As we traveled home to Victoria B.C., via the Aleutian Islands after four years, 26 countries, and over 30,000 miles, we found ourselves reflecting on some of the most memorable locations we visited. The Aleutians were cold, colder than anywhere we had traveled, and perhaps it was unsurprising that our thoughts kept turning to tropical locations, warm water and beaches. To be fair, we had mostly sailed in tropical countries, but we decided to choose favourite places based on some limiting criteria, which was not only that it was warm. Did I mention how cold it was in the Aleutians?! One thing we could all agree on was that anchorages were just better when there was good, easy shore access and, being an active family, lots of accessible outdoor activities. We all love beach fires and shore gatherings. Certainly, as we traveled in the far north where the sun doesn’t really set, some of us were also dreaming of warm late afternoon sun downers, but good anchorages also come with all those other activities we love, including kite surfing, fishing, diving, paddle boarding, beach combing, exploring, and swimming. So, we asked which were the crew’s favourite anchorages with good shore access and lots to do? It turns out it is an impossible task to choose one favourite after four years, or at least to come to a consensus, but here are a few of the best.

Johnson Cay, Ragged Islands, Bahamas

The Bahamas had been high on our list of places to visit. Traveling through the first year of the COVID pandemic had limited some of our choices, but fortunately for us, the Bahamas had a system in place to allow visiting boats entry. Traveling to the Bahamas from Puerto Rico, we arrived at Great Inagua Island with our COVID-19 tests in hand. Check-in was relatively easy with yet another COVID test as a welcome. After a couple nights to recover – from the passage, not the COVID test – we headed out and quickly decided to turn westward toward the Ragged Islands.

Teen Catch of the Day

The Ragged Islands are one of the more remote Bahamian locations, which made them ideal for us, a family that loves off-grid adventures. These Islands stretch north to south about 100 miles southwest from well-known Georgetown in the Exumas and are less traveled and certainly less populated, with only 30 locals living on the southernmost island.

Johnson Cay (pictured in lead photo) sits in the middle of the Ragged Island chain; it is uninhabited and was one of our all-time favourite anchorages. One perfect bay provides room for up to about five boats, and is best visited in light winds or when the wind is more south than the prevailing east. The head of the bay is a long crescent beach of soft Bahamian sand,, with a shallow entry perfect for swimming. The beach flattens out and provides a great spot for beach fires.

We loved it there! We went to the Ragged Islands twice, once in 2021 and again in 2022. Despite the persistent challenges of traveling during COVID, both times we arrived in this bay with friends’ boats. This place was one of the best for family play and both our kids loved the beach and the swimming. Great fishing was a short dinghy ride away and Isla, our oldest, fell in love with the challenge of catching fish for dinner.

Potuck on the beach, Ragged Islands

We even got a couple of opportunities to continue practicing our kite surfing right in the bay in front of the boats. At the end of each day, we would head ashore to sit around a beach fire, watching the sun set over the anchored boats, while trying to play instruments and sharing stories of our adventures, making this one of the most loved spots on our trip.

Tuamotus, French Polynesia

Postcard perfect motu in the Tuamotus

After obtaining a long-stay visa in Panama, we were able to spend 10 months exploring the many islands of French Polynesia. French Polynesia is often visited by those yachts crossing the south Pacific; however, if the goal is to get to New Zealand or Australia by cyclone season, most of those yachts have limited time to explore this amazing cruisers’ paradise. The Marquesas Islands are the first stop from ports in the Americas. They are mostly steep and volcanic with lush vegetation and little in the way of surrounding reef. The Tuamotu Archipelago, a few days sail downwind from the Marquesas, are the opposite. These are true atolls, without any visible remnant of the original islands and only the fringe of coral reef remains.

Kite surfing in Tuamotus

Most of the islands in the Tuamotus, called motus, are barely above sea level and the islands are postcard perfect, with turquoise water, sandy shorelines, and swaying palm trees. Continuing westward in French Polynesia, the Society Islands, being the most westerly group of islands, are the common finale to French Polynesia. The Societies are mountainous islands with a fringing coral reef; this group includes Tahiti, with the capital city of Papeete. They are generally more populated, more frequently visited, and impressively beautiful.

Dinner preparation

Without a doubt, our favourite islands were in the Tuamotus. During our time there, we only visited eight out of the nearly 80 islands in that archipelago. We absolutely loved the group of Tahanea, Fakarava, and Toau. Tahanea hit all the right notes for us. Uninhabited, with a relatively easy-to-navigate pass, the slightly raised easterly reef stretched for about four miles, with only a smattering of small motus, making it the best kite surfing location of our trip. When the wind wasn’t blowing, the diving in one of the three passes was outstanding, with big schools of fish including mantas. There were coconut crabs, lobsters on the outer reef, and spear fishing on any of the numerous “patates” (coral heads) littered across the lagoon. There were many occasions for beach fires on several of the motus to cook stick bread and hang out with friends and family.

Dinghy landing, Tuamotus

Tahanea is about 50 miles south from the southern end of Fakarava, which was the closest place to reprovision. We visited four times. We met a few boats there and made excellent friends. At the end of our longest stay, when we were the only boat remaining, except for a family from Germany, we were living off coconuts; we ended the stay by sharing our last onion with our German friends as the only vegetable left between us, just to get one final night in this magical place. If we could somehow instantly transport back to one of the places we have visited over the last four years, this place would likely be it.

Attu Island, Aleutian Islands, Alaska

Attu Island, Alaska

This location will seem like the odd choice for a family that spent most of the last four years chasing the sun. To be sure, there are many tropical places we that we loved: Spanish Point in Barbuda; the Yagasa Islands in the Lau Group of Fiji; our tiny New Year’s Eve beach in Wayag, Indonesia. All of these should really be on our list. However, Attu Island was a milestone stop for us so, perhaps because it is so recently on our minds, we decided to round out our “beach list” with this unlikely place.

Attu Island Via Japan

Sailing home to Victoria, B.C. from the South Pacific is extremely challenging and the route we chose is rarely traveled. Wanting to explore more of the western South Pacific, the wind kept pushing us farther from home. Without the time to continue around the world, our options to get back to the Pacific NW were limited. We also didn’t fancy any more epic long ocean passages, so we island hopped across the Pacific and took the short jumps to Indonesia, Philippines, and Japan.

By the time we were in Kushiro, Hokkaido in northern Japan, we had met nine other boats planning to leave for Alaska and heard of one other. That’s it! Japan is rarely visited by foreign yachts in the first place and only a few of them head north. The timing is tight because the Alaskan season is so short and boats try to leave Japan at the very end of May, through the first half of June. Although it’s only 1300 miles from Kushiro to Attu, most boats take ten or more days to make the passage. Weather windows are short, and forecasts are only somewhat reliable for 4 to 6 days. We had a lot of anxiety over this passage. It definitely wasn’t our longest passage, but it would be the most challenging to plan.

We departed Kushiro with an Australian boat on June 5, bound for Attu. Four other boats left within a couple days from other Japanese ports to take the same weather window. It was a mixed passage of excellent sailing, lots of motoring, and a great deal of fog; it was very cold, and we had some serious weather anxiety, as a big low pressure came roaring up behind us. Fortunately, we were able to detour far enough out of the way to avoid heavy weather. We finished the trip after spending the last two days motoring and sailing, mostly upwind.

Arrival at Attu Island

It was such a relief to arrive! What a crazy out-there place Attu Island is. The shore was like nowhere we had been – uninhabited, with an abandoned coast guard station and relics from World War II and the Cold War, including a 6000-foot-long runway. There are no trees, just tundra, and the mountains were still covered with snow. It is a birders’ paradise for those few who get there and there are no big mammals. We had arrived a couple of hours ahead of the Australian boat and met up with the one boat that had reached Attu ahead of us. Over the next couple of days the three other boats arrived. It didn’t get sort of dark until 0130h and on our last evening we headed ashore to the narrow beach at the head of the bay. Without trees, the driftwood supply was limited but we scrounged up enough for a small fire. We stood around in our foul weather gear, celebrating this amazing achievement and our return to North America. Unforgettable.

Attu Island Yacht Club – back to North America!