2/12/25

We left the anchorage around 2a.  It was a gorgeous night for sailing!  The full moon lit the water up so we were able to see anything around us clearly.  Steve had marked how we got into the anchorage the day before so he was able to follow the same path out and miss any coral heads.  That is a really handy feature on the AIS that helps tremendously in these shallow Bahamian waters.  It is interesting, however.  We noticed that the coral doesn’t seem to grow tall like it does further south in the Caribbean.  That has been very helpful since we are sailing in water that is frequently only a couple of feet beneath our keel.  We don’t take anything for granted, but it has made sailing on the bank easier. 

It is a beautiful day for sailing.  That is lucky, since we are traveling roughly 70 hours and the wind is supposed to die later in the afternoon.  This morning, we have been averaging around 6 knots, which is a good time for our boat.  The purpose of today’s sail is to position ourselves on the closest island to Florida.  Tomorrow’s passage is only supposed to be roughly 55 miles, which we can do in a day.  However, we want to arrive early because we need to wind through canals, under two bridges, and on the Intercoastal Waterway (ICW) to get to the private dock where we are tying up our boat.