Bahamas | Take 3 | December 14, 2024

Wilmington NC to Sunset Beach NC

KORKZcrew is the blue dot on the map

Well, it's been a minute — or more like a year-and-a-half — since we last lived on KORKZcrew full time, and since I shook the cobwebs from my rusty blogging fingers. So much to get used to again, and so much to look forward to.

This will be our third time heading south to the Bahamas, and possibly beyond. We've often talked about wanting to make it all the way to the Virgin Islands, but that requires a different level of cruising involving overnight passages, and a different approach to the question of where to keep the boat during the summer months. The Bahamas are about as far as we'd like to go while still bringing the boat back to Wilmington. Beyond that, it makes more sense to leave the boat somewhere and fly home.

Insurance has a lot to do with travel timeframes for cruising. For years I'd noticed that larger trawlers and sailboats got backed up in front of our house around the end of October/beginning of November, waiting for the Figure 8 Island Bridge to open, but it never occurred to me that their timing was anything other than "heading south for the winter".

From leopardcatamarans.com:

"It turns out that most boat insurance companies will require that the vessel be north of 30.5 degrees longitude or south of 10 degrees north latitude from July 1st to November 1st. As a yacht owner, should you decide to keep your yacht in the Hurricane box during this time frame, the insurance premium will be higher. The standard deductible may not go up, but if the yacht is located in the box during hurricane season, the named storm deductible could be 15-20% in the event of damage caused by a named storm."

Which also explains why the past two times we've traveled to the Bahamas, we've headed back to Wilmington by around the first of June. Ron and I go back and forth about how far south we'd ideally like to go, with some of our discussions including more lofty ideas like traversing the Panama Canal, but we just aren't sure how closely these ideas align with what is realistic — for our family and for the limitations of this boat.

So for now, we'll just be grateful for the opportunity to live aboard again, with all of its unexpected twists and turns, and let the rest sort itself out as we go along.

Right now our timing is being dictated loosely by meeting Greta for several days over Christmas break on Jekyll Island. Greta has made the brave decision to go by Griffin, or Griff, and we support their incredible courage to make this transition, especially in a world that can be so inexplicably cruel toward the LGBTQ community. I guess people fear what they don't understand, but that will never justify the desire to strip fellow humans of their humanity. Meanwhile, as many of us have gotten caught up in a lifetime of trying to "conform" to the often random and superficial "requirements" of society, Griff has spent years working on being true to who they are, finding solace in a supportive community of family and friends, and actively living in accordance with their authentic self. I cannot think of anything more powerful — or admirable — than THAT.

So, we'll cruise for as many hours a day as we can, and see how far it takes us. Based on our past travels, we don't think it'll take us the entire week to get to Jekyll (roughly 310 nautical miles from Wilmington), but it doesn't hurt to add in a little extra padding just in case. (Same thing I tell myself when going through the Bojangles drive through.) Today we had a master plan of getting to the Wrightsville Beach bridge in time for its 10:00 am opening — a plan hatched by our master of planning, also known as Skeet! He figured out the right time to hit the Cape Fear River so we'd get a push from the tide, and working backward from that, determined that we need to leave home around 8:45. Sure enough, once we made it to the Cape Fear, our speed went from a breathtakingly slow 5 knots (!!) up to an unheard of speed of 10 knots, the kind of boat speed that MIGHT even make your hair blow if only it was warm enough to drive from upstairs on the flybridge.

Leaving Wilmington

While Ron and Skeet took turns at the helm, I worked on stuffing every nook and cranny in the galley and in our bedroom with provisions, clothes, Christmas presents, and everything in between. That unloading project will probably take several days as we get back into our rhythm and figure out the most sensible storage solutions for all the bread I brought and for all that other extraneous stuff like fruits and vegetables.

Provisioning is something that starts several weeks in advance. Even months, really, as we think ahead to the non-perishables that are so much easier to stock up on here and buy when they're on sale, and so much more expensive and less plentiful in the Bahamas. We've been loading up on things like paper towels, toilet paper, paper plates, napkins, etc for awhile, to the point where it's fairly easy to forget what you already have on board and overpack. I try to be diligent about keeping an inventory for things like this as well as for the food we need, but am also known for misplacing said inventory and ending up with food we really DON'T need (just don't take away my bread.)

Ron figured out on our last trip south that we could hook up a second chest freezer, and that's opened up a world of possibilities, almost doubling what we'd ordinarily be able to stash in our side-by-side. On our last trip that chest freezer lived in the basement of the boat, but he has since figured out that it can occupy some dead cabinet space right next to the fridge in the galley. I've been making anything and everything I can think of to freeze ahead, like casseroles and twice-baked potatoes, shopping weekly sales at grocery stores for red meat, poultry, pork, and seafood, vacuum sealing like a crazy person, and stuffing the freezers like the Grinch's sleigh at Christmas. If I could jam more into that space with my foot I probably would.

It's unusual for a 37-foot boat to have a full-size refrigerator, so in that regard alone, we are extraordinarily fortunate. In this freezer, I've stored bagels, breakfast casseroles, cooked bacon, squash casseroles, chicken pot pies made by a talented chef friend of ours, frozen veggies, blocks of cheese, pizzas, and bread. Always the BREAD.

The chest freezer is now under the counter to the left of the fridge. Ron has put a handle on a matching piece of countertop, and it lifts at an angle and hooks just below the mason jars you see in the photo. We had to take out a small upper cabinet to make this arrangement work, and replaced it with the homemade shelving that's currently holding baking supplies. The mason jars are a good solution for us because they get rid of bulky containers of rice, flour, sugar, panko (bread crumbs!! of course!), etc and free up a lot of storage space. I put larger mason jars in the very back of this storage system and shorter ones in front to accommodate the angle required by the raising and lowering of the freezer "lid". You probably also spotted the spices I store on the face of the refrigerator with magnetic containers. This is a huge space saver as well.

This was the kind of riveting activity I was engaged in as we made our way to Sunset Beach near the South Carolina border, tuning into the Carolina game as we rode along. We made it just as it was beginning to get dark at 5:30, so a perfect place to stop and spend the night.

Approaching the Sunset Beach Bridge

It's wonderful to be back on the blue highway, no doubt, but cuts much differently this time as my favorite person to share our stories with is no longer here. My mom passed away in July, and she was the biggest champion of our adventures and of us in general. She was 93, and knew just how to make you feel like the most important person on earth, cheering for every achievement big or small by every member of my family, and keeping her wit and wisdom all along the way. She'd be the first person I'd want to tell of today's news, and the first to celebrate every last boring detail, relishing every single story, right down to hearing all about my bread collection. Ron can sadly relate as well, as his mother died just last month. Surreal is the only word I know to use regarding their absence. Even when you KNOW intellectually that they won't be here forever, and even when they'd both been in declining health for some time, it's still pretty unsettling to realize what a massive hole they've left in the universe. But weren't we so lucky to have had them both in our lives! They were strong, fun, inspiring, and witty women, and taught us more than they'll ever realize. I just wish they could both be here for an exciting NEW chapter that's about to start for our daughter Whitney and her husband Will, who will give birth to our first grandchild in January in Melbourne, Australia. They're having a boy, and have decided to name him after Skeet, whose first name is Theodore. So a new year will bring with it new life, and an immeasurable amount of happiness. Here's to you, sweet Teddy. We love you already, and can't wait to meet you.

8.5 hours underway; approx. 53 nautical miles traveled (and PS: I don't believe that high of 63 for a second, Weather Channel! It barely felt like 40 degrees all day long. So there.)

Follow our adventures on Instagram!