Bahamas!! Let the Adventure Continue!! Ft. Lauderdale to West End, Grand Bahama

Wheels up at 3:45 am leaving Lauderdale Marine Center, 4 miles up the New River in Ft. Lauderdale. Downtown was like a ghost town as we passed through in the middle of the night. We had an outgoing current, NOT ideal when down-bound but with no other traffic (except one small boat) and no auto traffic (that would delay bridge openings), our trip could be described as a piece-of-cake! Not the usual term we use for transiting the New River.

Around 5 am we cleared the Ft. Lauderdale inlet (Port Everglades Channel) and headed out into the Atlantic. In the predawn darkness, we could see the well-lit high rises of Ft. Lauderdale forever….with no other land references, if it weren’t for the chart plotter it would have seemed like we were barely moving!

At 6:50 am, 3 hours into our trip, the sun appeared on the horizon. Today was a great day, we had 2 foot seas and a huge push from the Gulfstream right into West End. We hoisted the Bahamian and Q flags and arrived at Old Bahama Bay Marina at 2:00 pm. Steve and Abby cleared customs in 10 minutes! Then it was off to the beach!