We wished we could stay longer in Eleuthera, but we had to get South to the Exumas to pick up Brown's daughter from the airport. This is our FIRST family member to visit us. So, we staged at Tarpum Bay in southern Eleuthera and picked up the anchor at day break. We were off. It was a super sporty sail across the Exuma Sound and we tried to point as far South as possible, but the wind did not cooperate. We ended up at Cistern Cay, a beautiful island that forms the southern end of the cut with its namesake. The island is a private island and owned by some VERY rich, powerful, and cranky people. Find out how they tried to bribe us, and all that went down as we dropped anchor for the night after a long day of sailing.
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The crew travels from Tarpon Bay to the Exumas, anchoring at Cistern Key. They encounter the wealthy owners of the island, who attempt to bribe them with champagne and ice to leave for a private party. The crew decides to stay, observing the luxury and drama of the estate before discovering the island belongs to Bernard Arnault, the CEO of LVMH.
Today's the day we've been waiting for for a long time. We are headed to the Exumas,
leaving Tarpon Bay at dawn so that we can make sure we can find a good anchorage over
in the Exumas before nightfall tonight. So seas are flat, not much wind,
it's gonna be a motor sail day. About to slow the boat down? Sure? Yeah. Rocking and rolling.
That swell on the beam at three seconds, so a bit uncomfortable, but not too bad,
it could be a lot worse. We have arrived in the Exumas! The boat is very happy to be back in the
Exumas. Eight months of missing this water. So the owners are not very happy that we're here.
They're having a big party tonight and have asked us to move and even tried to bribe us with a big
bag of ice and champagne, but we think it's too late in the day to move for safety reasons. I
mean they're gonna expect us to move if they've given us this, aren't they? They can't make us
move. I know they can't make us move. I mean right now it's a matter of the nearest next anchorage
that we'd be comfortable with is over two hours away, which means we'd be fighting darkness and
straight into the wind. So guys, if you find the right anchorage, and we have because right when
we found it, this guy comes out and brings us two bottles of champagne and some ice,
which we have in here. His name's Billy on the jet ski. The owners, we're at Cistern Key,
note to self. You can't get internet here because it's being blocked. I think the towers
They've kind of buttered us up a little bit, but man, I mean they're having this big beach party
and that's pretty cheap. So there's the second attempt to have us move. Well they knew we
wouldn't move, so he wanted us to move about, I don't know, 100 feet back in the bay because the
plan is for them to have dinner on the beach and at the tiki bar and they didn't want us this close.
So he asked if we would move all the way into the back of the bay. And he said that
this group of teenagers didn't want to do it last night because there's a boat here. That's
a bunch of BS. Okay, so what's the lesson from this? And this is what's so good about watching
the Blown Away channel is in between Christmas and New Year's, you need to anchor at Cistern
Key because you might just rake in the champagne like we did and who knows. And a bag of ice.
And a bag of ice. Actually the bag of ice is more valuable than the champagne. Oh yeah and the
night's not over yet and we may get invited to the party. Who knows? Who knows? This could not
be any better. This is a European family that's here once a year. So they say. At this time. And
he's here all the time. A guy from South Africa. They leave on the second. Uh-oh, here it comes.
Here it comes again. Anyway, they've asked us twice to leave. They've asked us twice. Well,
once to leave, once to back up a couple hundred feet. Oh my gosh, I'm putting the camera out this
time. He's, he's coming isn't he? He keeps saying there's going to be a big party on the beach with
hundreds of teenagers and they're going to be up until six o'clock in the morning and. And the
great thing is the way the winds turn is this is like our big tv set right here. We've got our
popcorn and we're just waiting for this whole thing. We're waiting for the show to start. There are the
houses up there and all the beach stuff that's over here. So this is like really interesting.
Babe, this is like the coolest thing ever if we live through it. The rules are, the international
rules are that you can go up to the high water mark on the beach. They don't own that. So literally
we have a right to walk on the beach and I mean we could be safe and just do it up to our knees
and have our cocktail and join the party. How obnoxious is that? But we probably have, these
are probably like Russian oligarchs that own this. Seriously? And like get the poison dart, the
tranquilizer on the side of the neck. And they did say if any paparazzi showed up they would call
the military police. I know, isn't that crazy? So well and how much of this is just you know him
going off and spinning a bunch of lies? I have no idea. But we're gonna look it up and do a little
investigating on this. And you know the one thing they don't realize that we did today? We swam in
their pool today. Yeah you peed in their pool. I did and I walked around on the front of the boat naked.
I normally charge good money for that. That's what we told them. We said we won't charge you anything
tonight to have us in in your view. But I'm telling you y'all this is the coolest thing about owning
a boat is that you can pull right up to the nicest hotels in the world. Or private houses. Private
islands like this. And you have rights. And you can sit here and observe what's going on with the rich
and famous. And you can even go if you're daring enough up on the beach. But you don't want to
really push your luck. No. But it's just. The irony of the whole thing is if they didn't come anywhere
near our boat or say anything to us we wouldn't have even been looking at the house. They've made
themselves stand out. So we're curious. And you know you guys are all gonna know too. You want to have your
boat here. Especially on a holiday. The week of Christmas between Christmas and January the 2nd.
Endless entertainment. And they're gonna bring you ice. And champagne. And who knows you might be smarter
than us and might be able to work a deal. This is crazy mysterious. We're having so much fun.
Never a dull moment when you're cruising. What are you doing? Looking for the snipers.
I think they're in the bushes. You think they are? No. I think I see one with a camo hat. That looks like a
palm tree. It looks just like a palm tree. With a head like a coconut. With a long scope.
Wow they're sophisticated. They really know how to hide around here.
And there they go for the third time. We've been asked when we're gonna leave this morning.
We said within an hour and they were very happy. Obviously the kids are really easy to deal with.
The husband's wonderful but the wife is very difficult. That's what they said. You can tell
it's pretty prickly here. That they don't want us. They don't want anybody here in their bay. But you
know they just want things the way they want it all the time. And it seems like the lady, we're
gonna find out who she is, is the issue. Thanks for your hospitality. You've been so kind.
As soon as we had data, it was easy to find the name of the owner of Cistern Key. The third richest
man in the world, Bernard Orneau. He is the chairman and CEO of LVMH. Louis Vuitton, Moet, Hennessy.
We should have held out for the Moet. Why in the world would they have Prosecco on the island?
Now we're headed to a place called Galliot Cut where we anchored almost eight months ago.
It's nice to go back to a place that's familiar.
