Page 47 - Yachter Autumn/Winter 2022

TAKING
DELIVERY
OF OUR
BOAT
IN THE
BAHAMAS
About 25 years ago my wife, Jo, and I decided to give up boating in the UK as we had become disillusioned by the weather and the water temperature which never improved on degrees of coldness.
My brother Peter and his wife Trish had visited a small island in the Bahamas called Elbow Cay and about 12 years ago he persuaded us to join him there for a holiday.
The main means of transport on the island was by runabout boat so we quickly rented one.That week was spent enjoying numerous boat trips, sun, sea and the activities that accompany them. Night life is practically non existent but we found that the days’ activities made us tired enough that we had no need of such.
Since then we have returned every year. In 1999 Peter and Trish purchased a house
in Hope Town on Elbow Cay and had two sail cats that they let out on charter. On our holidays we always spent some time cruising throughout the Abacos Islands and when we sold our company in 2006 we decided that we would like to have a home in the sun, but
also be able to see and explore the rest of the Bahamas which extend south almost to Cuba and include Eleuthera, New Providence (Nassau),Andros and the Exuma chain in which there are 365 islands and are mostly uninhabited.
So, with this in mind, the solution to our requirement was to buy a boat and base it in Hope Town.
We spent some time discussing the type, size and layout that would best meet our criteria and decided that a power boat would give us more versatility as we would be visiting for periods of 4-6 weeks at a time about 4 times a year. Our experience of sailing meant that we would normally be restricted to an outward leg of 7-10 days as we would have to make allowances for extra time on the return due to wind, tide and weather.
A boat that as far as possible would be a floating home, that afforded us a high standard of comfort and facilities. It would need to have two staterooms with double queen size beds, a double bunk cabin, air-conditioned throughout, two engines, a flybridge and all the usual appliances that we enjoy at home, in short, a floating mini condo. As we intended
to use it in the Bahamas it would have to be American spec. electric voltage etc.
To accommodate this we calculated that
a boat of not less than 45 ft and not more than 55ft would satisfy our needs, one which would be not too small for our requirements but not too big for the two of us to sensibly handle.
In the end we decided to buy a Sea Ray 480 from a broker in the US JJ McConnell. The Delivery Plan was for the broker to deliver the boat from Ft. Lauderdale to Port Lucaya, Freeport, Grand Bahamas Island, where we would meet the boat to bring her the 140 or so miles to Hope Town.
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