Pushed aground on Junkanoo Beach, Nassau, Bahamas

It was a peaceful Monday morning. We went for a bus ride and did some grocery shopping. We had no idea what was in store for us that day! A little storm was predicted with 22 knots winds and five-foot swells out of the NE. When we got back onboard around 11, the swells had started coming through the inlet and smashing on the western end of Junkanoo Beach anchorage. We were pretty far inside on the eastern end of the bay, safe we thought. By 4pm, the tide had dropped 3 feet, the wind shifted to the NW and the swells were driving Freya directly toward the beach. In minutes we were aground and the swells just kept pushing us harder. I ran up on the bow to man the windlass, QP started the engine and we started creeping forward inch by inch. Ellis from SV Booby Trap came over to lend a hand, but there was nothing he could do. We had to just keep inching forward until one of the swells lifted us off the bottom and we could safely re-anchor. We finally floated off and moved out into the bay. There was no space left to anchor on the eastern side. We tried anchoring on the western side, but it was far too rough. We decided to go past the cruise ship dock and anchor in Nassau Harbor. Freya was a mess inside and we were still way too worked up to sleep, but we were safe!