Nassau to Ft. Lauderdale

Saturday 3/30 we left Athol Island headed north toward to Ft. Lauderdale.  The winds had died overnight but the swell was 5 to 7ft.  We have a weather window for crossing back to Florida that we want to be staged in Bimini for on Tuesday.  

As we were exiting the cut to open water, we had an outgoing tide meeting the swell causing 8 to 10ft breaking waves!  When we were behind the protection Salt Cay, I was able to take some pictures....once we were beyond....I camera was down and I was holding on.  The was the scariest waves we have ever been in!  

After passing the cut, the conditions improved and we had a okay, not great ride to Chubb Cay.  We decided to go ahead and get a dock in Chubb Cay marina as a treat.   This was our first dock in over a month! 

Chubb Cay Marina was amazing!  Very nice!

Dinner off the boat at the Nauti Rooster!

Easter Sunday morning we were up before dawn.  We had a 12 hour ride to Bimini ahead of us and conditions were perfect!  

Check out this boat!  Moving!

We got into Bimini and anchored just in time to get the dingy down and get Roxie to land before dark.

Monday afternoon we decided to spend some time in the casino, picked up a pizza and settled in early for our last leg of the trip back to Florida. 

We left Tuesday morning just before sunrise.  Our ride back across had some swell, but wasn't bad.  The ride on the Gulf Stream had us going 10 knots at times!  

Back in the U.S.!

 

Bimini to the Nassau

Monday morning 2/26 we left Bimini headed to Chubb Cay.  This was a 96 mile trip, great weather and gentle seas.  

Bye Bimini!

 
Nothing but open water all day!

We reached Chubb Cay at 10:30 pm.  Thank goodness for the clear skies and almost full moon.  The water was so clear that we could see the ruffles in the sand and the anchor in just the moonlight!  So beautiful.  Needless to say, Roxie was going to have to wait until morning to take care of business.  

The next morning we dropped the dingy and took a quick ride to a little island.  As we were coming in you could see starfish and conch shells in the water.  There were so many!  Up on the island I found a couple of treasures that came back to the boat!  You know if it weren't for Roxie needing potty breaks we would have missed a lot of these opportunities to see things.  

We left Chubb Cay about 8:30 headed to an anchorage in Nassau.  About 2 hours into the ride we started getting bounced around pretty good.  Around 3 pm we anchored off a little island just east of Nassau called Salt Bay Anchorage.  We had great holding there and hiding from the high winds that were coming, but the swell off the ocean was about 2 foot at times.  Not to mention the excursion boats pass here all day long....fast and throwing wakes!  It was a rocky two days but was beautiful all the same.  

There were two beaches on the island that were close by and we discovered it was inhabited with pigs, peacocks and iguanas.  The pigs paid us no mind....and looked to be well fed!  

Hello Nassau!  

Bye bye Nassau!