November 23, 2011- West End, Bahamas

We made it! It was actually uneventful....in a good way! We hauled anchor at 3am, and had to go through one opening bridge in Ft. Lauderdale before heading out of Port Everglades Inlet. The wind was still out of the SE 12-18knots, and the first few hours of our trip we got bounced around a little, but nothing like last week. It really wasn't bad at all. The moon rise was at about 4:15 am and then dawn came shortly there after. It was a beautiful sunrise.
We were able to motor sail with the SE winds helping us along and we averaged over 6.5 knots. At about midday we lost our wind, and had to drop all the sails, but it was absolutely beautiful out. I can't even describe the color of the water, it was over 1500 ft deep, but you could still tell that the water was crystal clear even with it being such a dark blue.
Deason, Chris and I all made messages in a bottle that we tossed into the Gulf Stream. Hopefully, someone finds them, and not someone who might want to charge us for littering. Other than that, the crossing was pleasant. Although, we didn't catch any fish while trolling a line the whole way across, nor did we see any dolphins, whales or sharks. I was a little disappointed at the lack of marine life that I had expected to see. We pulled into West End by 3:30pm, and decided that we would stay at the marina. It made it easier to check in and we got to go for a swim in the pool. Win...Win! Chris got to go for a swim in the harbor too, after he dropped the diesel fill cap into the water.
We will be up and out early, we are hoping to make Great Sale Cay. A new front is suppose to move through this evening bringing more North winds, which could make tomorrows trip a little nasty. Here is to hoping that front stalls over Florida!