Bahamas Part Five - George Town to Luperon, Dominican Republic

George Town Harbour is a large area with multiple anchorages, some close to the Town itself and others across the channel, near the reef and beaches of the small islands. From where we were near “Chat n Chill” bar and beach it would be a longer and wetter dinghy ride into the main town, but with the current wind direction we had less fetch and a relatively smooth anchorage except for the tour boats whizzing past occasionally.

We decided to take a few days relaxing here before the wind shifted and moving closer to town would give us better protection. The bar at “Chat n Chill” was busy with locals, holiday makers from the resorts close by on day trips and cruisers. We could drag our dinghy up above the high water mark and then sit in the shallow with a beer as the Stingrays cruised by, they were pretty tame, obviously used to being fed and would come tickle your toes assuming you were going to feed them.

It wasn’t really safe to swim too far out into the anchorage as the tour boats and jet ski’s cut through at high speeds, but just off the beach you could float and cool off from the hot sunshine. We enjoyed a few days here, catching up with our friends on SV Serendipity who had arrived not long after us, discussions now changing as this would be the last time we’d see them for quite some time, as we were headed south to the Dominican Republic for hurricane season and the were headed back to the US. This is one of the best and worst things about cruising, you meet wonderful people who become close friends but at some point your paths go in separate directions, but I sincerely hope we’ll see many of our cruiser friends again.

We were expecting a change in the weather and decided to move anchorages to be closer to the main town and hopefully get a little more shelter from the wind. However before we moved, we took the morning to jump into the dinghy and check out the snorkelling at a cave we’d been told about. The water was cool as we swam up to the cave, as it actually cut through from the Exuma Sound, the deep cool waters flowing through. There were plenty of big fish we could see, ideally we needed our Scuba tanks to explore properly, however we were approached by a wonderfully inquisitive Porcupine fish who wiggled (Google it, they wiggle as they swim) past us, and several large Groupers stemming the current. Back in the dinghy we explored a few other channels, past some beautiful local houses and enjoyed watching the turtles darting by as the wake of the dinghy disturbed them.

Once back at the boat, we quickly stowed our gear away and proceeded to pick up the hook (anchor) and head across the channel to find a spot in the anchorage which was getting busier by the minute, as everyone was having the same idea. It took less than ten minutes to cross over and we dropped the hook in about 3.5 metres in a nice patch of sand which dug in on the second attempt. Now secure we spent the afternoon relaxing as the wind built and rain clouds swept through as we’d been expecting.

It would be a squally couple of days, we headed into town between rain showers to explore and gather some provisions. We also stopped by the customs and immigration offices as it was unclear if this would be the last opportunity on our planned route to check out of the Bahamas. The guide books and Noonsite information is a little sketchy post covid and we were glad we checked as the offices at Mayaguana island were no longer open, so we couldn’t have checked out as planned. With a new plan for departure in place, we went back towards the dinghy dock to meet Andy and Antonia from yacht Lust for Life who had also arrived in George Town.

It was great to catch up, I feel like they’ve been part of our sailing family for so long as we first met them back in Porto Santo and we have crossed paths throughout our time. They were heading North and then back across the Atlantic via the Azores, a challenging trip and we wished them fair winds and safe voyage.

George Town is one of the busiest cruiser locations in the Bahamas, there is a busy cruisers radio net on VHF, activities throughout the busiest months however as the end of the season was approaching many boats were leaving for their home ports or hurricane holes and the weekly activities were coming to an end.

With that in mind, we’d put out a call on the radio net looking for any boats heading to Luperon and looking for a buddy boat, it was about 3 days direct from George Town if we didn’t stop in any of the Islands on route. We met a few other cruisers at Chat n Chill to discuss plans, a few boats not planning on leaving until June so we’d be ahead of them as we needed to get to the Dominican Republic for our US Embassy Visa interview which was scheduled for early June.

SY Wings was however looking to move on and was keen on a buddy boat as it was a father and daughter crew and this would be her first time doing a longer passage where she would participate in night shifts on her own. We would be tracking weather and had agreed to speak again in the coming days as we’d seen a potential window developing the following week. This would be a low wind passage, but this would be better than the current squally conditions which we’d been monitoring via Chris Parker's daily webinars.

The remainder of our time in George Town was dedicated to preparing the boat for a longer passage, preparing meals for the journey and saying our goodbyes to friends who would be journeying North at the yacht club in town. The day before departure we sat down with Wings and agreed our passage plan, potential get out anchorages and radio channel we’d monitor for direct contact so we’d not be taking up space on Channel 16. All agreed we had a early night as the plan was to leave via the southern channel into the Exuma Sound on the rising tide early the next day.

It was very calm as we picked up the anchor the next morning and made our way to the Southern channel to our exit into the Exuma Sound and our rendezvous with SY Wings. With the mainsail out in full, we motored out into the channel and quickly into the deeper waters. We would be motoring for a while as the wind was still very low, however this gave us an opportunity to put out the fishing lines and settle into our routines for a 3 day passage. Our last major sail of the season had begun.

The first day was relaxed and fun as the fishing line kept us busy, with lots of Mahi Mahi and a few Barracuda. The Mahi we landed got quickly fileted and frozen, but the Barracuda we let go as we didn’t want to keep them. Our buddy boat didn't have as much luck with the fishing, but it was a fun way to spend the day and a hot topic as we chatted on the radio.

As we went into the first night, the freezer was half full and we’d been treated to a few small pods of pilot whales. It was a quiet night, very little traffic close by which was a nice relaxing start, especially for our newbie on Wings. The only noise which broke the silence was the constant static on VHF channel 16, we’d check it wasn’t us or our radio, but it made listening into channel 16 virtually impossible which isn’t ideal.

We’re using another channel with our buddy boat so that communication is unbroken, in fact as we passed close to Turks and Caicos during Ross’s shift, we spotted a large vessel heading in our directly, there was no signal on AIS, but we kept an eye as it was getting closer and closer. About 30mins after we first spotted it, our Buddy Boat asked if we were listening on channel 16 (we weren’t) as it was the US Coast Guard hailing us. We quickly moved to the channel and picked up the call. They were perfectly happy, just concerned as we hadn’t responded and our buddy boat had no AIS signal, so they were checking us out.

At the end of the call, we apologize again for not hearing them on 16 asking them about the static on the channel. They too were hearing it and there were investigations ongoing to find the source, but as yet no one had found the source.

We stopped fishing as the freezer was now full and as we passed out of the shadow of Turks and Caicos into the Atlantic the Sargasso weed became heavy and even if we’d wanted to we couldn’t have fished.

The final 24 hours, and last 89NM to go we had to slow the boat down to approximately 4 knots as we couldn’t enter the harbour until after 7am. The swell had increased slightly but there was so little wind, it wasn’t uncomfortable and a slow roll. As we got to DR the lights of the coastline started to show, as usual it’s a little confusing trying to figure out the lights on land. On this occasion we’d been greeted by 20+ red lights, it was unclear if they were on land or in the water and as we crept closer in the darkness it was disconcerting to see. It wasn’t until dawn that we realized they were the lights of the wind farm on land.

We crept closer and by dawn we're doing about three knots waiting for the sun and the ability to radio Handy Andy our mooring guy to lead us through the sand banks and channel into Luperon Harbour. The bay is surrounded by hills and the radio signal was difficult to get through, but with the help of some other cruisers who got hold of Andy for us, we headed into the tight channel to meet him.

SY Wings was close on our stern, which proved challenging as with our 7ft draft, even though we’d repeatedly told Andy, he directed us over one of the sand banks which we softly glided into. Wings having to swiftly hit reverse as we came to a stop and proceeded to back towards him, trying to dislodge ourselves. Luckily we got off easily, everyone yelling at us to follow Andy directly as there was another bank. Again we came to a stop on the second sand bank, this time Andy had to help pull us off the sand and Ross took control, ignoring the “local knowledge” and following the Navionics charts which we’d been told may be incorrect but in fact were perfectly accurate.

Once tied onto the mooring, we looked up to spot SY Wings already connected to a mooring with the DR Armada already on board to start their check in. We chatted with Andy for a few minutes, before he popped over to tell the Armada where we were and within 30 mins, they were onboard welcoming us to the islands. It was barely 8am, but eager to complete the process we’d settled into filling in paperwork and getting instructions from the Armada, a wonderful gentleman called Richard.

Rest would have to wait, as once completed with the Armada, we need to go into town and directly to see Immigration, the harbour master, customs and the health department. That said we needed to get pesos before we could complete any of these formalities, and after getting permission to exit the dock we walked up through our new home for the next 6 months to find the bank. Before returning to the dock to complete the check in. After it was all done, it wasn’t even noon and now we needed a beer and some food. Welcome to Luperon, Dominican Republic.