Our Grand Adventure

12th March 2026 | Odometer: 1695nm | Bahamas

Hanging out in Man of War Bay for a few weeks was a great time and even though there wasn’t a lot to do we filled our days with exploration, swimming and relaxation.

Walking to Windward

The bay is surrounded by a short peninsula and dirt tracks run all along it. We would definitely go stir crazy on the boat for twelve days so we made a good effort to get ashore every day or so and walk around on these tracks, over to the windward side and up to the point. It’s a hot, dry landscape but there is a constant breeze keeping it bearable. We did try to do most our walking in the mornings though!

There is not a lot of bird life around but there does seem to be an impressive number of fish eagles. We also saw a number of small finches and a surprising number of pigeons. We heard some delightful bird song but never spotted which bird was making it unfortunately. Through it all, the drone of dragonflies surrounds you and there are large swarms of them all over the island. Even out at the boat we were constantly shooing out dragonflies.

Waning Weather Station

On one of these walks we found an old abandoned facility of some kind with fuel tanks and a strange circular clearing and mechanism in the ground. The concrete expanses was slowly being reclaimed by the vines and shrubs, with many destroyed buildings and structures around all of which were covered in new growth and fallen trees. The whole area was being surveilled by three fish eagles nesting high in the disused communications towers and light structures.

As we poked around it was all a bit eerie and strange, feeling like we were in the set of some sort of post apocalypse movie, I kept expecting to see zombies at any point. We started venturing around behind the fuel tanks when an enormous crashing noise sounded through the brush right next to us. I’m not sure who jumped higher, me or Ryan haha. In the blink of an eye I was about 20 meters back along the way we had come haha. Current theory is boar not zombie haha.

Some locals later told us that this area had been cleared and all the preparation done for an aerostat station to be installed here; but we weren’t entirely sure if it actually was ever operational.

Waterfront Warmth

Before this trip I had imagined that we would be doing bonfires on the beach all the time! But it turned out that for most of the windward and leeward islands there really wasn’t anywhere that was right for it, or if there was, you weren’t allowed to or needed a permit etc. So, we had gotten all the way to the Bahamas and still not done one!

We sent out messages to all the boats around us and went ashore to gather wood in the last hour before sundown. We lit it up right as the sun was going down and most of our boat neighbours rocked up for a drink and a chat. A great way to spend an evening with fantastic people. We had a couple of these nights while we were all stuck together waiting for the wind.

Winches and Wheels

Obviously we had boat work to do as well! Ryan did an amazing job swapping out our old dinghy davits winches for new ones. They are so much quieter now and way less scary (the winch mechanism actually works now). Very handy when we put Pepi up and down every day.

We had bought dinghy wheels for Pepi also and we were excited to put them on to help us with all the upcoming beach landings we were anticipating. But actually installing them turned out to be a bit of a job.

First we pulled Pepi way up on the beach. 💪 This is pretty hard going and why we were installing the dinghy wheels! Then we propped up the back on fenders and dug out a deep hole underneath the transom. Once we had it deep enough we were able to fit on the new wheels.

All was going smoothly until… a bolt snapped! We had brought one of the SUPs to shore in case we had forgotten anything, and without thinking, Ryan jumped onto the SUP to head back to the boat to get a new bolt. Heading upwind. On the windiest day we had. And halfway there the paddle snapped in half 🤭. I mean, poor guy, working so hard paddling upwind with just this tiny little stick of a paddle left, and I was just sitting on the beach absolutely killing myself laughing! It was the most hilarious thing to watch.

Eventually, Ryan made it back with a replacement bolt, the other paddle and a few choice curses about it all, and then completed the installation. These wheels are awesome! They fold up for when you are just wanting to cruise around, and then fold down when you want to roll up onto the beach.

While Ryan was working on the dinghy wheels I undertook the all important task of decorating the fire pit with conch shells. The conch shells here are incredible – there is a truly mind-blowing amount of them and they are absolutely enormous! My favourites though are the smaller ones which are prettier and seem to keep their colours better.

Water and Washing

A few days after we arrived we realised we were very low on water and also had a lot of dirty laundry to get cleaned. The winds were howling and I was a bit nervous as we pulled up anchor and shifted down to Matthew Town onto the town dock. Thankfully, we were able to hug the coastline all the way down and back meaning it wasn’t too bad of a passage either way. Phew.

The town dock is normally used for unloading large barges of goods, but after checking in with the harbour master in advance we had organised to go on a day when no barges were scheduled. The dock itself is very industrial and not really somewhere we could leave the boat comfortably. So Ryan stayed on board the entire time keeping an eye on our fenders and lines and regularly adjusting them.

We had organised to fill the boat with water and Ryan also dealt with the diesel delivery while we were there. Meanwhile, I had so many errands! Dropping off laundry, going to the bank, stocking up on cold drinks, then doing a grocery run, picking up lunch and then picking up the laundry. It was a hot, hot day but thankfully the walk into town only took ten minutes or so and there were beautiful beachfront views along the way.

After both doing chores, lots of hot trips in the sun we were ready to get out of there after a few hours. We headed back up the coast to Man of War Bay – but this time fighting against the waves and wind – quite a bit more spray over the bow! Once we were back and re-anchored in nearly the exact same spot, we both were completely wiped out, and ready to settle in to the rest of our weather wait.

Wing Foiling

Ryan pulled out his wing foiling gear, and one of the first steps to learn is getting up on the board, and you do this by getting towed! I learnt how to tow and after a few bodgy starts managed to get the hang of it sort of. What a strange sensation! The dinghy is roaring as you power through the initial high energy needed to get the dinghy planing on the water, then once the wing foil board lifts up out the water onto the wing the weight of the load behind you disappears almost instantly.

Ryan started out slowly, gradually building his confidence and control over the wing and the board. Over the next ten days he really improved and was able to go much further, and faster, with better control. Not quite up on the foil yet but definitely getting there! I also gradually improved my towing skills to pull him upwind every now and again.

One time he was out foiling when I saw a whale spout – just behind him! I tried to get his attention but my voice really does not carry far at all. Thankfully he headed back towards shore and away from the whales, and I enjoyed watching them pass behind the anchored boats. I suspect Ryan gave this whale a bit of a fright though!

Watery Wonderland

Perspective was anchored between two reefs and we snorkelled across quite a bit of them. The water clarity here is insane! We can see sandy ripples on the bottom in three meters of water by the moonlight. Unbelievable! And this means the snorkelling is quite amazing too as everything is so clear and visible.

It’s also my favourite kind of snorkelling, lots of sand, with coral bombies you can circle around to see all sorts. There were larger stretches of coral fans and a much greater variety of corals than we have seen elsewhere. We saw a truly enormous stingray sleeping on the edge of a coral patch – at least as big as Ryan! As well as a very friendly spotted eagle ray making its way right past us along the reef. So sleek.

Whiling Away the Days

We greatly enjoyed the gorgeous views, crystal clear water and wonderfully relaxing days here. Reading, playing games, drawing and taking a lot of time to do nothing. We saw bio-luminescence in the evenings and barracuda and rays swimming right past the boat in the days. Sunsets, and sundowners occasionally, but mostly being more snug inside as the cold winds raged in the evenings outside. All in all, being “stuck” here for twelve days was absolute bliss.