Up next in 10
Sailing to Clearance Town, Bahamas | Motor Sailing & Anchor Tips | Ep 73
0 views
Jun 13, 2025
Join us aboard SV Agua Azul as we sail from Kabesh K to Clearance Town on North Long Island, Bahamas. This video covers the challenges of light winds, sudden gusts, and rolling seas, plus how we anchored to reduce swell. We explore the small town, hike island hills, and share tips for provisioning and navigating tricky Caribbean weather. Chapters: 00:00 Leaving Kabesh K – calm seas and light winds 04:30 Facing swell and shifting weather conditions 08:45 Anchoring technique to reduce rocking in Clearance Town 12:20 Exploring the small marina and island hike 16:10 Life aboard – meal prepping & provisioning tips 19:00 Plans for waiting out the storm & heading to the DR Don’t forget to subscribe for more sailing adventures, tips, and island explorations! Blog Post: https://www.chrisdoeswhat.com/sailing-clearance-town-bahamas/ Get content early by becoming our YouTube member https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=UUMOZBmn0CZW578hpt4ImB3CRA Follow our boat on NOFOREIGNLAND: https://www.noforeignland.com/boat/5694391589011456 📢 Our Website: https://www.chrisdoeswhat.com/
View Video Transcript
0:01
okay guys So we are leaving Cabesh K and
0:05
uh there's my babe over there and we're
0:08
going to uh
0:10
um what's that well it's uh going to be
0:13
North Long Island right now We're I mean
0:16
we're in North Long Island We're going
0:18
to South Long Island but we are going to
0:21
check out
0:23
and uh that is in
0:27
clearance town It's like clearance town
0:30
but clearance town So we're going to
0:32
clearance in clearance or whatever it is
0:35
And uh yeah hopefully it should be a a
0:39
nice motor down because there's
0:41
supposedly no wind today
0:44
My wind instruments uh are showing
0:46
nothing right now So that's uh not good
0:51
sailing prospects but my babe's looking
0:54
for a nice comfortable non rolly sail I
0:58
could do
0:59
swell Yeah that kind of just makes your
1:01
stomach like a roller coaster like a
1:04
slow roller coaster ride where you're on
1:07
a roller coaster and your stomach goes
1:09
up here and then it goes down there Yeah
1:12
Kabesh was uh kind of kind of Well the
1:15
first day it was really rolly That was
1:17
horrible And uh then it was just rolly
1:21
the whole time though But not as bad
1:23
rolly later on But yeah we're going to
1:26
get out there out there on the Atlantic
1:28
and head down to uh South Long Island
1:32
and for Clearance Town We're going to
1:35
clear
1:38
Yep
1:39
But we're also going to ride out some
1:41
weather down there because it says
1:42
there's some 30 knot 30 knot gust coming
1:46
uh this weekend
1:50
It has not been a good year for the
1:52
Bahamas man No
1:55
But we'll uh take you along the way We
1:57
also see if I can get uh a video of the
2:00
Columbus Monument here in Long Island
2:04
We're going to be passing it We didn't
2:06
go cuz on the dinghy we tried The waves
2:09
were really wavy out here and we went
2:11
had gone all the way down there and we
2:13
have a 6.5
2:15
motor on our dinghy and it's like that
2:17
was not going to happen So and also when
2:20
we uh when we tried to go to the shore
2:23
the waves crashed our dinghy into the
2:25
beach It was it was horrible I felt like
2:27
I was in a car crash
2:29
I heard So yeah the the the waves have
2:33
been pretty uh gnarly out here as far as
2:35
the swell And when they get close to the
2:37
beach they turn into uh dingy dumpers
2:41
where they just what dump your dingy on
2:43
over Almost did Yeah But we're g we're
2:46
going to get out of here Let me see if I
2:48
can get you a picture here soon
2:50
Okay we're at the uh end of the northern
2:54
part of Long Island and there's the
2:57
monument on this side of the mountain
3:00
Maybe get a better view on the other
3:01
side
3:04
My wife was She said that would have
3:06
been a great dingy ride Wanted us to
3:09
dingy all the way over earlier and hike
3:11
that mountain Yeah
3:19
There's a better view of it Sorry it's
3:21
cloudy today but yeah
3:24
that is a steep cliff right there
3:28
[Music]
3:30
I don't even see a way to get up What do
3:33
you mean clin
3:37
you get from the other side baby
3:42
Sounds a little
3:45
adventurous
3:47
Yes it does
3:49
Okay so we're out here and it's supposed
3:51
to be three knots of wind six knot gust
3:56
We're seeing upwards of 15
3:59
sometimes 20 I've got uh basically
4:04
about a quarter of the head cell out two
4:06
reefs in the main We're doing uh we're
4:10
still motoring doing about five six
4:13
knots sometimes seven but looks like a
4:18
storm may be coming up so don't want to
4:21
rush to it See that looks a little gray
4:25
over there
4:27
Not wanting to get a bath just yet
4:31
Looks like uh we're getting some
4:32
sprinkles now And uh you look over here
4:35
it's all gray
4:37
So
4:40
so what do you think of the rain babe
4:47
doesn't make uncomfortable out here
4:50
Washing the salt off the boat though
4:56
It's just going to come right back on
5:00
Yeah but the wind has completely changed
5:02
direction
5:06
So it should change back once we get
5:09
past this
5:13
Well we made it through that rainstorm
5:15
and we have now zero wind
5:19
and just all kind of erratic waves
5:24
It's really fun
5:26
What do you think babe
5:28
that's wet
5:30
anything
5:32
Why do you put that in my face
5:36
okay guys So we've crossed into the
5:39
Tropic of Cancer and uh nothing but
5:43
tropics from this point forward right
5:45
babe
5:48
does that mean rain
5:51
that's what it looks like Rain all the
5:54
time Is that Is that what we're doing
5:55
then
5:57
All right
6:00
But yeah we're uh there's still motor
6:04
sailing but we're doing seven knots I
6:07
know I could shut off the motor but I
6:10
think I have the need for speed because
6:13
I just want to get there Maybe uh when
6:16
we get in the tropics
6:19
uh next season we'll do some uh horse
6:22
sailing Figure out how to do that But
6:26
right now we just we are living in a
6:28
lean We're doing uh 10 20 degrees but
6:32
we're still running the engine
6:36
So we're coming up to Straighten K Uh
6:39
this is Clearance Island or Clearance
6:41
Town Pretty clear And uh yeah we've got
6:46
uh
6:48
about 1.9 miles to start taking down
6:51
sails And uh yeah hopefully we can find
6:55
something that's uh not rolly in there
6:58
But if you look let's uh we're going
7:02
start turning a booby rock there and uh
7:04
go in and anchor somewhere there There's
7:07
a cable right there So avoid that
7:10
And my babe is ready to get off the boat
7:14
I'm not ready to get off the boat I'm
7:16
ready to drop anchor Drop anchor I'll
7:19
get off the Atlantic Yeah
7:22
It's been like this the entire time It
7:24
It's been better It got better Yeah So a
7:29
little swelling
7:33
but we're coming in here and uh I think
7:36
later this weekend there's supposed to
7:38
be five six foot waves out here So not
7:41
going to be out here That wouldn't be
7:44
fun
7:48
I hope not Oh my god
7:53
So it is pretty deep to come in here And
7:56
uh we're going to anchor hopefully
7:58
behind the island over there
8:01
Right over there And hopefully there's
8:04
no swell
8:06
cuz uh I think my babe is
8:10
not looking forward to any any swell
8:12
anymore
8:13
It makes it
8:16
miserable
8:17
[Music]
8:21
My wife is saying the water is deep and
8:23
we're back in green water Yep This is
8:27
Abacose water This is not Exumasa Exumas
8:30
is blue Yes This is this is we're back
8:33
in Abacose This is on the uh on the off
8:36
the Atlantic clearance town So this is
8:39
where you come to clear But over there
8:41
it's kind of green and
8:45
bluish See that thing ain't moving No
8:48
it's moving It's trash It's moving Cuz
8:51
or else we would be We're not moving So
8:53
it's moving
8:57
Yeah I hear it Yeah I hear it Are we on
9:00
rocker probably
9:06
There's our anchor dragging
9:09
So
9:12
we got 120 foot and 14 foot of wire I
9:17
think we're dead back over here in 18
9:19
probably another 20 foot
9:22
So we are in clearance town and uh the
9:25
waves we got some swell coming from this
9:27
way So when the boat ass is facing this
9:31
way we seem to be pretty good But when
9:34
we turn that way we get rocked by this
9:37
swell coming in here and just kicking
9:40
our butts So I'm gonna tie a um a line
9:44
onto our anchor
9:46
and uh try to pull the uh I'm going to
9:50
pull the line to our cleat on our port
9:53
here and get this uh boat turned a
9:56
little bit Maybe get a little bit more
9:59
comfort out of this anchorage because
10:00
you see right now we're starting to rock
10:05
Okay So I have the chain to tied to my
10:08
anchor chain or the uh my anchor rope
10:12
for my spare anchor
10:15
And then I've tied that
10:18
not fall off the boat all the way back
10:19
on that rear cleat Now I'm going to wait
10:22
for the boat to spin around
10:25
to where the chain is on uh that side
10:30
I'm going to add some more chain
10:32
I have plenty of chain So
10:36
let's see We're starting to rotate
10:42
[Music]
10:50
And you'll see that it's pulling the
10:53
boat to the side a bit
10:57
There we go
11:00
Now depending on how far I want it to go
11:02
on the side is how much uh chain I let
11:06
out from here If I want it to be less on
11:09
the side
11:11
I will uh
11:13
uh release that side Or if I'm pulling
11:16
this up I have to release that side so I
11:18
can uh go from there Let's see how this
11:22
uh feels
11:25
Okay I have the sap in place See down
11:29
there it's pulling nicely on that line
11:32
up to here Let me go wide screen
11:36
And uh yeah the back of the boat is now
11:40
facing into the swells
11:43
Hopefully I didn't pull it too much but
11:45
we'll see I can always let out some of
11:47
that line over there
11:49
So the last uh anchorage north Long
11:52
Island we used our spare anchor to pull
11:56
the back end around This anchorage we're
11:59
actually tying off our anchor chain and
12:00
pulling around The disadvantage with
12:03
pulling off your anchor chain is you
12:06
have to uh pull out so far or the boat
12:10
will basically sail then turn attack and
12:13
sail back if you don't let out far
12:15
enough Right now we're kind of blowing
12:17
our whole beam in the wind So hopefully
12:20
it doesn't want to attack Hopefully it
12:22
just kind of teeters back and forth and
12:25
uh we have a comfortable ride What do
12:27
you think of that babe
12:30
two days of this
12:34
And uh we weren't supposed to be here
12:36
this long No but you know yet again
12:40
another wind whatever
12:46
Yep And uh I blame this on you Mr
12:48
Weatherman because uh you said now we
12:51
have this subtropical storm coming
12:53
through And I didn't see this on any
12:56
forecast until I'm coming here And then
12:59
I'm looking at this I'm like what the
13:00
hell is this so we're stuck here now But
13:04
uh keep up reporting Mr Weatherman
13:06
You're doing good job And uh we'll
13:09
ride this out and heading out to the DR
13:14
We'll see Yeah
13:17
So if you see out there that's really
13:20
nothing you want to go out in
13:23
It's uh Yeah Not good And this is the
13:28
wrap around That's why I have about
13:30
anchor done the way it is because we
13:33
have white caps all around
13:40
As you see our anchor is still holding
13:43
up pretty well It's uh got that little
13:47
line
13:48
doing its job
13:53
Okay guys I don't have a house or
13:55
anything So this is where we're checking
13:56
out Long Island Okay guys We are at
14:00
Flying Fish Marina and uh
14:03
ah it would have been nice to be in here
14:05
during all them winds
14:08
But uh yeah they have a this nice little
14:11
marina has a pool right here You got a
14:13
shower for marina Yep Okay guys The
14:18
marina here pretty nice Uh rates for
14:21
your boat a little over $4 a foot and
14:25
diesel and gas kind of expensive
14:29
Okay guys So we checked out the Bahamas
14:33
and very fortunate that we had uh
14:37
somebody actually help us with money
14:40
because uh you they have no ATMs here in
14:42
Long Island So we I met another boater
14:46
We zim uh whoever vimmoed them some
14:50
money and they gave me some cash and we
14:53
were able to clear But this is a pain in
14:55
the butt
14:57
But it worked
14:59
And hopefully if you're coming through
15:01
here their website works for you So
15:04
we're going to see what kind of food
15:06
they have The uh boat's here The dog
15:10
stopped
15:12
But the boat's here babe there and
15:16
hopefully some food up there
15:21
We don't really need any food We're just
15:26
have some veggies veggies Maybe used to
15:28
have some banana bread They're supposed
15:30
to be known for And oh this is a really
15:34
big hill And then we're going to be
15:35
leaving Yeah this is the biggest hill
15:37
we've climbed in Bahamas They're nice
15:41
Obviously have boat legs right now
15:45
Okay we made it to the top of the hill
15:47
Here's the the bakery Erica's bakery
15:50
That's a cute little church charts up
15:52
there on the hill there
15:56
So here's the store They don't have any
15:58
veggies but I love that little sign they
16:01
have there
16:03
So you read it This is a public store
16:06
not a strip joint
16:09
But yeah it's a just a little store So
16:12
came up to Rowdy Boys Bar and Grill I
16:16
don't think they're open
16:19
but uh I think we're in a a down season
16:22
right now Yeah
16:25
seems a bit dead
16:30
Looks like where you'll find a lot of
16:31
bees Yeah that's very cool That's a
16:35
grape orchard
16:37
Yeah that that'd be really cool at night
16:40
Look at these flowers
16:43
[Laughter]
16:48
I don't think so cuz it's a restaurant
16:52
and bar
16:58
Well this is I guess the the front
17:00
entrance
17:02
Very cool orchard though But they're not
17:04
open of course So here we go
17:09
One thing I do like about here is uh
17:12
trash So you can drop off your trash
17:15
free here
17:17
And uh
17:19
there isn't much here but
17:21
yeah Make sure you have food and beer
17:26
You're not going to find it here Well
17:28
you will but very elevated cost I don't
17:31
know That little grocery store doesn't
17:33
have No You definitely can't grocery
17:35
shopping No
17:39
Okay guys we on the beach and uh this is
17:44
a clearance town This is uh the kind of
17:48
mids south part of Long Island But if
17:52
you're going to anchor here we are
17:54
anchored
17:56
back over there
17:58
It's best to come up further Come up
18:00
here to the smooth area
18:03
cuz uh it'll rock you asleep down there
18:06
But uh yeah it's uh you got a lot less
18:11
uh side swell here You come up further
18:14
So you come into uh Clarence Town and
18:18
check in the Bahamas go further up
18:21
closer to this bridge back here
18:24
And the dog is tangling me up But yeah
18:27
this is a nice beach I don't know if
18:29
it's public but uh we're on it So
18:32
I know there's a house Yeah there's a
18:34
house
18:36
There's no signs Yeah I've seen people
18:39
on the beach before so I haven't seen
18:41
anybody uh hold off in cuffs or anything
18:45
but yeah it's I haven't seen any
18:50
Yeah it's a very nice beach
18:53
So but we're checking out We're going to
18:56
the DR So yeah it's uh that's this is
19:00
our last bit of landlife
19:03
until the DR
19:07
Yeah Getting on land
19:14
Okay guys That's what we're going to be
19:15
out there on tomorrow
19:19
And uh let's see if we can zoom in on it
19:26
That's what it was I just I'm sorry
19:31
Our babes been out here looking for
19:33
sharks Yet to see them They say there
19:36
was actually a great white in here Yeah
19:40
I would probably be very very scared to
19:43
see that in here but I haven't seen
19:46
anything I haven't seen dolphins sharks
19:49
turtles Shark and then they left
20:00
Okay it looks still a little white cappy
20:02
out there
20:04
I'm at the highest point on this island
20:09
See
20:11
there we go Now I can look down upon
20:15
my babe on the beach and our little dog
20:19
too
20:21
Babe's cooking some yumminess tonight
20:25
Well we're cooking um little little
20:29
steak Well it's not a steak It is a
20:31
steak It's a roast steak It's a seller
20:34
steak It's a roast steak And then I'm
20:37
gonna do um green pepper onion rice
20:43
something simple Garlic
20:46
you know because uh our green peppers
20:49
decided they want to go bad so I have to
20:51
use them I cannot save them
20:55
That's one thing I I notice on a boat
20:57
like if you try to save your fresh
20:59
veggies you can't got to use them or
21:03
else they're going to go bad and then
21:05
you're like "Wow I should have just used
21:06
them." So we're using them Yep There we
21:11
are
21:13
But oh it smells good Properly seasoned
21:17
We're almost out of black pepper But uh
21:20
yeah but I'm probably going to put a
21:22
little soy sauce in this too But once
21:24
the rice is done I don't want to do it
21:27
in this I'm going to put it in there
21:30
just a little bit
21:31
This is uh this is how you eat in uh
21:34
North Long Island up in Bahamas
21:39
Well
21:42
I'm saving some other stuff for some
21:44
other stuff
21:46
And I thought well we're having this
21:49
with some rice Yep Normally I do
21:51
potatoes but I'm kind of saving those
21:55
for as long as we can till the eyes take
21:58
over Right and they haven't taken over
22:01
yet And see I have so much rice So
22:03
that's what we're
22:05
[Music]
#Travel & Transportation