{"id":51350,"date":"2024-01-01T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-01-01T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/?p=51350"},"modified":"2023-12-20T16:32:19","modified_gmt":"2023-12-20T21:32:19","slug":"ringing-new-year-bahamas-style","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/destinations\/ringing-new-year-bahamas-style\/","title":{"rendered":"Ringing in the New Year, Bahamas-Style"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\n\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\"The <\/div>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n
\n Anyone who has visited or seen photos of the Bahamas knows of the clear, turquoise-blue waters surrounding these beautiful islands.<\/span>\n Adobe Stock<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\t <\/figcaption>\n <\/section>\n\t\t\n\n\n

We hadn\u2019t really planned on spending New Year\u2019s anchored off an uninhabited island with a glorious white sand beach in the Bahamas. But we got lucky. The original plan was to celebrate a land-based New Year with a large group of friends in Nassau, but once I found out that some cruising friends had anchored their 50-foot cat only a short ride away off Harbour Island, Eleuthera, and that they\u2019d love to spend New Year\u2019s with us, my wife Caroline, our friend Roberta and I jumped at the chance to leave the hustle and bustle of Nassau in our wake. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Having endured several (rare) chilly days and (not rare) late nights in Nassau, the peace and quiet of a night at anchor off Harbour Island was blissful. The next morning, we hired a local captain to help us navigate the coral-ridden Devil\u2019s Backbone channel between Harbour Island and Spanish Wells. Even with a chart plotter, local knowledge is essential to ensure safe passage through this tricky stretch of water. Our local guy was a particularly colorful character.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\"Sunset <\/div>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n
\n Basking in the warmth of the fire and friendship under a blanket of stars.<\/span>\n Adobe Stock<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\t <\/figcaption>\n <\/section>\n\t\t\n\n\n

A-1 (yes, his name was A-1) hopped aboard with a wide smile and a mental stockpile of more one-liners than David Letterman. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDid you grow on Harbour Island?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDoes Jimmy Carter like toothpaste?\u201d he quipped. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

[Pointing at a spot on the chart] \u201cIs the fishing any good here?\u201d I probed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIs a bullfrog waterproof?\u201d he joshed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The stand-up routine (along with a healthy dose of island history and other random musings) went on for the entire passage through the coral maze. A-1 seemed to concentrate more on holding court than paying attention to the channel, but he got us through. We had arrived safely at Spanish Wells when A-1 shared his last bit of local knowledge, with a smile and a wink: \u201cNine times out of two, if you stay in the channel, you\u2019ll be just fine.\u201d And off he went.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\"catamaran <\/div>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n
\n There’s something special about dropping the hook off an uninhabited island in the Bahamas with friends to celebrate the New Year.<\/span>\n Bill Springer<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\t <\/figcaption>\n <\/section>\n\t\t\n\n\n

We wound our way past the fishing town of Spanish Wells, set our sails in a following breeze, and plotted a course toward a group of tiny islands to the west. Our cruising guide offered little info on the area\u2014and that\u2019s what made it special. We discovered a perfect anchorage off an uninhabited white-sand beach. I\u2019ve been on countless charters and cruises all over the world, but there was something unique about this little piece of Bahamian heaven. We were the only people in sight. It was the last day of the year. The water was crystalline. The sun shone in beams through dissipating cloud cover as the cold front moved out. The beach beaconed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\"Sunset <\/div>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n
\n Our Bahamas-style New Year’s celebration was far from the usual holiday hustle and bustle, and we cherished every minute of it.<\/span>\n Bill Springer<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\t <\/figcaption>\n <\/section>\n\t\t\n\n\n

We swam the short distance to the shoreline where we discovered plenty of dry firewood. It was becoming clear how this impromptu \u201cBahamas-style\u201d New Year\u2019s Eve would play out. It was certainly a far cry from those swarming streets we\u2019d left back in Nassau. We built a fire on the beach, just as the sun set during the last hours of the year, and we basked in its warmth under a blanket of stars. If the rest of this year is anything like the hours of the last one, it\u2019ll be a very good year indeed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\"\" <\/div>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n
\n Here’s to another matchless year of adventure at sea for Cruising World readers everywhere.<\/span>\n Adobe Stock<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\t <\/figcaption>\n <\/section>\n\t\t\n\n\n

(Edited original story from 2010)<\/em> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Anchored off an uninhabited island in the Bahamas is a memorable way to celebrate New Year\u2019s Day, or any day of the year really.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":51354,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"BS_author_type":"BS_author_is_guest","BS_guest_author_name":"Bill Springer","BS_guest_author_url":"","hydra_display_date":"","hydra_display_updated":false,"_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":"","_yoast_wpseo_metadesc":"","_yoast_wpseo_title":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","arc_story_id":"","arc_website_url":"","custom_permalink":"","arc_subtype":"","arc_exclude_from_feeds":false,"sponsored":false,"sponsored_label":"Sponsored Content","sponsored_display_label":false,"sponsored_image":false,"post_right_rail":true,"post_right_rail_ad_1":true,"post_right_rail_ad_2":true,"post_right_rail_ad_3":false,"post_right_rail_ad_4":false,"post_right_rail_recirc":true,"fixed_anchor_ad":true,"post_top_ad":true,"post_off_ramp":true,"post_taboola":false,"labels":true,"apple_news_api_created_at":"","apple_news_api_id":"","apple_news_api_modified_at":"","apple_news_api_revision":"","apple_news_api_share_url":"","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":"\"\"","apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":"","ad_settings_ads_on_this_page":true,"ad_settings_automatic_ad_injection_into_the_content":true,"ad_targeting":"","sponsored_url":"","social_share":true},"categories":[162],"tags":[281,205],"acf":[],"apple_news_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51350"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=51350"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51350\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/51354"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51350"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51350"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51350"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}