Sorry we didn’t post to the blog last night but there was a lot of excitement with actually being out of the ocean and having Internet!! Oh, and not to mention hot hot showers! Our final day of ocean passage was much better than the day that preceded it. This is what sailing on the ocean should have been. The sea had large waves but the sails were all on the same side of the boat and the wind was pushing us well, no pounding and jumping. I was still very ready to be done, but this was much more doable. We managed to get the boat in decent shape and even found a small pod of dolphins to watch as they played with the boat. The picture above is of American dolphins. We have some other pictures of Bahamian dolphins we will post soon. The rain the day before had helped wash some of the salt away so everything was looking good.

As we got closer to Beaufort, Bill started to see some large ships surrounding us on our radar screen. Only one was on the AIS and it was a military ship. Generally the military ships don’t turn on their AIS so he figured the rest would be military also. It was a very cold gray day but we could eventually see all the ships in the distance.

I’ve discovered in the past few years that going through an inlet from the ocean to a smaller body of water is sometimes very difficult. The Beaufort Inlet was not bad. There was a long channel, well marked with buoys. Buoys, that is something we hadn’t seen in a long time. The Bahamas has very few marks and what marks they use are generally just a stick. If you are lucky it is painted green or red on top, if it has a top… The channel was easy though, just stay between the red and the green marks and you are good, as long as you have enough strength to fight against the current that is trying to pull you out. We got into Beaufort and made our way to Taylor Creek right off the downtown docks. We had anchored here on the way south and had trouble finding a place to anchor then too. I’m sure there were a lot more boats the last time. There are lots of boats on moorings here, I think that is probably where they are kept. We finally found a place to anchor. Yeah!! We weren’t moving for the first time in four days!!

Of course we used our WiFi antenna to find some Internet to use. Luckily we found one so we could turn our cell phone back on, it didn’t seem to want to work any other way. We had turned the US cell service off when we left the country. Luckily Verizon will let you do that. No phone bill for two months, but they tack the time back on to the end of the contract. Flipping a switch on the Verizon web page made the phone work again instantly. We called home just to let them know we were alive and then took showers. I have never needed a shower so badly in my life! Well – that probably isn’t true, after all I am a caver, but it sure felt like it.

The next item of business was getting the rolled up, deflated dinghy back out of my berth and into the water. That went well but we are worried about our pump. That is definitely on the list of things that will be replaced when we get back to Annapolis. The dinghy took us to dinner in Beaufort. I’ve been looking for Mexican food and couldn’t find any in the Bahamas. I saw a Mexican restaurant as we were motoring up Taylor Creek so that is where we had dinner.

The best thing about the night at anchor was it was quiet and still. I would have liked that on the ocean but it was not to be had! When we got up we called into Customs. We tried when we got here yesterday afternoon but they were already closed. We called first thing when they opened and they said they would call us back in ten minutes. Of course it was more than an hour later before we couldn’t take it anymore so we called them back. We talked to a Customs agent and she took some information down and then told us to have the boat on the main dock in an hour. We weren’t prepared for that at all! We thought we would have to go in, we had no idea the boat would. Good thing I cleaned up the night before. We had to get the dinghy back on the davits and straighten up some things. We made it though. We were there in time, even if our docking wasn’t the best we’ve ever done. The Customs agent was a wonderful Southern woman. We had a nice chat while she conducted her business. I sure learned a lot about what to do and not to do regarding food when coming back from a foreign port. Meat, eggs, dairy, and deli meat were their main concerns. Of course there were no fresh fruits left to worry about. We were lucky that we didn’t have to dispose of anything.

After our Customs inspection we went out to lunch and bought just enough fuel to get us home. When we get there the fuel tank gets replaced too! Now we are on our way again. We will anchor someplace for the night and keep on going north.