We got to sail the big boy. The 45 foot Lagoon catamaran. What a beautiful boat she is. 26 feet wide, 3 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, upper helm, two dining tables, a great lounging area in front between the two pontoons, etc. Basically its nicer than most hotels I've stayed in.
We flew into Freeport and hopped a taxi to the boat shop and grocery store to provision. We grabbed some charts, maps, and fishing gear at the boat shop. Our friends and hosts whirl-winded through the grocery store picking out fresh items that only a chef with the foresight to put together meals from bare ingredients could choose. We also grabbed the ultimate necessities, ice Kalik beer, and vodka.
From there we hopped over to the marina the boat was docked at, tossed everything on the boat, settled up with the marina, and motored out of the harbor.
It was quite an experience motoring away from the harbor and off toward the endless horizon. We raised sails but were close hauled as we made our way south to the berry islands to spend the night in the shelter of the islands. It wasn't long before we left the safety of the shallows and were in real blue water. You can't really understand what is meant by blue water until you experience it for yourself. The water looks infinitely deep and the purest brightest shade of navy blue you have ever seen. The water was mesmerizing to look at. The rays of the sun would dance through the water towards the ocean floor where they would be swallowed up by the inky blue depths at some indeterminate point without scope or quantification.
After a couple hours land finally disappeared and we were truly out in open water. This was no lake or coastal cruise. We seesawed waves and crashed and splashed as we fought to move directly against the incoming swells. Abandoning the sails since we were directly in irons we motored under both engines.
The navigation on the boat is awesome. You have a laptop screen sized display surrounded by 4 other smaller displays giving you readouts of every parameter necessary and some not so much. All you had to do was move the cursor to a point in the water, click go to, and the boat would turn itself and beeline to that mark regardless of being under sail or motor power.
The closer we got to the berry islands, the closer nightfall came, and the closer a storm moved in. We spent 20 minutes in the storm and came out the other side as darkness fell and we coasted into a harbor through a scarily shallow cut between rocks. Anchoring in the harbor we ate a delicious meal of med rare steak prepared on the rear deck grill with a fresh salad. The view gave hint of little house window lights on the tiny island next to us silhouetted with the passing storm in the background. After dinner Amber and I sat on the bow finishing out last drink and watched the multicolored lights twinkling from the cruise ships darting around the Caribbean. We were amazed how fast they were moving and at one point counted 5 visible ships at one time.
We woke in the morning, very early, to the sound of the anchor chain being retracted. We stumbled on deck to see our safe harbor for the night. It was a faux island resort used to give cruise line passengers an island excursion to play on. The beaches were lined with beach chairs and the little house window lights we saw the night before were cabanas for serving cruise goers libations and cheap merchandise. We buzzed out of what we later learned was called "slaughter harbor" and headed east just as a giant cruise ship was pulling up.
Here is where we got some good sailing in. Headed east the wind was coming right over our beam from the south and we were able to move almost as fast as motoring. There is nothing like being under sail with no motor power. Just all natural, GMO free, 100% organic wind.
This was short lived however as we rounded the Berry islands we had to turn south towards Nassau and this put us directly in the path of the wind.
Here is the clincher to this situation. The boat was suppose to have been fueled and ready to go when we picked it up in Freeport. It wasn't. The boat has 2 fuel tanks; #1 and #2. I don't remember which is which but one run one engine, while the other runs the other engine and the generator. Of course the one with the generator only had about 1/8 of a tank when we anchored last night and after running the generator for blessed ac all night it was almost bone dry,
Now faced with a direct head wind and after a few tacks with little progress towards Nassau we decided to motor under the one engine with fuel and keep all ship power off. This was important to reserve whatever fuel was in the nearly empty tank for maneuvering into a marina dock at Nassau.
Yes we could have tacked the whole way but it would have taken probably 2 full days to do so. We opted for the direct route under one engine. This took 9-10 hours even doing it this was but we definitely weren't complaining.
I trolled with our fishing gear off the back of the boat to no avail. We flew kites off the back, which I can't remember the last time I did that or the simple pleasure of such an activity. We only stopped once during the trip. It was in the middle of nowhere for an impromptu swim in brilliantly blue, seemingly infinitely deep, and refreshingly cool water. It was a little bit of a mind trip for me knowing that there was 3/4 of a mile of water between me and the ocean floor.
About nine miles out was the first vague sight of tall resorts on the horizon. New providence (the actual name of the island that is commonly referred to as Nassau) and specifically paradise island loomed closer and closer over the next hour and a half on our approach to our final destination; Atlantis Resort. It was quite an experience as we waited at the entrance to Nassau harbor as 2 enormous cruise ships full of watching and waving passengers slipped by.
Slipping into Atlantis marina we were granted all the aminities of the other guests including people staying in the hotel and the guests and crew of the many multi-multi-million dollar yachts parked in the marina. We perused the grounds that evening taking in the lavish atmosphere. The hotels were packed and lively. While sitting at one of the many bars we noticed a lot of very tall and fit sports guys walking by. After some investigation we found out it was the entire University of Kentucky basketball team staying at the resort. Pretty cool.
We ate at a wonderful restaurant in the casino called NOBU. It is Japanese and very swanky. They are a restaurant that does not wait until all the meals are ready for the table to bring them out. When a dish is ready it gets brought out. We got a lot of apps to begin with and shared them all. Then as each of our entrees came out one by one we continued to share them as well. The same continued with desserts. It was a really a cool way to eat and it was hands down some of the best food I have ever eaten. I can't exactly remember what food that was... only some things like the lobster ceviche, and some kind of perfectly prepared blackened cod i think. There was a couple sun baked days filled with more than our share of alcohol at this point. Regardless we were all ridiculously surprised.
The next, and last, day we suited up and headed for Atlantis' decidedly awesome water park. We went down the tube ride which carries you through an actual shark tank. We checked out the many many aquarium tanks filled with a plethora of beautiful and exotic sea life. We hit the beach on the north side of Paradise Island and soaked in the crystal clear turquoise water.
The coolest part of the water park Amber and I agree was the "not so lazy river." There may be an actual lazy river there but we think the one we happened to get into was called "the current." Around every turn of the mile loop was something new. You may run into a channel that is being bombarded systematically by tidal waves that are pretty stout. You have to hold on tight when they hit. You may go through caves with waterfalls. You can choose which path to take when you come to a fork and one way goes to rapids while the other takes you on a slide ride. We went on the slide ride. You wait in line on your tube! Then a conveyor belt moves you up to the top of a temple. You get dumped back in water at the top where you have to choose which slide you want to go on. We chose the fast one. You fly down a steep slope, up and down a little hill, and then you are propelled up a steep hill to a point as high as where you first dropped in as you continue down the slide. All this to be dumped back into the lazy river. You would have to go around the loop several times in order to be able to experience everything on the lazy river and you would never have to get out of your tube.
The rest of the late afternoon was spent cleaning, and prepping the boat to sit in harbor for a month. We got everything situated and packed and took a taxi ride right through the middle of Nassau. It was very run down yet beautiful and charming. We ooed and ahhed at every corner. It wasn't long before we were at the airport, on the plane, and and headed back to Florida. What an amazing trip!
It took us the better part of the afternoon to make this happen. We did a test raise on the mast to make sure everything was right. Then because we didn't want to go through the whole process again we laid the mast down while still pinned in the block and drove down the street to the marina with the mast hanging way off the back of the boat. It was a little tense. Then we scrambled to raise the mast and splash the boat at the ramp. 
It was labor day and Saratoga had its share of people and every type of watercraft represented. We actually weren't the only sailboat out that day and tacked back and forth across the lake on similar lines next to some other daysailers. The boat handled beautifully and was really spacious and enjoyable for the 4 of us. We spent a few hours the first day and then an hour or so the next day sailing and cruising around Saratoga. All too soon though our time was up.
