Bahamas Bound

  We checked in with customs and got Kim, Jessica and I cleared along with Alli our dog .    As soon as we were cleared with customs, a beautiful rainbow appeared in the sky! Kim rented a golf cart for the three of us and we explored every inch of Green Turtle Cay. Had a nice lunch at a  local restaurant where we had cracked conch. We also found a local Bahamian taking out a couple for conch  harvesting and he showed us how to get the conch out of the shell. Then we found a beach on the ocean side to go snorkeling on and saw some reef fish and had a good time snorkeling together. A local was preparing conch ceviche so l bought a cup for an appetizer before going to the local Green Turtle Cay Marina bar. We enjoyed the local drink called the Goombay Smash. We enjoyed meeting another couple at the bar who gave us some good  sailing tips for the next couple days.    The weather continues to be beautiful! Blue skies in the upper 70s.

  Well, our plan was to check in with customs today at Green turtle cay.    We called the customs lady and she indicated that she needed to catch the 3 o’clock ferry to get home. I need to get used to the island time thing. Sure is a good way to live .    So we anchored at manjack cay, and explored with the dinghy. We saw some juvenile turtles eating grass, and Kim stuck her head in the water with her mask looking for a reef, but we never could find it. We played a few rounds of wheel of Fortune and had a nice hobo pack for dinner. We were fortunate enough to see a couple dolphins playing in the bow wake, and see some bioluminescence in the water. We also saw another rocket takeoff from Cape Canaveral. 

  Forecast was West winds 5 to 10 turning north west 10 to 15 after midnight Sunday. That little bit of North component to the wind against the Gulf Stream concerned me so we left Lake Worth Inlet Sunday at 2 PM instead of at dusk. Motored in light air across the stream to memory rock at 11 PM.    Even though my plan to enter the Little Bahama Bank was following a charted route, I saw 7 feet at one spot on the chart and it was dead low tide at 11 pm. Kim and Jessica were sleeping and there was absolutely no one around for 50 miles except an occasional Disney cruise ship 10 miles away.    Being totally on our own, I decided to wait 7 hours until dawn and high tide to traverse the Bank. Of coarse at this point the wind and waves pickled up to 15-18 knots with the gulf steam fetch building the swells.    But I was bound and determined to wait and play it safe. So I spent the seven hours tacking back-and-forth in the dark to save fuel and stay off of the L...

  Made the crossing!!! More to come soon…..

  Today we started by leaving the Mooring ball for a hour to fill up with gas and diesel. Jessica took the opportunity to fill the water tank so they will be topped off for crossing to the Bahamas. My sister Kim drove over from St. Petersburg and took us grocery shopping and then dropped her car off at West Palm Beach . We had an excellent evening catching up and eating a rotisserie chicken. We feel so fortunate to have this opportunity tomorrow to cross over to the Bahamas. We are hoping to leave Florida early Sunday afternoon and reach the little Bahama bank sometime in the wee hours of the morning.

  Jessica did our laundry today while I double checked the navigation charts to the Bahamas. Then we went for a dinghy ride and found a nice beach at the confluence of the St. Lucie river, Manatee pocket, intercoastal, waterway, and Atlantic ocean St. Lucie Inlet. We let Alli run around and she continues to amaze us how she has healed up from her broken toe injury. We were ready to get off the boat and do something different for dinner so we walked to a Mexican restaurant and had a really nice dinner.    Looking forward to having my sister Kim come on Saturday.  Then we will prepare for the Bahamas crossing hopefully on Sunday afternoon. Fingers crossed for good weather conditions….