TIME TO GO!

Great Sale Cay, Abacos, Bahamas 26º58.612N | 78º12.954W

After weeks of watching the weather and maneuvering into position, we are finally leaving the Bahamas, crossing the Gulf Stream to Florida: Destination Cape Canaveral.

We predict it will take about 24 hours, so we are leaving mid-morning, hoping to be off the Bahama Banks in the last of daylight, reaching that capricious lion-or-lamb of a Gulf Stream in the dead of night.

We have offered the beast about 48 hours after a big blow, time enough to calm down, theoretically. Unfortunately, the wind has calmed as well, so there might be some motoring. (Some sailors consider it a failure to use the engine, but, hey, the engine is a tool in my toolbag, no better or worse than others. Whatever it takes to get us across safely!)

And so we leave with heavy hearts. Our first season of cruising the Bahamas is ending, but family and friends are waiting on the other side.

Gulf Stream and Cape Canaveral, here we come.