Bimini's beautiful blue water!

We left Nassau Wednesday morning, intending to go as far as we could and then spend the night on the Bahama Banks. That didn't happen. We motorsailed out into the Northwest Channel/Tongue of the Ocean towards the Northwest Channel light in following seas (larger than forecast) and good wind (stronger than forecast). It was somewhat rolly, so a lot of steering was required (no autopilot - just human steering). Not a relaxing trip, but pretty fast. We were hoping conditions would improve when we got onto the Banks, since the water is much shallower (8-20 feet instead of 3000 meters/9000 feet). But when we got there at around sunset that wasn't the case, so we just kept on towards Mackie Shoal. We nearly got run over by some BIG boat near the shoal - they came up behind us and seemed to be turning towards us as we tried to get out of their way. We had to get way off course to avoid them, so that gave us an adrenaline boost! Conditions on the Banks really didn't calm down until morning, so at that point we just decided to carry on to Bimini and get a slip at the marina so we could rest. We arrived at Browns Marina at about 2 pm on Thursday. It took us 28 hours to cover about 124 miles. We were both sooo tired and hungry! (We didn't sleep and didn't eat much underway.) So we got settled in, had an early dinner, and were asleep before sunset. We feel so much better this morning! The next step of the trip is Florida, as soon as weather permits.