Departure for the States
30 March 2013
From West End Grand Bahama to Lake Worth USA
It's Saturday. We have arrived in Lake Worth to find Customs & Immigration are closed and we cant check in until Monday, which is also G&Bs date of departure. Could be a bit tight.
Last night we anchored on the Grand Bahama Bank in 15ft of water. Hard to believe that within a few miles the depth sounder would stop recording and below us will be over 3,000ft of Atlantic ocean.
We had the mainsail up most of the way although the predicted winds of 12/15K never really materialized and we need to run the engine for a good part of the journey to make sure we stayed on course.
Underway we saw just one sportfish boat and 2 tankers in the distance. 18 miles off the coast of the US we could just make out the blurry shapes of tall buildings and as the sun set their lights formed a long string denoting the coastline.
It was 10pm as we entered the channel. Lake worth inlet is wide and well lit with flashing marker buoys. We took down the sails as we approached and motored to the mooring field.
It was dark - our crossing had taken just 13 hours. Dinner on deck at 11pm was delicious - Jacket potatoes, smothered in mozzarella cheese and a large glass of wine and looking out over a sleepy anchorage with mast lights swaying in the gentle swell. We slept like logs.