of the islands, they dredge out channels and then build marinas and homes along it. This one had concrete roads poured, utilities put in and a few houses had been started. Something must have happened and work on the project stopped. It made for a peaceful place to stay. Fully protected from waves.
It was a short dinghy ride to head out to the beach. We could either get dropped off down a nearby channel and walk there, or take the dinghy back out through the channel and beach it there. Jesse and Rick managed to get a few lobsters while snorkeling. The boys loved digging in the sand and playing in the water. The water was a great depth for them. Ben also tried snorkeling for the first time and is completely obsessed.
Another sailboat showed up yesterday and anchored nearby. Today, it completely poured and a rainbow showed up. That was fun to show the kids. While here they got a lot of great time on the beach and got to see crabs, a huge conch and lots of shells.
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Today was a day to get some things done and let the kids burn off energy. We washed all the sheets that needed it from the leaky pull-up and throwup of the previous couple days. We had the kids run around in the grass. They tried to catch butterflies. We took the water taxi over towards a market that's nearby in order to find some lunch. Chelsey spent the morning organizing and cleaning some of the boat, which was awesome. We showed back up to the boat around naptime and the person we were waiting for that had the part we needed for the dinghy's motor came. Rick got it installed quickly, so we'll test that out tomorrow, but it should be good now.
Eli has decided that naps are optional. The last few days we've managed to get him to still nap, but today was not one of those days. During that time, Rick, Chelsey and Jesse took the 2pm van ride to the grocery store that the marina offered. They stocked back up on some produce. Once they were back and Ash was awake, we all took the water taxi back to the market for dinner and some fro-yo. Unfortunately, we found out the water taxi stopped at 6pm when it was already 7pm. The woman that was running the fro-yo place helped us get a taxi that fortunately fit all 8 of us.
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We woke up early and decided to sail north to Freeport on Grand Bahama. That city is larger than what's on Bimini and we were hoping to get the engine on the dinghy fixed since we weren't having luck with what we had tried so far. Also, by leaving this morning, we were able to sail because the wind was favorable instead of having to motor the whole way.
Pretty early on, there were flying fish jumping out in front of us constantly. It was amazing. It wasn't quite as rough as the crossing from Miami. Everyone handled it better. Unfortunately, that morning, Eli had thrown up water all over the bed. The night had been pretty wavey so our assumption was the combination of water in his tummy (he asked for and drank a bunch of water just before throwing up) and a bit of motion sickness. He seemed fine the rest of the day.
We made good time and made it to Freeport around 5pm. We decided to stay at Grand Bahama Yacht Club so that we could do laundry, get rid of garbage, take proper showers and, most importantly, get the dinghy motor fixed.
For my birthday dinner, I noticed an indian restaurant nearby. I failed to notice that it said "takeout" before we took a water taxi and then walked the rest of the way. We couldn't find the restaurant and Joe noticed a few Indian people standing at the address where it claimed to be. Turns out the guy's wife does the cooking and then they deliver the food. We did a general order and then they kindly gave us a ride back to the marina instead of us walking a little over a mile back. The kids went swimming in the pool while we waited for our food (Jesse and Chelsey fed them while we were gone.) The food definitely took quite a while, but it was very good and clearly fresh. The samosas were handmade fresh, which is what took the longest, from the sounds of it. Joe even ordered a piece of cake from the marina's restaurant for my birthday dessert.
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