The Big Crossing - We pulled anchor outside of No Name Harbor at 6;40 am. Already, we had seen a few boats leaving before sunrise and later found out that some of the boats left at 4:00 am. We had calculated that leaving at our time would put us safely arriving in Nassau around noon the following day. Because of the Gulf Stream affect, Kerry had made several calculations to ensure that we used the flow of the Gulf Stream to our advantage. We originally headed south and then when we felt the Gulf Streams current the boat was pointed more north. We had a compass heading of 105' but our actual GPS heading was 65' (the Gulf Stream had a 40 degree impact on our course). It was a lively ride, a bit jerky with light SW winds while in the Gulf Stream. We saw a few boats on the horizon before us and after, but we were alone for the entire trip. Of course, we were going to try fishing again. We had one line our right away. About 4 hours later, Kerry yelled, 'fish on'! and we were all at our stations. Kerry slowed down the boat and got the net, Connor jumped to get the rod, and I was right with him to hand line in as he managed the reel. We had caught a 3 foot Mahi Mahi and we managed to clean and prepare it for our dinner later that evening. (and for the next few days). Our line went out again and it wasn't until a few hours later when another exiting event happened. Again, Kerry yelled, 'fish on!'. Connor runs to the line and yells....'it's a..... shark!!'. I was already on the line and helping him get control of it. So much power! We managed to reel it closer to the boat and within 20 feet of the boat a lot of commotion and splashing...we finally knew what it was - a sail fish!!. It was shark grey but Kerry clearly saw the sail and the pointed mouth. Awesome. Thankfully, it got loose of the line and swam away. These fish (we later read) can take several hours to bring in. A few moments was all we really needed. The pic of the fish is the closest to what we saw.
As the sun was setting, we had decided that we would make a short anchoring stop at the top of the tongue of the ocean before crossing to Nassau. The moon did not rise until just before midnight making the several hours from sunset a sail in complete darkness. The stars, however, were as bright as you could ever see and we saw several shooting stars. We ended dropping the hook around 1:40 am for a few hours.
In the morning Connor drove us off of the anchorage and into the tongue of the ocean. Happy Birthday Connor!!!The crossing to Nassau was relatively calm. The seas, on occasion, were flat with a light roll. The flying fish were out and scooting in all directions. We approached Nassau and hailed Nassau Harbor Control to gain permission into the harbour. With permissions granted we motored by the several cruise ships at dock.
We arrived at our slip at the Nassau Harbor Club. There were 3 boats that needed to clear customs (all had their yellow quarantine flags flying). First a customs officer came to clear the boat and we paid for our cruising permit and fishing license. Then, the immigration officer came to clear us into Bahamas. Once that was done, we were finally able to get off of the boat. We all had a swim and had birthday cake!
oh....almost forgot. As we were bypassing Bimini (just entering Bahamian waters)...we stopped to do a bit of still fishing....just for fun at the drop off. We did catch an ocean trigger, but let him go. As we continued on Connor and I went to the bow of the boat to watch the colour change from deep brilliant blue of the deep ocean to clear. But, as we did approach the shallow water a large dingy filled with border protection officers pulled up alongside. One had an assault rifle and the several were carrying side pistols. They boarded us and went through all of our lockers and cabinets looking for anything illegal. I escorted one through the boat to show them the lockers inside and what was in them. One of the officers brought a small black duffle bag from the front locker. He brought it to the cockpit and placed it down in a manner that suggested....'there, you have been found!'. Inside were small boxes wrapped tightly in white plastic bags. It looked suspicious to me too. They asked us to open it and what it was was Dylan's special prescription food that Kerry had neatly wrapped in white garbage bags to keep them dry. We had to sign a paper to say that we were boarded and that everything went well and the officers acted professionally. What if we thought they didn't? Would we say so? They had guns....fine job officers....now off you go.
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