We're back in Florida

You’re  probably wondering if we are in a jail cell in Nassau because I haven’t written in the blog since we got evicted from Nassau. I have discovered that if you do not keep up with the daily ramblings then it’s more difficult with each passing day to catch up.  I will recap the last two months.

We waited for a weather window to leave Nassau and travel across the Great Bahamas Bank where we anchored overnight waiting for the weather window to cross the Gulf Stream back to Florida. On March 25^th at 2:30 (yes am) we pulled up anchor and got underway to cross to Hens & Chicken shoal at daybreak. As we approached the gulf stream I promised that I would send the weather man a new yard stick for Christmas because obviously he does not know the difference between 2 to 3 feet and 4 to 6 feet and he needs a new wind direction indicator too. Needless to say it was not what we expected but at that point we didn’t have a choice but to put up with it. Luckily we were going into the waves which is not as bad as taking them broad side, although we had to keep adjusting our heading to get the best angle for the walls all day.  It was the left over ocean swells that had not yet settle down as expected. We kept telling ourselves it would get better as we got closer to the Florida coast and pick up some protection from the land. We did eventually but it was a long day. We considered ourselves fortunate after hearing from the coast guard about a boat taking on water and sinking at Great Sail Cay in the northern Bahamas.  At 14:11 we reach the 9 mile line of the Gulf Stream that was surprisingly marked by a line of debris in the water.  We learned that NOAA (The weather Gods) take aerial satellite photographs and use thermal sensors to determine the exact position of the wall of the Gulf Stream, which is updated weekly.  We arrived back in Florida and dropped the anchor at our favourite anchorage in Lake Worth at the same location we departed from on December 8th.  We relaxed with a martini on the back deck and reflected on our 3 ½ months in the Bahamas.

We reward ourselves with Sunday brunch at our favourite Tiki Hut in Riveria Beach. As we arrived to  clear custom we passed through security and they spotted something in my backpack of concern. It looked like a small gun on the scanner but it was the cigarette lighter plug for our GPS which we had brought along for the rental car. We got soaked going to customs so once we picked up the car we did a pit stop at Walmart to pick up rain jackets and flip flops. The rain and thunderstorm that threatened was now a reality for our day trip to visit the short list of boat yards in the area.  We travel to Fort Pierce to visit the yards and decide on Riverside Marine after speaking to the owner and some cruisers we know in the yard. Local Knowledge from Nova Scotia  and Flying Pig were both cruisers we had met in George. We would soon discover that this was a favourite yard for many cruisers leaving their boat in Florida for the summer season.