Sixty-six hours later, we're in George Town in The Exumas...we're home for the winter!
If there was ever doubt about the power of a raw food diet, this is proof. We slept very little, and remained alert and in good spirits throughout the passage. When we arrived, we had lots of energy to go to town where our friends remarked on how fresh we were after such a long trip.
What did we eat? Smoothies made from Vega, Chlorella, Spiralina, Maca, flax, rooibos tea and RenewMe!(an E3-live product). Each evening, we had a green salad made with kale, hemp, bee pollen and a dressing. Dave had his usual breakfast of sprouted buckwheat, nuts, seeds and goji berries. I had a form of powdered wheatgrass called Green Kamut (
http://www.pureplanet.com/). We snacked on apples, oranges, and a mixture of nuts, seeds and dried fruit.
For most of the trip, Dave read
Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert and I listened to
A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle. I was inspried to be conscious in each moment of the passage and was aware that I didn't want to miss a single moment of this breath-taking experience, mine for the taking.
We left Cape Florida just south of Miami FL last Friday, December 19th at 12 noon with light winds out of the East and sunny skies. Chris Parker, whose weather forecasts we listen to each morning on our HAM/SSB radio, had suggested that a window would present itself from Friday afternoon through Monday morning after which time, there would be a considerable length of time when high winds would prevail making travel all but impossible. While the majority of boats who were staged to cross seemed to be waiting until Saturday to leave when more moderate conditions were forecast for The Gulf Stream, we chose to leave on Friday in light of conditions forecast for The New Providence Channel once we crossed The Gulf and The Banks.
These are some of the many boats stage to cross. Hurricaine Hole appeared to be over-flowing!
We were thankful that the seas had calmed down as we made our way out towards sea.
This is a photo of Cape Florida as we made our way beyond Cape Florida.
We were happy to be on our way.
This is an ocean race of dinghies.
The homes that were badly damaged by hurricaines in past years in what is called Stiltsville seem to be in the midst of being re-built.
Mother Earth beckoned to us.
And we settled into life at sea for the passage.
Rusty was tucked into his 'beddies' on the high side.
Our friends, Bob and Gail on
Star decided at the last minute to cross at the same time
.
By 2145 hours, The Florida Strait was behind us and the sun set as we crossed The Banks.
We took turns taking watch with 'Captain Auto' at the wheel.
The sun rose in time for Dave to jury-rig the antenna for our HAM/SSB radio in order that we listen to Chris Parker's morning weather report on frequency 4045 USB at 0630 hours.
Our choice of leaving when we did seemed prudent as the sea state for The New Providence Channel was forecast to be relatively calm. The New Providence Channel is part of what is called The Tongue of the Ocean with a depth of 6000 feet.
Sun-rises always seem spectacular on the ocean.
The guys were bright-eyed and bushy-tailed!
While we were still on The Banks, Dave added fuel from the jerry cans that we store on-deck. We carry sixteen gallons of diesel in our tank and another sixteen gallons in three jerry cans. We use about .6 gallons per hour when motor-sailing. In total we used thirty-five gallons for the entire sixty-six hour passage from Miami to George Town for a cost of $140US.
We reached The North West Channel Light at 0900 hours on Saturday morning. It marks the beginning of The Tongue of the Ocean. Needless to say, we were delighted with the sea state.
At this point, I came up with the idea that rather than proceed to Nassau as we have done in past years, we could turn South, check into Customs and Immigration at Morgan's Bluff on the island of Andros, and then carry on in good conditions to reach Georgetown before the extensive cold front forecast for Monday afternoon. Dave adjusted the setttings on the GPS chart plotter and we radioed Star of our change in plans. They were well ahead of us by this time.
We've often talked of visiting the island of Andros and were glad we'd chosen to check in here.
There was lots of water (i.e. depth) at the dock in this small harbour and the entrance markers to the channel were exceptionally clear.
While the dock was cement, there was a huge fender in place keeping us away from the concrete wall. Our's were unnecessary. 
Having called ahead to Customs and Immigrations on our SAT phone, a taxi awaited our arrival to take us to the airport, some ten miles South.
Gundy, our driver, was most hospitable and it felt as though we had a tour of North Andros during our brief three-hour stop.
Government buildings in The Bahamas are always painted pink and schools yellow with green trim.
We stopped at a couple of stores in an attempt to purchase the honey that Andros is famous for but were without luck.
We were successful in obtaining fuel from a fuel station next to a ScotiaBank.
It's quite common to see unfinished buildings in The Bahamas.
Andros is known for its agriculture. These are crates used to transport grapefruit to the harbour for shipping to Nassau and the US.
On our way back to the boat, Gundy stopped at Captain Henry Morgan's Cave.
Morgan's Bluff was a hide-out for the famous pirate.
His treasures, according to legend, left in the caves.
This is a young banana tree growing out of one of the cave entrances.
There were numerous fruit-bearing trees.
I thought this picnic table with seats for children at either end was an interesting design.
Gundy was a proud ambassador for Andros, the island on which he had lived his entire life.
We left the harbour at 1600 hours, cruising permit in hand.
We raised our Bahemian courtesy flag and were pleased with our decision to clear Customs and Immigration in Andros as opposed to Nassau.
Dave entered the log.
It wasn't long before the guys were resting up for their turn on watch.
Rusty takes his job of protecting the charts seriously.
We headed South down The Tongue of the Ocean, to the west and South of New Providence Island.
The sun set in the West over Andros Island.
As we made our way down the shipping channel in the dark of the night, Dave made intermittent calls over the VHS radio to any marine traffic that might be in the area. One captain responded and was kind enough to share the information he could had on his radar screen.
We think radar would be a wonderful addition to our boat!
The moon came out at about 0200 hours as we made our way across The Decca Channel which is marked by three buoys. We reached the final mark at about 0800 hours.
The aqua-marine waters characteristic of The Bahama Banks were breath-taking as always.
This was the weather we'd been dreaming of...the fresh organic grapefruit from Florida was good too!
I feel badly that I haven't yet found a raw food diet for Rusty. He seemed tired...
In the distance, we could see The Exuma Chain of cays (i.e. tiny islands).
It was an absolutely beautiful day on the water.
And we began hearing VHS radio transmissions from boats we've cruised with in previous years.
We love the cays of The Exuma Chain and always intend to spend more time on our way South to Georgetown but more often than not, the story is the same. Impending weather sped us on our way.
We stopped for four hours at Galliot Cut in order that we have light to enter the cut at Elizabeth Harbour. After changing the oil in the engine, Dave discovered that the starter motor of our engine no longer worked. Dave installed an extra that we had on-board and we departed Galliot Cut in the black of night at 1100 hours.
Shortly thereafter, I alerted Dave to the fact that the wheel was spinning out of control. The boat was soon doing the same. The message on the chart plotter displayed the message 'No rudder control'. This was no mystery when the wheel fell of its mounting shortly thereafter. The nut holding it on had come unscrewed over the course of the passage. We were relieved when we eventually found the nut and agreed that it would be a good idea to have an extra on board in future. The boat stopped spinning and we both took a deep breath, greatful that this hadn't happened a few moments earlier in the cut.
This was the third of three thrilling overnight passages. I didn't want to miss a moment of the breath-taking scenery. I love moon-lit passages and the break of day.
Seven hours later, we approached The Elizabeth Harbour Cut as light came over the horizon. Approaching Georgetown is always an exciting moment for us.
Once again, Dave jury-rigged the antena in order that we listened to Chris Parker's weather forecast.
We were thrilled to have arrived in Georgetown feeling as rested as we did, and felt good about the decisions we'd made together.
The front would materialize in the next few hours. It was a miracle that weren't going to be weathering it out in Nassau.
The monument below, which our friends Mick and Mary on Escargot anchor each year, is actually a navigation beacon for ships.
One by one, we recognized boats that we knew from previous years.
And the sun rose as we approached our favourite anchoring spot.
We were home and our friends awaited us.
We were and continue to be greatful for a safe passage, our lives, and family and our friends.
This is Sea Pursaline, an edible plant that I routinely gather on my walks each afternoon and use in salads or serve with a dip. It has a nice crunch to it.
Sylvie is from Iowa. Her two sons kite-surf on this ocean beach on the windiest of days.
And yes, we had most of the beach to ourselves!
The sand was perfect for walking.
This is one of our favourite places. The rocks form a barrier to what we call 'the spa', a heavenly place to bathe at low tide.
We like to meditate here. The fossil formations that you see below are called Stromatolites (http://www.scienceresearch.duq.edu/bio/biofac/jstolz/RIBS/publ/Brochure2.pdf)and and exist in very few places on Earth. They are made up of the exo-skeletins of bacteria is responsible for giving off oxygen. Life on earth would not exist without them. I always think we should post a notice advising people not to walk on them. There's a hole in the midst of this particular section from which water gushes up after waves of any size come in from sea.
We stayed longer than we had planned which is easy to do, of course.
The sun was setting as we made our way back over the burn to our dinghy and the anchorage.
It's another perfect day in The Exuma's and our first sunflower sprouts of the season are doing quite well!
With any luck, we'll have them for New Year's dinner tomorrow. Tonight, we're off to a party at the St Francis Marina and Resort(http://www.stfrancisresort.com/) They have rooms overlooking the ocean beach which are worth considering if you're interested in spending time here. We'd love to see you! 
We sang carols and sat under the trees.
