Great Sale Cay, Bahamas

As of our last post, we had just arrived in West Palm Beach, Florida around 3 p.m. on Tuesday, November 22nd.  Things were happening fast.  We had a decent weather window for a Gulf Stream crossing to the Bahamas, so we decided to leave West Palm Beach around 10 p.m. which gave us a few hours of rest and relaxation.

Two other boats left West Palm Beach with us, a sailing vessel named The Edge and another named Celeste.  We originally aimed for what the charts called "Memory Rock" waypoint, but we had to point 35 degrees to starboard to counteract the Gulf Stream current (3-4 knots) which pointed us too far into the wind to sail.  So, we changed course and headed to "Little Bahama Bank" waypoint further North than Memory Rock and were able to motorsail and then sail.  We arrived on the banks at dawn and motorsailed to Great Sale Cay where we dropped the hook around 4 p.m.  Though we could not sail the entire trip, it was an easy trip across the Gulf Stream with low seas. 

We stayed here for Thanksgiving Day due to weather or just because we were being lazy and enjoyed being on anchor again.   For Thanksgiving, we had all the fixin's (i.e. stuffing, green bean casserole, pumpkin pie, etc.) aboard, so we didn't miss out on a good size feast.   Though we truly miss our family and friends, we had a wonderful Thanksgiving and hope everyone also had a fabulous Thanksgiving Day!

Thanksgiving Day 2011

We stayed in Great Sale Cay for several more days to let the weather settle down a bit and then began slowly making our way to Marsh Harbor.