We left Allens-Penniscola this morning heading to Great Sale Cay with the wind behind us and under full sail. We have sailed the past week in order to conserve fuel and take advantage of the winds. As the winds moderated to 10-13 knots we decided to hoist the spinnaker and take advantage of the large sail area. We pulled the main to the port side while keeping the spinnaker traveling wing on wing with the wind behind us. It made for a beautiful sailing day.
The following day we made a last minute decision to cross the Gulf Stream to Florida. We knew the seas were still in the 7-8 ft range but the forecast indicated that they would diminish to the 4-6 range by evening. Around 1Pm we left Great Sale heading for the states. The wind direction was perfect for the spinnaker. We hoisted the kelly green and royal-blue sail and flew down wind at 7 knot keeping up with the boats that left hours earlier. If I could choose a way to exit the Bahamas it would be under full sail with the sun setting to our port. We found ourselves very sad to leave such a wonderful place with beautiful water and white sand beaches. Leaving the Bahamas under full sail only seemed appropriate.
The seas started to calm down through the night. We did not seem very affected by the swells due to the fact that the last 2 weeks of travel we experienced worse conditions. It seems that we have acclimated to rough seas. We took the sails down and let the autopilot take us through the Gulf Stream. The Gulf Stream pushed us north over 9knots reducing our time at sea. We arrived at Port Canaveral the following morning. We cleared customs and then treated ourselves to something American, a Bacon Cheese Burger with Sweet potato fries and an ultra light beer. We now find ourselves back in the states where everything thing is big and out of walking distance. The things you take for granted on a small island.
Today we enjoyed an afternoon with "Tabitha" at the Kennedy Space Center. We toured the exhibits all afternoon and learned everything you ever wanted to know about the space program. Tomorrow we will go back out to sea heading for St Mary's. We will spend a few nights at Cumberland Island and then onwards to Charleston, SC.
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The last few days we have sailed to our anchorages in order to save fuel for the passage west. When we raised the reluctant anchor at Marsh Harbour the wind picked up to 28 knots. We had 1 reef in the main sail and 2 furls in the Genoa. We averaged 7+ knots.
The following day we made the decision to head through the "Whale Passage", which extends into the open ocean. Due to the 20-30knots winds the past week the swells were about 7-9ft and the wind was blowing 22knots. You know the swells are large when they are at your eye level at the helm. We have traversed some heavy seas but never this large. Fortunately the passage is only 3 miles long Margaret did a great job steering us through the heavy seas. We kept 1 reef in the main for safety. Once we passed through the "Whale" we turned the engine off and sailed to Manjack Cay. We anchored there on 12/6/06.
We will continue to head west the next couple of days to stage for the Gulf Stream Crossing. The window is still good for this Wednesday into the weekend.
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We have decided to leave Marsh Harbour today and work our way West. It appears that we are going to have a great window to arrive stateside Friday or Saturday. We went to a "rake and scrape" last night. Marge and I tore it up on the dance floor.
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