Nassau again and crossing the Gulf Stream to the USA

Saturday, March 17


We left the dock at Highborne at 8:20am heading for Nassau.  The seas were a little upset and so was my tummy.  But we made it to Nassau by 2:05pm and docked at the Harbor Club Marina again. The trip was 36.5 nautical miles. We are going to stay in Nassau waiting for good weather for a crossing to the US and to do a little sight seeing.

We ended up staying almost a week and here is a short list of what we did.

• Visited downtown and saw lots and lots of very white people,straight off the cruise ships.
• Took a ride on the public that will always be remembered for its reckless speed, ear-splitting music and the happy Bahamian folks...they all greeted each other when boarding the bus. It was great.
• Visited the Straw Market were are lots of booths with local people selling their wares.
• Visited Atlantis, which is a huge entertainment complex on Paradise Island across Nassau Harbor.
• Gawked at the mega Yachts  
• Walked to Potters Cay, which is an area of little, local restaurant booths offering conch and fresh fish
• Enjoyed Lobster that Linda negotiated for from a local fishing boat.
  

Hooray for Linda, negotiator extraordinaire!!

I twisted the heads off the 'bugs' and we served them up boiled with drawn butter.  SOOOOO GOOD!

Unfortunately, I had a fall on the boat and was flat on my back for a couple of days.  Back spasms really hurt. Linda and Kerm took good care of me and before too long I was on my feet again.  Happily, my recovery coincided with a weather window that looked good for a passage all the way from Nassau to Lake Worth. FL.

We departed Nassau Harbor Club Marina at 7:00am on Friday, March 23.  We were glad to be on our way and also sad to have to say good bye to the Bahamas.

Seaquest, one of the many mega yachts in Nassau Harbor

View of Atlantis

Sunrise on Nassau Harbor

Cruise Ship

Nassau Harbor Light

Captain refusing to smile for the camera, that's okay it's early.

The seas were about 4-6 for a while and then they picked up a little bit more.  Linda and I figured we saw some 10 footers.  They were coming at us off the starboard rear quarter so we were bouncing around a little bit.  It wasn't scary, it was exhilarating. 

At 9:00am we entered the Tongue of the Ocean (very deep).  Linda got a reading of 1098 feet on the depth meter.  We deployed the fishing rod, using a lure called the Dolphin Delite made by a company called No Alibi.   At 11:00am WE CAUGHT A MAHI MAHI!!!  Here is the photographic evidence.

Happy Captain

We were all super excited and glad to get the fish into the boat safely with the way the seas were rocking.  We dispatched the fish and put it in the cooler.  After the seas calmed down a little later in the day, I used the lesson on cleaning and filleting dolphin (mahi mahi) that we got from the captain on Magic.  I cleaned it right there on the back deck, with Linda assisting.  What a wonderful way to close our trip to the Bahamas, catching such a beautiful and delicious fish.


At 7:27...

We all saw the green flash tonight. Our final count was Chris at 5, Linda at 4 and Kerm at 3.  Good bye, Bahamas

We took turns driving, watching for ships and sleeping during the night. When we reached the Gulf Stream Current we picked up speed and I caught us going 11.5 knots at one point.  Not bad for a boat whose hull speed is 7 knots!

We reached the Lake worth Inlet at 7am so our crossing took 24 hours.  The Inlet is supposed to be quite calm but we experienced lots of waves and disturbed water.  It was Saturday morning and lots of big sportfishing boats were blasting out to sea.  They seemed intent on swamping any boat in their way...we were not impressed with the courtesy of Florida boaters on our return to the US.

Industrial part of Lake Worth, past all the crazy waves, etc.

We pulled in to the North Palm Beach Marina at 8:50am and were glad to be safely docked at slip 34.  The crossing was a good one, although tiring.  Total nautical miles traveled was 195.7 and that registers as our longest crossing to date.



Christie