The last few days we have sailed to our anchorages in order to save fuel for the passage west. When we raised the reluctant anchor at Marsh Harbour the wind picked up to 28 knots. We had 1 reef in the main sail and 2 furls in the Genoa. We averaged 7+ knots.

The following day we made the decision to head through the "Whale Passage", which extends into the open ocean. Due to the 20-30knots winds the past week the swells were about 7-9ft and the wind was blowing 22knots. You know the swells are large when they are at your eye level at the helm. We have traversed some heavy seas but never this large. Fortunately the passage is only 3 miles long Margaret did a great job steering us through the heavy seas. We kept 1 reef in the main for safety. Once we passed through the "Whale" we turned the engine off and sailed to Manjack Cay. We anchored there on 12/6/06.

We will continue to head west the next couple of days to stage for the Gulf Stream Crossing. The window is still good for this Wednesday into the weekend.