After all the storms, it was time to get the sails up and put some miles on the clock. After a week of preparation we set off to Grand Bahama, a 70 miles crossing of the Gulf Stream which flows northwards along the eastern coast of the USA at a rate of 3-5 mph. We set off at dawn on the 10 th October and the first 10 miles were uneventful although the wind slowly changed direction until it was coming from the direction we wanted to travel in making progress slower than expected. What was more concerning was that this meant the wind was blowing against the northward flow of the Gulf Stream which can make the calm crossing we were having much more uncomfortable very quickly.

About 25 miles across the sea got much rougher changing from 1–2 ft waves to 4-6 feet. Due to the increasingly rough action of the boat one of the two support ropes fixed to the rear of the dingy snapped causing the dingy to almost tip upside down. In order to fix it I had to lower the dingy in the water and climb inside (It was like sitting on a wild horse). After a lot of time fixing the lines and coping with Suzanne being sick and rather panicked by now, I lifted back into position and we continued on.

This now presented another potential problem as we had to maintain a speed of 7 knots to ensure that we would arrive before sunset and with the wind completely against us it would be doubtful we could arrive in time. All went well for another 10 miles when the starboard side engine alarms forced us to shut down due to overheating, after some investigation and 30 minutes the engine restarted and ran briefly before stopping again and this time was unable to be restarted.

Our speed dropped down to approximately 3-4 knots using sails and one engine meaning we would have to dock at night. About 9.00pm, 2 hours after sunset we began to see navigation lights we believed to be at the north end of Grand Bahama , although the charts showed several other lights should be visible at this time. After a very cautious approach we located the marina entrance, a narrow opening with only one of the entrance navigation lights working. A cautious entry into the marina with a strong current made for slow progress while we tried to identify any feature of the docking slips we expected to be able to see by now. From an aerial photo of the marina we knew that if we followed the outer wall, this would take us to the moorings. All the surroundings were pitch black and using spotlights we made slow progress further into the marina. For about 30 mins we had been calling the marina via VHF radio asking for assistance due to our engine problems but with no reply.

Since entering the marina we had been using our good engine to maneuver directly into the strong current, we could not find any docks or indeed a mooring of any kind. We were exhausted and thought that things just couldn't get any worse……………….beep beep beep……………….. the depth alarm sounded. Our boat has 4ft of keel under the water, the alarm goes off when the water reaches 5ft or less, avoiding running aground now became top of the list of priorities.

Our GPS charting screen which gives us a virtual plan of where we are was showing that we had somehow ended up on the other side of the island in very shallow water and strong tide flow. We had throttled back the engine to about 25% and this coupled with the fact we were heading into the strong current meant we were stationary. If we turned 180 degrees the tide would push us and with one engine our control of the boat would be minimal. After a couple of minutes of indecision we decided rather than drop the anchor we would try to retrace our steps and try to find the marina.

We retraced our path with Suzanne again using spotlights to try to light anything to guide us. We had noticed a car on the shore which appeared to be parked with its lights on. Just before we turned around, it headed away and disappeared, however as we headed back retracing our path the car lights reappeared to our left and then we saw that the lights were pointing us to a dock. We maneuvered in and saw someone standing on the dock, it was a refueling dock, but by this time it was of little concern to either of us. It was an empty dock, we put ropes and fenders out and we are having it. Our newest friend was called Clifford. He grabbed our lines and helped us into the dock. It turned out that Clifford is a security guard for the marina complex which was devastated by Jeanne and was therefore closed. By this time it was 10.30pm, sailing for 15hrs we were exhausted and went straight to bed as soon as the boat was secured. ………what a day!!!

We woke up early to our new surroundings. The view was awesome, the water in the marina was so clear that you can see star fish on the bottom in 15 ft of water.

We sorted out all the paperwork for the customs office at the marina and wandered around to see why we had all the problems finding our way in.

The above picture shows what used to be the back wall of the marina, round to the right are the docks we were looking for. We had sailed straight through the remains of the wall, and on the other side of the wall is a series of shallow reefs. The marina was in darkness because they still had no power from the storms. The island had taken the full force of both Frances for three full days first and then Jeanne a week later.

One of the side effects of storms and excessive rainfall was an explosion in the bug population. This place was bug central, nasty biting mozzies and sand flies made life uncomfortable and sitting outside for any length of time was difficult. Suzanne's job when back in the USA will be to sort out a mozzie net for the boat.

The next 3 days we spent trying to work out what was wrong with the engine, indications were that it had seized up, several phone calls to our mechanic and much messing about provided no answers, it looked like we would have to do the return with one engine. Not a huge problem but with one engine and against the flow of the Gulf Stream it was going to be a slow trip. Unsurprisingly the way our luck had gone so far, the wind changed direction and it was going to be directly against us again. We decided to do the crossing at night to allow for the extra time needed to get back. We set off at sunset 7.30pm 14 th Oct and arrive back at our dock at 12.00 mid day, we worked shifts 2 hour on watch then 2 hour sleep………another very long day.