I’ve Made Some Mistakes on the Sailboat

We all knew going into this that I had a huge amount to learn on this boat. Now it’s time for me to fess up and reveal the big mistakes I have made in my first months aboard Sava. I’ve made some mistakes on the sailboat, and I doubt they’ll be the last, but we’re still having fun!

Mooring

The Exuma Cays Land & Sea Park offers mooring ball facilities, which are generally more reliable than anchoring on your own. The mooring ball is attached to an anchor, and you attach your boat to the mooring ball. While Brian drives – slowly – as close as he can to the mooring ball, I am supposed to hook it and tie it up to our boat. Easier said than done.

One time, I caught the mooring but couldn’t hold it as we drove over it and I dropped the hook in the water. I grabbed our net and fished up the hook to try again. Then I caught the mooring and broke off a piece of the hook. By this point, a man in a nearby boat had gotten into his dinghy and picked up the mooring for me. All I had to do was throw him the rope and attach it to our boat. Even that I almost did incorrectly. You have to run the line under all the rails – which Brian had to yell to me – because if you don’t you can rip the rails off the boat.

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More Exumas Fun

As we continue heading south, we have visited more parts of the Exumas, Bahamas. Here’s a roundup of some more Exumas fun.

Our destination, George Town, would have been close enough to do in a day from Staniel Cay. We wanted to take our time, enjoy the weather and see some more sights.

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Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park

Living and traveling on a sailboat means we don’t always have control over our time or our destinations. That’s how we ended up sailing the Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park.

sailors rule: don’t make plans. they’ll change

We intended to head to Eleuthera after Nassau but the wind disagreed. When sailing, the wind wins most arguments. We wanted to leave on Tuesday and the wind forecast for the entire week was from the east. Eleuthera is due east, while the Exumas are southeast. Since we wanted to leave Nassau this week, we came to Exumas.

Exuma Cays sailboat
Sava in Exuma Cays

Our route

We spent one night anchored in Norman’s Cay, one night in Shroud Cay, followed by a night in Hawksbill Cay, and last night in Warderick Wells. The last three are part of the beautiful Exumas Cays Land and Sea Park, now one of my favorite parks in the world.

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