Claire Lutz

Bahamas

// April 27th, 2011 // Uncategorized

This post is long overdue. and frankly I have been slacking, and there is no excuse. I ended up having a really great trip to the Bahamas.. I went there only knowing one person, who is AJ Watson, the owner and operator of the only kite school in the Bahamas called Cross-Shore Kiteboarding. He was nice enough to pick me up from the airport and even give me a place to crash for a few days. He worked really hard taking me around to every kite spot and even took photos of me. He also introduced me to a bunch of amazing people which led to a ton of great things by his suggestion and random turns of events.

After being in Nassau, the Bahamian capital for a week, AJ suggested I email a friend of his who is a captain on a 62 foot catamaran yacht named Sparrow. After emailing him I was on a plane the next day to Staniel’s Cay.

I was picked up from the airport via Dinghy and was brought to my new home. Being in Staniel’s was a very interesting time. It was such a beautiful place, and I met so many great people from other boats and even my own! A group of us became friends and would go spear fishing everyday and eat the fish that were caught. We had beach bon fires, and swam with pigs. Did I mention snorkeling in ThunderBall Cave where 007 was filmed? Instead of cars you took the tender to get around.

I was super sad to leave Staniel’s Cay.. but we sailed back to Nassau and stopped over night in Norman’s Cay where I had an amazing flat water session. it was a perfect little bay and so much room to kite. It was un real !!! Once we were back in Nassau I bounced back and forth and slept on a few different boats and wasnt really sure of where to go next,.. a friend I had met at Hurricane Hole mentioned he had an open condo and it could be mine for the week.. so I was no longer on boats and moving  into a condo for the remainder of my trip. I no longer had my group of friends from Staniel’s, except one: Jason. Him and I had made new friends and created another family. We did everything together and had the best time ever.

These kids are amazing. they sailed from Martha’s Vineyard to the Bahamas on a 1920′s sloop sailboat. With no bathroom..

at the end of my trip I met a bunch of awesome locals who took me out wakeboarding, and I fell in love with all of them. because of them, I plan on heading back to the Bahamas..

OVERALL: I had a once in a lifetime experience and met the best people in the world. I feel very lucky to have taken that trip, and cannot wait to return. THANK YOU to everyone out there who helped me along the way, without you, my trip would not of been possible. Thank God everything worked out, because heading to the Bahamas with no plan, could go like my trip, really well.. or it could go really bad..