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Day 1: The Start of a Great Adventure
My father and I took a taxi to the airport very early. Getting there so far in advance wasn’t really necessary, but it was reassuring for my father, who wanted to check in his wingfoil board...
I could feel the excitement building in me at the idea of what was in store and with the music blasting in my headphones I was already on vacation.
On my way out, I’d finalized an application letter for a high school before grabbing my suitcase and leaving all the stress of education behind me.
We finally boarded the plane for our connecting flight from London. The flight from Paris was quick, especially as I took the opportunity to rest for the first time since we had left.
At Heathrow Airport, we sat on a bench, absolutely starving, eating sushi and chatting about what we were feeling, our concerns and, above all, laughing about anything and everything.
On the plane, for the ‘real’ trip over the ocean, I made myself comfortable, and to get the flight off to a good start, I put on my favorite movie, Mamma Mia, which immediately put me in a good mood.
The few episodes of Barbie I’d downloaded also helped to pass the time and eventually I fell asleep.
To be honest, the nine-hour flight went by quite slowly and I felt a bit groggy before landing.
When I got out of the plane, the atmosphere was completely different: first I felt a warm wind on my face, and I quickly realized that it was time to put my sweater away!
Just before passing through customs, a man dressed as a colorful pirate greeted us with a big smile and led us into the terminal, which was decorated in magnificent shades of blue and green: it was as if we were already under the ocean! To the right of the hall, there was a stage with musicians playing a lively, sunny tune.
At the exit, a taxi took us to the hotel where we were to spend our first night. At reception, I laughed out loud at my father’s level of English, which was so awful that I had to help him with every sentence!
The hotel was beautiful with large pools and lots of little residences leading down to the beach.
We waited for a heavy downpour to end before going outside. We then found a waterside restaurant where we ate like kings.
Day 2: A Gale and No Battery!
With the time difference, it was no great surprise that we got up around 6.30am having gone to bed at 10pm. Breakfast was served on a magnificent terrace overlooking the beach and the hotel swimming pool. We took our time to enjoy the hotel before leaving a little before noon to go to the port where our catamaran was located.
The marina looked like a hotel and there was a whole section where the estate’s inhabitants lived: I wasn’t expecting that at all. My uncle, another couple and a friend of theirs were supposed to arrive later in the day. We had a bit of time to kill so we enjoyed ourselves swimming in 81-degree (27° C) crystal clear water: paradise!
Later, the harbor restaurant served us the best prawn curry and rice I had ever tasted, and just like that, we were already on cloud nine.
We then made our way to the large power catamaran that had been assigned to us; our luggage was already waiting for us there. It was then that we tried to charge our phones... and discovered that our French chargers were not compatible with American outlets. Our batteries were almost dead at that point and neither of us had had the idea of finding out exactly when our team, who were due to join us that evening, would be arriving. As night fell, we began to worry a little...
Around 9pm, three people approached our boat and warmly introduced themselves. The relief was immediate! They explained that a storm in the Atlantic Ocean had forced their airplane to divert to another airport and take off again later. My uncle arrived shortly afterwards and that’s when I knew that the charter could really begin.
The crew was (finally) complete: Laura and her English boyfriend Andy, Magalie, their friend who is French but lives in Thailand, my uncle Emmanuel, my dad and me. All together, we went back to the restaurant next door, where I was able to brag to everyone about the prawn curry. I was so happy to see my uncle again! We checked the boat, the Wi-Fi and the keys; then I settled into one of the cabins and fell asleep very quickly.
Day 3: Meeting the Crew and Preparing for Departure
I slept like a baby aboard the catamaran, lulled by the gentle lapping of the water against the hull and the sound of the light rain that fell during the night. When I woke, the weather was grey but not depressing, rather quite bright in fact. The few drops of rain that fell didn’t discourage us and we all took a taxi to the supermarket, with the exception of my uncle who had stayed on board to work. It may sound silly, but I’d always seen videos of American people shopping in huge supermarkets full of products you couldn’t find in France. Well, even though Nassau isn’t in the United States, that’s exactly what it was like: everything was giant, whether it was vegetables, bags of brioche, boxes of eggs or cereals; they were all twice the size of French products or boxes. I made a few videos that I sent to my uncle when I got home, and I proudly stored away the boxes of macaroni that I had been dreaming about ever since seeing them in American TikTok videos.
Laura prepared our first meal on the catamaran, and we ate while getting to know each other. At the time, I was still a little embarrassed at the idea of being with strangers as I didn’t yet know how I should behave in their company. However, I noticed straight away that all three of them were really nice and my uncle also made it easy to talk to them.
We were due to leave the port during the day but the strong wind and waves outside weren’t ideal for setting off, so it was postponed until the following day. Between a few showers, I took the opportunity to sunbathe on the flybridge, equipped with my sunglasses and sunscreen.
Day 4: A First Day of Cruising At Last!
After breakfast, we set off for the first small island and I started to feel a little seasick. So far, I’d been impressed by the scenery, but I hadn’t yet had the feeling of being on a cruise, as we hadn’t done any sailing yet. During the crossing, I decided to take a nap to get over my nausea. When I woke up, we were in the middle of nowhere and my uncle, with chart in hand, explained where we were finally going to anchor. My father decided to take out his wing foil for the first time, and even though the operation wasn’t very successful, I was pleased to see how much fun he was having. Given that I’d missed three days of school, I took advantage of the peace and quiet to catch up on the classes that I’d missed.
Day 5: A Lovely Desert Island and a (Very) Special Airplane
First thing in the morning, my father was on his wing foil for test #2, which again wasn’t a great success (although I did notice a certain amount of progress hahaha!). The day’s program was rather surprising, as after visiting a small desert island, we were scheduled to go diving and visit Pablo Escobar’s wrecked airplane. This is a Curtis Commando from the Second World War that had been repurposed by drug traffickers working for the notorious Pablo Escobar. The traffickers used an island in the Bahamas for their activities, but one of their planes crashed; that was back in 1980. Now that will be an amazing story to tell my friends!
After recharging our batteries, we were able to set foot on the first island other than Nassau, the capital. There were lots of conches and other small shellfish on the beach. Most of them were alive, but I managed to pick up an empty shell as a souvenir for my mother. The island was really tiny, probably about two-thirds the size of a football pitch. On it, the graves of a couple lay next to a bench. A shell wreath surrounding the graves had been installed, perhaps by visitors like us? It was very moving and for a moment I looked at the landscape and thought that there could be no more beautiful place to rest in peace.
We returned to the catamaran with the dinghy. By now the tide had dropped and we could see the aircraft beneath the water without even diving. I put on my swimming costume and my dad and I paddled towards the plane, while the rest of the crew swam straight in with masks and fins. I got the fright of my life when my father convinced me that the fake skeleton at the bottom of the wreck was real. After that, my squeamish nature got the better of me and I just stayed on the paddleboard watching the others dive and explore the airplane in detail. From above the water, I could still see well enough, and I knew very well that if I went down to the wreck that I would panic about getting stuck in it. Still, I was laughing out loud from where I was watching, and it really was an incredible and unique experience. In the evening, Laura made pasta with tofu and tomato sauce, which was really good.
Day 6: Elephant-skinned Sharks and a Top Night Out
As soon as I woke up, given that it was already 1pm in Paris, I created a group with all my friends to invite them to my birthday party that I would be celebrating upon my return. They all replied immediately, so it was a pretty good way to start the day.
I’d been looking forward to this day for a really long time! We were going to swim with the sharks! We sailed out to Compass Cay in the morning. I was so happy, waiting for the others with my dad in the dinghy. We were just laughing together when we saw a black shadow pass by us. We squealed with delight when we realized it was a real shark! Of course, it was harmless, so we took the liberty of putting our hands in the water and taking lots of videos of it as we bent down to get closer. The others arrived early enough to see him, but we were still able to enjoy the show for longer than them. That’s what you get for being prepared well in advance!
We then headed to an island where sharks were all swimming in a particular area which was shallow enough for us to stand up. There were ‘trainers’ present who offered to take us swimming with them for $15. They were feeding them by the time we got there, and the sharks were almost at the surface, with tourists laughing out loud with them. One of the children in the water was able to hold a small shark in his arms and I was amazed at how close these sharks came to us humans.
When it was our turn to go down, the sharks were already full and digesting. They were all at the bottom of the water, circling at our feet. The trainers didn’t seem to take much notice of our presence, but despite this, some of the smaller sharks came to the surface and I was even able to touch a few of them. In fact, my father, who rode elephants in Thailand with my mother, told me that their skin felt exactly the same. A sign saying ‘Swim with sharks at own risk’ hung on the wall of the shack that surrounded the shark zone, and I found this warning really funny. I felt like an adventurer. The hut was full of stickers, shells and bits of wood painted in all colors with phrases written on them by the visitors, I assume. We got back on the boat at around 3pm and I was starving so I ate some Cocoa Pebbles cereal, which you can’t find in France and is excellent.
We continued on to Staniel Cay where we saw a restaurant/bar on the waterfront. In my opinion, it was one of the best evenings of the trip because even though the tacos we ate weren’t great, the place was so beautiful, and I really felt like Robinson Crusoe. There was a slight difference, though, in that Robinson Crusoe was alone on the island, whereas we were surrounded by luxury boats and the restaurant was packed to the rafters, hahaha! The music was loud and the atmosphere great; I had a truly unforgettable day.
The only negative point was that the tacos were $32, and I honestly don’t think they would have filled up a 3-year-old!
Day 7: Snappy Pigs and a Beautiful Island
The day started with a bit of motoring to get to Pig Beach, a beach full of (unsurprisingly) pigs. I’d already seen videos on social media of these pigs swimming around and was super excited to see them for myself. We all took the dinghy out and some pigs were swimming when we arrived. There were pigs all over the place in the water and they all rushed around us. We had some carrots to feed them and even though a lot of them ended up in the water, we still managed to throw a few into their mouths. They opened their mouths wide to show us their enormous teeth. They were super sharp and the front four were bigger than the rest, so we avoided getting our hands too close.
My dad and Laura were talking about a video of a tourist getting bitten on the butt by one of the pigs and as we watched it together, we all laughed. Some of the pigs were very large and seemed to be generously fed by visitors. They weren’t all in the water: many were on the beach being stroked. Their hair wasn’t so dirty thanks to the sea and their smell was bearable. Frankly, I was expecting worse.
As I left the dinghy, my father had the packet of carrots in his hand, ready to continue feeding the animals. Just then, a huge pig approached him. Trying to get out of the way, my father turned, leaving the pig a nice area to munch on. To no one’s surprise, my father got bitten on his butt and we all fell into a fit of giggles - except for him, who appeared to be suffering somewhat. Of course, it was only after this mishap that we saw the big ‘No feeding pigs on the beach’ sign. As far as we were concerned, everything was fine.
On the way back, we filmed the funniest scene of the trip: several meters away from us, as he arrived on the island, a tourist and his dinghy were attacked by several pigs who were ganging up on him to get his carrots. Some of them started to get into his dinghy. Panicking, he threw the whole lot onto the beach, which excited the pigs even more.
We then visited another island, which I thought was the most beautiful I’d ever seen. The water was unbelievably blue, and the sand was warm, smooth and fine. The beach was covered in iguanas. There were a lot of them, and I even saw one eating a coconut and another playing with someone’s dive gear. I went for a swim as the heat increased throughout the day - although it was still bearable. It was a great day, and I really appreciated how exceptional the scenery around me was
Day 8: A Walk in the Mangroves that was Cut Short!
It was a quiet morning and after lunch we wanted to explore the mangroves on the island. So we took the dinghy out for a very relaxing trip compared to all the activities we’d done over the previous days.
The water was low, so my uncle had to proceed cautiously. At one point we noticed that the dinghy was moving more and more slowly until the motor wouldn’t start at all.
My uncle and Andy tried to get it going again, but unfortunately without success. My dad and uncle pulled the dinghy and we got it over a sandbank. After that, we had a foothold, but part of the sand was like quicksand and the other part was full of sea urchins and rocks that hurt our feet. So we all climbed back into the dinghy. Uncle Emmanuel calculated his move so that we’d end up with our backs to the wind, facing the boat. Then we rowed out, accompanied by Andy and my father, who had to swim because the water was too deep to stand up in. It was quite a funny experience. I felt like I was lost in the middle of nowhere.
From what I understood, the fuel tank had been filled with water and that’s what would have prevented the engine from restarting. Although we couldn’t enjoy our walk through the mangroves, I was able to sunbathe once more on the flybridge with my music blasting and just gazing out at the ocean, which seemed to go on forever. At sunset, everyone celebrated Andy’s birthday by singing in French and English so that he could understand.
Day 9 and 10: Back to Port and the End of the Cruise
This last day of the Exumas cruise meant that we had to do the crossing again in the opposite direction. We did a lot of motoring that day to get back to the port from which we’d set off. I was happy to go back there as it’s a really beautiful place.
Once we’d arrived, we spent part of the day on the beach and finished on a high with the famous prawn and curry rice dish that I’d been missing during the cruise. While the adults sat down to eat, I took a seat on a pontoon that led to a hut with one of the restaurant’s tables. It must have been reserved for honeymooners because the place was really romantic. I watched the sunset as I chatted to friends about my dream holiday.
The next day, we packed our bags early so that we wouldn’t have to worry about anything for the rest of the day and wished my uncle a happy birthday. That’s a lot of birthdays!
Atolls as far as the eye could see
The weather
The on-board ambiance
Special Bahamas Bahamas playlist
Good Days - SZA
Truth or Dare - Tyla
Praise Jah in The Moonlight - YG Marley
Pink + White - Frank Ocean
Lady Killers ll - G-Eazy
Murder On The Dancefloor - Sophie Ellis-Bextor
King - Olly Alexander (Years & Years)
The Less I Know The Better - Tame Impala
