Mayaguana, the Bahamian Outislands

In March of 2016, we'd spent 3 months cruising around the amazing country of the Bahamas... and the S/V Wanderlust crew was totally in LOVE with this tropical paradise! We'd left the US in early December and spent our Christmas, New Years, and Valentine's Day enjoying the secluded white sand beaches, crystal clear water, happy people and all the seafood we could eat. We'd truly enjoyed a once-in-a-lifetime adventure in the Bahamas as our first real cruising experience on Wanderlust.

So you can imagine our bittersweet feeling as we approached the end of our 90 day Bahamian cruising permit. We were excited to move on to see other wonderful countries with unique cultures, food, natural wonders and people, but we were definitely going to miss this wonderful country that hosted our first international cruising adventure. Plus, the Bahamas had been so jaw-droppingly gorgeous, and considered some of the best sailing in the world... how could anything top this?

With only a few days legally left to stay in the Bahamas, we sailed into Abraham's Bay at Mayaguana, the most eastern and most isolated island of the Bahamas, and our exit port from the country.

Having provisioned well in Georgetown, we had little to do in town, and in fact we only went once. There we immediately ran into the local tourist laision/jack-of-all-trades, Scully. Scully told us he'd been catering to the cruising community for years, and could help us with anything from island tours to diesel fuel. We didn't need any of those things, so instead Scully bought us a couple Kaliks at the "Big Reg" bar, and we chatted with him and a group of other cruisers about sailing, family and travel.

Back at anchor it was time to do some serious beach combing. We had plenty of beaches to choose from in the 5 mile long Abraham's Bay, if we could just avoid the shallow and dangerous coral heads. We weaved in and out of the coral, bumped a few, and found a few isolated spots to swim and let our Ruca pup go wild.

We found coconuts to harvest, and held our regular beach handstand competition... Ben won this time but me and Ruca have demanded a rematch.

With the beaches in Abraham's Bay successfully combed, it was time to do some diving. We'd heard tall tales from fellow cruisers about the monster lobsters that lived in the coral reefs that make up the 5 mile protected Abraham's Bay.

Just as we were preparing our snorkels and spears, we serendipitously ran into our friends, who became our travel buddies (AKA buddy boat), Mike and Marjo from S/V Basta. Together we went for a serious lobster diving session in the extensive coral reef that lines Abraham's Bay. Between the four of us, we speared SEVEN lobsters, including a few of these strange looking slipper lobsters without claws or antennae. Although they look like huge sea beetles, they taste like heaven!

We grilled these big guys up with a little butter and salt, and had a real sailor's feast!

With our bellies full of lobster and a few fish stored away in the freezer, Mayaguana had been the perfect goodbye to the Bahamas. With the weather window approaching, we decided it was time to make our bittersweet exit... We were a little sad and we knew we'd miss this awesome country, but we couldn't be more excited for what was on the horizon for us and our sailboat.

We left Mayaguana at dawn, along with our new buddy boat and with passports in hand, destined for a new country... the Turks and Caicos Islands.

Thanks for Reading,

Ben, Quinn and Ruca

#destinations #Bahamas