Today is the Day!

     The alarm really did ring at 3:30 AM.  We all had our deck lights on, engines running, running and steaming lights on and our anchors pulled by 4 AM. We were the first of 6 boats to depart the anchorage, heading east towards the Hawk’s Channel, the Reef, the Gulf Stream and the Bahamas, but first we needed to miss those nasty crab floats!  They are impossible to see in the dark even though we used the spot lights. Brunelle ran over one.  Thankfully, it was not snagged.

Pekabu's view as we crossed the Gulf Stream

     As we approached Molasses Reef, we began to feel the 3-4 foot ocean rollers as they came over the reef. The breezes were light and the seas were 3-4 feet, but a bit irregular in the darkness, which made for a rocky ride for the first few hours. As the skies lightened, the winds lessened and the seas smoothed out. We also increased our speed by 3 knots. We were in the Gulf Stream.   We could see the other sail boats, who departed the same time as we did, taking a slightly more northern tract. We also saw hundreds of Man-o-War. Their sails captured the early morning light, making the sail iridescent; the very early ones appeared golden. The Man-o-War closer to shore, had bases that were navy blue.  The ones further out had thicker bases that were turquoise and white.  I took over 70 pictures, but none were clear. They were too small on an ocean that was too big and we were moving too fast. As for other wildlife, dolphins only visited once in passing. Just before we reached land we saw a whole flock of flying fish.

Brunelle and Andiamo sailing east towards sunrise and the Bahamas!

     By 3:30 PM we made landfall in the Bahamas, 12 hours after beginning our passage. We passed through the cut between Gunn Cay and North Cat Cay, during the “rage”, while current was ripping through the cut. It picked up the boat about a foot and Pete could feel the resistance on the helm, but he was able to make the turn and pass through onto the Bahamas Bank.  We continued on until 6PM, which was another 15 miles, before we dropped anchor for the night.  The Banks are a large underwater plateau that extends for miles with a very consistent shallow water depth. We traveled a designated heading on the Explorer Chart that kept us in depths that varied from 8-20 feet.  Some areas are less; some are more.  Our Garmin Chip for this area is totally useless! Thank heavens we have Brunelle and Andiamo with the Raymarine chips, the Explorer Charts and the “Tides and Charts/Active Captain” on the IPad. They provided us with the depths and channel. It is amazing to see the silhouette of the sail on the bottom of the water, not to mention the intense colors of the water and sky.



Betty captured this wonderful shot of
us on the Bahama Banks



The shadow of our main
on the bottom

     Once the anchor was set, the anchor light on and dinner heated, we looked at each other and kept marveling, “We are here.” “We did it! We sailed to the Bahamas in our own boat.” We are 3 boats anchored here in the middle of this beautiful blue water as far as the eye can see with nothing else in site; No land, no other boats.

     Once the sun was down, we looked up and were astounded by the stars.  They were so clear, so bright, so many, and seemed so close.  If we weren’t so tired, I wanted to stay out all night at stargaze.   However, we have to move on at 7AM tomorrow.

   Good night from the Bahamas Bank!  WE DID IT!!!!

~  ~ (\_~ ~ ~     Kathy and Pete