Grand Bahama Wedding

After returning to Stuart, we did some last minute provisioning. Our plan was to wait for a weather window and leave from Lake Worth inlet and make landfall at either West End, Grand Bahama, or if possible all the way to Port Lucaya. Going to the Bahamas from Florida involves crossing the Gulfstream, which is basically an 'ocean river' with currents averaging about 2.5 knots northbound. It is important to wait for the right weather conditions, because with wind and current opposed the waves get big and steep. So we were watching the weather closely waiting for a day with light winds and no northerly component. Thursday would be the day (Jan 5). On Wednesday, we left Stuart and continued down the ICW to Lake Worth. We had planned to leave a bit before dawn to guarantee we would make landfall during daylight. Since we were unfamiliar with the Lake Worth inlet, we did a practice run through the inlet the day before in daylight just to see where all the lighted buoys were. Then we dropped anchor in Lake Worth and got a few hours of sleep before waking at 3am to get underway on a course to Port Lucaya.

I'll admit, I was nervous but once we got through the inlet and turned on the autopilot it was just us and the ocean for about 11 hours. We saw a few tankers on the horizon but hardly any other boats, and no sailboats. Of course that may have been because it was totally becalmed, but we aren't proud -- we motor if that's what it takes to get the job done. We monitored our progress closely and were ready to divert to West End, if we couldn't make Bell Channel by dark. But this wasn't necessary, we made it to Grand Bahama's Bell Channel around 3:30 and were through Customs & Immigration by 5. Time for some rum drinks.

We had one week to go before the wedding and our guests started arriving. It was tough to watch everyone else having fun laying by the pool, scuba diving, etc while we attended to "wedding business" -- meeting the magistrate, getting the license, advising the DJ, etc. We had a few group activities planned for all of our guests, all of which were lots of fun (the activities, not the guests, although they were mostly fun too). We had golf, a pub crawl, a snorkeling trip, and a beach party. Oh yeah, we had a wedding and a reception too.

The morning of the wedding, we woke up to overcast skies and gale force winds. Fortunately, within a few hours the clouds had burned off, and it was just windy. Really windy. I'm talking about the kind of wind that can knock you down. Marva, our wedding planner has a standard contingency plan of using curtained tents for inclement weather, the problem was, that it was too windy to set up the tents. We were going to get married in a lovely gazebo between two of the hotel buildings, but the wind was even worse there, gusting to over 50 mph (I'm not exaggerating). The chairs were actually being blown over. So, at the last minute we moved the wedding to the patio in front of the Pelican Bay Hotel's reception, where it was a bit sheltered. The ceremony was beautiful (see the wedding album to the right) in spite of the wind.

After the wedding, we had a cocktail hour and reception overlooking the water adjacent to the hotel. They had permanent tents there that could take the wind. Everybody had a great time dancing, eating and drinking, we had a steel pan player for the cocktail hour and a DJ for the rest of the time. Kevin and I danced the foxtrot to 'Beyond the Sea' by Bobby Darin for the first dance (which we had feverishly practiced the night before - neither of us remember much from our dance lessons!).

Over the next few days the majority of our guests left, Brian and Candi came and spent a few days on the boat with us. It was nice to just relax and have the wedding behind us. They were filming Pirates of the Caribbean sequels here at the time and we saw quite a few celebrities. We actually bought Geoffrey Rush a beer and a pack of cigarettes at Rum Runners. We also saw Mackenzie Crook at Oasis, and Martin Klebba at Pelican Bay. Some friends of ours saw Johnny Depp, but we haven't yet.

We made a quick trip home for our Phoenix wedding reception, and to attend the wedding of our friends, Catherine and Brett. It was a whirlwind trip, only 2 days. On the way back to the Bahamas we had a 3 hour layover in Ft. Lauderdale, so we ran to West Marine and spent all the gift cards we had received as wedding presents (Thanks everyone!).

From the Best Man’s Toast:

TOP TEN REASONS TO LIVE ON A BOAT
10. Unlike on a boat, screaming “I’m the king of the world” in front of your house would scare the neighbors.
9. Kelp does not need to be overseeded during the winter.
8. Living on a boat makes it a lot easier to find your cat.
7. I’ve got one word for you: levees!
6. When the toilet breaks, you don’t need to go to the corner gas station.
5. Painting “Solstice” on your house would get you fined by the homeowner’s association.
4. The ocean is the only place Starbucks won’t put a store.
3. Bikinis! Bikinis! Bikinis!
2. It’s a lot harder for The Man to keep you down when The Man can’t find you.
1. It makes it a heck of a lot easier to get married in the Bahamas!