To the Bahamas

         On Monday, Jan 15th, we moved to the entrance of Angelfish Creek in anticipation of crossing to the Bahamas the next morning.  We had arranged to cross with m/v Three Sons, who had put the word on Facebook that they were looking for a buddy boat.  Three Sons was already at anchor when we arrived and Dan and I dinghied over to meet them and make plans. Tracy and Bob hale from Massachusetts.  It was fun to hear a New England accent.  Tracy took this great photo of us heading back to Willie Dawes.  

We arose before dawn on Tuesday to begin our journey together.  The crossing was lumpy and then rolly as we headed to Bimini - a little more uncomfortable than we expected. Our autopilot got a little finicky during the trip and we ended up hand-steering for several hours.  Not fun.  We arrived at Blue Water Marina around 2:30, happy to be out of that swell.  Check-in for immigration and customs was probably the easiest - and friendliest - we've ever encountered, and we were all settled in within an hour.  

Sunrise Crossing

Willie Dawes settled in on Bimini

        We spent two nights at this marina, waiting out a wind shift, and Dan and I walked the little neighborhood streets and found a nice bakery with several different kinds of fresh breads.  He spent time taking apart the autopilot pump to track down the problem and I took advantage of the marina swimming pool.  We made plans with Three Sons to head east together on Thursday (Jan 18).  The wind is forecasted to shift again by Saturday, bringing strong northerlies for several days and we both recognized this was our window to move on. We had different destinations - they were going to Great Harbour, we were going toward Chub Cay - but Thursday night we would both spend anchored on the Bank, at Mackey Shoal.  It's literally in the middle of nowhere, out of any cell range as well as out of visibility of any land, and we were happy to buddy up for this travel.

This morning (Fri Jan 19) we parted ways.  Tracy and Bob headed north, we continued east.  Tracy sent me this picture of us as we both got underway.  On our way we spotted a group of pilot whales!  (No good pictures, sorry, they caught us by surprise.) There were at least five of them traveling together.  

        We got to Chub Cay around 1:30 and found an anchorage at nearby Bird Cay.  There are several different places around here for us to hole up from the coming winds.  We'll be here for awhile.