We left our mooring on New River on the Thursday 6 November and moored in a lake just inside the coast for four days waiting for the wind to change.
There was a window in the weather on Sunday 9 November which allowed us to make a dash for Running Mon Marina on Grand Bahama. We had a lovely sail to the Grand Bahamas with both sails up and arrived at about 4pm that afternoon. The family on “X-T-Sea”, Diego, Sandra and Corizon, their eight year old son, and Rick and Skipper (a golden retriever) on “Sorceress”, who we met at the Sailboat Bend dock on New River, were moored there and greeted us along with the owners of the other boats. Our stay at the marina was only going to be a couple of days, but once again, we needed to wait for that weather window. 
We ended up staying for one week but really enjoyed our time there. We walked and explored the local area and rode bikes to the marinas and resorts close by. We socialised with our new group of friends having drinks and nibbles on most evenings and enjoyed the facilities of the resort where the marina was located. We also had the opportunity to join Diago, Sandra and Corizon on a shopping trip in Freeport, the main town on the island.
Our first stop was Panton Cove, Great Harbour. We anchored there for two nights and a day and explored the beaches and an old lighthouse and associated housing.
Next was Cabbage Cay off Little Harbour Cay where we anchored for two nights and days. The waters are amazingly clear in the Bahamas and one could see straight to the bottom. Once again we explored the beaches. We were moored in fairly shallow water and it was low tide. Mal was talking to Diego, who was in his dingy at the stern of “Hasta La Vista”, when he saw a large black shadow moving close to the boat. It was an 8 – 10 ft or larger hammerhead shark grazing the bottom of not very deep water. We had caught a fish on the way and Mal had filleted it so the shark was obviously after the spoils that Mal had thrown in the water. It was amazing to see! The other thing of interest was that the beaches were covered with piles of Conch shells. The Bahamians eat the sea animal that the shell houses. Conch is bit like tough squid. The conch shell is a beautiful shell and I think it is terribly sad that these shells are collected when they are quite large for the conch meat. Conch is a delicacy of the Bahamas. The shell is broken to extract the meat so the shells are not worth keeping and were old and bleached anyway. We found live conch shells in the shallow water along a beach on our first trip to the Bahamas when we sailed to North and South Bimini. They really are a lovely shell with different degrees of pinks on the inside. While there, Mal found bits and pieces to make a dummy machine gun. He thought that it might be a good idea to ward off pirates. We were later told that if one aimed the fake machine gun at them, they would assume it was real and shoot with their real weapons!
Mal was rather proud of his fake machine gun!
On the 20 November we sailed to Nassau, the capital of the Bahamas, on New Providence Island. Diego and Mal had both ordered parts and arranged for them to be picked up at Nassau so we planned to stay for a couple of days and explore the area. We anchored off Nassau in their main channel. We walked the main street and found a grocery store, marine shops etc and their fish markets which were very interesting.
The channel, where we were anchored had a gravel and sand bottom. We thought we had a good hold. One night we woke up with a bang and a thud. We rushed up to the deck, only to find that we had dragged and had hit an 80ft white boat moored in the marina. Everything was quiet, so we started our engines and re-anchored. Early the next morning, Mal checked out the hull of the white boat in the dingy. There was no damage! We had hit the large stainless steel anchor plate, thank heavens, and there wasn't a scratch. That was a close one and we breathed a sigh of relief!!!
There is a very impressive resort called “Atlantis” which we visited. It was quite amazing and its architecture is just what you would imagine Atlantis would be like. It has an amazing aquarium, its own exclusive marina, and huge man made beaches and pools. Our stay in Nassau was for one week.From Nassau, we motor sailed over to the northern tip of the Exhumas - Allans Cay for a night, then Warderick Wells for another night. We then stayed at Staniel Cay for a couple of days until a very strong south westerlie wind changed. There was a little marina and grocery store and internet access so our stay was enjoyable.
From there, we anchored for a night a Lee Stocking Island and then made our way to Georgetown towards the southern end of the Exhumas.
