Northern migration

4/6/19-4/7/19

We untied our lines from the dock at Treasure Cay marina at 9:35 a.m. for the last time this season. It is always bitter sweet to leave this beautiful place.

We spent our last week squeezing in a few more of our favorite things while preparing for our departure. We snorkeled the wreck just outside of Treasure Cay one day and then went to The Bahama Beach Club for fish wraps, burgers and beers. Judy and I spent more time beach combing and we floated on the Sea of Abaco for hours. On the last Sunday, we enjoyed the beautiful voice of a six year old Bahamian girl who sang for us at church. We had waffles at Cafe La Florence for the last time, and said "good bye" to Florence and Captain Forty. We shared one last pizza with Don and Judy on pizza night at Tipsy's and we rode our bikes one last time before packing them up.

The marina is almost empty now as most cruisers are heading north. The resort has been getting ready for the high season. The marina will be full again with sport fishing boats in the summer. The weather is clear with light winds and flat seas as we left the marina just ahead of S/V Nemo. There is not enough wind to sail, so we are motoring. We transited through the cut at Whale Cay. There were some large swells in the Atlantic as we cut out and back in again to the Sea of Abaco. Green Turtle Cay was off our starboard side at noon. We had a light lunch on board and soaked in the beautiful scenery. A few dolphin swam along with us just before sunset. Conditions remained calm with light winds with 1 foot waves. A few anchor lights were visible as we passed Great Sale Cay just after dark. We have enjoyed the light of a full moon on previous passages, but with just a sliver of a moon this time, the night is perfect for star gazing. After dark, the waves continued to build. Carl and I took turns at watch and we each managed to get in a few hours of sleep. Sunrise was a welcomed sight. We were having scrambled eggs, toast and coffee for breakfast as we left the Little Bahama Banks at 8 a.m. There were flying fish all around us. Their silver scales sparkling in the sun. As we got into the deeper waters of the Atlantic, the waves got a little higher with larger swells. Large schools of flying fish continued to streak by us for hours. In the Gulf stream, our speed increased to nearly 8 knots. We had to slow down a bit to avoid the wake of a container ship that crossed in front of us. We surfed the big waves into Fort Pierce. We thought we had timed our arrival at the inlet at slack tide, but the current was still running out as we were going in. With the addition of large waves against the current, this made for a wild ride in! We arrived at the city marina around 6:00 p.m. Clearing in through customs has been made easier now with a new phone app. Yep, there's an app for that! The first leg of our journey home, from Treasure Cay to Fort Pierce, was 186 miles and took 29 hours. We will spend a few days here before continuing our trip north.