We made it to rainy Bimini!

No pictures this time --- the trip was ...well...miserable.  We pulled up the anchor at 2:30 AM at "Government Cut" in Miami. As we reached the ocean, the waves were higher (2 to 3 ft, building 3 to 4 ft)and closer together than advertised, and the wind was higher (forcast 11-12 kts growing to 12 to 15), making for a lumpy ride, impossible to prepare meals, sleep, etc.  We did have a near full moon, though, giving us good visibility most of the time. With the wind from the south, and our heading 110 deg, we initially motorsailed, and then sailed most of the way as the wind increased to 15 to 18 kts, finally reefing the main sail. We saw at least a dozen big ships, mostly in the dark, on radar and by their lights, in the 42 mile crossing. At least 4 were giant cruise ships, lit up like amusement parks.

The Gulf Stream seemed faster and wider than average. The guide books say to assume an average of 2 kts northerly current all the way across. We did - and ended up with a projected land fall 5 miles north of the Bimini channel entrance. To correct for this, as we approached Bimini, we turned more and more south, headed closer and closer into the current, wind and waves, which by that time were about 20 kts, with 4 to 5 ft choppy waves, respectively. Oh, and we were run over by several rain squalls as we were within about 10 miles of Bimini.

Overall, no real problems, just not fun.  Luke did a geat job of getting us here, especially navigating through the narrow & shallow entry channel into Bimini. Our goal of doing that near high tide, with it's additional 2 1/2 ft of water depth,  dictated our wee hours crossing .

The weather now is cloudy, with showers.  That's ok - it's warm, we're here, and will do exploring tomorrow.