The Plan

Today was spent preparing for tomorrow’s departure. After listening to several weather reports and plotting the course, we expect to leave late tomorrow morning for Nassau. It is about a 26 hour trip and will be an exciting ocean passage for us. We’re traveling with Contented Turtle, another Island Packet with Noah’s friend David aboard. The goal is to cross the Gulf Stream in low wave conditions and head onto the Great Bahama Banks early tomorrow evening. We will cross the banks at night as it isn’t expected to be calm enough to anchor their tomorrow. By dawn we should be approaching the “Tongue of the Ocean” and be able to see to navigate the area where the water drops of from the shallow banks to several thousand feet deep. From their it is 50 miles to Nassau where we will tie up at a marina and check-in with customs and immigration and probably promptly fall asleep. We heard from several boats that left today, that the seas were really lumpy, so we are hoping that another 24 hours will let them lay down to the predicted 2-3 foot level.

Today’s picture is of “Freedom of the Seas,” the largest and newest cruise ship in the Royal Caribbean fleet. That is NOT the way we will be cruising to the Bahamas, but an example of what we will be trying to avoid in the ocean.

We hope to put out position reports via the radio as we go along, but don’t worry if you don’t see anything under the “Find Us” link as we may be busy. We will have a thermos of coffee brewed and a bag of fireballs, so we are as ready as we are going to be.

Wi-fi access in the Bahamas is limited, so don’t be surprised if the blog doesn’t get updated as often as in the past.