Our Grand Adventure

12th May 2026 | Odometer: 2365nm | Bahamas

Our time in Nassau was not very exciting. We were relatively far from fun areas of the city or tourist zones; and we were very focused on getting our engine sorted and getting underway again.

We were lucky enough to get a mechanic through the tow boat group (which had the same engines as us!) and he was able to figure out what had gone wrong pretty quickly. Unfortunately, during our previous engine works, the injector rods had not been screwed down (at all) – impossible to tell when the engine was put back together…. so they had been rattling around loose for the last few weeks; until one had finally burst out of its holder, snapped in half, and the engine had flooded with diesel. D’oh! We were glad it wasn’t a ‘new’ problem, but were pretty bummed out that a simple mistake became an expensive problem for us later. We were feeling confident we could get the engine repaired once again!

Florida Flurry

We needed to get four new injector rods; and after our last experience shipping parts to the Bahamas; we decided to fly to Florida and collect them ourselves as well as some other bits and pieces. We also needed to get our visas activated before we crossed over on our boat.

Florida was a massive shock to the system; there were SO MANY PEOPLE EVERYWHERE! It was intense. Driving on the motorway felt like we had teleported to another planet. Feeling very disconnected from the hectic life of a city – we made our way to the parts place and bought the four injector rods.

We stayed in a nice hotel near the Fort Lauderdale airport; enjoyed some cortado (coffee) and cubano (sandwiches) at the beach the next day. We had some time to kill before our flight but we were both already over the city vibe; and decided to go for a walk through a mangrove park nearby.

Then it was up and away and back to Nassau to fix the engine!

Exploring Nassau

The mechanic was not available for a few days so we took the opportunity to do a food walking tour downtown. We were on the tour with a fun bunch of ladies who were all celebrating on a bridal party. The tour was great, we tried loads of delicious foods and drinks; and saw quite a few beautiful spots around the town. One of the main highlights was a beautiful villa that was still a working chocolate and cigar factory. It had gorgeous, hand painted tiles and was a nice retreat from downtown.

While we were in Florida, a massive storm had rolled through the northern end of the Bahamas – and a number of boats had dragged anchor and been pulled onto sandbanks. The winds had turned at the last minute and came from an unexpected direction meaning many people were caught out without shelter. The local tow boat guy filled us in on all the rescues that happened over the coming days. We were really grateful we had been secure in a marina when it came through – although we did lose a fender!

Our Swedish friends had unfortunately been caught in the storm and had had a terrible night stuck in a shallow anchorage, unable to see and motoring onto their anchor to try to keep it attached while the storm buffeted them wildly. It sounded awful and they arrived to Nassau frazzled and completely over boat life! They anchored right near us and we had a few pool parties together in the marina while we waited for the mechanic and they recovered and prepared for their crossing. A good weather window came and they sailed off to Florida.

Engine Work

Finally, the mechanic was free, and him and Ryan got stuck into the engine bay while I did some groceries. Of course, they didn’t have all the needed parts so they had to go to the local hardware shop for supplies. Classic.

We took Perspective out for a test run – and everything went beautifully, but the oil pressure was now sitting a little low. So we waited another day (to let the engine cool), then did another oil change to be sure we had gotten as much of the diesel out of the engine as possible.

Finally, we were ready to go! And just in time! We had a short weather window of a few days to get all the way to Florida before a new weather system rolled in which would keep us stuck for at least three weeks. We were really wanting to get out of Nassau and didn’t want to get stuck again. So, with great trepidation – we packed up and readied ourselves to head out the next morning. This was going to be a pretty decent hop – about 8 hours and 55 nautical miles. We had so little faith in the engine now and we were feeling extremely nervous.

To the Berries

We left fairly early, and made our way through the channel between Paradise Island and the main land of Nassau. This is a really busy channel with loads of boats moored either side and massive bridges spanning the gap. We headed out the mouth, following behind an enormous cruise ship.

We were both feeling extremely tense; and I don’t think either of us really relaxed at all. Would the engine keep going? We were heading out into deep, unprotected waters and were feeling really conscious of just how far it was to the next island.

Coming up alongside the Berry islands we had started to see the shores and outlines of the varies islets. These islands are very low-lying, and very bare, with not a lot of wind protection. We had picked a point at the northern end to head towards.

We were about an hour from our destination when we heard a massive BANG from the engine compartment. We both went pale, and looked at each other. Oh god. What now!? Ryan dashed back to check the engine bay and see what had happened- he quickly came running back yelling for me to turn the engine off. I did so, and suddenly we found ourselves completely adrift, only a kilometer or so from shore.

He started to explain that the alternator belt had snapped; which wouldn’t be a big deal, except this belt also drove the coolant pump. No coolant – no engine. He scrambled around trying to locate the spare belt and the various tools needed to replace it.

Meanwhile, I kept an eye on our location, and started calling around to see if I could get us a tow… just in case this didn’t work. We were both very shaken and feeling very freaked out. I could see the land… not close… but not that far either; and we were slowly drifting northwards alongside the closest island.

Without any momentum, of course Perspective turned side on to the swells which were not small. We were heaving from side to side, and hanging on as the tools and floors and us were thrown back and forth. Perspective really doesn’t handle side swells well. Ryan was getting sea sick trying to work in the engine bay with the extreme sideways motions.

Ryan realised we were over only twenty meters of water so we dropped the anchor. This is way, way deeper than we would normally drop it, but we only needed it to hold us into the swell so we could get the belt replaced. This worked, and held us a little steadier – now we were just riding the waves with the boat instead of being lurched from side to side. Phew.

Once again, the mechanic had messed us up – he had re-installed the alternator belt incorrectly; meaning it had chafed and broken. Sheesh. After a heroic effort battling the over-tightened bolts Ryan finally got the bracket loosened and was able to install the new belt.

We took a deep breath and turned the engine on… and we were away again.

We made it to our anchorage and pulled up for the night. I was so not ready to continue the next day but we were going to have to.

Onwards, to West End

Even though the belt had been a minor issue; I think both of our faith’s in the ability of this engine to get us safely to West End and then across the gulf stream was now almost zero. I had basically reached the point that I assumed we were going to break down somewhere along the way and would then organise a tow into Florida from wherever that was. Needless to say, neither of us were feeling great.

Waking early, we kicked off for our 13 hour and 90 nautical mile journey to West End. I think I did deep breathing exercises non-stop for the entire 13 hours – and both of us were constantly looking at all the instrumentation. I prayed non-stop – please keep going, please be safe, please keep going, please be safe, please keep going, please be safe.

Finally, we rounded the point of West End and pulled up in a nice anchorage. We dropped Pepi, and looped over to the customs and immigration building to checkout and swap our Bahamian dollars for US ones.

After a massive day, we were both exhausted. We had now checked out – and the weather window was narrowing. We had to get to West Palm Beach before the change in weather as we were now in a very remote, unprotected part of the Bahamas and we really couldn’t stay here in the new weather system. We had to go back or go on.

We decided to go on.

Crossing the Gulf Stream

The winds were favourable to cross and the swells were low enough and also were forecast to be heading north with the stream which was good. Neither of us slept well at all that night, and we ended up leaving an hour earlier than planned as neither of us was resting anyway. We left the anchorage, and watched the horizon light up with wild flashes of light as a series of massive thunderstorms passed by to the north of us.

The sky around us was ominous and dark, broken only by small patches of moonlight breaking through the clouds. The wide, open expanse of water all around us gave no sense of scale, and we struggled to know if the storms were right next to us or a long, way away. With the thick cloud cover, the starlink wasn’t working so we were hoping the storms continued to blow past us but not over us.

This crossing felt like just the most appropriate ending to our journey. It was quite scary, we felt like we were heading into danger for hours and there was a sense of inevitability about it all. I continued my mantra and tried to accept that what would happen, would happen.

As dawn neared, there was a thick fog on the water. We had been watching the AIS closely to make sure we didn’t cross paths with any cruise ships and had given the few we had a wide berth. I could see a ship’s lights – but in the gloom the distance was hard to gauge. There was an object on AIS in sort of the right direction, but not quite right… and a lot further away. The light was getting closer and closer, but I was struggling to tell what it was or how far away. As the dawn broke, and the light started filtering through – I suddenly saw an enormous USA warship looming up out of the gloomy fog. They were travelling much faster than us, and we were in no real danger of hitting them (they could see our position!) but it gave me an absolute heart attack realising how close they were.

With the daylight, we started feeling a sense of relief – we could see the distant high rises of Florida stretching all along the coast line. Focusing on these, and watching them get bigger and bigger – we were cheering Perspective on – so close now! So close! Just a little further and we would be into safety.

Entering West Palm Beach

We entered through a narrow channel into West Palm Beach; where it felt completely surreal. We were surrounded by thousands of boats. Boats, cars, bridges, people everywhere! It was overwhelming. We felt like we needed to collapse in a heap that we had made it, but all these people were just going about their normal day. I felt utterly disconnected from reality at this point.

We headed up the canal a short way til we found an anchorage, and dropped the hook. It was still early, 10am, and we would need to check in with Immigration and Customs ASAP, but nothing can describe the utterly overwhelming sense of relief we both felt at having made it.