Our 12-hour weather window from Port Lucaya to Spanish Wells held & we made it in 11 hours (noon – 11 PM). While we try to avoid nighttime cruising, you have to take the weather when you can. Unfortunately, there was no moon up that night, so we had almost no visibility for our last 5 hours, other than radar & AIS (Automatic Identification System) – both which display vessels & ships on our chartplotter screen (about 2/3 of vessels transmit an AIS signal). Fortunately, the only vessels out there were a few cargo ships & a few cruise ships – neither you can miss.

The sun setting behind us as we motor between Grand Bahama & Eleuthera – not rough, but not dead calm either.

While it hadn’t been our original plan, we decided Spanish Wells would be a good place to enjoy Christmas – and it was! Their grocery store was well stocked (they nicely allow locals to sell homemade breads & treats), there was a decorated golf cart parade & even fireworks. This is “our” just finished, extended private dock in Spanish Wells where we will return for the month of March.

This little Christmas tree has traveled with us thousands of miles. The angel on top we bought for our very first Christmas tree many years ago while first dating & she has adorned early 6′ trees, our 10′ – 12′ trees during our years in CT & now this little 2′ tree on our 3 boats & 1 RV. Lori baked up some delicious coconut macaroons.

Our Christmas Babkas, a tradition carried on from Lori’s Dad.

After Christmas, the weather settled out nicely so we could begin our trek further south down the Exuma chain. We love when the wind stops & the water is so crystal clear. HEY MISTER ANCHOR (circled with the chain to the right) – aren’t you supposed to be out in front of the boat holding us in place, not hanging out next to us?

We snuck up on this ray in our dinghy, who took off when he spotted us.

It appears as though this shark scared me so much I blasted out of the water, up onto our sugar scoop! Actually, it’s not unusual to spot them following me, but I keep telling myself they’re more afraid of me than I am of them … or is that snakes? Even though the Bahamas is loaded with 40 different species of sharks, attacks on humans are fairly rare (the Tourist Board says 🙂 …

Sunset behind us anchored off Rolle Cay, George Town, Exuma.

The big talk this year is of the Bahamas’ increase in cruising fees, along with new anchoring & fishing fees, adding to last year’s new fees for extending immigration. Just 10 years ago, it cost us $150 in fees for our 4 months. Now the same time 4 months (if initially granted only a 90-day visa & wanting to fish while here- we got 120 days & decided $400 extra for a fishing license wasn’t quite worth it) would total 10x = $1,500! While this will likely accelerate the wind-down of our Bahamas years, it will be devastating for most of the islands, especially the smaller “Family Islands” who depend on both the short-term boats from Florida & cruisers such as us staying & spending for months. Marinas are reporting their bookings cut by more than half & one restaurant owner in Exuma sadly asked us “where is everybody?”. While the government is pledging to re-assess the fees for next year, they had originally planned on even higher fees before dropping them down to these current ones. Of course, fees are just a piece of the high costs, with most goods & food costing 40% to double U.S. prices, plus a 10% VAT.

We will be bouncing around the George Town area for the next 6 weeks, catching up with cruising friends, especially Cort who bought land on Stocking Island & built a simple “camp house” several years ago. Even if we return to the Bahamas for another year or two, this will sadly be our last time down to George Town.

Anchoring is now prohibited in our favorite protected areas, so bouncing is indeed what we do on 5 out of 7 days as we are stuck anchoring with little wave protection somewhere in the 1 mile x 5 mile harbor during the “George Town Shuffle” moving about with the wind directions as cold fronts move thru. We skipped coming here last year due to this but will make the best of our final year in George Town!