Many of our friends and acquaintances were surprised that we brought Trekker home this year. Not so much questioning our decision to truck her because of the pandemic (which everyone agrees was a good choice) but rather why would we not continue to explore the beautiful Bahamas each winter. We could tell by the raised eyebrows or slight increase in pitch, “really?". So since it’s a rainy day at anchor on Georgian Bay and I’ve nothing else to do, I thought I would, from my point of view, compare the Bahamas with Georgian Bay.
As a sailor I guess my first thought should be towards winds and waves. In the Bahamas the wind never seems to stop. I took to furling our flags at night so the flapping wouldn’t keep us awake (plus it’s good etiquette)! We’ve been on the Bay now for a couple of weeks and it’s been effectively calm each night. In terms of direction, the southeast tradewinds predominate when we are in the Bahamas in the winter, with a few “northers" thrown in to keep us entertained. The Bahamas Islands run generally northwest to southeast so one waits for a norther to head south and enjoy the trades from behind coming north. The prevailing winds on the Bay are from the southwest and most of the time are between 1 and 25 knots. Since the Bay runs generally southeast to northwest it should be a beam reach up and down the coast, ideal! Unfortunately since we have been out this year the wind has been west or northwest, or nothing, so we have done much more motoring than we did down south. And then there are the waves. When we went south we joked that a 6 second period (the time between successive wave's crests), which is relatively short for the Bahamas was great, because we were used to 4 seconds on the lake. Now we’re used to a much longer period and feel like we are getting beaten up punching into short steep waves!
You can’t beat the multi hued clear blue water of the Bahamas. In the Bahamas you can make out the details of the sea floor in 20’ of water. On our first trip up on to the Bahamas bank I remember Karen exclaiming that she could see starfish on the bottom! The coast of the Bay, in contrast, is a wonderful shade of weak tea. If you look carefully you can see your toes when swimming! Georgian Bay definitely takes this one. Why? Because the Bay’s tea is fresh, not salt water! And there are no predators looking for a snack if you skinny dip to cool off before bed! I expect it will take us a couple of seasons to get rid of the rust stains left by the salt water on our so called stainless steel. And by the way, why did none of our salty friends or family tell us that straight vinegar removes rust stains?! We had to find it out from Jim, who we shared an anchorage with a few days ago.
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| Trekker anchored at "the mine" in Spider Bay |
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| Trekker at Warderick Wells |
Apart from those previously mentioned northers, the climate in the Bahamas is perfect, 23 degrees C day and night. The Bay however can be a bit variable. This cruise we've had 27 C (feels like 34 C) and today the high is 18 C! Thank goodness we can jump in the lake to cool off when it is hot and humid and we have our little fireplace to take the edge off of the cold mornings.
But what about the scenery and geography? I don't consider the Bahamas to be particularly picturesque. Let’s face it, the highest point in the Bahamas is 63 metres. Trekker’s mast is almost 20 meters, so they are low scrubby islands. They have lots of beautiful beaches, if that is your thing. Karen and I prefer the gorgeous granite rock and windblown evergreens that define Georgian Bay. There is no spotting sharks, rays or tropical fish through the tea on the Bay, but the loons' calls are incomparable.
Karen considers provisioning for a cruise on the Bay similar to a cruise in the out islands, which is to say bring most of what you need. There are few stores in the Bahamas and those few have little stock unless the supply boat has just been in! There are two main centres at which to provision on the Bay, Parry Sound and in the North Channel, Little Current. That said the Canadian stores are reasonably well stocked.
A highlight of our cruise down the coast to the Bahamas was meeting sailors from all over the world and making friends that we still stay in touch with. Most of them were much more experienced than us, many having crossed oceans or sailed offshore to get to the Bahamas. They were great sources of courage and information. Not that there aren’t many very experienced and skilled sailors on Georgian Bay (they say if you can sail the bay you can sail anywhere), but there are also many more weekend warriors. They are amusing as they “set" their anchors and make us furious as they blast by at full throttle within feet of us in the narrow channels. Serves us right I suppose for using the small craft route!
So now I’ve written this all down, I can’t really say whether I like the Bahamas or Georgian Bay better. We’ve never seen a Green Flash at sunset on the Bay, although the colors can be spectacular. I’ve also never heard anyone trumpeting a conch at sunset, the loons and whippoorwill call instead on Georgian Bay. They are both wonderful places to cruise, just different. We are ecstatic to be back on the bay, and are enjoying visiting well known anchorages, and are discovering some new ones too!
