Bimini to Nassau overnight in 22 hours!

OK - We really did it!  We sailed overnight over 120 nautical miles for 22 hours.  The morning we left Bimini we had showers and thunderstorms and it was windy - but we took off with 3 other boats about 11 am on Friday bound for Nassau.  We had planned to anchor on the Great Bahama Banks overnight but our weather guru Chris Parker told us via SSB radio that the weather would be rough.  He said he doesn't like to anchor on the banks ever but especially in uncomfortable weather.  He said if you are going to be uncomfortable you might as well be uncomfortable underway rather than at anchor.  We opted to join the other boats for a run to Nassau to try to beat the nasty forecast weather that included 30 knot winds out of the North.  Chris forecast the wind to clock in a favorable direction during our sail.  We were on the banks within about an hour.  After about 2 hours we were sailing on calm seas with a beautiful wind on a close reach - our most efficient point of sail - over absolutely beautiful turquoise water.  By the time it got dark we found ourselves with four boats added to the three we left with.  As I stuck my head out of the side of the boat to admire the incredible display of stars above us one of the skippers used the VHF radio to direct  the other crews to peer out from their biminis to admire the nighttime sky.  The banks were mostly about 15 feet deep but every once in a while our depth-finder would read 7 feet.  As we approached the half mile exit from the banks into over 1,000 feet of ocean it became clear that the mark we hoped to use for navigation was not lit.  We were not surprised because we had been forewarned that  Bahamian navigation aids frequently do not have the lights working.  As we made a right turn off the banks the wind cooperated and continued shifting in a favorable direction.  We started pounding into some pretty substantial waves but we had good sail power to keep the boat moving.  Maryanne had to put a little extra padding around bottles that were dancing too much in their holders down below.

A nearly full moon came out to light our way and erase the stars.  I was puzzled and surprised when an item that I had apparently forgotten next to the main hatch rolled across the hatch and down the port side. It slid under the bimini and out into the ocean which suddenly had a strong smell of fish to it.  The rolling item sounded like it had crinkly cellophane around it.  Duh!  It took me a few more seconds to realize it wasn't the ocean that was emitting that fish smell - it was the flying fish that flew through the front of the dodger and flapped itself along the the top of the hatch and back into the water.  It wasn't cellophane I heard - it was flapping.  My slow processing of this event was just a sign of how tired I was at  3 am.

A short while later I was startled by a brilliant orange flash in front of me.  It was so bright I couldn't keep my eyes open.  15 seconds later there was a huge boom and then the sound of thunder rolling and echoing for several more seconds.  Damn, I didn't want another experience of lightning damaging electronics on a boat I was sailing.  Although there were not many, the flashes of lightning were blinding.  It began raining and again I began counting the seconds between flashes and thunder.  They never got closer than 15 seconds or about 3 miles so it was all good.  The radar showed a big cell close to us as we approached the harbor but it never got closer than 2 miles.

The seas calmed a bit and we kept making excellent progress toward Nassau.  Maryanne called Nassau Harbor Control for permission to enter the harbor at 8:30 a.m.  We were docked a short time later.  I slept a good part of the day.    

Today I took a 4+ mile jog to check out Atlantis and the downtown area.  Maryanne and I then went  for a very windy walk across the big bridge to Atlantis and an outdoor lunch on Paradise Island.

Internet here is very spotty - we spent an hour at Starbucks trying unsuccessfully to get online.  Eventually we discovered that the internet is down in this entire area of Nassau.  Our connection is not good enough for posting pictures.  Next on our agenda: Allans Cay where big iguanas approach you looking for food.  Maybe Tuesday.  Internet will be very spotty.