As we approached Green Turtle Cay & the end of our time in the Abaco morale dropped at the thought of leaving the lovely warm turquoise waters but our flight home from Orlando beckoned. We had to time the 200 nm trip between weather systems which have been coming down the US coast around once a week. They bring strong winds which go right round the clock over a day or two, necessitating careful anchoring. The offshore swell also builds up for several days making for rough conditions. The first 100nm were across the North Bahamas Bank, a vast area of shallow water enclosed by a string of reefs & small Cays to the North. We motored across mirror flat seas all day & anchored for the night in perfect calm & absolute silence. The next day a little breeze filled in & by the time we reached the edge of the bank it was too rough to anchor, so we carried on through the night across the Gulf Stream, which flows between the Bahamas & Florida. It is around 45nm across & flows at around 2.5 kts giving us a useful boost towards Canaveral to the North West. As we spotted the high rise ribbon development along the otherwise perfectly flat Florida coast we were still asking ourselves 'what have we done?'
However we had a warm welcome at Cape Marina & are tucked in adjacent the cruise ship terminal. The Kennedy Space Centre is in sight only 10 miles away & there's a launch on Sunday which is food for thought for voyagers!
We fly home on 18 March for the rest of the month so the next blog will not be until we set off again in April. Meanwhile Oojah needs a bit of TLC, but first we tucked into generous portions of surf & turf & a descent bottle of New Zealand wine - America is not all bad!
With love from Peter & Christene
