Monday, February 24, 2014

We're here!

Bye bye No-Name Harbor
S/V Ellida
After 4-1/2 months of cruising which followed nearly 7 years of prep, we are sitting in a slip at Old Bahama Bay in the Bahamas. We crossed last night from No-Name Harbor to West End, a straightline distance of 88 miles, or 110 miles if you're sailing and have to tack to miss a giant cruise ship and the most actively electric thunderstorm we've seen in a long while. It was a good crossing. The Gulfstream was calmer than usual since it was only traveling at 3 knots and the wind had been behind it for most of a week giving us waves less than 2 feet and still a speed over ground of 3 knots faster than this boat can possibly go. We buddy boated with our friend John but after a very short time we got separated, John motor sailing and us just sailing. We could still contact each other on the radio, but for the most part we were alone. We saw a half dozen cruise ships, some of which had to be dodged, but not a single other sailboat. I suppose after thinking about it that most of the people who are going to cross have already done so. Just like so many other parts of this trip, we are the last ones in the line.

Tomorrow we'll pretend we're rich like the folks who keep their mega yachts here year round and we'll swim in the freshwater pool, enjoy the views, and plan for the next leg of our travels. It won't be much of a stretch, because even though we don't have much money, we are indeed the richest of the people on this planet - those who get to dream a dream and make it a reality.



11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Bahamas! Well done, Tim & Deb! I spent the day going through the logbooks of a 34 year old Sabre 65. I think it's pretty clear who's living the good life! Enjoy! -Tim Keeney

Rick said...

Congratulations on making it to the Bahamas, and I hope you have a great time! We really enjoyed our two months there, and cruising around the sheltered Sea of Abaco made all of the 'challenges' worthwhile.

TJ said...

Thanks Tim, good to hear from you. We are pretty happy with making the decision to head to the Islands. It should be an interesting couple of months.

Are you looking to buy the Sabre? I don't know much about them, but that sounds like a serious bit of boat.

Latitude 43 said...

Congrats! Good job. See you there, or somewhere.

Mike Boyd said...

Congratulations guys!

Now, as another "polar vortex" seems to be bearing down on northern Florida, I'm really jealous. Hope to be down there myself next season.

Enjoy the Bahamas!

-Mike
ThisRatSailed

Sainted said...

Congratulations, you guys! I spent a week in the Abacos and it was awesome. I'd head there if'n I were you! Enjoy!

Unknown said...

Hurrah!

S/V Veranda said...

Outstanding

Matt said...

Awesome to follow this journey and see the results of the efforts!

Sabrina and Tom said...

yay! Enjoy!!!

~~_/)~~
Sabrina
s/v Honey Ryder Caliber 40 LRC
www.wildcatsailorgirl.blogsot.com

Pat and Joan said...

Just catching up. Congratulations that is really great. Gives us hope that we will be able to do this as well.
Pat and Joan