We left
Georgetown on Sunday, 4/27, had a great sail under spinnaker to Blackpoint and
went through Dothan Cut doing 11 knots with the current! Stopped in Staniel Cay
the next day, got the T-shirt and left the next day and had another great sail
to Shroud Cay. We picked up a mooring there and had planned to stay another
night so we could explore the island but the anchorage was so rolly that we
decided to head to Norman’s Cay. We anchored inside at Norman’s and walked
around the island that we didn’t have time to do on our way down. They are
expanding the airstrip there and are building a resort and a 16 acre marina. We
moved to the West side of the island to anchor for the second night because it
was more protected than the inside where the current moved us around all night
and the southeast winds were coming through the cut. Much better anchorage that
night. Tehani joined us there the second night and we sailed to Nassau together
the next day.
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| Sailing under spinnaker from Georgetown to Blackpoint |
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| Anchored inside at Norman's Cay |
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| MacDuff's resort on Norman's |
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| Wing and wing on the way to Nassau |
We arrived
in Nassau on Friday 5/2 and had to wait until Monday for weather to cross back
to the U.S. We enjoyed the pool at the Nassau Harbour Club Marina and walked
around the city. We visited the fort and walked up the Queen’s steps. We even
went to a Chinese restaurant (there are dozens here) one night. We met with
Some other cruisers who have done the crossing several times and got their
advice and then met with Paul and Sherry who we planned to cross with and
plotted our course.
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| Coming into Nassau Harbour |
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| Queen Victoria statue |
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| The Queen's steps in honor of Queen Victoria who freed the slaves |
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| Waterfall next to the Queen's steps |
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| Views from the fort above the Queen's steps |
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| Doors on an old house in Nassau |
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| Junkanoo art (Hope to be here between Christmas and New year's for the parade next year |
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| John Watling rum distillery |
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| They filmed part of the Bond movie, Casino Royale at the distillery |
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| The mailboat in Nassau harbour |
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| HUGE cruise ship in Nassau |
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| Nassau light house on our way out of the harbour |
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| Sunset Monday night as we sailed back to the U.S. |
We left
Monday morning 5/5 and sailed for about 45 hours until we got just off the
Florida coast at Ft. Pierce. We had good winds most of the way although they
died to almost nothing for several hours Monday night. We took turns standing
watches but Greg couldn’t sleep Monday night (too nervous to trust me alone on
the helm) and then Tuesday night after my watch ended at 2:00a.m., I couldn’t
sleep because I wanted to see the shore and be ready when it was time to heave
to. We got there about 0400on Wednesday morning and hove to until daylight so
we could go in the inlet. We had info from another boat that low tide was at
6:00 a.m. which is when we wanted to enter so we did that. BAD INFO and a very
rough entrance. The current was still coming out and the wind was blowing in.
That made for a washing machine effect going in the inlet. The boat was rolling
from one toe rail to the other. Not fun! But we made it safely inside and went
up the Intracoastal Waterway (ICW) to Vero Beach marina where we got a mooring
ball. We showered and then slept for several hours.
