Gun Sur Mer to Fort Pierce - The Crossing

 We got up at 5:30 to depart the Bahamas

It was dark and I had Chris on the foredeck to guide us out of the walled canal.

Once outside the canal, we set sail in a beam reach.  In an hour I realized that the boat speed would not get us to Florida in daylight.  So we started the motor.

Breakfast underway was Kimci Ramen, cooked underway.

We decided to sail for Fort Pierce.  Carnaval was good if we wanted to night sail.

We tried the Startlink but discovered it would not work until we were 12 miles from shore.  Eventually, it worked.

We came into Fort Pierce Inlet in the dark.  Chris was my eyes.  

We anchored outside the Safe Harbour Marina at 19:30 and dinghy in to meet with Mark and Jane.  We went out for supper at the marina.  Mark joined us for a beer and Jane went to bed.

The next day we used Mark's car to do groceries and helped Mark to put on the Stack Pack and Main Sail on Aires.  

Monday was rainy and we stayed aboard Bellum.

West End to Ginn Sur Mer

 After clearing customs, we departed on a 3 mile run to Ginn Sur Mer.  Ginn Sur Mer was a water front development that was never completed.  We were the first boat to arrive, but many other boats arrived later including an electric power boat and many Power Cats..

We added some chafe protection for the solar panels against the back stay.

Great Sail Cay to West End

Had a great long sail to West End.  As we went past Church Cay, it was low tide and we sailed passed a VPS zone at 6 1/2 knots scraping a hard bottom.

We tried anchoring south of West End but someone on land was waving us that we could not anchor there.  I decided to check in at Old Bahamas Bay marina.  We had supper at the restaurant at the Marina.

Wednesday we walked through West End, a bleak town with several conch shacks, bars and locals.

We stayed until Friday when Norm departed at 5 AM and later Chris pulled me up the mast to investigate the failed anchor light and straighten the mast head windex that was bent in the Dismal Swamp on a tree.  We were not successful with the anchor light.

We check out of the Bahamas at Customs and the Marina on Friday.

Powell Island to Great Sail Cay

 We had a great sail to Great Sail Cay

Norm and Chris rewired the Telecom battery - replacing a burnt wire that was too thin for the Solar Panels

Green Turtle to Manjack and then Powell Island

We did a zero-carbon departure and sailed to Manjack.  We dinghied around Manjack in search of wildlife - namely turtles.  We saw some glimpses of a turtle. Maybe two.. No evidence.

We pulled the anchor and sailed to Powell Island.  The bilge blower started acting up - making noises that varied with the battery voltage.

We beached the dinghy and tried to replace the broken bolt on the Johnson, but were not successful

We walked around the Ocean and sound side of Powell