At Jan 04, 2023 at 10.20 lt the anchor was out and I was underway. First I had to pass trough the “ Barge Channel “ . This ends in a lock. The passage trough the channel went oke. Near the lock I had to wait till the boats coming from the other side trough the lock were out.
While in the lock waiting for the doors on the other side to be opened I saw two dolphins swimming around in the lock. Once the water level in the lock was level with that on the outside the doors opened and I could go out. But before going out to the ocean there was one more bridge to be opened. But that when fast and I was in the Harbor of Port Canaveral heading for the ocean to make my way to the north of the Bahamas.
Once on the open sea the sails went up and I was slowly heading out. But the wind was weak and after 15 minutes it dropped nearly till zero so the iron sail had to take over otherwise we would end on some shallow parts. But just as I had passed the outer tip of that the wind came back and of we went under full sail. The wind was south What made that I had to go with the sail tight and close to the wind. Around 22.00 the outside temperature went up and according the position I was in the gulf stream . And the gulf stream can run up to 2,5 north from the south and yes it was pushing us north but the speed of Mylady was good and we made good progress east north east. By 04.00 lt I noticed that we were going more east and even east , south , east. This gave me the impression that we had passed the Gulf Stream . And an other thing what was happening was that the wind slowly turned more westerly and we could steer a southerly course. I didn’t do a thing because the Aries wind vane was steering the boat and while the wind direction changed to heading of Mylady changed also . Daylight came and we were sailing along nicely direction north Abacos , Bahamas.
By the end of the afternoon , early evening the wind had turned back to the south and I was more heading east. I went about and made a tack with the sail over the other side. In the mean time a big black cloud was slowly coming near from the north and suddenly the rain was there and the wind shifted 180 dgr but luckily stayed calm. I took the foresail nearly all in and let the boat go. The good thing about the rain was that all the salt was washed from the boat. By midnight the rain was gone and the wind back from the north but very weak and after half an hour completely gone. I motored for more the an hour before the wind came back and I could sail again. And once the wind was back it was good sailing under a nice clear blue sky. I sailed on to a anchor spot behind “ Upper Fish Cay “ where I was on anchor around 15.45 lt , Jan 06. I cleared the boat and took a nice cool welcome beer . That night I slept very good.
The next day I sailed till an anchorage near Crab Cay. There were more boats on anchor but I found a good spot and dropped the hook just before it was dark. The next day I stayed here just to take a rest and it was weekend anyhow. On Monday morning early I went to an anchor spot near Green Turtle village.
There I went ashore to find out where I could the formalities fro the check in. Near the waterfront I met a lady who took me to a small restaurant and there I was told I had to go to Green Turtle marina in White Sound what is a inlet just near. I thanked them for the info and went back on board. Once back on board a squall hit with a strong wind and lots of rain. I waited till that was gone before I moved to an other anchor spot near White Sound. There I took my dinghy in. The marina told me that the custom lady would be there at 12.00. Together with some other people we waited. Once the customs was there and it was my turn I was told that the only way to check in was online , by by come back tomorrow. I went back to the boat and brought her into White Sound and dropped anchor there.
After the boat was oke I went ashore and did the whole check in using the good Wi-Fi from the marina. It took a few hours but I got it done including the payment of $ 150 us dollar for a cruising licence of 3 months. The next day at 09.00 the custom officer was there and I told here all was done. But the lady made again lots of trouble , this time about my ships certificate. She treated me with the police because I wanted to know what was wrong . Oke it took a while but at the end I got my 3 months stamp in my passport and my cruising licence. Once back on board I pulled the dinghy on deck and made the boat ready and left straight away. Outside there was not much wind but enough to have a nice sail. By the end of the afternoon the wind was gone and I was motoring once again. I was heading for Marsh Harbour but that was still 2 hours away . I had a look in the chart and saw a good spot for the night and 15 minutes later the anchor was in and I was set for the night.
The next morning there was no wind at all. I fired up the iron sail and was heading for Marsh harbour. There I dropped anchor 2 hours later. After I was settled I made the dinghy ready. Before heading ashore I went to a boat anchored next to me and asked where to put my dinghy. Where to buy a SIM card for my mobile and if there was a supermarket. All questions were answered and of I went. I got all done that afternoon and by the end of the afternoon I was invited by my neighbour for a sundowner and so the day ended good.
I have not many pictures from Marsh Harbour because it is not much. It is sand and more sand and there are still enough buildings that are heavily damage from the hurricanes that past the last few years.
Pictures I took while heading for the storm spot. The picture on the right shows what was to see ashore, yes not much.
I stayed two nights before moving on to a safe spot to ride out the north westerly gale that coming. I went to the south side of Marsh Harbour where I found a good spot. The wind was max 30 knots and lasted 24 hours but Mylady was fine.
After two days there I moved on further south to the area near Little Harbour bay.
