Good-Bye Bahamas, Back to America

This is Steve raising the American curtesy flag in Cape Canaveral. We have officially left the Bahamas. We left from Great Sale Cay at 7:00P.M on April 23, exactly 3 months and 1 day after we left the U.S. The weather was supposed to be perfect for crossing and travelling north for almost 5 days so we left with the intention of getting into the Gulf Stream & turning northward and possibly travelling as far as Charleston (3 full days) if weather & the crews stamina held. As it turned out by mid-day on the 24th, when we had to decide on whether to turn into to Cape Canaveral or keep going, the stream had become a bit sloppy leading to mild sea-sickness in a few crew members and neither Captain nor First Mate had slept much. In addition our 3 buddy boats were all turning in at Canaveral so a decision was made to stop in there so we turned west out of the stream and got in at 8:30 P.M . Although we didn't get as far up as we had hoped it was a good crossing nonetheless, mainly under sail (maxed out at over 11 knots briefly in the stream) & we were completely bagged by the time we got in so it was probably the right choice.
I didn't realize how little birds the Bahamas have. They have flamingos, but only in the summer. That's about it. We missed our friends the pelicans. They're great fun to watch as they dive dowm to catch fish. They aren't very graceful and they make a big splash!
This is the fort Castillo de San Marcos in St. Augustine. We stayed there for a day and I was happy because we missed it on the way down in our rush to see the shuttle launch. The fort has fought in 15 battles and hasn't lost one. It's made of crushed shell mixed with water lime(I think). They fired off a connon (without the actual cannon ball) and it was funny to see the boaters in the anchorage look up all startled just like we were startled the day before.
After St. Augustine, we went to Fernendina for a couple of days and then we went offshore to Charleston. It was pretty tiring but we were glad to miss Georgia. On our way we had a group of dolphins ride with us for a while. They were amazing!!! There were about 5 or 6 of them with us but this is thebest picture we could get. They had fun playing in our wake and swimming all around the boat.
The run to Charleston was 170 miles & took about 28 hours. The Gulfstream is too far out from shore at this point to make it worthwhile getting out into the stream then back in at Charleston so no new speed records were set but we did have great sailing, for the first 16 hours anyway. The wind died off over night but picked up agian for the the final 4 hours into Charleston. We left Fernandian at 10:00A.M and this time we got the kids to share night watches with us as we had planned for the 2nd and 3rd nights if we had procceded to Charleston directly from the Bahamas. Steve was paired with me and Danielle & Darlene were the second watch & both kids did an amazing job, getting up without a fuss, on schedule, for two hours on watch & then two back in the rack. It was a huge boon for us as it allowed us to have company & a second set of eyes at night while the off watch could get some sleep. The first group of dolphins pictured above came & played in our wake for about 20-30 mintes just before dinner & then again right at sunrise Steve & I were on watch & treated to another group of 6 that came by for a half hour frolick. It was something to see & made Steve pretty happy he got up for that last watch.
We are still hoping to do another 1 or 2 shorter ocean runs up to Beaufort N.C rather than back up teh ICW but we are currently hunkered down in Georgetown S.C while a gale/storm blows through. The forecast is for 30-40 knts near shore and up to 50-60 knots offshore near the stream with 24-34 foot waves so the crew has voted to abandon ship if the captin heads out an inlet before things calm down considerably so we may end up inside again until New Jersey.