We woke up at 2am in anticipation of our alarm going off at 3:15! We did lie there until 3 and thought, this has been enough rest - it was time to get up and get started. Our excitement knew no bounds!
With the coffee pot on, we pulled up our anchor at 4am as planned. By 4:11 all of us were out of our anchorage and heading to Molasses Reef and then out to the ocean. We dodged some crab pots but Brunelle safely led us through the reef. Once on the other side of the reef, the waves built to about five feet. It was still dark so who knew how big they really were but they were huge! We had those for about a half hour but it felt like forever. Once we arrived at the beginning of the Gulf Stream the seas calmed down quite a bit to rolling one foot waves which we thought was great. We could tell we were getting into the Gulf Stream by the amount of current we were experiencing¸ beginning with one knot and continuing to two and a half knots and then decreasing as we approached Gun Cay in Bahamas. The color of the water was a spectacular sapphire blue. We saw several tankers, flying fish, and about 20 apples bobbing along. Obviously, someone must have dropped them. From Key Largo to Gun Cay was about 60 miles with our being in the Gulf Stream for at least 45 of them.
Sunrise on the Gulf Stream
With the coffee pot on, we pulled up our anchor at 4am as planned. By 4:11 all of us were out of our anchorage and heading to Molasses Reef and then out to the ocean. We dodged some crab pots but Brunelle safely led us through the reef. Once on the other side of the reef, the waves built to about five feet. It was still dark so who knew how big they really were but they were huge! We had those for about a half hour but it felt like forever. Once we arrived at the beginning of the Gulf Stream the seas calmed down quite a bit to rolling one foot waves which we thought was great. We could tell we were getting into the Gulf Stream by the amount of current we were experiencing¸ beginning with one knot and continuing to two and a half knots and then decreasing as we approached Gun Cay in Bahamas. The color of the water was a spectacular sapphire blue. We saw several tankers, flying fish, and about 20 apples bobbing along. Obviously, someone must have dropped them. From Key Largo to Gun Cay was about 60 miles with our being in the Gulf Stream for at least 45 of them.
We had made a decision to continue on to Chub Cay in the Berry Islands rather than checking in at Cat Cay. That would make a three day trip into two very long days. We travelled a total of 14 hours that day and stopping at 6pm gave us time to anchor and enjoy a beautiful sunset at 6:14pm. We had been anchored on the Bahamas bank where we could see the bottom at 14 feet; but, at the same time there was absolutely no land in sight. The water view was 360 degrees. The bank continued for many miles, perhaps 70 or so, and we were about one third of the way to the Berry Islands where we would check in the next day with Customs and Immigration. The law of the Bahamas was to raise a Quarantine flag (yellow) until Customs cleared us. We had put our yellow flag up once we hit the Bahamian waters and then we would raise their country's flag once we were cleared. We had pre-filled out five pages of information for this process. The next day would be the start of another 10 hour trip as we headed towards Chub cay in the Berry Islands.
Brunelle leading the way to the Bahamas- Land is in front of her
Lighthouse at Gun Cay- first look at the Bahamas
Our Quarantine flag being raised!
We enjoyed a chicken breast with salsa over rice for dinner with a bottle of champagne that we had chilled for the past 3 weeks as we waited for that critical weather window.
John observing the clear water on the Bahamas bank
Pekabu on the Bahamas Bank
Looking up at the sky in this setting was something we had never before seen. The stars looked as if we could put our hand out and to touch them. They appeared to be that close! What a great day we had and we felt very lucky to be able to enjoy all of this!
First sunset on the Bahamas Bank- just our three boats anchored for miles- no sight of land!
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