Well, as they say, all good things must come to an end.  We had to leave the Bahamas for hurricane season.  We went to Great Sale Cay in the Abacos to make our trip to the US.

We left around 6:30 PM so we would get off the Bank and into the Gulfstream in daylight.  We ended up dodging lightning storms all night long.  In addition, the wind died so we had to motor most of the way.  Because of that, we had to go to Fernandina, FL so we could get fuel.  We left on a Sunday night and got into Fernandina on Tuesday morning. 

Along the way, we encountered lots of Dolphin, turtles and other sea critters.  The Dolphin are unbelievable.  They play all around the boat.  You could almost reach out and touch them.  Seeing them along the way is supposed to bring good luck.  At one time, we must have had a dozen around us.  We also encountered a huge old turtle.  I’m certain this turtle was as big as a small vehicle and as old as dirt.  His head was every bit the size of one basketball if not two.  His head was silver and body ridged.  It was a good thing he was not exactly in our path as I do not think he could get out of our way.  He was maybe 10 to 15 feet away from the boat.  He just looked at us and kept on his merry little way. No fear.  It is amazing to me the creatures we have seen on this trip.  We can only imagine the creatures that we missed.

It’s great in the Gulfstream as you are making about 11+ kts across the ground.  It really pushes you along.  We had wanted to make Charleston, SC, but we didn’t have enough fuel for another 20 hrs.

We stayed at the City Marina in Fernandina and checked in with US Customs and Immigration there.  The whole process was quite easy.  We ate a couple of meals ashore and took off first thing the next morning for Charleston, which is one overnight. 

That’s the leg that had us catch two small Mahi Mahi.  They hooked up at the same time and we had our hands full for a little while.  I filleted them on the back of the boat and put them in the freezer for a future dinner.  Great White Hunters….  Scott will be proud.  He has been helping us all season by telling us what to use to catch certain fish and that is good because we need all the help we can get.  This fishing on the sailboat in the Bahamas is all a little new to us.

We got into Charleston early the next morning and checked in at the Mega Dock.  It’s full of 120+ ft. motor yachts.  This is the same marina we stayed at in November.  Quite a facility.  We love Charleston…lots of restaurants, bars and shopping.  We had great Mussels and an Italian dinner with live jazz.  The stores and amount of merchandise available is a little overwhelming.  Welcome back to the US! 

We stayed there for two nights and then left for Beaufort, NC (pronounced “Bowfort”).  That’s a 215 mile trip and takes us around Cape Fear, NC and Frying Pan Shoals.  Well, we were about 45 miles off of Myrtle Beach, SC when I was napping down below on Father’s Day afternoon when Kim yelled, “Fish on”.  I jumped up to help out and she landed a small Mahi Mahi.  Because it was so small, we threw him back to grow up so we can catch him next year.  I then went back to my nap…for a while.  Kim yelled, “Big fish on”.  She was right.  She landed a big Mahi Mahi.  Great White Woman Hunter…. We got it onboard…as you can see.  I filleted it and we put them in the fridge for when we would get into port the next day.   

It was a long night as we were dodging lightning storms for several hours going around Cape Fear.  Morning came and it was very calm…but you could tell something was up.  Around noon off Wrightsville Beach, NC we ran into a bunch of thunder squalls.  We had to dodge them as much as we could by going in all different directions adding miles and time to our trip.  Well, we made it to the Beaufort area around 6:00 PM.  Since it is 5 hours from home, we decided to anchor at Cape Lookout, one of our favorite places.  The marine life for such a small area is incredible. 

We anchored, showered, cleaned up the boat, and had a great meal of very fresh Mahi Mahi.  Kim’s fish was fantastic!  We cooked it two different ways, and each one was great.  Of course, it was served on a “bed of rice”, as Amy would say.

The next morning, we left for home…Oriental, NC.  We got in safe and sound, but are already missing the islands.  We had not been in a slip for quite a while so you never really know what new excitement you can have trying to tie the boat up.  We are now trying to adjust to “living on land”.  We’ll be back in the swing of things real fast, I’m sure.

We had a fantastic adventure and can’t wait to take off in November to go back down.  It was a dream come true.  I’m planning on making a “lessons learned” entry after I get things settled down.  Until then…we’re getting our “land legs”.

Steve and Kim

PS:      Well, we’re home…the car’s battery is completely dead, the toilets keep running, and the AC in the condo didn’t work.  I’m thinking about turning around right now and go back to cruising.  Oh well, the joys of home ownership!