Normans Cay to Lake Worth Florida

From Normans Cay, we headed to Highbourne Cay.

As forecast, the winds were strong from the south. We anchored at Highbourne thinking it would be marginal, but OK. The wind clocked a bit west of south, so we weighed anchor and hightailed it to Ship Channel Cay which had a wee bit more southwest protection. We made it with just enough light to anchor out of the reach of the reefs. It worked out well, and we left the next morning for Rose Island. The day started out cloudy, but cleared off in time for crossing the Yellow Banks. The Yellow Banks is a shallow area with a lot of reefs. So unless you are into Russian Roulette, you want sunlight overhead so that you can see the reefs. I think you could take a route that goes in between the Yellow Banks and the White Banks with little to worry about, but it's a bit longer. We made it to Rose Island without incident. I dove on the anchor for the last time this year--you can do that in the Bahamas. The holding wasn't the best, because the bottom is grass, but it worked.


Our last Bahamas at anchor sunset. Isn't Lisa beautiful?


We were in position to take advantage of our weather window. Everything is about weather windows. And then it is an educated guess. I'm OK with guessing, but the first part makes me queasy.

We left Rose Island for Lake Worth Inlet on March 31st. It was a beautiful day. We sailed north of Paradise Island successfully avoiding Nassau. We had a very nice sail until the wind died about 4 miles from the Northwest Channel Light. We had about an hour of light winds before they picked up to 25 knots on the stern.


It was time to take down the Bahama courtesy flag before things got bouncy.


The calm before the wind.

Soon after this picture, the winds picked up. We had a bouncy twisty night on the Banks. We motored since the winds were dead astern and gusty. Soon after leaving the Banks we were able to sail on a broad reach. Remember the silly game Twister? We can take you on now. Our first Gulf Stream crossing was smooth. This one was spirited, but not dangerous. The waves were very close together, so it was not comfortable, but it was nice to be sailing. Lake Worth Inlet is a class A all weather inlet, and it was a good thing. We had 30 knots of wind going in. We were anchored by 1:30 pm on April 1st.