Sailing Real Nauti

21/01/2025

Scott and I have had a visitor two nights in a row. Last night it sat on our rigging. Today I was digging around in a cockpit bench when I heard something fluttering around. I looked up and our visitor, a pigeon, returned but choose to be closer. As you see we gave her/him fresh water. And man did it drink! She/he sat on our life ring as you can see by the mess to rest. Well sun is way down and winds have picked up and he/she has nested down for the night! She/he picked the right boat to feel safe on! We will watch over you! She/he is banded on both legs one is red other has a number so we guess it belongs to someone? For now we will do our best to take care of you!!!

15/01/2025

SV Real Nauti had a very rare visitor early this morning. Scott not being able to sleep went out to our cockpit to have a can of V8 and was just sitting there. He then went to back of boat as it just past full moon so it was bright. He noticed under our catamaran a very large mass there. It then turned to where he noticed the tail. Next thing I knew he’s yelling down our cabin window to come up. And low and behold it was a very friendly very large Manatee. They are very rare here in Bahamas with only about 20 being seen and mainly around Abaco and Eleuthera. We were in Calabash Bay off the northern end of Long Island. Scott played in the water with his hand and next thing we knew it was right there mouth open asking for food. We sat there as it sat with us saying hi. About 1.5 later we both got tired and went to bed. Scott got up and first thing he did was see if it was still there. It was not. So we figured it moved on. Then as we were taking lines down to move back south on Long Island Scott noticed it under our fellow catamarans boat. And sure enjoy it just moved to their boat. They ended up reaching the Bahamas Marine dept and they are sending a boat to check on the Manatee. It was alone which was surprising as they like to be in packs. If Scott didn’t get up last night we never would have had the pleasure to meet this guy/gal! Day pictures were from our boating friends! Ours were all night shots so sorry for poor quality!

08/01/2025

Scott and myself stayed in the Georgetown area for about a week or so after our boys left. We had a great little bay that we anchored in but once we saw the winds changing the boats came in. We had two that anchored to close for our comfort! So that next morning we pulled the hook and headed out. With awesome northeastern winds blowing about 15 or maybe highest 19 knots we set sail and made awesome times with getting upwards of 8.5 knots! So we are now on at Long Island in salt pond! The island is so much more our pace! Island time! Today we rented a car and drove the whole island about 80 miles long one rode! We first went north to see the monument that showed where Christopher Columbus landed in 1492.

Our second stop was at a cave. We first had to go through an older church that is unfortunately falling down. Once we found the trail we headed off to the cave that had brackish water that made the red shrimp very happy!

We stopped at a road bar that’s well known for the conch salad so we had to stop and try it! Delicious!

Lastly we stopped at the famous Blue Hole. This is where they do all the free diving competitions! We didn’t get in but it was so much better in person. Here are the facts on the Blue Hole.

Dean's Blue Hole in the Bahamas is 663 feet (202 meters) deep, making it the third deepest blue hole in the world:
Here are some other facts about Dean's Blue Hole:
Location: Located in a bay west of Clarence Town on Long Island
Surroundings: Enclosed by a natural rock amphitheater on three sides and a turquoise lagoon and white beach on the fourth side
Visibility: Visibility is usually between 50–100 feet (15–30 meters)
Safety: Safe for diving and snorkeling, but children and non-swimmers should stay away
Drop-off: The drop-off from the beach into the blue hole is very sudden
Features: Sand waterfalls cascade down the sides, and barracuda, tarpon, and tropical fish swim in the water
Exploration: Cave diver Jim King first reached the bottom of Dean's Blue Hole in 1992
Freediving: A mecca for freedivers to train and compete, with many world and national records achieved.

We will provision tomorrow at the local grocery store to get some final items before we set off further South. So please keep an eye out for those adventures coming soon!

08/01/2025

We stopped at Chat n Chill and had to get a fresh conch salad. It was delicious. But this gentleman’s knife moves were awesome! Sorry for all the back ground talking!

08/01/2025

Hello everyone! Sorry for our absence. We had a few busy days after the 17th of December to get our two boys down to Exuma for their flights! We did make a few stops and we took a few pictures! Hope you enjoy. I’ll try my best to label them to spare you to look at multiple posts.

First 4 is when we went through the mangroves on Shroud Cay. It was a great dinghy ride. Chrystal clear water and tons of turtles. Will see if any go pro videos worked! If so I’ll post them.

Next pictures are on Warderick Wells Cay. It’s a national park that has lots of trails to hike! We also had the sight of a 52ft S***m whale skeleton that was killed by plastic garbage that’s floating in our oceans! So sad to see what we do on the beaches! Some lizards didn’t mind their photos taken. And some views on our hike!

The next pictures were taken when we stopped for the night. The next morning we went for a hike to find Great Guana Pool Cave. Surprisingly the cave was on the top of the hill but we found it and was well worth the hike! Scott and Sheldon went swimming in the water in the cave! At one point they said it was 20 plus feet deep if not deeper. Scott said he would have loved to have had his tank! So maybe a stop we’ll go back too! But the cave was awesome! Arkansas has caves but this one was well up there! So many hidden treasures on the island off the Bahamas!

The last couple pictures are when we stopped for the night at Boysie Cay and the little island had the best blow hole! The waves were breaking pretty good from the northeast it gave us a good show!

Hope you enjoy a few of our adventures.

25/12/2024

25/12/2024

Merry Christmas to all and a Happy New Year from us on SV Real Nauti!

21/12/2024

On our way down we stopped at Allan Cay. Not only was the waters a huge swimming pool but we meet some very friendly iguanas! They enjoyed our lettuce. They took it from our hands so gently I just wanted to pick one up and hug it! 😂

20/12/2024

December 17th, Captain and First Mate became one in Nassau, Bahamas on a cute beach! We will continue to sail off into the sunsets forever!

20/12/2024

Good morning all! SV Real Nauti is doing some down wind sailing today! We left Eleuthera today making our way down to Exuma. So what a better way to take advantage of that nice down wind. With 6.6 knots behind us going 4.7 knots. “Thumper” made its debut sail! Isn’t it gorgeous!

14/12/2024

We’ve made it to Nassau. The winds and seas have not been very nice the last few days. We’ve had to make some fast decisions to get where we had to go before Sunday. We headed out of Marsh Harbor Friday and did an over night sail down to Nassau. We had 10 to 15 foot seas falling behind us. Winds were topping out at 30 at some points. But we made it to Nassau at 6 am hit a small Cay to get some calmer waters. Got few hours of sleep then came into Atlantis Marina. We are now tied to the dock awaiting our boys to join us tomorrow (Sunday). Have another special event for Tuesday! Can only hope weather and wind is in our favor! Fingers crossed!

14/12/2024

Our little island run at Green Turtle Cay. We rented a golf cart.

10/12/2024

Monday we moved up to Allen Cay. Relaxed Monday night. Tuesday we went out and Captain got in the water! Too cold for my blood! Then we went to shore to do a few little hikes from the west side to the east side of the Cay. We then found the “Naming Tree” we left our mark! Enjoy!