Well we finally said goodbye to Miami and Sobe!! We got a weather window to get out of dodge for December 20Th!! So on Friday the 19Th along with our friends on Reach we moved the boats down to No Name Harbor so we could stage ourselves for an early morning departure to ensure that we could clear Gun Cay and enter the Bahama Banks in daylight. Of course before we left we took one more tour of Sobe and let the Admiral bask in the attention that is afforded her kind along the beach!!
Our friends Mark (s/v Reach) and Keith (s/v Kookaburra) of course wanted to get into the spirit of Sobe also they agreed to "pose" with the admiral also....
After our tour of Sobe was done it was time to get the final provisions for our trek over to the Bahamas. One early Christmas (Birthday, Anniversary etc) was to invest in a Honda generator so we could give our diesel a break and charge when the wind was calm. Of course all we did was ensure that the wind wouldn't die!! We organized a Beach party with fellow cruisers so we could all compare notes and get to know one another before heading off to the Bahamas...
!! Dave and Mark provided the grills and every one brought a dish to share..I believe a good time was had by all!! On the way down to No Name Harbor the Captain snapped this great picture of a seaplane that was doing tricks.
Well 5:00 am came early the next day when we upped our anchor to head out of No Name and make our way towards the Gulf Stream. The forecast was for light easterlies, 5-10 knots, because normally you would rather have a West or SW wind. We ended up motor sailing the entire trip. Which meant that our crossing was very mellow and the seas in the Gulf stream were 2' or less. We did manage to catch a small Black fin tuna (sorry no pictures) and it made a very tasty dinner. We spotted the lighthouse off Gun Cay at around 3:30 pm and we rounded and dropped anchor for a much needed swim, along with our friends Mark and Michele on Reach.
After cooling off and snapping a couple cool pictures it was time to start moving again 
and we crossed the Bahama Banks during the night and hit the North West Passage light at around 2:00 am. We entered the tongue of the ocean and headed for Nassau. We rounded the lighthouse off Nassau at around 11:oo am.
You do get to see some pretty awesome boats in this harbor like this "little" private yacht that not only carries it's own sailboat but power boat also!!
Lets just say that being early to arrive in Nassau is not always a blessing...we tried to go to the Customs dock to check in but were told that we needed to go to a marina to check in. Of course we had made no plans to do so as we were planning to anchor so we circled around until we found a fuel dock that was out of fuel and awaited Customs and Immigration. They finally showed up at 5:00 pm and 6:00 pm respectively. We finally got anchored at 7:30 that night. We found out that later in the day they were allowing boats to check in at the Customs dock as the marinas were all full. Apparently with our weather window there were around 80 plus boats that took advantage of the same window (along with upteen Cruise Ships) and both Customs and Immigration were a bit overwhelmed. Oh well what can you do we are visitors in their country and the good thing was we were checked in and free to move on!! Nassau harbor is good for one thing....to stock up on rum!! We were looking forward to going in with Reach and possibly splitting a case along with a few other items. As we were anchoring in the dark we just found a spot away from everyone figuring we would re anchor in the am to a better spot. We woke up early to catch the forecast and listened as it sounded that either we get out now or we will be "stuck" in Nassau until well after Christmas with strong East to Northeast winds 30-35 knots. As the holding is not very good in Nassau harbor we opted (along with Reach) to fore go the rum and get out and cross the Yellow Banks and make a run to the Exumas before the predicted afternoon winds. It turned out to be the right call and we had a fantastic sail across the banks with the wind easing just as we hit the most shallow areas on the bank allowing us to spot the corral heads and dodge around them.
Well we arrived in Highborne Cay and dropped our anchor in about 8' of nice sand and after exploring the Beach we invited the "Reachers" over for sundowners and hopefully to catch a glimpse of the elusive "Green Flash"!!
We spent a day here and then moved down to Shroud Cay where we spent Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. We had hoped to make Sampson Cay where we would be able to not only meet up with our friends on "Sam the Skull" but be able to get "connected" and call home to wish everyone some Holiday Cheer. The weather did not cooperate and so we put into Shroud Cay...A very beautiful, uninhabited island that is actually part of the Exuma National park. Not too shabby a place to spend the Christmas Holiday!! Of course the Admiral was happy as Santa managed to find her and drop off a much needed Pig ear and Peanut butter bites (thanks Cheryl and Cassie)
!! We are now currently in Sampson Cay. We will stay around this area for a little while probably moving down to Staniel Cay for New Years festivities and as the wind is supposed to lay down soon some snorkeling!! We will hopefully be able to update this with some good pictures and stories!! We would like to wish everyone a Very Happy New Years and wish everyone well for the New Year!! Cheers!!
Lets just say that being early to arrive in Nassau is not always a blessing...we tried to go to the Customs dock to check in but were told that we needed to go to a marina to check in. Of course we had made no plans to do so as we were planning to anchor so we circled around until we found a fuel dock that was out of fuel and awaited Customs and Immigration. They finally showed up at 5:00 pm and 6:00 pm respectively. We finally got anchored at 7:30 that night. We found out that later in the day they were allowing boats to check in at the Customs dock as the marinas were all full. Apparently with our weather window there were around 80 plus boats that took advantage of the same window (along with upteen Cruise Ships) and both Customs and Immigration were a bit overwhelmed. Oh well what can you do we are visitors in their country and the good thing was we were checked in and free to move on!! Nassau harbor is good for one thing....to stock up on rum!! We were looking forward to going in with Reach and possibly splitting a case along with a few other items. As we were anchoring in the dark we just found a spot away from everyone figuring we would re anchor in the am to a better spot. We woke up early to catch the forecast and listened as it sounded that either we get out now or we will be "stuck" in Nassau until well after Christmas with strong East to Northeast winds 30-35 knots. As the holding is not very good in Nassau harbor we opted (along with Reach) to fore go the rum and get out and cross the Yellow Banks and make a run to the Exumas before the predicted afternoon winds. It turned out to be the right call and we had a fantastic sail across the banks with the wind easing just as we hit the most shallow areas on the bank allowing us to spot the corral heads and dodge around them.
Well we arrived in Highborne Cay and dropped our anchor in about 8' of nice sand and after exploring the Beach we invited the "Reachers" over for sundowners and hopefully to catch a glimpse of the elusive "Green Flash"!!
We spent a day here and then moved down to Shroud Cay where we spent Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. We had hoped to make Sampson Cay where we would be able to not only meet up with our friends on "Sam the Skull" but be able to get "connected" and call home to wish everyone some Holiday Cheer. The weather did not cooperate and so we put into Shroud Cay...A very beautiful, uninhabited island that is actually part of the Exuma National park. Not too shabby a place to spend the Christmas Holiday!! Of course the Admiral was happy as Santa managed to find her and drop off a much needed Pig ear and Peanut butter bites (thanks Cheryl and Cassie)
!! We are now currently in Sampson Cay. We will stay around this area for a little while probably moving down to Staniel Cay for New Years festivities and as the wind is supposed to lay down soon some snorkeling!! We will hopefully be able to update this with some good pictures and stories!! We would like to wish everyone a Very Happy New Years and wish everyone well for the New Year!! Cheers!!
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