Monday morning, early, we left No Name Harbor, near Miami for the Bahamas. All day Monday we were crossing the Gulf Stream toward Bimini with a North swell and South-East winds. It really was a great weather window for the crossing! We headed for North Rock, an entrance onto the Banks, where depths go from thousands of feed to around 25 feet and sometimes less. The water changes color to a fabulous turquoise from dark blue right at the entrance to the banks. It's breathtaking! The water is very clear and we did see somewhat less swell over the area. We were in the banks the rest of the day and until around midnight as it's quite a ways across. We had a few places where we worried about the depths which got down to around 9 ft. As we got toward the far edge of the banks, late at night, we had to pass a light to get back into the ocean. It seemed like it was taking us forever to get past the light and we realized that there was a strong current coming into the banks from the ocean. We had to "put the pedal to the metal!" to get our speed high enough to make it past the light, while at the same time we were waiting for a freighter to pass us so we could both get off the banks. It was quite exciting and having to take watches and try to sleep for three hours and then be on duty watching-- depth, wind direction (we were sailing and motoring both), and other boats was pretty challenging. We hadn't done this kind of sailing for many months. We reached Nassau about 1:00 Tues afternoon and went to a marina. Sleep was a high priority after checking-into the country--officials came right to our boat, so it was very easy, just a lot of paperwork. We walked around and discovered that Bahamians here have cars with steering wheels on different sides of their cars and they drive on the other side of the road like in England. There are few sidewalks and some very narrow spots for walkers!

After a great night's sleep we explored the downtown area, historical museum and fort, walked around the straw market and ate a great breakfast in a downtown coffee shop with locals and tourists. People watching is high art in Nassau with all the cruise ship folks and locals who work in all kinds of jobs, including running their country. Cruise ship development around town is pretty sureal with all the super expensive international shops, but the buildings are colorful and it seems like tourism is a productive way for the Bahamas to prosper. When we got back to the marina, we enjoyed a Kalik (beer of the Bahamas) at the Poop Deck Restaurant here at the marina and had some conch fritters as well. Yum! We are planning to leave tomorrow for either Rose Island or Highbourne Cay, or maybe anchor in Nassau harbor, all depending upon the wind and swells. It's been pretty blustery and very cool.

We enjoyed seeing some of the sailboats that the local people sail between islands and in local regattas. We may be able to see one of these regattas in Georgetown, farther down the Exuma chain of cays in the next few weeks. We're so glad we finally made it here and are looking forward to all the anchorages and cays to explore!