There's not a lot of civilization west of Green Turtle Cay. There is one marina at West End, which provides the shortest jump to Florida, and we were planning to stop there, and leave at first light for Florida. However, when we called, we found out it would cost over $150 dollars to tie up our boat for one night. So, we decided to skip the marina. We spent one night at Allans-Pensacola and one night at Mangrove Cay. Both are uninhabited islands and we tried to absorb every moment of our last days in the Bahamas. We left Mangrove Cay at 4 am, Friday the 8th, and arrived Ft. Pierce at 8:30 pm.
We picked a calm day (maybe too calm) for the crossing, so we had to motor-sail the whole day. It was pretty slow moving until we hit the Gulf Stream, where we turned north and hit a record breaking 10.7 knots. Midway through the stream, we wrote a note, put it in a glass bottle, and tossed it overboard. We're hoping someone in some far-away place finds it and contacts us. The highlight of the trip was being entertained by a pod of 12 dolphins who were swimming and playing around our boat. They spent a lot of time riding our bow waves and swimming under the boat.
We are now at St. Augustine, beginning to work our way north on the ICW, stopping at Vero Beach and New Smyrna. It's been interesting adjusting to the culture shock. There is so much noise and so many lights. The first night we were wondering who turned out the stars. However, we certainly have enjoyed Subway, Chinese food, and free showers and water, and cheap laundry. We are still traveling with Diamond, and we had a grand reunion with Ruahk when we caught up with them here in St. Augustine. Ruahk has since left for a three day passage outside to North Carolina, and Diamond is going to be staying here for a week, touring Cape Canaveral and going to Disney. We'll start our trek north tomorrow at first light.
Pictures will be coming soon!
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