Beaufort to Spanish Wells, Bahamas

We made it!! We arrived in Spanish Wells, Bahamas 98 hours—89 engine hours (including some motor-sailing)—after leaving Beaufort, NC. We are so happy to be here. It has been almost two years since we were last in the Bahamas and we have missed it. We never tire of the gorgeous shades of blue water.

Our passage was relatively uneventful. We would have preferred a bit more wind to enable us to sail more, but we took what we could get. We raised the sails many times when the wind would pick up, only to furl them an hour or two later when the wind dropped. We left Beaufort with a reef in the mainsail and the furling boom enabled us to add and remove the reef without ever going up on deck. In the past—with our old mainsail system and in rough seas—the reef lines became fouled and/or the main halyard wrapped around the spreaders, requiring a trip up on deck to sort things out. This time we furled the mainsail many times in the dark and it always furled beautifully. The one slight negative we noticed is that the boom—since it is heavier—tends to move back and forth more when the wind is light and the water is choppy.

When we left home two weeks ago we sailed overnight in a full moon. Last night we sailed under a new moon and the number of stars we could see in the sky were incredible. We each saw a shooting star on our watch. The night before George saw six shooting stars! We also saw a few ships over the past two nights but none that came any closer than two miles. We came within about 10 miles of another sailboat. George hailed them on the radio and had a brief chat.

Once we tied up to our slip in Spanish Wells it was time to check into the country. One major difference was that George had to go to the Customs and Immigration office rather than having them come to our boat at the marina. George walked into town and found the office empty. After 15 minutes the customs officer arrived. He asked George to complete some of the same forms George had already spent hours completing online. Then George spent another 15 minutes waiting for the immigration officer. In our four prior visits to the Bahamas we were approved for visits of at least 120 days as we requested. This time George was told “we never approve that amount, I will give you 60 days. Then you can renew it for another 60 days.” The problem with that plan is that immigration offices are only in certain harbors in the Bahamas and you can’t renew more than 14 days before the permit expires. If you are late—even by a day—you can be expelled from the country. George was told today that the renewal had to be done in person but he had read it could be done online. We will definitely be looking into that. On the positive side, we had no trouble with the health visas or the fact that our Covid tests were six days old. George showed the customs officer the tracks from our Spot Tracker to prove we had been at sea and hadn’t stopped in any other ports along the way. One reason we chose Spanish Wells as our port of entry is that we had such a positive experience the last time we were here. Overall, our experience checking in here has not been positive this time.

George and I are both tired and plan to take it easy the rest of the day. We will stay here in the marina a few days and try to pace ourselves with post-passage chores.