Fred, Relaxing Mid-Gulfstream
Wednesday morning dawned calm, sunny, and clear. Our weather router, Chris Parker, had recommended that we wait until Wednesday afternoon for the best possible conditions. But, never being one for listening to expert advice, I suggested to Michael that we leave immediately for the crossing. Hey, the weather was looking beautiful - and I'm an impatient kind of guy,. So, at 9:30 in the morning, off we thundered out Lake Worth inlet. Next stop, Abaco.
The crossing went just fine with 2-4' seas on the stern and just a couple hours of 3-5' stuff to keep things interesting. We finally cruised onto the turquoise waters of the Little Bahama Bank at Indian Cay Light late in the afternoon.
For dinner, we had hot dogs and hamburgers, cooked on the flybridge grill, and watched the sun set slowly into the North Atlantic far behind us. Alas, there was no green flash. In its place there was an almost-full moon that illuminated everything on the bank. As we motored steadily towards our destination for the night, Spanish Cay, the wind and seas started to kick up. Well, we ended up taking a couple large waves broadside that finally caused our fully loaded refrigerator to break its keep strap loose and disgorge its contents all over the galley sole.
Can you imagine trying to clean up broken beer bottles, spilled tomato juice, and sundry other foods off a rolling deck in the middle of the night? Well, it's not fun. At any rate, we finally cruised up to the dock in Spanish Cay at 3:30am, tied the lines, set some fenders, and crashed into bed for a couple hours sleep before checking in with Bahamian Customs in the morning.
It wasn't the best crossing or the worst crossing ever. But, after several false starts, we were finally in the Bahamas!
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