Monday January 17, 2011

The gas dock is a cute little pink structure. Dave first thought that it was also the customs and integration office. The dock attendant gave us a pile of custom and immigration forms and told us to deliver them to the office in the next building. I cannot believe how many forms there are to fill out when you bring a boat to the Bahamas. I filled out five sets of forms most were duplicate of what I filled out before in a different order. The officer behind the counter was a stamp happy sort of guy. When he stamped a document, there was a loud boom from the desk as the stamp hit the paper with tremendous force. The officer then told me that the Bahamas Cruising permit was $150.00 cash. Credit Cards and Debit cards are not usable. The permit includes a fishing license for all on board the WaterMark. Boats over 35 feet pay a twice the amount and are charged a $300 fee.

Immediately after clearing customs and immigration, I called Sandy. Dave called Patrice. We Skyped. Dave used his MacBook, I used my I touch. This was neat because I was able to show Sandy what the facilities looked like. She also had the chance to see several boats leaving the harbor.

We needed showers after sailing all night as both of us and the boat were covered in salt. We left Port Salarno at 11AM. We arrived at West End at 9AM. We traveled 95 miles in the open Atlantic Ocean and it took us 22 hours! It should have taken just over 15 hours. I’m sure glad that the weather was good. We were on a port tack all the way and sailed over water that was 2500 feet deep.

The Old Bahama Bay Marina is very upscale. In fact when Dave and I got a slip for the night they told us the charge was $2 per foot with a minimum of 40 feet. I guess they do not like small sailboats. What a rip off, greedy, management in my opinion. This is a very strategic location for crossing the Gulf Stream and to charge those crazy fees is terrible.

The water here in turquoise blue and you can see the bottom in 50 feet of water. The owner of the facility that we stayed at in Port Salarno gave me a wet suit for skin diving. I can’t wait to use it.

It is now 2:30PM and the weather window has closed. It is blowing hard at 20 to 25 knots and raining!