A Week Aboard S/V Sabado: 4/25/2021 – 5/2/2021

Check out this week’s video here!

Last Sunday we spent the day at home, emailing potential contractors for the work we want to get done on the boat in Florida + preemptively filling our Amazon carts. We’ve been in the Bahamas for 5 months now and have loved every minute of it, but as we prepare to head back to the States there are a few things we’re particularly excited for:

1. Coffee shops- We couldn’t even find coffee beans to buy here in the Bahamas, let alone a place that served coffee! I would love to sip on a fancy, overpriced latte and maybe edit a video somewhere other than our salon.
2. Grocery stores- I can not WAIT to go to a grocery store that has more than the absolute essentials. Some deli meat maybe? A baguette? Cheese other than the typical giant block of cheddar they sell here? Sign. Me. UP.
3. The ability to order things- We broke our salt/pepper grinder like 2 months ago, so that needs to be replaced, I wouldn’t mind a couple of new workout tanks, we’ve got our eye some new camera/editing gear, etc. We haven’t bought anything aside from food and drinks since we got here so we’re definitely looking forward to picking up a few new things when we can!
4. Restaurant options/varieties- Ray and I love going to new restaurants and ordering just about everything on the menu (gotta try it all!). The Bahamas haven’t had many restaurant options, and the menus we’ve seen are pretty redundant. At this point Ubering to a sushi restaurant (ohhh or a Mexican place?!) sounds like such a luxury!

Anyway, Monday morning we headed to shore in hopes of renting a car for the day so we could visit the island’s ATM. We walked to the rental place, but the gate was closed. We called both of the phone numbers they have listed on their sign and got no answer. So, we popped into the auto shop next door and asked if they knew when the car rental place would be open, and the women at the front desk took matters into their own hands- calling everyone they knew on the island to see if they could get us a car. About an hour later, a farmer from a few settlements North showed up with a car for us. We promised to pay him when we got back from the bank, dropped him back off at his house, and headed to the ATM. Thankfully, the ATM was up and running (it frequently runs out of cash for days).

Our first stop post- ATM was the liquor store, then the grocery store, then off to pay our tab from Saturday at the local bar. We ran into some friends there and stayed for a few beers before returning the car and heading home. 

We spent some time tidying up the boat that afternoon before having everyone over for happy hour! We had Erin and Kara from their boat Vela (we met them sailing Maine last year), Jason and Ashley from Peregrine (who we met in Hog Cay last week), and Ron and Mindy from a boat named Follow Me (who we had just met at the bar). Everyone brought a drink and something to snack on and we chatted in the cockpit until dark. Vela and Follow Me left around 8pm, but Peregrine stayed and hung out for a few more hours- this is their first season cruising after quitting their jobs and buying their boat, so we had tons to talk about! They’re the sweetest couple and we hope to run into them again soon. ❤️ 

We spent the rest of the week hanging at home, getting some computer work and a couple of boat projects done. Thursday afternoon we went to shore to drop our trash off and get gas for our dinghy, and saw a manatee under the dock!

I had never seen one before so I was pretty excited. He was very friendly and gentle- swimming right up to us and hanging out next to our dinghy for a while!

Friday morning we decided to continue our journey North. We pulled the anchor up around 8am and headed out. We were almost immediately met with a little squall, which brought some rain and higher winds. All the other boats in the anchorage had decided to leave that morning too, so someone sent us these pictures they took of Sabado:

We sailed through the squall, only to realize we had sprung a leak during! I noticed it when I went into the salon to make lunch- there was a little wet spot on the ottoman- and sure enough, a matching wet spot on the ceiling right above it. 

I took the helm so Ray could do some investigating, and it turns out the sealant around the wires next to the mast had worn down, so water was dripping into the openings. Since we were underway and everything was still wet from the squall, Ray temporarily patched things up with some butyl tape, and resealed everything with sealant once we had dropped anchor and everything had a chance to dry out. 

We had some celebratory drinks in our cockpit that night, and I finished editing + published our YouTube video the next morning.

Saturday afternoon our friends stopped by to say hi, which turned into a 3 hour chat about future cruising and boat work plans.

We went to our favorite restaurant in the Bahamas for dinner that night- the Beacon at Kahari resort! The menu changes every few days, so there’s something new for us to try every time, and we always get a couple desserts.

We don’t have any plans today, but while we were at dinner last night we ran into a guy who watches our YouTube videos and he mentioned that the best parts of our videos are when we film our typical, day to day tasks like making coffee or just hanging out on the boat, which stuck with me! It’s so easy to think the only interesting thing to film is when we’re sailing or sight seeing, so I think today I’ll do some casual filming and see what I can come up with. 🙂 

What are your favorite types of YouTube videos to watch?