We got up just before dawn, started the diesel at 5:35am and got underway 15m later. We wanted to watch the sunrise over Grand Bahama Island as we left for the USA 50nm away. As soon as the sun had risen we hoisted sails and left on a port tack for Lake Worth Inlet and Port Palm Beach.

It was a perfect day for a west crossing. With the motor running and full sails, we averaged 5.8k and crossed in 11 hours.

What was it like you ask? Like crossing Eagle Creek on a beautiful day! There were small swells from time to time but mostly it was flat water, and TARDIS maintained a 10 degree heal taking us safely to the other side. The gulf stream is interesting, carrying the boat northward at a 2-3 knot clip. You need to head south of your target to not get carried too far north of your destination. We tried 13 degrees. It turned out it was not quite enough, as when we reached Florida, we had to beat south into the current the final few miles.

But that got us in and anchored well before dark to the land of excess, plenty of big ships and houses.





We were able to clear customs on our cell phone. It only took about 15m which was nice.

Since our last post TARDIS has been retracing her path through the ABACOS preparing for the trip back to the USA.

Our first stop was 'Under the Lighthouse' anchorage at Hope Town where we spent two nights while the trade winds from the SE howled around us. We made one trip to town to exchange books at the library, have another dinner at Captain Jacks and visit the beach on the Atlantic one last time.





Hope Town is a beautiful city and walking the streets is amazing with some interesting finds.



We needed a few things from the grocery and stopped at Vern's. Vern, a very funny man, wearing a superman apron, had little sayings posted throughout the tiny store.



Next we moved on to Archers Cay along the coast of Great Abaco Island where we anchored one night before doing the "WHALE" passage a second time.

The passage went well on the morning of February 22nd. We anchored outside Green Turtle Cay and the settlement of New Plymouth after a 5 hour sail. New Plymouth is our favorite settlement of the Abacos. We found "Two Shorty's" open this time. We were told by another cruiser last time it is the best place to eat (good food for the price) in town. He was right.



It had been nearly a month since we were on Green Turtle and the flowers are starting to bloom now.



On the way back to TARDIS we found this little stand and picked up Conch Salad and Lobster Salad for dinner. Well worth the $20!



After two nights here we moved north a few miles to Manjack Cay to hike on the "ART TRAIL" that we could not find before. We ran into a couple that we had met there before at Hope Town and they showed us the photos. We were not disappointed. These are just a few of the exhibits that cruisers have left for others to enjoy.















TARDIS is one of the sailboats anchored in the background.



That night TARDIS drug anchor 350'! The boat was moving slowly and Charlie stayed up nearly the whole night watching. Our rate of movement was just under 75' an hour. Hauling anchor and moving in 20+ knots of wind on a cloudy moonless night was not something we wanted to do. Luckily the boat stopped moving about 4am without hitting anything and Charlie got some sleep.

We moved to the other side of the anchorage in the morning. We learned that the bottom at the first spot was sand over hard shale, not good.

On the 27th we moved 9 hours (50nm) to Little Sale Cay for the SW-NW winds predicted overnight. It was a little eerie before dark.



We woke up to beautiful sunshine and had a great sail to our next anchorage at Mangrove Cay. Mangrove Cay was half way to West End where we intended to depart from on Saturday. It was still a 6 hour trip (31nm). Since we only had 6 more hours to get to West End in the morning we made water before leaving. This got us to West End about 4pm, just in time to drop 'Space Patrol' in the water to check the anchor set and make a run to Bahama Customs and Immigration to turn in our paperwork.

The anchorage at West End was mostly coral and the anchor was not set properly so we moved again before dark for a better set. It was a starry and windless night so we both got a good nights sleep before the big trip to Florida the next day.

Charlie spent the evening getting all the devices charged just in case. Oh the wires...