What does the crew do after a long day motoring down the ICW from two nights at anchor at Riviera Beach? Decide to sail overnight to the Bahamas of course!! “We’ll take turns” Jim said. OK I was in. After motoring all day with a great crew on SV Moonshadow from NC, through mote than 17 bridges, it would be great to sail again.

We left Port Everglades (Ft. Lauderdale) around 3:30pm and dodged cruise ships also leaving. Sunny and good winds, 12knots or so SE. But of course the northbound Gulf Stream and Southbound waves from the northern front from two days ago caused a few hours of bashing through confused waves like a washing machine. The Gulf Stream grabbed us and shot us northward so we angled off to Grand Bahama. Winds held steady and the waves smoothed out to longer period rollers. But poor Jim was sick so I sailed the whole night. No probs and the Autopilot worked great. More dodging of cruise ships but no close encounters. We arrived at about 4:30am! Luckily the charts were spot on.

Now we’re tucked into a canal system of an abandoned land development just east of West End on Grand Bahama. Near Vincent town. It’s a rest and recharge day at anchor then check in tomorrow at West End (hence the yellow Q flag, once we’re checked in, we can fly a Bahamas courtesy flag). The water here is silty so didn’t stay in long (bull sharks like this water) but is a great way to cool down.