Friday, 18 December 2015

December 15-17, 2015 Crossing the Gulf Stream and into the Bahamas


we left at 5:30 am, this barge and tugs about 6 miles out, crossing our path just as the sun was coming up .. also we encountered freighters and a cruise ship


the first 3 hours the seas where very choppy and wind on the nose, we only had the main up to steady us … later when we got into the Gulf Stream the wind was from the S East and the foresail helped a bit with some speed


throwing the first of the 3 messages in a bottle … beginning of the Gulf Stream, one in the middle and the last one just before the Bahama Banks … it will be interesting to see if we get anything back 
and we did this crossing with out me getting sea sick


it took us 11 hours to cross the Gulf Stream, but we still had another 4 hours to go to the anchorage, 
Joe taking down the US flag


we had a few hours of daylight on the Bahama Banks in 12 feet of water


sun setting


our path is the top line, crossing the Stream on to the Banks and we stopped at Mangrove Cay, with 8 other sailboats … it was a long day  15 hours and about 80 NM 


up early again and we left for Crab Cay a 10 hour trip


Snowbird giving us a slow pass


the last few days have been very stressful, we both took some time out to sit at the bow


the wind is right on the nose again and we had to motor, some nice cloud formations


Center of the World Rock


and this is what it looks like


some rain showers coming our way


Snowbird at anchor in Crab Cay


setting the anchor in 7 feet of water at Crab Cay


we still have another 5 hours of travelling to get to New Plymouth and Green Turtle to check into
customs … Snowbird had a raw water pump issue, so we turned back and rafted


Dave took the impeller out and it was in okay shape, so he reinstalled it and everything was good again
and guess what direction the wind was coming from for the next 5 hours … yup right on the nose and it was very choppy … some times all we could do was 3.5 knots … another long day


Modaki and Snowbird picked up mooring balls in White Sound, there is to be a storm coming tonight with 25-30 knot winds from the north … our friends from Nova Scotia, Janis and Cam will be coming in to anchor today …


I brought this Caesar drink all the way from Canada, to celebrate our return to the Bahamas, you can't buy this here, and Clamato Juice is not available either.


once again we pump up our dinghy, which we call Walkabout, cause it gets us to shore so
we can walk about .. ha ha


Green Turtle Marina called Customs for us and the officer came to check us in, Dave is buying us all a celebration drink .. this is the bar where everyone signs a US or Bahaman dollar bill and staples it to the wall … we did this last year and it is still there … Otto and Paulien Visser gave us a Canadian Dollar bill and we will sign it and staple it to the wall this year


enjoying our drinks


the captain taking down the quarantine flag and putting the Bahamian flag up

so far we have travelled 275 NM, from November 17- December 17


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