Mayaguana was our first stop in Bahamian waters and needless to say, we were psyched! Mayaguana is a decently sized island just dropped down in the middle of nowhere Caribbean! It has everything you could ask for, beautiful white sand beaches, the most aquamarine waters, great beachcombing, grouper filled reefs and of course Kalik! (Bahamian Beer) 
We had only intended to stop there for a few days to explore this distant and sparsely populated island although the weather ended up having a different idea.
Our first full day there was picture perfect, water so blue and so clear you could easily see 50ft down, not a cloud in sight, not a wave in the bay, it was just perfect. We went spearfishing, got some fresh fish (and exercise) and made our way back to the boat. I wanted to paddleboard and check out the beach but Adam wasnt done spearfishing , “this reef was epic”, so he dropped me off and unbeknownst to me left a fish head dangling from the back of our boat. 
The bay was like bath water and beautiful conchs, sea biscuits and sand dollars lead my paddle board into shore. As I made my way back I saw a shark circling the boat, unaware of the fish head tied onto the boat I booked it back onboard just as he began to attack his prey.
Good god, joke well done sir, touché!
That afternoon the winds picked up as we were prepared for them to do. We had set a second anchor down anticipating the 35kt winds and aware of the surrounding reefs. As we hunchered down and finished off a few bottles of wine the winds raged outside and we caught up on our downloaded movies (from Netflix, what a miracle!) and while a bit overserved decided to paint our galley (kitchen)… somehow this turned out pretty nice and entertained us for the day!
Though as the days began to pass and the winds remained violent and the bay extremely univiting we got bored of our movies, wine, and frankly, each other. We ventured into land in full foul weather gear, (for those of you who don’t know what that means, it’s basically the equivalent of a snow suit but for rain).
It was amazing how the wind was refreshing on land when out on our boat we felt like we were stuck in the beginning scene of Wizard of Oz. We quickly found the only bar on the island and befriended the bartender Tika (and her whole family). She agreed to give us a full island tour which turned out to be 4hours of getting stuck in sand banks, getting gas (because the only gas station is only open on certain days) and grabbing a quick beer with her friend on the other part of the island. 
The island has three settlements, Abrahams Bay (where we were anchored off of and what is considered the “big city” of the island), Pirates Well (named after the ancient well there built by pirates and still fabled to have pirate treasure stored deep down in it) and Besty Bay (“where the old people live”). We had read that the island had about 300 people though as she counted them off she said it was more like 175ish and throughout the day I think we met at least half of them. The island was unlike anywhere I’ve ever been, it is completely dependent on a mailboat which comes hopefully every two weeks but in the case of hurricanes or bad weather the mailboat may be absent for months, when which the island has to band together. There are two stores on the island, one however is closed for the time being and the other is the front of a woman’s house, it has few odds and ends and the bag of sugar when you need it, but you pay for its full transport from Nassau! 
The one restaurant on the island is Big Regs based out of Big Reggie’s house. He was sweet as could be, welcomed us in, sat us on the couch, turned on the tv and let us charge up our electronics as he cooked up whatever he was having for lunch that day as well! It was cracked conch for lunch and we were full for days!
As our windswept days continued we daringly ventured out for swims which resulted in lots of salt water in our bellies, very sore muscles and beautiful shells! Adam soon befriended our bartender friend Tikas boyfriend Willy, they traded boat work and as he put in time on helping Willy rebuild a boat, Willy came down and helped us work on our dingy motor. By the end of the second week we were being greeted with hugs on the street as we walked into “town” and began to really understand why these born and raised islanders loved their island much.
The winds had died down enough so that we had a weather window so it was time to say goodbye to the sweet faces of Mayaguana. We gifted Willy and Tika a loaf of bread, promised to stay in touch and picked up (both) anchors, On to the uninhabited Plana Cays!
