"Vic Smith" wrote in message
...
Talk about the Bahamas made me think a bit of how different cruisers
are.
By nearly all accounts the Bahamas are a special place.
Could be "too special" is some respects.
I've been reading a journal of a cruiser who got that far and came to
a dead stop.
Been there for years now. Came home once or twice for various
reasons, but basically anchors at a couple spots in the Bahamas.
Life consists of poker parties, volleyball, diving for fish and
lobster, and eating.
The guy can sail, and prefers to hoist them when he moves to a new
volleyball/poke spot.
Though it's often boring reading the repetitious journal entries
of the above, he sure isn't bored enough to leave the Bahamas!
I've continued reading hoping he will sail to new places, but so far
he's content to bounce around a few Bahamas harbors.
OTOH, I've read journals where the cruiser enjoys the Bahamas for a
while, but wanderlust takes hold, and off they go to new places.
Just musing here about the nature of "cruisers."
They sure come in many guises.
It will be interesting to see how the Bahamas affect the travels of
Skip and Lydia.
I kind of suspect they are feeling the grasp of the islands.
Of course I could be entirely wrong.

--Vic


The Bahamas are among the finest cruising grounds in the world. One can
hardly be blamed for knocking around the Bahamas almost indefinitely. There
are a few places that I like to avoid such as Nassau (crime and theft) and
Walker's Cay (rude sportfish rich snobs) and a few places that are overrun
by in-a-hurry tourists. But most of the Islands have good places to anchor
and have an individual charm all their own. One of my favorite areas is
Marsh Harbour and environs. Marsh is an excellent place to enjoy some great
restaurants and it has a couple of good supermarkets for stocking up the
pantry. It has just about everything a cruiser needs. One can stock up on
fresh groceries and head out for a week to cruise either north or south and
have plenty to see and do and plenty of fine anchorages that are uncrowded.
In the prevailing south easterlies one can sail either way and rarely have
need of a motor.

The Abacos have miles and miles of almost deserted beaches and one can spend
almost all day beachcombing, snorkeling, running and exploring. If you're
the type of person who likes to party there is always one going on within a
few hours sail. Some places even have weekly cruisers pot luck picnics on
the beach where there is always plenty of rum, impromptu cruiser bands etc.
You can develop a routine that includes all your favorite places and make
the rounds once a month or so and watch the hours, days, weeks and months
flow smoothly past. In the winter if a cold front is in the offing just fine
a sheltered anchorage and hunker down and wait till it passes. You can spend
your time reading and doing projects aboard the yacht.

An occasional run south to Cherokee and to Spanish Wells coming in over the
reef through the pass is a fantastic sail.

If you haven't done regatta time in the Abacos you haven't done the Abacos.
http://regattatimeinabaco.com/ It's a huge party with some damned good
racing. If you've never ridden the pry on the Abaco Rage, for example, you
haven't really sailed.

If Skippy and Lydia are smart they'll stay for at least a year and go from
place to place at their leisure. (That's as long as you can extend your
cruising permit.) George Town is great for two or three months but then you
might find yourself getting wanderlust again but you don't have to go too
far to satisfy it for a while longer and so it goes. Cruising couples are
more the norm than the exception. Friendships are easy to strike up and it
gets so you end up knowing several boats and crews and meet them all over
the place. There's something about the nomadic life aboard a yacht that just
becomes addictive. My thinking is it's more natural than the way most people
live ashore these days.

Ya, mon!

Wilbur Hubbard