April 14 Semezana was there bright and early and we had a delicious breakfast out on the Lido deck. Afterwards, we both took off and headed north along the chain to Highborne Cay. Once everyone was anchored, they came over and took us to the beach for one last swim and a run for Fred (the dog). We then had dinner on their boat and said our goodbyes.

April 15 Well, it was too hot to sleep so we got up at 4am and headed towards New Providence island where Nassau is located. We passed the western end of the island by 10am and decided to keep going to Beaufort, NC. By midnight, we were near Great Isaac light at the north western tip of the Great Bahama Bank and ready to head for the Gulf Stream.

April 16 By 4am we had gone 180nm and were just getting into the gulf stream. We turned north into the stream and zoomed up the coast of Florida at mostly 11knots! The wind was on our stern quarter and we were siddling along and the auto pilot and NAV steering had trouble so John had to use the Z drive to help it out.

April 17 By the time I came on watch, the steering didn’t need as much help and got better as the night wore on. By 4am (48 hrs after our departure), we had gone 434nm at an average speed of 10.6 knots! The seas were still bigger than we wanted but the stream was pushing us along wonderfully so we stayed in it until around Charleston. I sit in the pilothouse trying to entertain myself all the while listening for objects making noises in the galley. Then I stuff towels in the offending spots and start listening for places I missed. Our route slowly took us out of the stream and straight on towards Frying Pan Schoals and eventually to Beaufort, NC. The gulf stream comes up the coast of Florida and curves with the coastline of Georgia and South Carolina and then slowly turns east to go across the Atlantic to Europe. To get to Beaufort, NC we have to continue north and leave the stream and go slower (at our usual pace) as a result. At least it is sunny and we even had a flying fish land on our foredeck.

April 18 This was an easy day and we arrived in Beaufort NC in the late afternoon and anchored by the coast guard station. Along the way, I cooked up some and ate some of the food that the customs people were probably going confiscate the next day when we cleared in to the USA.

April 19 We went into the Beaufort town docks and the customs officers came and took some of our fruits and vegetables and meat but were polite about it at least and even let us keep our chicken if we cooked it up right away in front of them. Next, we went to lunch and grocery shopping. On the dock was another very interesting steel trawler and we made friends with the owners and had a tour. The husband had done all of the interior work over many years and it was incredible and had quite a few interesting features. He did beautiful wood working everywhere. Then we showed them our boat which they loved too and had cocktails. Because lunch had been filling, we had ice and ice cream for dinner- don’t tell the kids!