Cruising on Salty Paws: Our Last Bahamian Cruise?

Tory swam to check on Molly as we enjoyed the beach on Spanish Wells.

Molly was a trooper as we cruised over 100 miles a day for three days last week going from Spanish Wells to the Berry Islands, then to Bimini and finally back to Florida. We did spend an extra 4 days in Bimini awaiting calm seas to cross the Gulf Stream. It was Easter weekend, and what we didn’t know was that this is also homecoming weekend in the Bahamas where residents return to their hometowns and celebrate both Christ and their own roots with music, very loud music.

We found some great beach glass on the Bimini beaches, some of it no doubt from the remains of homecoming parties over the decades past.

Our 2nd Bimini marina was very quiet. As usually, we are the
smallest cruising boat.

The size of the loudspeakers in an open lot next to the marina should have been the giveaway. Multiple speakers were strapped together, 6 feet tall and 10 feet wide, on both sides of the DJ. When the music started, it was easily over 100 decibels, but the killer was that the bass overwhelmed everything. I tried to sleep with by pillow over my ears, but the bass vibrations seemed to only be further magnified. The first night, a Wednesday (3/27), the music went until 1 am. The second night until 2 am. It was time to switch to a quiet marina 2 miles away.

The waters at sunrise for relatively calm for a Gulf crossing.
The cruise ship is anchored off North Bimini.

The Gulf crossing began at sunrise and was about as smooth as it could be as we averaged 17-20 mph and arrived at the West Palm Inlet around noon. We then fueled up at nearby Sailfish Marina, and home to one of the largest sports fishing fleets in the country. The dockhand told me that cash prices for trophy fish can be over $500,000.

We then cruised our last miles to Indiantown Marina, near Lake Okeechobee, to prepare Salty Paws to be pulled from the water. Our truck and trailer have been stored for the last two months. Our cruising is done until summer. But we will use the boat as an RV while heading back to Maine.

This marina is filled with boats, mostly monohull sailboats, that people from all over the eastern US and Canada live on during the winter months and store here for the rest of the year. Monohull sailboats are now very inexpensive as most new sailboats are catamarans, and older sailors are increasingly moving to trawlers and other power boats. One can live on a sailboat here for a fraction of the cost of purchasing an RV and staying in a Florida RV park. Some cruise to the Bahamas or the Keys, but most just seem to stay at the dock.

We enjoyed talking and listening to our dockmates and also overhearing some of talk. Jeff and Linda, next to us on the dock, are moving off their sailboat to return to Canada. This exchange took place

Jeff: “I had a terrible afternoon.”

Linda: “What happened, honey?”

Jeff: “I hit a cow with our truck!”

Linda: “Oh, no.”

Jeff: “The ‘f….ing’ cow was just standing in the middle of the road! Can you believe that?

Linda: How is the cow?

Jeff: Dead, and the farmer was really pissed.”

Linda: “Sorry that the farmer took it out on you.”

Jeff: “He wasn’t mad at me. He was mad at the cow!”

I do not know if we will ever return to the Bahamas. Four trips are enough for Molly, and the weather by all accounts has been much windier over the last two winters. Some of our cruising friends have had spend a few weeks in one protected spot to find a sufficient weather window to cruise between islands.

We do love the beautiful anchorages, the people, the waters and the nearly perfect temperatures. I went back over our blogs documenting our visits in 2016-17, 2020, 2022 and 2024. Here are some of the top experiences that we treasure.

Beautiful Anchorages

There is not a more picture perfect anchorage than the Exuma Land and Sea Park. We stayed here in 2017 and 2020.

The best anchorage in the Abacos is off Sand Cay between the Double-Breasted Cays. Molly and I spend 3 days there in 2022, and Dave Powers and I anchored there earlier this year (2024).

The People

Most of our cruising has been to lightly populated or more remote islands. We have invariable found Bahamians friendly, pet loving, entrepreneurial and often with a fascinating history. Here are a few stories.

Molly with Aaron. Was he really
the museum director?

Was He Really the Museum Director? Most Aaron is a great example of the entrepreneurial spirit as he greeted us warmly on the No. Bimini sidewalk and suggested that we tour the island museum that he directs. He gave us a great tour, and then as I was about to put $10 in the donation box, he suggested that I give it to him directly in that sometime thieves are tempted by this receptacle. Later, in describing this to another Bahamian, we learned that Aaron is not the director at all! The tour was still worth the $10.

Whites Marrying Former Slaves

The original inhabitants of the Bahamas included the Lacayans and others, but they were largely wiped out by disease or enslavement by the Spanish, beginning with Columbus in 1492. Spanish influence was ultimately replaced by British rule in 1783. The islands became a refuge for British loyalists from the United States. After Britain outlawed slavery in 1834, the island population was roughly 85% former slave. What were former white slave owner families to do if they wanted to stay on the islands they loved?

We visited one cay where the black marina owner shared this 1911 picture with us showing 4 white brothers, who all married former slaves. Their growing families became a full-fledged island community.

Community Unknown for Almost 100 Years Beginning in the 1820's or so, Florida was increasingly a brutal ground for both Native Americans and formerly free blacks. The US Army was in a campaign to exterminate the Seminoles, and blacks, formerly free under Spanish rule, were often enslaved by whites who were establishing plantations in the new state. Beginning in the 1830's a number of Seminoles and slaves escaped Florida by crossing the Gulf Stream in open boats to the shallow western shore of Andros Island. There, they established the community of Red Bays, that was unknown to the outside world until 1930.

We connected with a local guide and traveled by car 40 miles across the island to Red Bays, where we made a donation of school supplies. Here we were so warmly greeted and entertained at a school assembly.

The Bahamian Waters

No picture does full justice to the Bahamian water. After crossing the Gulf Stream from Florida, cruisers know they have arrived in the Bahamas once they reach the turquoise waters of the shallow banks that can extent for over 100 miles. Water depths are typically 10-15 feet, but the clarity makes it seem that the water is much less than that.