Matthew, my eldest son, had been on a mission trip to the Philipeans, a couple of years back and had, of course, met a bunch of friends there, and has kept in touch with them. He mentioned to Jeremie that I was planning to sail out of Florida to the Bahamas. Jeremie was, at that time, on bicycle trip, riding from Ottawa, Canada to Miami in Florida. Yes, you read that correctly. He asked if he could join me for the trip across to the Bahamas, as he would be arriving in south Florida around about mid December. I was happy to have the company, as I was going to single hand the boat anyway. Jeremie came aboard a day or so before New Year, in Key West. Bicycle and all.
A big party was had by all, in Duval Street, KW. Enough said about that.
Back on the boat on New Year's Day for final prep and we motored out of Key West harbor early on the morning of January 2, 2013.
We headed in a north easterly direction, up the Hawk Channel, towards Marathon Key, generally motor sailing, arriving at my jump off point at mid afternoon. Then headed easterly out across the Gulf Stream towards South Bimini, Bahamas.
I'm thinking, "And the adventure starts!". Not true! My whole life has been a wonderful adventure.
The sail across that night was great. The wind had clocked around and we were being pushed along by a southerly breeze and assisted by the current. There were ships around us during the night and the AIS and radar worked a treat! We arrived at about midday and cleared in with customs and immigration. After refueling and topping off the water, we headed south for a couple of miles and found an anchorage for the night. After dropping the anchor, I noticed that the sea bed was littered with conch. And they were all moving! Jeremie dived us a few for dinner. Great!