10 Tips for Provisioning

for a Cruise to the Bahamas

Every May, as the Gulf Stream swings closer to Florida and the seas grow calm and inviting, we make our annual crossing to the Exumas, where we spend the summer surrounded by the spectacular scenery of the  Bahamas Out Islands. After preparing for this trip for a more than a dozen years, I’ve gotten provisioning down to a science. Usually, it takes me three days to buy, stow, and inventory provisions for a three-month stay in the islands. Here are some tried-and-true tips I’ve learned along the way:

1. Plan menus in advance. There’s nothing as frustrating as starting to prepare chicken curry out at anchor, far from the nearest store, only to discover you’ve forgotten the curry powder. Plan dinner menus ahead of time, compile the ingredients into a single list, buy and store them on board; not only will this ensure you have everything on hand for every favorite dish, but it will also help you cut to down on waste.

2. Do the math. If you know your basic daily use and consumption of staples during a typical cruise, you can use a calculator to figure out how much of each product to buy and stow, right down to the last roll of toilet paper.
3. Pack some surprises. Buy cards for birthdays, graduations, anniversaries, and any other occasion that might come up while you are cruising. Be sure to add birthday cake mix, frosting and candles to your provisions list. You’ll get big points for throwing a birthday party with all the trimmings in the islands, where no one will expect it!

4. Stock up on prescriptions. If you are setting out on an extended cruise, in addition to your ship’s medical kit, be sure to lay in enough prescription medications to last the whole voyage. Ask your insurance company if you can double or triple your prescriptions—some of them allow this once a year. I also bring antibiotic Z-packs, aloe gel, ginger for seasickness, butterfly bandages and an assortment of over-the-counter pain relievers.

5. Think green. Garbage takes up a lot of space onboard and is often expensive to dispose of in the Bahamas. Instead of stocking up on paper products like paper plates and napkins, go with china plates, cloth napkins and terrycloth towels. I wash and re-use just about everything, including plastic sandwich bags, which I dry inverted over the top of a bottle.
6. Another “green” tip is to filter your onboard drinking water instead of buying cases of bottled water. We have a galley tap Brita water filter. I change filters every other month (don’t forget to pack spares). I do have a few plastic water bottles, but I re-use them, washing them in ultra-hot water before filling them with the filtered water. Other cruisers we know like to use stainless steel water bottles.

7. “Sock it to” breakables. It’s hard to keep up the illusion you are living in a mansion during a three-month cruise, but I do like to bring along some niceties like real glass wine glasses. I pack each one in a tube sock. The boat has taken a few hard rolls while crossing the Stream, but since I started using tube socks for packing, I’ve never heard that ominous tinkling of broken glass.

8. Banish bugs. Breakfast cereal merits special attention; if you just throw the boxes into dry storage compartment, you are bound to wind up with all kinds of mealy bugs. I pour the cereal out into plastic tubs, cut off the bottom of the cereal box with the label and expiration date, and tape it onto the tub.

9. Bins are not just for rubbish! I store our provisions in four big bins with tight-fitting lids. They fit neatly inside the saloon settee. Check around your boat for a place to stow your bins that is out of the way but still highly accessible. Although the master berth usually has good storage space inside, I find it’s too difficult to lift the mattress up daily to get at supplies I need. Plus, I would have to carry the stuff up the stairs each time. Pulling the sofa cushions off the settee is a much easier option.

10. Inventory everything. Fill the bins and number them, labeling each one on the top and sides. Make up a stack of alphabetized index cards. List each item in the inventory under the appropriate letter, noting the bin number, and quantity on hand. During the cruise, each time you use an item, be sure to change the quantity on your index card. That will let you know what’s left and what you need to buy when you have a chance to re-provision in port. I keep my index cards in a handy box onboard. Many cruisers I know keep their inventories on a laptop, but that means you have to turn on the computer every time you open a can of tuna fish for lunch.
Once you’ve planned, purchased, packed and inventoried your provisions, you can find and keep track of them in a snap, saving time for more pleasurable pastimes such as swimming, snorkeling and snoozing on the aft deck!

Things to Know Before You Tow

Here are a few things to consider before making the crossing to the Bahamas with your tender following in your wake.  First, make sure you have a bilge pump in the tender with a float switch hooked up. Boats being towed have a way of taking on water and at 8.56 pounds per gallon (salt water) it won’t be long before you’re straining the towline under the extra weight. Sea Joule (seajoule.com) makes a solar-powered bilge pump that should work well for this purpose.
Is that pad-eye sticking out of your tender’s bow strong enough to take the forces and constant working that it will experience, even on the calmest Gulf Stream crossing? Call the boat builder and ask.
“Generally, it’s not,” says Ole Parker of Parker Yacht Management (parkeryacht.com), whose business includes rebuilding tenders. “The pad-eye was not designed for that, which is why we install a towing bit.”
The most important decision to make is how you are going to tow your boat, with a single line or with a bridle. Ole says, “If there is a single, properly designed tow bit, one line will do just fine.” However, for most experienced cruisers, a bridle is the favored mode of towing a tender across the Stream.
Terry McMains, owner of Top-Knot, Inc. (mooringlines.com), a manufacturer of towing bridles and other boating accessories in Canby, Oregon, recommends using a sliding bridle attached to a 100-foot length of the proper diameter, floating polypropylene line. He says to use carabineer-type hooks rather than shackles. Although shackles have a positive lock, they may give you a false sense of security. Bridle attachment points are subject to vibrations set up by the act of towing as well as by the water. If you do use shackles, Terry advises securing the pins with elastic ties.
The U.S. Coast Guard recommends towing the tender on the back of the second wave behind the mother boat. It is always a good idea to have someone sit in the cockpit facing aft and watching the tow. (For safety’s sake, be sure all guests aboard stay clear of the towline or bridle.) If you have CCTV aboard, train a camera on the tow and watch it from the comfort of the helm station. Insured or not, you’ll want to keep an eye on that investment following you. There are few feelings that match realizing you have lost your tender only after you’ve arrived at your destination!