Petronella - The End

Current Location: Ebley, Stroud

So that's about it. At least for Petronella.

Our decision to push on to George Town was spot on and we enjoyed another day of 20 knot SE winds. Easy sailing under yankee and mizzen and we reached the Exumas in the early afternoon. The problem was that everything we did was for the last time. I used my night and early morning watch to say a final goodbye to P.

How much bluer can you get? The S entrance to the Exumas.

It's quite tricky getting in behind the islands at George Town but John A did some superb pilotage and we were soon anchored off the town. It was still windy though, not the tranquil sea we had expected.

Soon things had calmed down though and we went ashore by way of a bouncy dinghy ride to check in (for the last time). No problems and then on to the Peace and Plenty restaurant for a well earned beer.

The impossible blue of the Bahamas, Peace and Plenty Hotel

Shortly afterwards John and Helena raised the anchor on their own and re-anchored off Stocking Island for a day or two of chilling out.

We dinghy-ed ashore to the aptly named "Chat and Chill" beach. There's a conch man there that takes the flesh out of their shells and makes the meat into a salad. He throws the spent shells into the sea. Here's his shack....

'Chat and Chill' conch salad bar

...and this is what comes to feed on the leftovers. Real stingrays.

Stingray Alert

As tame as you like. And pretty big.

Don't even think about it

Time then for the last sail, or rather motor, up to Emerald Bay Marina. Again nice work from John and we tied up without incident (though we maybe started to get ready for our arrival just a little too late!).

The marina is new with very few boats and clear, clear Bahamas sea. We missed the opportunity to photo the nurse sharks that were swimming around but we got the young turtle that swam under Petronella.

Turtle under the boat in Emerald Bay Marina

John and Helena had already taken us out for a meal to thank us for putting up with them for a month and soon it was time to start the final handover.

Gill before the "handover meal"

But not before Gill and I went for an early morning walk on the 'deep side' of the island. Absolutely beautiful!

On the beach

We've lived  a substantial part of the last ten years on P. We made the decision to include just about everything boatie with the sale but we still had our personal effects to pack into bags. With Portuguese Airlines playing silly buggers over our extra bags we packed assuming they would not let us take them on the plane. So we had a 'must go' bag each and a 'could be sacrificed if we have to' bag each. Here's the pile for the two sacrificial bags.

OMG - do we really have to get that lot into two bags?

So, we got it all in eventually and then it was time for the handover. We had various insurance, Bill of Sale and evidence of competency documents to sign first.

John A had downloaded God Save The Queen and the US National Anthem to his iPad so we had an emotional lowering of the Red Ensign followed by hoisting the Stars and Stripes.

Last moment under the Red Ensign.....

...and the first moments flying the Stars and Stripes 

A final drink at the marina's sister resort.....

Past and Future - Gill and John, and John and Helena

....and then it was time to leave.

Bye, bye P   xx

We thought that was it but our short flight to Miami was just stunning. By some chance Business Class tickets on this flight were cheaper than Economy so we were royally treated by the plane's staff. And then we looked out of the window. Fabulous. What a way to say goodbye to the Bahamas, and of course, to Petronella.

Just amazing. The Bahamas. 2.5m deep in the foreground, 2,500m deep in the dark blue background!

Miami was bustling and rather good fun with an excellent Cuban restaurant. The following morning we met up with John A again for the the formal Bill of Sale to be notarised at a bank. Then back to the airport, an easy check in (yes, of course we could take the extra bags but at an inflated cost of 240 USD).

And here we are back in Ebley ready for Dave and Vera's daughter's wedding. We'll be spending a good few months now in the UK before we look for another boat so remember if you are here, DO come and see us. We are nicely situated in the southwest close to the main motorways.

I don't know what will become of this blog now but if you want to continue to watch Petronella's progress then go to http://www.unlikelyboatbuilder.com/ where John A will be continuing the story.

Thanks for reading.

John and Gill