Stuart

Sunday evening we were invited to dinner at our good friends and Loopers Judy and Win Binbow. Their  new home on the corner of the ICW and the St Lucie inlet. We had traveled with them down the river system in 2014.  We had a great time reminicing talking about future travels.  At 7 AM we headed South on the ICW for a two day trip to Ft Lauderdale anchoring out one night.  At 10 am We met up with our third traveling buddy boat Job Site and Carol and DeVere Dennings.  After lunch we  gathered all our weather data for the gulf crossing to Bimini.  After a confirming phone call to marine weather guru Marv we all voted that the crossing was doable. At 6:30 am Feb 1st we cast off our lines for the gulf crossing to Bimini.  We crossed 60 miles of ocean at 8 knots in 2-3 foot waves.  As far as gulf crossings go this was a good one!  We stayed one night at the Bimini Blue Water marine were we cleared customs and paid our $300 for a 6 month cruising permit.

 The following morning we left before day break and cruised a 100 miles across the Bahama Bank to Chub Cay on the South end of the Barry Islands where we anchored in a protected bay.  The weather was even better than forecasted.  Blue sky's and waves of dead calm to 1 foot.  You could see starfish on the bottom in 10 feet of water.

 We had one patch were we were slowed to a crawl as we were in 5 ft of water, we draft 4!

 We decided to push forward the next day to Nassau at trip of 40 miles in the open sea, some 5000 feet deep. The forecast was for 2-3 footers and winds to 15 knots, Not ideal but doable.  As soon as we left the lee of the Island the seas built quickly to 3 feet, as  we cruised  at 9 knots.  After the first hour the seas  really began to build,  we were in steady 4-5 footers with the occasional 6.  We increased speed to 14 knots to try and take some of the roll out of the quartering waves. After 2 hours of taking sheets of water over the fly bridge and the wave pounding we called the harbor master and ask for permission to enter Nassau Harbor. Putz'n Around and  the crew handled the waves just fine! It was fantastic to be back in smooth water as we cruised past the beautiful Atlantis Resort!

We were fortunate to have stayed there twice on incentive trips with Brigitte's company Partylite. It took us about an hour to get around to the south side of the Island to Palm Cay Marina, where we will stay for a few days until the seas calm down.

 With any luck we will be head to Highborne Cay in the Exuma's Monday.