We arrived at Grand Bahama Island via stops at Great Sale Cay and Mangrove Cay - two more of the many uninhabited islands here that have great anchorages for cruisers in all sorts of weather.

From Grand Bahama we said our farewells to Bill and Gill who were flying down to Nassau to pick up their return flight to the UK and we exit Bahamian waters for our journey back to the US.

The weather outlook was good although, just outside the harbour entrance and for about the first hour or so, the Atlantic was rolly and sloppy until the waters deepened.

With jib and main raised we find a comfortable angle to sail, frequently checking our speed for any sign of the Gulf Stream current which we soon pick up and find ourselves whooshing along at 8.5 knots for several hours - the stream has given us 3.5k for 'free' and no extra effort on our part! We were soon out of sight of everything - the sea was gin clear and dark blue. We saw fish jumping and many flying fish.

The Gulf Stream was first 'discovered' by Spanish explorers in 1513 who used its fast powerful current as they travelled from the Caribbean to Spain. We are going a slightly shorter distance today but because the current pushes north at such a rate we angle south into it just make sure we reach the US and not Europe!

We don't lose the effect of the stream until we are about an hour away from our destination at Lake Worth by which time the wind has changed direction, increased in intensity to 30k and the shallowing waters have become choppy and uncomfortable. The sun has almost set and we follow the seabuoys into the narrowing entrance - Oh boy! is this lumpy or what? The whole of the Atlantic ocean seems to be coming in with us.

We anchor at the south end of Lake Worth which has surprisingly fewer boats than we had expected. It's a superb anchorage and a great spot from where we can view the busy industrial comings and goings of cruise ships, container ships, day to day water traffic, escort tugs, the smart RIBS of the Customs, Coastguard and other security officials at this major busy port. Even at this time of the evening it is so busy.

For some reason, may be we are tired, the anchor takes three tries before we manage to safely attach ourselves. It is a well used anchorage and the bottom is well scoured but, finally, we are in and looking forward to supper before collapsing into bed.

After clearing into Customs the next day we refuel and take a short detour south to Fort Lauderdale where we are collecting our propane stove which we had left there in November for repairs. We also have friends, David and Janet from the UK. joining us for a couple of days before they pick up their cruise liner to Mexico on which they'll certainly have a larger cabin than we can offer them but they wont have a sun lounger as comfortable as our upturned dinghy on the forward deck.