The next stop on our tour de Abacos was Elbow Cay and the charming settlement of Hopetown but we almost turned back. The stormy weather had cleared somewhat but the wind remained and we had a very fast sail to the Island. Our approach was dead down wind and with two reefs in the Main and Head Sails we were still doing over 10 knots. Once again we were faced with a relatively narrow passage into the very protected bay of Hope Town and after dropping all sails we found we  were still travelling at at over 5 knots with the wind just pushing on the mast, rigging and hull. With a good size following sea our ability to escape the entrance should things get dicy was vastly diminished as we’d have to turn back into the wind with very little forward speed. Almost as we entered the channel a large barge came around the corner, throwing up huge plumes of spray as it fought the oncoming waves. There wasn’t enough room for two boats of our combined width so we had to quickly abort our attempt. Eventually we made it in and gratefully picked up a mooring in the back of the bay.

Hometown is another Loyalist Settlement and is famous for its lighthouse which is one of only three remaining lighthouses in the world that still use a kerosene lantern. The light is turned mechanically by a slowly falling weight which turns a bunch of cogs much like a clock. The counterweight has to be winched up manually every few hours so the lighthouse is fully manned every night. There is free access to the lighthouse during the day but a few days before writing this we read that some American teenagers who were part of a powerboat regatta vandalised the lighthouse, throwing away some critical components. The components have been returned but it sounds like access is now closed forever as the lens and other parts are irreplaceable should they ever be damaged.

The town itself is really pretty and we spent a few days just relaxing and socialising with other sailors.

On leaving Hope Town we were once again being stalked by a weather system and this one seemed to have everyone’s attention. With a few days before the weather turned again we moved further Southwards through dozens of Cays and shifting sand banks to some great diving grounds but the wind and waves were making it hard to realise the full potential of this area.

As the weather worsened we ran for the nearest safe anchorage, Little harbour which is famed for having not much else than a beach bar called Pete’s Pub and an Art Gallery! With an entrance channel depth of only 1.5m this is quite a restricted place for keel boats and even for us the first time in was nerve wracking, especially as you need to stay very close to some cliffs to stay in the deeper water. We were later to do this entrance again at night with huge rollers crashing into the cliffs but the first time is always the scariest!

Little Harbour has an amazing amount of turtles around and it seemed that every time we looked over the water there was one surfacing. Meanwhile the low pressure system above us deepened and then became the first named storm of the season, Tropical Storm Anna. Apart from dramatic clouds, wind and lots of rain it wasn’t much of an event for us but but I know some other boats weren’t in such a cozy place as us and got hammered.

Little Harbour was to be our last stop in the Abacos, from here we would sail on the Island group of the Eleuthera’s. As the trade winds are often right on the nose for this stretch we hoped for a suitable weather window when the wind swung off the back of Tropical Storm Anna. The window was short and would only last overnight so at sunset we set off for an overnight passage. Negotiating the narrow cut in the outer reef, we were hit by some of the biggest waves we’ve experienced so far. The storm may have passed but the remaining North Atlantic swell was very uncomfortable and after an hour everyone was feeling pretty off. We decided that an all night passage in those conditions would probably be quite miserable so back we went, surfing waves through the outer reef and negotiating the channel back into Little harbour by GPS track alone. The next morning things had calmed off quite a bit and although we no longer had any wind to sail by the trip would be so much nicer.

And so we leave the Abacos and head to the  Eleuthera’s.

It’s been another great couple of weeks of adventure, sweetened by the fact that we could share them in great company with old and new friends. A few major lessons have been learnt one of which almost resulted in Sandy Feet ending up on rocks at 3am but let’s ease into that a little less dramatically.

It all started with Tom and Tyler joining us for a week, they had their own epic adventure just getting to Bimini, not the fun sort but the dumb sort that leaves you starting a holiday travel weary and without any bags. The lost luggage impacted our floating island heavily, the much anticipated shipment of Tim Tams and Vegemite alas never materialised and the cravings remain. We kicked off Tom and Tylers visit in true Bimini style with a pickup from the airport using a hired golf buggy and within an hour of touching Bahamian soil they were already enjoying the crystal clear waters of our anchorage.

After a short break and a dinghy ride to some isolated rocks they had their first encounters with a bunch of Caribbean Reef Sharks. With a dinner of Sushi made from yesterdays caught fish and lobster we did our best to erase the memory’s of their harrowing travels.

The next morning we explored the wreck of the Sarpona, probably the ugliest shipwreck on the planet but with a fascinating history. The ferro-cement constructed vessel was built by Henry Ford and after ending up on a shallow bank was variously used as a party palace/night club, warehouse for rum smugglers during the prohibition era and finally as a practice target by the US navy prior to WW2. They were either lousy shots or the ferro-cement design is exceedingly robust as the ship is still mostly intact and probably will still be in another century.

We’d recently met a wonderful Australian family (Terry, Coral, Jessica and Brock Howe) from Dampier also travelling on a catamaran (Howes Adventures).

With a shared love of free diving and sharks we hatched a plan to get another encounter with the Great Hammerheads. Sure enough, after barely an hour of laying a scent they showed up again and so it was that Tom and Tylers second time in the water with sharks was with the Great Hammerheads of Bimini (as well as the attendant Nurse Sharks).

Over the next few days we probably spent as many waking hours in the water as out but eventually we decided on pastures new and struck out towards the island of Grand Bahama, Howes Adventures were striking out for the US and decided to join us for the first leg.

Approximately halfway to Grand Bahama lies a small island and some lesser exposed rocks. We arrived at this group towards evening and Terry suggested we stop for a snorkel and spearfish. This is probably one of the wilder places I’ve dived, a collection of rocks in the middle of the vast ocean, hours away from any human civilisation it feels very remote. After some successful hunting (Tom got to shoot his first fish) we explored the rocks at the end of the chain and discovered a shipwreck. At this point we seemed to be in predator-central with hundreds of Barracuda schooling around us, Sharks and Rays ducked in and out and with the sun almost touching the horizon things felt tense. I was praying at this point that Tom wouldn’t shoot another fish, it seemed like everything was just waiting for the slightest excuse to start a frenzy, when the biggest Turtle any of us had ever seen detached itself from the wreck and swam towards us. Of course we didn’t have the underwater camera and the distant GoPro footage wont ever do justice to the moment it swam to within a meter of us, its head the size of a football, to give us the once over before swimming off into the gloom.

Shortly afterwards we were back onboard Sandy Feet and under the rising full moon we anchored behind the nearby Great Isaac Island. Howes Adventures had decided to continue on to Grand Bahama overnight and so we were left alone to contemplate the deserted lighthouse and buildings whilst preparing our fresh fish for dinner.

Initially we had decided to overnight at Great Issac but with perfect sailing winds and a full moon to light the way we finished our dinner, weighed anchor and set off in Howe’s Adventures wake. The fact that the abandoned lighthouse was downright spooky may have also influenced us on a deeper level! Our sail to Grand Bahama was as perfect as it gets and apart from keeping an eye on the cruise ships and super tankers on AIS we had little to do but enjoy the night. In the wee hours we made landfall albeit a little to the West of where Terry had suggested we anchor in a canal. No problem, there are plenty of marinas down the coast and so we chose the closest one to duck into for a few hours kip. And here came a lesson we don’t intend to repeat. On the chart the entry looked easy enough with two spits of seawall and markers guiding the way in but unbeknown to us the marina was in a complete state of disrepair and almost unused. The moon had long since set and in near pitch darkness with the aid of our Flir night vision camera we found two stakes marking the entrance. Too late several things became apparent; the channel was very very narrow, the tide was very low and the sea wall was missing in many places which has allowed rocky sandbars to build inside the already narrow channel. To compound the unfolding disaster we had a strong crosswind with waves breaking over what was left of the seawall. It was too late to change course or back out, we were committed to the channel. From my position at the helm all I could see was water washing over rocks far to close on either side, the depth gauge told me we had next to no water under the keels, Tom and Laura were on the starboard and port bows and both were shouting I needed to go in the opposite direction away from certain doom on their side. With gritted teeth we zig-zagged our way down the channel, avoiding rocks and sandbars with mere feet to spare and expecting any moment to feel the sudden de-acceleration and crunching noise as we grounded. Somehow we didn’t and eventually the channel widened into a manmade lagoon lined with tumbling down houses and a hotel that looked like it saw it’s best years in the 1960’s. With the anchor safely down and the rapidly draining adrenalin draining the last of our reserves we collapsed into our beds. My last thoughts as I drifted off were towards how the hell we would get back out through the channel, it’s one thing going in blind and dealing with the fallout spontaneously but having prior knowledge of something really stupid you’re about to attempt is quite another. Luckily things looked different the next morning, the wind had died and with almost a meter more water in the channel most of the exposed rocks and bars that intruded on the channel were now covered and we even had enough depth under the keels to get a reading. And so we left to the beautiful wide, deepwater canals that we should’ve gone to in the first place.

We spent Tom and Tyler’s last few days exploring Grand Bahama. Despite being the largest of the islands in the region with the biggest population there isn’t much to the place for our sort of adventures but it was nice to be around shops again and the kids no doubt thought it was the best place we’ve ever been owing to the daily trips to the ice-cream parlour.

We are now in the Abacos group of islands which are slightly more remote and far less populated. Apart from the lack of internet (which we miss less everyday) the only real stress is our dwindling gas supply without which we wont be able to cook the fish we mostly live on. There is always the option of cooking on a beach camp fire but I’m not sure we’re rugged enough for that sort of thing yet.

Those that have known us for while will have heard us talk many times about our cruising plans and although they are vague (apart from buying a catamaran, drinking rum and sailing to exotic places) we always had our starting point set in Florida. The simple reason is that Florida, and to be specific Fort Lauderdale, is the mecca for boat sales. It’s the place where boat owners, boat sellers, dreamers, cruisers, wannabe’s and neverwannaseeaboatagain types converge while the vultures, I mean boat brokers, circle overhead.

We flew into Orlando from Hawaii and thought we’d spend a while settling and do some of the big ticket items like Disney, Warner Bro’s Movie World and even a satellite launch at the space centre. The culture shock was brutal, gone were the barefooted bikini/board short wearing locals that stop their car to let you cross the road when they see you from 50m away. Gone also were the chickens running on the footpaths, the booming surf and the berry super smoothies. Welcome to matching tracksuits, roads as wide as runways, cars the size of buses and fast food outlets on every corner.

Ok I’m being a little dramatic but you get the idea. Alas after two days in a resort we just couldn’t quiet the nagging voices that were urging us Southwards to find a boat in Fort Lauderdale and so we hit the 6 lane roads to find home.

Fort Lauderdale is actually a really nice place, the beaches are reminiscent of Perth, but with lots of palm trees and fat people on them.

However inland is where it gets interesting, there is a network of canals that splits the land like a modern day Venice and it is here that the most amazing diversity of boats are to be found. The canals start large but then split into smaller offshoots that often split again and take you into the middle of suburbia. Anything from dinghy’s to super yachts are to be found here. Space is at a premium and it’s not uncommon to see a multi million dollar mega yacht moored outside a fibro shack that, were it not for its location, would be worth $50K.

Anyway we had a plan, we knew what we wanted down to the make, model and size, only we’d never actually been on one before. We were actually really lucky and found a couple of really nice brokers who took us round for a few days looking at various boats including our target species. One of them even took us out for a day on the water in a brand new power boat (you’re a legend Wiley!) We also met other brokers but only on the phone which was as close as we ever wanted to be to them! As sure of the boat we wanted, we were equally sure of the boat we didn’t want but one of the brokers showed us one anyway just in case. We tried to stay staunch and convince our hearts that we had the right plan but after looking at quite a number of boats we had to give in. The boat we thought we wanted (Leopard 46) is not the boat for us, the boat we said we’d never buy because of its looks and performance Lagoon is so clearly the right boat for us. At least we didn’t have to debate it between us, we just knew!

Ok so they’re ugly and they sail a bit slower but OMG you cannot beat the space and comfort on the Lagoons, they are also extremely seaworthy and pretty much impossible to flip. Unfortunately there aren’t many of these around as they’re a newer model but in the end we found one, not in Fort Lauderdale!!! This is why we haven’t planned any of the rest of the trip, we cant even get the first stage right! So she’s a year old, has crossed the Atlantic from France and is now in the Southern Caribbean. The current owners had planned a 3 year trip and loaded her with everything including solar power, water maker, air conditioning and the list goes on and on. Unfortunately one of them has not been able to get on top of her sea-sickness and is permanently miserable at sea, so after the first year their journey takes a new direction and we take over with hopefully better luck! I made my first foray into the Caribbean to check her out (the boat!) in Martinique and made an offer within an hour of being on board. You just know when you’re on the right boat, it just speaks to you! Laura and I went over some really nice boats in Florida but we just knew they weren’t right for us. While I was in Martinique Laura and the girls took off for the UK for a much needed catch-up with family and friends, it kind of sucks they haven’t seen our new home yet but we already knew she was the one before we all parted ways.

The last couple of weeks has been all about the not so fun part of boat ownership, transferring funds, organising insurance, registration etc etc. On the positive side there’s no shortage of great bars here and I even went for a shark dive at a beautiful site 1 hour North called Jupiter. There will be a number of shark photos because, well we all need more sharks in our lives right?

Tomorrow I’m off to St Lucia to complete the boat handover and then, with the help of a delivery captain, sail her back to Florida so we can start our trip the way we said we would! Maybe I’ll get some pictures of our new baby to share in the next post.