Off we go into the wild blue yonder.....

Early on Friday morning, Ray pulled up the anchor at our spot just outside of Angelfish Creek. I put on some coffee water and we took Nu Trix through the markers, careful to stay as close to the red mark as we could get. We were on a high tide which was good considering the depths at mean low water was just 4 feet. Nu Trix draws 4 1/2! The water was so still from the lack of wind, which made the bottom seem so close. The turtle grass waved at us from what seemed to be a couple of inches. The sun was just making an appearance in the sky over the eastern horizon as we made our way through Angelfish Creek and out into the Atlantic.
I found a really great website for wind and waves. It's called PassageWeather.com and it is pretty spot on with the predictions. It does not, however, predict the storms so we usually go with NOAA. We had very little wind to start our trip so we motored through the markers and past the Carysfort lighthouse that marks the reef. Its such a beautiful conglomeration of colors that swirl through the water. I often think of the sailors hundreds of years ago who came upon these reefs for the first time. I'm sure the ocean holds in her belly, many who learned the hard way, not to cross the reef! Luckily for us, our GPS takes us through without a problem, though we keep charts on hand and ALWAYS have an eye on the ocean.  When we finally reached the edge of the Gulfstream, the boat picked up speed with the current. The Gulfstream is really a large river that runs at about 2 to 3 knots up the coast of Florida and all the way to the England shore.

It carries the warm water which lets tropical trees grow along the coast in England and keeps the temperatures warmer than what one would expect up in the Northern parts of the world. Ray doesn't set a course for Cat Cay because with the pull from the Gulfstream, we would end up way higher than our mark. Even with the push from all that water, our arrival time is a little over 10 hours. Slow and steady wins the race, but wow! I think of how biking from my house to work is the same as sailing for the Bahamas, albeit without cellphone reception or a stop off at Dunkin Donuts for an iced latte! Anyway, we played our music, made some breakfast and talked as we watched the American shore get smaller and smaller in the distance.
About 6 hours into our trip we noticed a large freighter off to port. Since we now have AIS, it isn't such a scary encounter. Ray haled the ship using the name that came up on our Garmin and the ships captain responded immediately! She was very nice and said that she would pass our stern at over 2 miles. We watched as she corrected her course. After the ship had passed, Ray radioed and thanked her for altering course for us. She was 140 feet long and we are about 100 feet smaller, so it was nice to be seen!! If anyone is thinking of crossing the ocean, AIS is a must! I also had been tracking something much bigger and less forgiving than a cargo ship.... a huge thunderstorm! It set off of the coast of the Bahamas and was scattered with reds and purples! Reds and purples are never a good thing!! There was really no where to go except ahead on our course. We have so much safety equipment, radar, EPIRB, inReach, etc, however, storms do not care where you are, who you are and how much crap you have on your boat, they are going to blow and scream and tear up whatever is in their path, so we try to not be in said path! Pretty soon the ocean kicked up her waves in protest to all of the rumbling in the skies. Nu Trix takes the waves well but my stomach, not so much. I will give myself a little credit though. This is the first time that the waves have been big, the lightening so close and the storms closing in, that I have not panicked and started telling Ray to call for the Coast Guard. Maybe I'm getting to be a better sailor, or maybe I'm just coming to terms with the fact that you really cant live forever???? I don't know........ I did say to Ray that I really hope we didn't catch a fish during the storm. Just as I said the last word, my eye caught a flash of green and BAM..... not one but TWO fish were on!!

Ray grabbed one and I grabbed the other. I have no idea what I was doing with the boat pitching up and down in 3000 feet of water and lightening flashing all around, but hey... it was mahi mahi and that's some good eatin'. Ray told me to let him get the bigger fish in so I moved as he fought with the sucker, finally pulling him up to the boat. I handed him the gaff hook and he snatched the bull into the boat and on the floor of the cockpit. I covered the fish with a towel as Ray went after the other mahi. This one was a little smaller but still a good size. I almost lost Ray over the side as he tried to use the gaff hook and kept missing. He finally just grabbed the line and flung the fish into the cockpit. We, well actually Ray, got the boat back on course and I went below for the filet knife and cutting board. Here we were in the middle of the Gulfstream with waves and wind and Ray filleting fish!! The ocean settled down a little, though the roll continued all the way until we spotted land. That is such a wonderful feeling. The ocean is so vast and the Bahamian Cays so small that it just amazes me that we find them year after year. There are some constants that are reassuring in this life. The stars that men have navigated by for centuries, still shine up in the sky today. It makes me feel part of this wonderful world both of  the present and also the past. I always feel lost in time when we are out on the old Gulfstream. With no one else around, the year could be 2017 or 1717........ time just flows on  and on.
The lighthouse at Gun Cay comes into focus and Ray heads Nu Trix on a course that takes us just off the coast where it sits, still functioning also.

We have to go around a rocky shoal that is between Gun and Cat Cay. Nu Trix pulls us towards our first anchorage in the Bahamas.
Right off of the entrance to Cat Cay is good holding behind a shallow bar that extends well to the east of the Cay. We grilled our catch and made rice and beans to go with it.

Brisa even got some of the fish and she loved it!! We had such a wonderful night on the hook. About three hours after we turned in for the night, I woke to hear the wind howling. Ray turned on our sailing instruments and clocked the wind at 30 knots. Along with the wind, came pounding rain. We had three different storms through the night and into the next morning. Nu Trix held us safe as she always does. With our boat all rinsed from the fresh water, breakfast and coffee consumed, we decided to go up to Bimini and clear customs and immigration. With a Q flag flying off the starboard, we set a course for Bimini Bluewater resort, A/C and Bimini bread.
Not necessarily in order of importance!! Our trip in the clear waters of the Bahamas had just started. Ray and I are so excited to be back in the islands. We are going across the Bahama banks on Thursday, into Nassau on Friday and hopefully to Exuma on Sunday. Soon come, mon, soon come!!!