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.
Another cold front is heading our way and it has been a challenge to plan our route keeping in mind that we need a little 'hidey hole' to tuck away into while the storm passes. The wind is expected to be strong and coming from the west. Westerly winds are a little harder to find protection as the smaller cays offer little in harbours to wait out winds. This is supposed to hit in 2 days so we have a little bit of time to still enjoy the cays ensuring we are tucked away for Friday night.
Warderick Wells is one of the most beautiful places on earth
– especially for cruisers and people who love water. The colours of the water
from the different depths are amazing.
It is located at the centre of the Exuma Land and Sea Park and provides
good protection to cruisers from the sea in its picture perfect anchorage. Taking a hike up Boo Boo hill allows you to
see the deep, dark blue waters of the ocean to the east (which are 2 km deep)
while also seeing the anchorage and the banks that range from 0 to 20 feet
deep. Connor and I hiked up the hill to see if we could find our boat sign that we left here 4 years ago. Boats can decorate a piece of driftwood with the names of boats and crew as a momento. There was a pile of these signs layered with memories of cruisers. We had a quick look through, but didn't locate it. We will have to leave another to find in future years.
We left Norman’s Cay to go back to another spot at Shroud
Cay and traverse the northtidal river
with our dinghy, that flows east – west between the banks and the deep Exuma Sound.
The clarity of the water is amazing, and we saw two sea turtles along
the way. At the east and exposed side of
the island was a beautiful beach and sand bar.
The flow of the tidal river was very swift with swirling eddies. To ensure that we did not get into trouble,
we wore life jackets and attached a long line between ourselves and someone at
shore, so we could be pulled in if required.
After this great adventure, we went back to Hi 5 and sailed south to the
mooring field at Warderick Wells.
We woke up this morning to absolutely calm and clear
water. You see right down to the bottom
and watch conch as they grazed on the grasses below. We did a lot of paddle boarding and just
enjoyed nature below. There was one barracuda
and a ray that we enjoyed following. We
also explored on the dinghy. We went to ‘Our
Island’ (a lovely little island with one palm on it) – I am sure everyone calls
it ‘Our Island’! As we returned we
spotted a large spotted eagle ray below us.
It was beautiful. After school, Connor went exploring reefs with the boy
from Isla Bonita and they did some spear fishing. They came back with 3 fish that they
caught. He really enjoyed that
experience. 
After the storm. We
were thankful to be done with the storm.
There were a few reports lost dinghies, a man also had to be taken to
Nassau to fix his partially severed finger.
He had gotten it caught between the chain and the boat while trying to
fix his anchor. We almost lost our
dinghy. It was tied to the side of our
boat and, periodically, it would take flight….motor and all. Interestingly, dinghies were being found and
returned to owners over the radio. Everyone
was being helpful trying to get things back to normal. There was one completely lost 26ft sailboat
that they rescued the people but the boat drifted off. They were on the bank side where the wind and
waves would have been very violent. Their
boat was later found sunk and partially exposed on the banks but we didn’t hear
where. 
We moved to the West side of Normans in the morning from the
inside. We were preparing for a storm
that was forecasted to hit that evening with winds coming from the east. It did indeed hit. We were protected from the wind but there was
a large swell in the anchorage. Most monohulls
were ‘hobby horsing’ (rocking front to back) and
someone came one the radio in the evening (during the storm) and all that was
said was, ‘boat for sale’. It gave us a
chuckle as we bounced up and down for hours.
Connor and I did manage to swim during the day to shore together to enjoy the
motionless feeling as we walked on the beach. 
We left Nassau behind to head to the Exumas. Even on the rolly seas we made sure we got school done. Connor decided that his classroom be in the cockpit but it didn't stop him from reeling in a small tuna during 'recess'.
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. 
In the morning Connor drove us off of the anchorage and into the tongue of the ocean. Happy Birthday Connor!!!
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.
