Bahama banks

Having left Lake Worth , Florida at 5 AM, we were ready to call it an early day. We had made it across the Gulf Stream and past Memory Rock but not as far as Great Sale Cay. The evening and night promised to be calm so Harmony and Puff dropped anchor in about 15’ of water, about 15 miles away from West End. The boats rocked gently on satin water as the sunset was an enveloping world of soft pinks and turquoise. But it was the night that held the magic.

Imagine that it is late in a clear, dark night. You are on deck, enjoying the quiet and solitude in the center of a vast inverted velvet bowl. The moon is a tiny crescent. Thousands of stars sparkle above and around you. Some are very bright and it feels like you could touch them. The horizon is a dark gray pastel blur punctuated by an elongated soft glow to the south. That is the inhabited western end of Grand Bahama Island. Closer to the boat, dancing lights point across the water toward you. They are the reflections of the stars.

This is why we endured the long trip south and two weeks of bitter cold in Florida. When it is beautiful in the Bahamas, it is spectacular. We were careful to cross the Gulf Stream under good conditions but rarely is it so perfect on the Banks. Now we are happily on a mooring in Black Sound in Green Turtle Cay. We will probably stay here for a few weeks before we go farther south in the Abacos to visit friends in Treasure Cay and Marsh Harbour and to simply enjoy the coves and fun of this snowbirds lifestyle.