The sun had just dipped below the horizon to our starboard, leaving Tideye to make her way across the shallow Yellow Banks in total darkness. After 36 hours at sea, we were settling into our second night of watch schedule when the RPMs of the engines plummeted and binoculars were deployed. A barge was charging right at us. No response on the VHF radio – what WERE those lights?! Two boats were passing directly across our bow with an unfamiliar nav light pattern…

Bahama Lobster Pirates. Seriously. Turned out to be two 70 foot boats, each towing three other skiffs, all lit up with their own white nav light. After a little internet research we stumbled upon a reality TV show produced here in the Bahamas titled, “Bahama Lobster Pirates”. We added the show to our queue and sailed on into the dark after the pirates had safely passed. An exciting non-event in the middle of our passage south to the Exumas.

On our way to the Bahamas we made a couple stops along the east coast of Florida. St. Augustine was a new spot to us. New to us but the OLDEST settlement in the continental US. The whole town felt like one giant history lesson reminiscent of 4th grade Texas history – Ponce de Leon, Spanish and French explorers, natives and massacres. Sprinkle in a few souvenir shops and you have the Ancient City. The city marina had incredible facilities and since we were downtown, everything was walking distance from the dinghy dock. Throw in some great cruising friends and we had ourselves a week!

As I was preparing myself to become a resident of St. Augustine, the weather had different plans. Cap’n Debbie hopped on board and “sailed” with us down to West Palm Beach – a 32 hour motor boat ride south. Even before we dropped the anchor across from the city docks, we knew we needed a little break before we sailed farther. Two bumpy passages and a few boat projects left us feeling the need to slow the boat. So. We did. West Palm is one of our favorite spots – what was the rush?! Live entertainment several nights a week and the BEST library – free classes and programs for the kids every day! Our last two weeks in Florida were busy, but each port got us a little more prepared and provisioned for the cruising season.

We found a tight window to make the crossing across the Gulf Stream to the Bahamas. All the windows are pretty tight with cold fronts pushing off the US every week or so. What exactly is a “weather window”? Every boat has their own definition. For us these days it’s pretty simple – as little excitement as possible. (Excitement = green faces, reefed sails, unpredictable squalls) The Gulf Stream has the extra requirement of no north component to the wind direction. So when we saw several days of light SE wind, we decided to motor into it and get to Georgetown in one 56 hour passage. Aside from the lobster pirate encounter, it was an easy passage. Motoring into the wind made everyone a little green the first day, but slowly the smiles returned. Fishing lines went out and sea legs came back. No mahi this trip, but we had a yummy bonita sashimi snack and a couple good hits.

We dropped the anchor onto a sandy bottom in seven feet of neon water. Logan rushed to shore to get us checked in and legal before the immigration office closed while the crew stared at the harbor in absolute amazement. Elizabeth Harbor was EMPTY. I counted six other masts anchored – in two months there will probably be about 400. Totally cool, but also really bizarre.

We covered a lot of ocean in November (842 miles actually). But now we are back on island time and ready to settle ourselves into a salty routine for a bit. S/V Tideye, anchor set.