The Bahamas is a Wrap!

We’re safely back home. Let me back up and get you from our final days in the Bahamas to now.

I left off with the day before we were to return to Bullocks Harbor at Great Harbor Cay, and I promised to tell you about the repair Dave was working on. I’ll start with the repair.

Our holding tank wouldn’t pump overboard. Worse yet, after some testing and troubleshooting Dave suspected the tank had become pressurized due to a blockage, most likely the intake to the macerator pump that pumps the tank overboard. A full, pressurized holding tank is bad because whatever needs doing to fix it requires opening the system, resulting in sewage leaking into the boat. Doesn’t that sound fun? Inevitably, when Dave initially opened things up, there was a little spray, but very minimal (I’ve read other cruisers’ horror stories). After that he was able to control the leakage so that it leaked into the bilge (that’s below the floors) which drains overboard. The blockage was where he expected, thankfully, and he eventually cleared it using a hose and pressurized saltwater (which forced more sewage into the bilge). Then he had to replace the pathetic macerator pump that had been problematic for a while anyway. I don’t know how he did it. It was a stinky job and I had to stay in the breeze in the cockpit the entire time to avoid getting sick. Dave’s a trooper! All told he spent a little over 3 hours on the repair and cleanup, that includes cleanup of himself. I followed his cleanup by mopping the floors and walls in that area with bleach water. Glad that’s over!

The following day was Sunday and we returned to Bullocks Harbor. Monday we met the Immigration officer at the marina and extended our visas. We dropped by Brown’s Garden later in the afternoon for snacks and drinks and a final conversation with the owner, Ronny, before we left. That was our last bit of fun for the trip. The rest was all work. 

We were monitoring tropical storm Fred and decided that if he were to hit the Berries, it would likely be the coming weekend, so we changed our flights from Saturday to Friday hoping to stay ahead of Fred. (Fred ended up staying far enough south to have no significant impact on the Berries.) Then we changed our inn reservation to match and started preparing the boat and ourselves for our departure. We got a good amount of work done Tuesday while still at anchor in Bullocks Harbor where we had a delightful breeze coming through the hatches. Wednesday morning we brought Indigo Lady into the marina to get her tied up properly for the remainder of hurricane season and to complete the rest of our closeup tasks. We also got our Covid tests, which are required for re-entry to the US by airplane. Conveniently, the woman who conducts these tests is at the marine M-F starting at 10am. Much of Wednesday and Thursday are sweaty blurs- 8 hours each day dripping sweat the whole time. There was a breeze, but we had to go out to the cockpit to avail ourselves of it because it was from the wrong direction to blow into the boat. Thank goodness we’d booked the inn, which was mere steps from the marina, because it had blessed air conditioning plus a small fridge and microwave. We had prepared dinners in advance and were able to reheat and enjoy them in the comfort of our room at the inn. And we could take real showers! By 5pm Thursday, Lady was buttoned up and we waved goodbye to her.

Friday morning a taxi took us to the tiny airport and our 8am flight arrived about 8:30 and departed for Nassau by 8:45. Fortunately, the Nassau airport wasn’t very busy and, despite what looked like long lines, we made it through flight check-in, security, and US Customs pre-clearance in time to sit for about 45 minutes before boarding our Bahamas Air flight to Fort Lauderdale. We were back on US soil by 12:30, in our rental car by 1:30 and at my cousin’s house in West Palm Beach to retrieve our car by 3:30 after a quick lunch at Five Guys (oddly, I was craving a burger and fries, go figure). We chatted for about half an hour with my cousins then headed to our hotel where we took much needed naps. Dave stayed in for the night while I went to meet my cousins Susie and Sarah for dinner at an outdoor restaurant nearby. It was a brief get together, but most welcomed. Saturday morning we started our 2-day drive back to NH, stopping for the night in Rocky Mount, NC. We finally arrived home at 10:30pm a week ago Sunday night. Phew!

We’ve spent the past week getting our land lives restarted and recuperating from the hot, sweaty, busy final days in The Bahamas followed by the long drive home. We did see my family soon after our return. Since we’d been on two airplanes, I ate at a restaurant (even though it was outside, it was in FL), and there was very little masking at any of the rest areas or takeout restaurants at which we stopped, we decided to take Covid home tests before seeing my family, just to be extra safe. Negative- yay! Most of the grudge work of returning to land life is done and now I’m itching to settle back into my land routine and to reconnect with friends and family on a more regular basis.

I’ll probably post once every 2-3 weeks while we’re at home. I believe I promised some diving video slideshows, and I will get to those. I have a couple of other posts planned, such as one displaying the art of the art trail we walked at Manjack Cay (I took a lot of pictures), and I want to create a map of our travels this short cruising season. If there’s anything you’d like me to post about, let me know in the comments section or email me and I’ll try to accommodate your request.

Until next time, stay safe and take care of each other!