As we say “see ya later” to the George Town, Great Exuma Island, Exumas Bahamas area, here’s a breakdown of what we’ve been up to the past month or so. We arrived, stayed at Emerald Bay, kids and grandkids visited, we moved the boat to a mooring ball off Stocking Island and then later moved it to another one. We hiked, swam, drove some crazy roads and dinghied all over the place. We met some great people, went to a couple awesome Beach Church services, and ate at many restaurants. We bought groceries that were kind of expensive and bought and cooked some foods we’ve never had before. We saw and swam with lots of marine life and even pigs. We watched some of the most beautiful sunrises and sunsets. We had stuff quit working and were blessed with a boating community that really reaches out to help each other. Now we’re heading a little further north which is pretty much the opposite direction every other boat is going. That’s it in a nutshell.

I will need/want to go into greater detail in future posts because a few words does not convey how fantastic this place is. Normal people would start at the beginning and then chronologically tell you what they did, where they went, etc. We all know I’m not normal, so I’m gonna start from two days ago, and then who knows what day will be next.

On January 16th we headed from the anchorage at Monument Beach North to Black Cay. First, it drives me nuts that ‘cay’ is pronounced like ‘key.’ I cannot get my brain to see ‘cay’ and say ‘key.’ My mouth is 50/50 what pronunciation it chooses. Ok, now I can move on.

It was a beautiful day to be on the water. It was pretty calm, mostly sunny with a light breeze. We’re just about to leave the Elizabeth Harbour area and enter Exuma Sound when Scott catches something out of the corner of his eye. He turns which prompts me to turn and what do we see but a Police boat with lights flashing and a guy waving at us. I cannot fathom what we may have done wrong, so I assumed it would be like a Coast Guard stop. I don’t even know what all the Coast Guard checks because Scott deals with them, but I do know it takes awhile. Still, this seemed a little different. There were A LOT more people on this Police boat than we’ve seen on the Coast Guard boats, all of them were in uniform, but the uniforms weren’t all the same. Also, they seemed to be very serious. They informed us they would be boarding our vessel to make sure everything was in order. They pulled alongside our boat, and three men hopped over the bow rail onto our boat. Not the spot I would have picked to board, but their legs are longer than mine, so they made it safely. Then I saw the police boat take off! What?! That’s not what the Coast Guard does! Are they going to commandeer our boat? Are they staying for lunch/dinner/overnight? I am not prepared for guests! I’m confused, but I can see that Scott is not concerned at all, so I’m not worried. Mostly, I’m fascinated and thinking “Oh, this is gonna be a good story?”

Each officer was from a different agency; one was from Customs, one from Royal Bahama’s Defense Force (that’s intimidating), and the third was from the Ministry of Finance (interesting right?). All they needed were our Cruising Permit and passports. Scott is very organized, so he knew where the permit paperwork was. He also knew where the passports were, but that’s only because I had put them under his Bible which was on the kitchen table. More on that later. It took about two minutes for them to see everything was in order.

They were delightful guys and we were enjoying chatting with them, but Scott was wondering when they were going to leave. That’s when I was said something about them stopping the sailboat ahead of us, and at the same time the Ministry of Finance Officer rep was talking on his phone with the police boat about what to do because that sailboat’s cruising permit had expired. Up to this point, Scott hadn’t realized that the police boat left after dropping off our guests No wonder he wasn’t concerned! 🤣

Finance guy told them to leave a guy on that boat to escort them back to the Customs office and then stop the next boat, drop a crew off there and come back to our boat to pick them up. It was quite the thing to watch! The police boat zoomed from the sailboat to a speed boat, stopped there briefly, and then on their way back to our boat, they stopped another boat and dropped a crew off there! I told you there were A LOT of people on that boat. The whole time we’re just having a great time visiting and laughing. I cant evem remember what we talked about, except that we asked what was going to happen to the boat with the expired permit, and the Customs guy said it depends on who they get when they get there. It could be a hefty fine or they may just have to pay the extra fee for being late. I did not think to get their names, but I did get permission to take pictures and videos when the boat came to pick them up. After they left, we continued on our way.

As we were underway, we heard them on the radio hail another vessel with orders to stop, lower their sails and get prepared to be boarded. The boat came back with, “You can board us, but there’s NO reason for me to take my sails down!” I mean that dude was snarky and rude! I’m not sure that’s the way you want to start a conversation with people who can make your life difficult. Just sayin’ I told Scott that i bet we were going to be their favorite stop of the day 😁

So here’s my little side story about the passports. Prior to coming to Bahamas, I had them in a pocket in my Bible/Book bag so I wouldn’t forget where they were when we arrived. After arrival, I put them in a pocket on this organizer thingie I have hanging on my closet door. About a week prior, for some reason something caught my eye that didn’t quite look right. I reached in and took out our passports which were all warped like they had gotten wet. That is a good indicator of how humid it can get inside the boat, but that’s a story for another day. Anyhow, I moved them to the location where Scott found them so they could flatten out again. Now, had something not drawn my attention that day, I don’t think I would have remembered where the passports were when we got boarded. If we hadn’t been able to find those passports, this day could have taken a bad turn. But all is good so no bail money needed! Ya may not know why things happen when/how they do, but trust that God does, and He makes it all work out.

I hope you enjoyed the read and the short video. Make it a great day! Be a blessing and be blessed! ❤️🙏🏼