Crossing and clearing

Several times in the gulf stream we saw these

They are called Blue Bottles. A bunch of floating parasites 

getting through the shipping channel during the day

 We were up and away by 8am Saturday 2/18. The weather window was good and we rode the Gulf Stream northeast to South Riding Rock and then across the banks to great Harbor in the Berry islands. We motor sailed and averaged around 8 kts all day. Around 9am we were leading a couple of other boats down the channel by giving depth readings up to the stone cut entrance of Great Harbor. 

The marina said they had dock space for us to tie up as we cleared customs and immigrations. As we made the final turn toward the dock I heard Sheri call out Hi Carl and taking our bow line was our old friend from White Stone Virginia. He was assisting the new owners of his catamaran as they traveled from Virginia to the Bahamas. He and his wife Deb were the people who  guided us to the Bahamas the first year and we also traveled up to Nova Scotia with them. Once cleared in we got our SIM card for WiFi. 

We were able to find out that Lindsey was in labor and admitted to the hospital. We joined Carls group in a walk across the island to the beach club for an afternoon of beach, beverages and barbecue.

Overnight Lindsey gave birth to Sophia Deignan Huang @12:30 2/20/22. This little hummingbird weighed in at 6lbs 5ozs. A very special day for the arrival of Sophia grandchild number 4. 

Steadfast at rest in Bay of the Five Pirates 

Time to make English muffins

With winds picking up we stayed in our safe anchorage and I spent a couple of hours kayaking around the inlets of the harbor. We joined Carl, the new owners and Bob a friend and sailing buddy on Ino (formally River Rat) for hours of story telling. These gatherings are always nice.

See you later River Rat/Ino

Monday was laundry, our final Covid test and saying goodbye to Ino as they staged for a crossing to Nassau. I also loaded up on diesel by using our 5 gallon containers to fill the tank and give us 3 extra containers strapped to the port rail. 

Bridget Bardot beach at great Harbor

Stingray included

On our last full day we purchased 10 gallons of water, tried to buy milk, went to the beach and had drinks with Warren and Karen on sv Betula. They were also going to west end New Providence Tuesday but headed N around the Berry’s. We decided to take the Southern route over the bank to the NW channel near Chub Cay. 

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