In the middle of March, when we arrived in Bimini, we thought we would only be in the Bahamas for 4-5 weeks, and because of that we only got 50 days on our visa. But we hadn’t been there for long, before we agreed that there of course wasn’t any reason for rushing home! Last week we were therefore suddenly in a hurry, when we realised that we only had a few days left on our visas!

So we headed west and made it out of Bahamian waters just before they expired.

In our last days in the Bahamas we were at an anchorage in the northern Abacos. One of the house owners on the small island had put up equipment to peel and open coconuts, and they welcomed visiting cruisers to make use of it. So in the spirit of Robinson Crusoe (expect for the tools conveniently at hand) we sat out to find and open coconuts! Henrik managed to push down a couple from a tree with a very long stick, and with a machete he peeled off the top layer and then knocked it open. He probably needs to practice quite a bit before entering a competition, but I was still very impressed and found it very manly! And yummy, how a newly opened coconut tastes! Normally, my cooking doesn’t involve ingredients picked or caught in the nature, so this of course sets new standards, which also would be quite an economical advantage.

On our way back to Florida, we sailed though a fish mud, see image above. It is hundreds of bonefish who search the sandy bottom (for food I assume). From a far it looks like you sail towards a sandbank.

The groceries in the Bahamas is at least twice the price as in the US, with prices such as 6 USD for one broccoli, 9 USD for two quarts of juice, and 13 USD for a chicken fillet. A coconut and a couple of fish would definitely be a nice supplement!

We arrived in Stuart, Florida early this week after a pleasant and uneventful sail across the Gulf-stream. The clearance in Florida is different than in Rhode Island, where people from Customs and Border Patrol met us as we came in. In Florida, we instead had to phone in our arrival and then we had 24 hours to report to an Immigration office. The nearest was in Fort Pierce, so we continued the 20 miles north in the ICW and took a taxi to the local airport, where they were busy giving clearance to the many cruisers that had returned from a winter in the Bahamas.

At the Immigration office you also get your cruising licence, and you cannot sail US waters without one. The licence is good for one year, and ours expires in about a month. However, it turns out that you can’t apply for a new licence, before the old one expires, and you can’t get a new one, unless you come from foreign soil. This means that when we return to Florida in the fall, we need to sail to the Bahamas and back again to get a new licence and then continue to Miami and the Keys. It does seem a little inconvenient, but it is not my impression that you ought to make too much of a fuss with American authorities, so we just thanked the guy, and then we’ll have that experience as well!

Signe Storr: Freelance Journalist and friend of Boatshed