144: SPORTY Sail to GREAT STIRRUP CAY and then WEST END; Berry Islands, Grand Bahamas

In our quest to arrive North of the 36th parallel, we enjoyed some very sporty seas and sailing as we moved to the Northernmost Berry Island, Great Stirrup Cay (cruise ship islands) and after a quick overnight, we continued to West End, another day of strong winds and turbulent seas. West End, Grand Bahama has very little sand in its outer harbor. I think much of it was washed away by hurricanes. Unless you have 300 feet of chain, and even then, you are not going to sink your anchor into the plush sand found in the rest of the Bahamas. We tried multiple times to set our anchor and struggled. Finally, we luckily wedged the anchor between two coral fingers and it got stuck. But, we had a dilemma. Do we leave it there? Do we trust the anchor to hold? Will it come loose? Do we feel comfortable getting off the boat? As each day went by, we felt more and more comfortable as the anchor was not budging. Each day we swam and snorkeled for a couple of hours and even went to the marina to check out West End. We "rented" bikes from the marina and road to town. There we found conch shacks galore and alot of damaged houses from the last hurricane. It was sad to see. Amazingly, their little food market was stocked and the prices were the best we had found all over the Bahamas. We were shocked. They even had fresh fruit and produce. It was quite amazing. After 4 weeks with Jeff aboard, as both a support and a guru of all things adventurous, we had to say goodbye as he had to return to his home in Florida. He would be greatly missed and the nerves of crossing the gulf stream started to fray a bit as we dropped him at the dock. If it weren't for so many boats, and our friends on Invia, going in the same direction with the same goal as ours, we would have been even more nervous. But, we prepared the boat as best as we could, cooked meals, baked bread, cut veggies in anticipation of the crossing. It was so much fun to see the animal life under the boat. It was actually surprising given the location. The final day, after the storms blew through, sharks returned as did our squid family. There were about 500 squid under our boat on our final day in West End. We loved swimming with them. The water also cleared up and it was cooler. We knew it was time to go...the question now was, "Will the anchor be difficult to pick up!?" #sailing #sailboat #sailingprojects #BERRYISLANDS #GRANDBAHAMA #WESTEND #GREATSTIRRUPCAY NEW TO OUR CHANNEL? We are Eileen and Brown Councill. Welcome to our channel and a glimpse into our life adventure! 2020 was a year of uncertainty and change (for all of us, right?), but we overcame the challenges and decided it was time to chase our dream, to sail around the world! Did I mention that we had very NO sailing experience? Before leaving Qingdao, China, our home of 4 years, we sold almost all of our earthly possessions and started our international search to find the right sailboat that we would call "home." After 5 months of unanticipated twists and turns, we found what we were looking for, a used Leopard 44' Catamaran located in St. Lucia. So, here begins our journey, filled with unmatched excitement and honestly, a bit of trepidation as well. We have much to learn as we travel the world on our floating home and we intend to document that journey and share it with you. We are so glad you have decided to join us, and we hope that you will find our story so compelling that it will inspire you to chase your dreams too! As a viewer, we consider you to be part of our family and look forward to getting to know you. Don't hesitate to comment on our videos and ask questions. We will do our best to answer every correspondence! All we ask is that you have patience with us as we work really hard to improve our camera/video techniques and ability to tell a story. Hopefully, you will be as BLOWN AWAY from watching, as we are in experiencing and producing our adventures! HOW CAN YOU SUPPORT US? If you wish to support our video efforts, all we ask is that you SUBSCRIBE, give a THUMBS UP, SHARE our videos with your friends, AND COMMENT! WOULD YOU LIKE TO GET TO KNOW US MORE DEEPLY? It would be an honor and pleasure to deepen our relationship with you as a Patron. Please click on the following link to see how: https://www.patreon.com/sailingblownaway WOULD YOU LIKE TO FOLLOW OUR JOURNEY? https://www.noforeignland.com/boat/6040796987916288 WHERE CAN YOU FIND US ON SOCIAL MEDIA? Instagram - @sailingblownaway Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/SailingBlownAway Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/eileen.dietrich/ YouTube Channel: www.youtube.com/sailingblownaway