January 6-7 Lake Worth to the Bahamas

January 6 Lake Worth to Great Sale Cay

We were up at 06:30. Chris Parker had said a good time to leave was between 08:00 and 10:00 to wait for the seas to lay down. So we had the anchor up and headed out at 8:07. Here we are in our life jackets and safety harness.

We passed by this boat in the anchorage. We heard him on the radio last night. It’s a 68 ft. sailboat that had to be towed in from the ocean as his engine quit. As we motored by, we noticed that his dinghy is stored inside under his cockpit. That would be really convenient!

We headed out to the inlet and we saw another cruise ship up by the loading terminal and a big yacht.

Here we go! Leaving Florida behind.

Oh man, it was choppy. Maybe we should have gone yesterday. Why didn’t I listen to Greg from Paperbird and Mike and leave yesterday? The waves were only 1-2 ft and the swells were 6-8. Maybe Chris Parker was wrong. He’s been wrong before. Anyway, he had said to leave between 8-10 am so maybe we left too early and it would get better. We did consider going back but thought we stick it out for an hour or so and see if it got better. And it did. I think Chris got the days mixed up because it was certainly lumpy today and he said it would be lumpy yesterday! Maybe it was….so many maybes!

We certainly didn’t see a whole lot today but here is what we did see:

A couple of fishing boats

Incredibly blue water; the colour of ink

We hit the Gulf Stream around 12:30

The water was much calmer then

Where the ocean meets the sky

Breathtaking sight

All we see is ocean and sky

Around 17:00 we hit the Bahamas banks and noticed the water starting to change colour. Also it went from thousands of feet deep to 650 to 20!

The sky at dusk

Sunset on the ocean

We motored on in the dark. Lots of stars but only a crescent moon. As we got closer to Great Sale Cay, we could see 6 other boats in the anchorage. They must have come from West End or maybe heading to Florida as there were no other boats with us. We set the hook in 9 feet of water at 00:30. We thanked the good Lord for a safe passage and went to bed.

Today we travelled 101.73 nm.

Monday, January 7th Great Sale Cay to Green Turtle Cay

We were up early as we still had almost 60 nm to go to get to Green Turtle Cay. At least it would be calmer water today!

We weighed anchor at 06:55. I couldn’t get a good photo of the anchor on the bottom but the water was so clear you could see it. The last time we came here, we left Lake Worth at 15:00 and travelled all night, getting to Great Sale Cay early in the morning and I remember going from that deep water to shallow water and the beautiful turquoise water!

Some highlights of today:

Raising our Q flag until we check in with Bahamian customs

A few of the boats in the anchorage

A beautiful sunrise as we motored out

Around 08:30, we needed to refuel

A beautiful trawler

Around 12:30 we motored past the Centre of the World rock!

And then around 14:30 we actually saw an island that was inhabited

We unfurled the jib and motor sailed for a while

And just look at this! The beautiful signature turquoise waters that Bahamas is famous for. Oh Bahamas, we have missed you

One of our favourite places to anchor is Munjack Cay. I know it is quite far away to see but all the little specks are boats in there. There is a lovely beach there and it is a fun hike through a trail to get over to the ocean. We, along with Joe and Yvonne, from Modaki spent many warm, beautiful days beach-combing and hiking there.

Finally we see Green Turtle Cay! Our first view of it from the Sea of Abaco.

And a kite surfer. He certainly had a great day for it

Looking back at the clouds and the tiny speck of the kite surfer surfing further away

The entrance to the anchorage at White Sound

We had to be very careful to stay in the channel as it was low tide. Here are some photos of the houses on our port side going in

And houses in front of us as we anchored

We set the hook at 16:46. It was too late in the day to clear customs. The dinghy had to be lowered from the bow and the motor had to be taken off the stern of Persuasion. We were thankful again for a great day on the water for finishing our crossing to here. It certainly was much more enjoyable than yesterday’s as we started out. There were about 8 boats anchored in here with us. More clouds rolled in but no rain. We ate supper and turned in early.

Today we travelled 57.91 nm.