June 7th -July 4th, 2024

We were very pleasantly surprised by our stay in Freeport, Grand Bahama. Since we had to make the stop to get hauled and have the rudder bearings replaced and some of our fellow cruisers didn’t have much good to say about the island, our expectations were low, but we found ourselves really enjoying our time there.

Our first stay was at the Ocean Reef Resort & Yacht Club marina (notably quite different than the one in Key Largo!) it is a time share hotel and marina with townhouses which have slips right out the door. It was a bit dated, but comfortable, easy to get to, very well protected, had a restaurant, pool, laundry and lovely staff.

We were only 10 miles east of the Bradford Boatyard and we had an easy trip around to the huge port of Freeport. It’s heavily industrialized with gigantic cargo ships and lifts as well as massive cruise ships. You actually have to call on the radio to get clearance to enter, even when you’re only 48 feet long! We tied up for the night and first thing Monday they hauled the boat. To our great surprise, the parts we had ordered from Turkey arrived that very day having made it across the ocean and through customs. The Bradford team got right to work removing the rudders and putting in the new bearings. While many had said “good luck with getting anything done in the Bahamas”, we found the team at Bradford to be highly professional and very organized. They had years of experience and knew exactly what needed to be done.

While the boat was up on the hard, we stayed in one of the Ocean Reef townhouses which worked out well since it was a very rainy week. They had cars to rent right on the property and so we grabbed one which made visiting the boatyard and running errands much easier. Driving on the left side of the road took a bit of getting used to, but all went alright and I only came close to getting us killed once when I forgot to look right! We explored the nearby port of Lucaya which sadly still shows the signs of hurricane Dorian (2019). About half of the buildings are still vacant. That said, at the restaurants and shops that were open, the people were incredibly upbeat and kind. We had some fantastic meals and really enjoyed our time there.

Bradford got the work done within a few days and on Friday June 14th they dropped us back into the water. We headed to the Granda Bahama Yacht Club in Port Lucaya to await our delivery crew of Scott V., Karl and Ryan. I had my annual physical appointments back in Boston and it was too complicated to reschedule so Ryan had offered to fill in as crew to bring the boat back north while I flew home. It was a great delivery team!

While they had hoped to get all the way from Freeport to Newport, RI which would have taken about 5 days, the weather just didn’t cooperate and they decided to shoot for Charleston, SC which took them across the Gulf Stream (a bit bumpy) and three days to get to there. We love Charleston – the marina is terrific and is easy walking distance to downtown. Plus we get to connect with friends from home – this year we saw Cam McDonald and our nephew Sam Tenney who has just moved their with his girlfriend Emily.

Ryan and Karl had to get back to work so our friend Don White flew down to help us continue north. We left Charleston on Saturday June 22nd and made the 210 nm trip up to Beaufort NC where we settled in to a nice calm anchorage and enjoyed the picturesque town. Other than a crazy squall that blew through, we had a great stay. As soon as the weather cleared we were off again and with only a day and a half of clear weather we made the 220 nm hop up to Hampton, VA passing safely and easily around Cape Hatteras. We stayed at the Hampton City Marina and enjoyed being right down town. Locals rushed to help with lines and the marina staff keeps a lovely vegetable and herb garden that’s free for the taking! It was great to get fresh herbs and tomatoes which we had missed during our time in the Bahamas.

Having helped us get 430 nm closer to home, Don flew back home to Marblehead and our friend Scott Fillenworth flew in to help us with the final legs, the first of which could only be to Cape May NJ (another 200 nm) as there were more storms coming. We left Hampton as soon as the north winds eased and we had a good overnight trip up to Cape May, which is at the southernmost point of the Jersey Shore. We dropped our anchor right next to the US Coast Guard training center which feels pretty good when you know big storms are coming! We were able to get into town and enjoy the Lobster Shack and had one of our best meals of the trip at Bryne Bistro. We had to wait it out for a few days, but finally we got the “okay” from Chris Parker’s weather service and on Tuesday July 2nd we left at first light, heading for our home port of Marblehead.

The 314 nm final leg was calm and we motored most of the way. It took us 2 full days and was highlighted by an amazing show of dolphins and whales southeast of Long Island. With a quick stop at Block Island for fuel (and a couple of mudslides) we continued up into the familiar waters of Buzzards Bay, passed through the Cape Cod Canal just before the tide turned at about 2 o’clock in the morning and found ourselves off Boston harbor by 9 am where Jack Attridge was the first to welcome us home on his boat Corker. It felt great to finally grab our mooring and settle in for a relaxing 4th of July!

Note: One of the really fun parts of our final journey home was awaiting the arrival of Scott V’s second grandchild who (finally) arrived on Monday July 8th. Welcome to the world Will!

Well that’s it for our first full season aboard SV Carried Away – what a wonderful experience. We are unable to answer the question “what was your favorite part” as we had just too many amazing experiences – from adjusting to boat life (not too hard), awe-inspiring vistas, extraordinary sea-life and of course the many lovely people we met along the way.

We’ll be spending the summer at home in Marblehead and then heading south again at the end of September. Our original plan was to get back to the Grenadines, which we didn’t have enough time to fully explore this year, but hurricane Beryl has done some serious damage and so we’ll have to wait and see how accessible it will be. Regardless, we will head be heading south again for season 2!