Sunrise over Great Harbour Cay

Wow, we're back! It took us about 23 hours to get to the anchorage here. We left the marina in Florida at 8:15 am under sunny skies with a nice breeze to help us across the Gulf Stream. We motor-sailed, keeping good speed all the way across (about 7 knots), arriving on the Bahama Banks at about 5 pm. Most of the way the waves were the predicted 2-3 feet, but late in the afternoon they increased to 4-6. (I'm glad it was Ralph's shift!) Once we got on the banks the waves settled back to 2-3 feet and we sailed/motor-sailed on towards the Berries. In the middle of the night we got hit by a squall. We had been seeing lightning in the distance, but then this big black cloud got closer. We brought in the sail just in time. The squall had strong N wind and heavy rain, which churned the waves up and we were violently rocking. Ralph was at the helm getting soaked and I was below dealing with things moving around in the cabin. Ralph turned and ran downwind with the squall and things calmed way down. Once the squall passed, we got back on course, but it added about an hour to our trip. By the time I took over for my shift things had calmed down and with one more shift change we motored into the harbor here and anchored just past sunrise for some much needed sleep. Today we went in to the marina so we could check in and we are now legally here for 120 days. Yay! We'll hang out here until we can get a 2 day window to Nassau, probably early next week.