Farewell Bahamas! Farewell Meshuggana!

So much has happened since I last wrote my blog and it’s hard to believe it’s been 6 weeks since we left Georgetown, Exuma and turned our bow northward to begin our journey home. So much has happened, so many wonderful adventures that I didn’t have time to sit down and write.

Our return journey took us through some pretty amazing places: Long Island, Cat Island, Little San Salvador and Eleuthera and some of these spots became our favourite islands. Unfortunately, we were running out of time so we needed to fly through these spots, but we will definitely be back next season.

As we pushed north, we made a stop at Half Moon Cay, previously know as Little San Salvador, another cruise ship island. This lovely island, owned by Carnival Corporation, was likely once a tiny gem with white sand beaches and jungle-forests, but is now covered in carnival rides, endless rows of beach chairs and cabanas and has cruise ship tenders running through the bay every few minutes. We timed our arrival for late afternoon, just as the cruise ships were leaving for the day and left early in the morning just as the employees began to arrive for another day of catering to cruise passengers.

These islands deserve so much more time than we allotted to them, but we were focused on getting back to Nassau to pick-up a very special passenger, my son Davis. Hands-down, the most difficult part of this adventure is missing our family and friends, so I was over the moon when Davis confirmed he was coming to visit. We only had a few days together, so my goal was to give him an appetizer of all the wonderful things the Bahamas have to offer: beaches, blue water, local culture and a bit of the big tourist thing in Nassau.

With Davis aboard, we set sail east toward Spanish Wells, the northern point of the Eleuthera Islands. We had a spectacular sailing day, with good winds and following seas, but the next day brought us something we had not seen in literally weeks – rain. Lots of rain. However, no rain could spoil spending time with my son, so we moved anchorages as we needed to be more comfortable (waves come with rain) and enjoyed all that Spanish Wells has to offer. Another great destination, and again, we’ll be back.

While the airplane returned Davis to Toronto in about 3 hours, our journey home would be much longer and take a lot more planning. Our journey westward would again take us across the Gulf Stream, meaning intense monitoring of wind and wave forecasts as well as more complex route planning. Many sailors choose to sail to Bimini, the westernmost Bahamian island, and then cross to southern Florida; however, we wanted to take advantage of the strong Gulf Stream current to take us further north, closer to our end destination, Daytona Beach.

After days of watching forecasts, we left Nassau for Lucaya, Grand Bahama (near Freeport), returning to one our favourite marinas on Taino Beach, to again sit out some big wind and waves. We enjoyed the safety of the marina and its private beach and lazy river pool until we finally got a sliver of good weather and sailed to West End, the northern most point of Grand Bahama, where we could stage a Gulf Stream crossing. At 1:00 am on April 1, we pulled up anchor for the last time in the Bahamas, and set course for Ft Pierce, Florida. At 3:00 pm, we dropped anchor in Ft Pierce, cleared US Customs, and were now on the home stretch of this adventure.

Back in Florida and back in the Intercoastal Waterway (ICW), we continued to push north to our final port, Daytona Beach. This journey was bittersweet – it was a relief to be back in familiar waters and safe anchorages away from huge ocean swells an unpredictable currents; however, these would be our last days aboard Meshuggana, our second home for so many years. Meshuggana was conditionally sold and was scheduled to be hauled out of the water to be surveyed and handed over to her new owners.

Meshuggana passed her inspection with only a few minor repairs needed, and we began the immense job of emptying every locker, cupboard and bilge, then lovingly polishing her up for her new family. For the last 9 years Meshuggana has been our home, she has taken us on countless adventures over 8000 miles and kept us safe throughout our journeys. She will be missed…fair winds, old friend.