Travel back from the Bahamas!! Finally back in the USA

I really wanted to go home. My work is building up and I really miss friends and family. Kermit and the guys studied the weather hourly almost. We had many good-bye dinners thwarted by sudden bursts of bad weather. It was very frustrating.

We knew it was time to leave before Kermit got thrown into the clink for his increasingly more angry responses to the little boats creating big wakes in the Treasure Cay Marina. One day just before we left he got so mad at Captain Mark the local charter captain that he ran out of the boat around the docks and confronted Captain Mark, questioning his captainhood!

Kermit’s anger had been escalating. One day out with Jim’s Joy on our dinghies for the afternoon Kermit buzzed the mooring fields at full speed shouting like a pirate, “take that you **!$^*!*&”!.

It was time to go home. If only the weather would cooperate.

On Thursday April 7 we thought we saw an opening in the middle of the following week. Friday morning April 8 dawned calm and clear. We decided to make a run for it. We made a quick trip to pick up the laundry, buy a few groceries and we were ready to go.

The first hurdle is leaving Treasure Cay traveling around Whale Cay to Green Turtle Cay. A bad day going around the Whale can be deadly so no one takes it lightly. We fueled up and headed out with Good Karma in the lead.

The Whale was calm, a walk in the park. Better even than the last 3 times we traveled around it! We arrived at Green Turtle Resort at about 4pm.

We saw an opening for crossing the Atlantic mid-week. We didn’t want to stay at West End too long because at almost $3 per foot each night ends up to be at least $200. We have better ways to spend our money. So we play a balancing game.

We decided to stay Friday night and Saturday at Green Turtle then get to Great Sale anchorage on Sunday then West End on Monday. We would survey the weather and see whether we could leave on Tuesday or Wednesday to cross.

And that is exactly what happened!!

When we’ve been to Green Turtle before we pretty much stopped at the marina, got something to eat and departed the next day. This time we had an extra day to explore the island. We opted to walk with Jim and Joy to the bay around the back on the north side and to the Atlantic side. The tide was extraordinarily low so the water was not for swimming but great for walking around in. We even saw a guy fly fishing in what appeared to at least a quarter of a mile out but only knee deep.

On the way back to the marina we stopped at the Resort pool for a dip and a little reading. It was a totally relaxing day topped off with dinner at the Green Turtle Resort. It was prime rib night but I had the fish and chips which were awesomely crisp and tangy!!

We left at about 7:30am for Great Sale Cay on Sunday 4/10/2016, a long 8 hour run. We stayed in the protected harbor area with 42 of our closest friends. Yup, there were 42 boats anchored in this harbor. They just kept coming! We sat out on the front deck with a drink and enjoyed the view. At least until the no-see-ums threatened to carry me away! We slept with the generator on that night to keep the bugs at bay. 

We had a bet on how many boats would end up in this tidy little layover spot. I WON THE BET!! I bet that 43 boats would come in and 42 ended up there. YEAH!! Regardless who won, it looked like a little marina with all the boats organized into neat rows. 

We left at dawn, around 7am on Monday 4/11/2016 bound for West End. The water was almost perfect. It wasn’t flat but the rolling swells off the stern felt like surfing all the way. We could have done that all day every day. It was much more pleasant than the weather forecasts predicted. We got into West End around 3pm and had dinner on Hush-a-bye.

We originally planned to leave on Tuesday. The weather looked great. It was calm and clear. But the vestiges of the wind that created those swells on Monday seemed to the guys to be a problem. It looked ok but Wednesday looked even better. We decided to wait until Wednesday 4/13/2016 to cross. But since we didn’t want to spend another $200 on dockage we all decamped to anchor outside of the harbor. Like I said, we are getting good at this anchoring business!

I had clients at 10am, 2pm and a webinar at 7pm so I was glad to be stationary. That meant I didn’t have to cancel anything. After my 2pm call I joined Kermit snorkeling off the back of the boat. Gosh it was wonderful water.

We were anchored in about 15 feet of sand and coral. As we snorkeled around we saw lots of fish around the coral. From our angle it looked like watching livestock from a helicopter. The dark blue fish were chasing the light blue fish. The white fish looked like sheep wandering without purpose. Kermit saw a barracuda but I didn’t see him at all.

We took a peek at the anchor and decided to let out some more line. It seemed to be pulling a bit.

Our dinghy was the easiest to take down so Kermit was assigned the task to pick up the other boaters and deposit them on Jim’s Joy for dinner. Then after dinner he took me in the dinghy (with my computer in a dry bag!) to the marina. I sat in the empty lobby and conducted a webinar on job search. Isn’t technology wonderful!!

After the webinar Kermit picked me up and took me back to the boat in the dark at about 8:30pm. We could see every star clearly!! Unfortunately our view of the stars was helped by the fact that we neglected to leave any lights on Good Karma!!

The next morning we were up at dawn to depart West End at about 7am on Wednesday 4/13/2016. The trip was magnificent. Flat water like a mill pond. So flat most of the way that the little bits of greenery floating in some places were the only marks you could see for miles and miles of turquoise sea.

As I write this it is 4:30pm on Wednesday. We are heading into the Fort Pierce Inlet. Everyone got in safely. 

Hush A Bye and Ocean Dancer reported they saw orcas jumping while in the middle of the Gulf Stream!! We didn't see them and there are no photos to prove it, just some really excited boaters!!