Explore Sailing Voyages in Bahamas 🇧🇸

Short hop from Exuma to Long Island

Started with 15 knots beam reach and quickly got to 20-22 knots close hauled. 1’ sea state. Great sailing conditions. Saw an oncoming sailboat cross the sand bank that showed 4’-6’ so I called them when they crossed the bank. They said it was 14’! So we carefully crossed at the same point and was good! Shortened the trip a lot.

started off in the dark with winds around 10 knots, increasing to 15 knots and some intermittent downpours in the morning. when we rounded West End we were in 17 knots of wind with waves building up to around 2-3 metres. we had to tack to get to the canal entrance.

Jib up for a nice motor downwind sail in 15kn with biiig swell, surfing down the waves all the way! Anchored in a pretty bay on the north side with clear sandy water and two little beaches. A good place to hide out the next two nights of 30+kn 🙃 off to work and snorkel!

Evening departure to arrive at Fort Pierce inlet at slack tidal current. Forecasted scattered thunderstorms we expected along south Florida coast and to move across north of us, bit of a gamble and we lost. Went through two significant thunderstorms. Lightning show off in distance for hours but also lots of lightning in the storms over us. Max gust 40kts in worst storm. A lot of the night was spent watching storms move around us while we could see stars and the moon above us. Later saw a shooting star. Cleared after 2AM. Otherwise winds were 15kts or less, waves pretty significant leaving Lucaya but then settled except in the storms. Motor sailed early on, then with reefed jib and the no sail. Motored through storms and after. Heading north in the Gulf Stream we were able to get about 3kts assistance. Top SOG was 10.4kts Arrived at inlet around 8:30AM in fog. Enough visibility to see markers and sun was clearing fog so we proceeded slowly. Waited for 9:30AM North Fort Pierce bridge opening then proceeded up the ICW to Vero Beach. Greeted by our good friends (boat buddies last summer/fall) David & Susan (SV Second Star). It was just by chance that they were here, so very nice surprise! Customs check-in with the CBP Roam App was fast, cleared in within 5 mins.

Early start with calm seas that gradually built into PERFECT sailing conditions (13 knots, 2’ seas and directly from where we wanted to go🤣) Saw Rocinante on the Exumas Bank‼️ Almost came nose to nose with a Catamaran under power but he finally heard me calling and ran up to the cockpit to turn his boat!