Saturday and Sunday February 26-27, 2011

Up early to check the weather. I looks good for traveling back to Florida. The wind hid died down. This was good and bad. Since there was very little breeze in the morning these little annoying insects came out and started biting us. The little buggers are so small that you cannot see them, but you can feel them bite.

We stowed our gear and settled up our account with Sue. She took all of our Bahamas currency and credit cards. I was told to get rid of all the Bahamas money before leaving the country. Banks in the USA will not exchange Bahamas currency for American currency. I am returning to the United States with three US dollars in my wallet. Once we arrive in Fort Pierce, my first stop will be the money machine.

At 8:30 I fired up the Honda, Jerry tossed off the dock lines and we headed toward Angle Fish Point our first waypoint for the trip back to the USA..

Jerry steered as I hoisted the mainsail and the big 155 Genoa filled with wind and drive us along with the iron jenny at 6 plus knots. After three hours of motoring Jerry figured that it was time to calculate the amount of fuel we should have on board if we were to motor all the way to Ft Pierce. We started with 22 gallons of fuel. I figured the fuel we had plus the wind we should get, we would have enough to get home. I thoughtr that the winds had to pipe up soon.

As we left Spanish, there was no wind at all. The Sea of Abaco looked like a giant mirror! The only disturbances in the water was left from our wake

5:00pm We rounded the waypoint called Baracudda Rock. There were six to eight dolphins swimming along, around the boat. The would dive behind the boat and next to the boat. They were so close, you could see their eyes. What magnificent creatures who sailor believes are good luck.

The water is so clear that you can see the bottom in 20 feet of water. No need for a “looky bucket” today. I could see sing rays, conch, sea urchins, star fish and sea grass from the bow of the boat.

At 5:35 the wind started to pick up. I raised the head sail for the second time in eight hours. We were making between 5 and 6 knots.

The sunset was spectacular. Jerry and I both got our cameras out and took photos. The sky was pink, red, orange and the sun itself. A huge round ball falling into the ocean.

I got out the safety harness for the person on night watch to wear. We discussed taking 3 hours shifts. Jerry took the helm at 8:30pm and I crawled into my berth to get some sleep. Jerry let me sleep until 1:00am. The stars were bright and reflected in the water just like the moon reflects in the water when it is out.

It is difficult to keep a sail boat on course when hand steering at night. There is nothing to ‘aim for’ and looking at the compass and the GPS is hypnotizing. Waves slap the hull and rock the boat and you cannot see them. It is a very unusual feeling. We saw one boat about 3:00AM that came very close to us and then when getting close changed course nad headed away. Both Jerry and I wondered who that boat was?

The sunrise was beautiful. We were heading west and the sun came up from behind us. The sun was coming from the same direction as the waves. We were still moving at about 5 knots and still on the banks. We were still in 20 feet of water and had not hit the opean ocean.

We crossed out of the banks and into the open ocean at about 10am. The depth of the water went to almost three thousand feet! The depth gage no longer worked. It send an electronic impulse to the sea floor and the signal bounces back to the transducer. When the returning wave is received, the instrument calculates the depth by the time is takes to come back to the instrument. It was sooo deep that the sound wave kept going down and by the time it reaches the bottom we were long gone bu the time the signal bounced back.

Once we got into the Gulf Stream, the temperature of the water was noticeably warmer than the open ocean. The water also slowed up the speed of the boat if you steered into it. We had and east south east wind and were on a broad reach.

Water Mark was in the open ocean and holding her own. She sails well into the wind. She is a little bouncy off the wind. I was glad that we picked the right weather window. A small sailboat on the open ocean is a storm might not be a lot of fun.

We sailed all day. There were swell of waves coming from behind us. There were also crossing waves coming from the side of us. The sea was a little confused. The wind continued to be steady and we were making about 5 knots.

We sighted land about 3:00pm the tall building on Hutchinson’s Island looked very welcoming. I checked the signal on my cell phone. I was plesently surprised to see a bar. I pushed the button and talked to Sandy. She was at the movie theatre. I told her that we had just sailed into Florida waters and Jerry and I were safe.

At 4:30pm we sailed in the Ft Pierce inlet. Just as we got inside of the break wall at Ft Pierce a huge 40 foot sport fisherman came by us at full speed and created a 6 foot wave that Jerry steered us into. The wave broke over the Water Mark and the splash went 15 feet up into the air. The splash got the head sail wet, the sheets and the dingy that was stored on the foredeck.

What and absolute asshole. If it we not for some fast thinking from Jerry that guy could have really caused a huge problem for boat like the WaterMark.

We have learned that the sport fisherman think they are the kings of the sea and anyone in their way will pay hell. What is wrong with these guys. They are in every port us and down the coast of Florida and are dangerous!

Aa 5:00pm I took down the head sail as we entered the inlet. I then took down the main sail as the wind was being blocked by several buildings.

Jerry handed me the tiller and I made the starboard turn into the Inter Coastal Water Way. We passed Harbor Town, Taylor Creed Marina and finally made the turn to port and tinto Riverside Marina. We traveled 160 miles in 33 hours. We made it safely back to the United States.