Crossing the Great Bahama Bank. (A Loooooooooong Trip)

Yesterday morning dawned cloudy and breezy.  We checked forecasts from many sources, and they all agreed that the wind was going to get strong this afternoon.  We figured if we didn't leave then, we'd be stuck in Bimini until the weekend.  We can't afford that much time in a marina, so it was time to leave.
We left just before 10:00 am.
We headed south out of Bimini into a headwind (of course).  Once we were just low enough to clear the shallow waters, we turned to the east.  At this point the wind turned southeast, so it was just enough for us to gain some speed from it.  It was awesome!  We cut across the 5-foot-deep area!  The water was so clear, it was almost blindingly beautiful!  Very bright and the lightest blue.  Totally sweet.

Photos never do the water justice.  It was practically glowing!  So gorgeous!

Gradually, the wind shifted east.  Blast!  In our faces again!  And this time it really slowed us down.  So we tacked.  We zig-zagged all night trying to gain a little speed.  Sometimes we would hit that sweet spot where the main sail would stay full, and we'd hit the waves at just the right angle that we'd just ride over them.  Those were the best.  But they didn't happen very often.  We spent the night going 2-4 knots.  Very slow.
In the middle of the night, the wind switched around slightly to the southeast.  Once we got to the Northwest Channel, we would have to go southeast, right into the wind again.  So we decided to head northeast and cut to the northern part of the Berry Islands.  This would let us work our way down the islands and see everything we wanted before going over to the Exumas.  Once we turned northeast, our speed doubled.  Sweet!  (Of course, doubling 2 knots is still a slow 4 knots, but it was still a victory.)
Our engine tends to burn a bit of oil, so we were stopping it every 5 hours to check the level and top it off.  I think it may have been the 5am oil check when I suggested we top off the diesel.  Don't want to run it dry in the middle of nowhere and have to bleed those darned fuel lines.  Did you know it's really hard to pour a 5-gallon fuel can into a little fitting?  It is.  Imagine doing it in rocky seas.  Whoa!  Fuel went everywhere!  I think we managed to get most of it in the actual tank, but it did make a fearsome mess.  And smelly.  Made both of us queasy off and on for the rest of the night.  Adventures!
Around sunrise, the wind and waves balanced out really well.  We were rocking about 5 knots and weren't getting the crap beat out of us at all.  Awesome!  Well, every once in a while, we'd get a wave splash over the bow, but that's no big deal.  Or is it?  No, usually it isn't.  But somehow, we'd forgotten to close the hatch over the v-berth completely, and the bed was pretty wet by the time we made it in.  Oops.
But at last, around 8:35 this morning, Trevor spotted land.  We realized we'd been out of sight of land for about 17 hours.  Yikes.  "Land Ho!"  (I insisted Trevor say it, since he spotted land first.)  Woohoo!  Our journey was finally drawing to an end.  Of course, that little dot of land is still many miles away.  But we chugged and sailed along.
We finally made it in to a marina around 11:30 this morning.  The trip took us over 25 hours.
Yep, we're exhausted.  But surprisingly not as bad as the last crossing attempt.  Probably because we were well-rested when we started out.  And we realized that napping on the cabin floor is much easier to do than napping in the v-berth.  The front of the boat bucks and bobs in the waves, but the middle just kinda rocks.  Good to know.
And now Trevor is up doing laundry (diesel spill + leaking hatch = lots of things needing washing).  We both had showers (Yay!!! We were so salty from the splashies). 
Hello, Great Harbour Cay and the Berry Islands!

And, since I finally have internet that's fast enough, here are some pictures!

Carysfort Reef Light House

Leaving Bimini Sands Marina. Check out that water!

My first fish in the Bahamas!

My second fish in the Bahamas. (Hey, it's bigger than the first.)

Sunset over Bimini Beach Club

Aw, sunset picture!

Sunset over the ocean. Not too shabby.

We finally got Trevor his Corona commercial moment.

I got a moment, too.

Last night's sunset.