The first leg of our journey spans from Fort Lauderdale to Bimini, the closest island in the Bahamas to Fort Lauderdale. It was a quick day trip, we left the marina at 8am and arrived in Bimini by 8pm; there were some issues with the emergency steering on our way out, so the trip took longer than originally expected, but once we got out of Fort Lauderdale it was smooth sailing. We anchored in Bimini the evening of July 24th and spent the next couple days at anchor.
New and old friends from Wisdom and Endless Wisdom enjoying a beach barbeque in the Exumas.
The first leg of our journey spans from Fort Lauderdale to Bimini, the closest island in the Bahamas to Fort Lauderdale. It was a quick day trip, we left the marina at 8am and arrived in Bimini by 8pm; there were some issues with the emergency steering on our way out, so the trip took longer than originally expected, but once we got out of Fort Lauderdale it was smooth sailing. We anchored in Bimini the evening of July 24th and spent the next couple days at anchor.
On this trip, we had our first guests on board, a family of five who had the opportunity to experience life and work on Wisdom. They joined us in our maritime adventures, whether that meant dropping anchor, hoisting up the mizzen, sitting out on watch or enjoying the catch of the day at Staniel Cay Yacht Club. It was exciting to have new faces on board and especially ones that integrated so easily into the I Can family.
Mom, Kelly, and daughter, Estelle, after a successful snorkel around the S.S. Sapona in Bimini.
In Bimini, we picked up our friend Tyler, who would be joining us for the next month. We spent a relaxing two days at anchor, where Steve had the chance to go to Customs and we went snorkeling at the S.S. Sapona shipwreck. We grabbed the dinghy and zipped across the glowing Bahamian waters to the concrete ship which was originally utilized to transport American troops during WWI and then as target practice during WWII after it ran aground during a hurricane in 1926. Swimming in and around the old warship, we saw stingrays, blue chromis and sergeant majors amongst numerous other tropical fish. We continued on from Bimini to the Exumas, where we spent the rest of our time in the Bahamas.
Tyler and guests before running out to sea to swim with sea turtles in the Exumas.
As we island hopped through the Exumas, our days consisted of lots of card games, scuba diving, snorkeling, feeding pigs, chasing after noodles, hiking, feeding iguanas and escaping barracuda encounters (if you know, you know). We went swimming at Thunderball Grotto (think 1965, James Bond)—a cave with schools of fish darting around electric blue water! And we enjoyed a beach barbeque just a short dinghy ride away from our anchorage, where Robin grilled fresh caught lobster and shrimp from our friends on Endless Wisdom (we miss you Tristian!).
Swimming pig reaches for food off the side of the dinghy at Pig Beach in the Exumas.
We also made friends with a number of local Bahamians, including but not limited to scruffy pigs (and piglets) and prehistoric looking iguanas. Apparently, iguanas love grapes (!?) and Bahamian pigs will eat truly anything you put within sniffing distance. We became regulars at the Staniel Cay Yacht Club—the only restaurant/bar on the island, might I add—and pet nurse sharks at the foot of its dock.
During our final days in the Bahamas, we sat around and reminisced on our time together over the past week and discussed our favorite moments of the trip. While I must say I expected everyone to glow about the swimming pigs and the crystal-clear water, the overwhelming highlight was day-to-day life on Wisdom. The peace that is watching the sun rise off the bow while sipping morning coffee, going to bed after watching the Milky Way illuminate the night sky and watching Mama Mia (2, of course) after a long day reading under the sun were some of the treasures that our guests raved about after living on board.
There is something special about the waves of excitement of putting a line out to fish mid-voyage, forgetting about it an hour later, and then the sheer surprise of suddenly catching a fish and making a mad rush to the stern to pull it in (we caught a barracuda, by the way, and threw the poor guy back into the sea). It’s moments like these that we will remember for years to come, and wouldn’t be the same without Wisdom and our crew.
We had such a wonderful time in the Bahamas and loved sharing the joys of sailing with such great people. To Andrew, Kelly, Estelle, June and Cleo, we miss you dearly and hope to see you all very soon!
Sunset illuminates Wisdom anchored in the distance after the beach barbeque in the Exumas.
We departed from Staniel Cay on July 31st and headed to Nassau for a few days of maintenance and planning for our upcoming trip to Antigua.