We left Indiana for Florida on Tuesday, 10/29 after lunch with a jam packed car full of all of Samba's bedding, towels, clothes and stuff - - lots of stuff. Fortunately, we were able to arrange for a little peep hole through the top of it all so we could see out the back of the car.
Samba was a mess when we got to our boatyard in Stuart, FL. After sitting on the yard's back lot since July, the decks had lots of dirt and algae. Ughhh.
We splashed her at 7:30am, Friday morning and went to work!
Monday, we took Samba out for a sea trial to check out a new autopilot system the boat yard had just installed. All went well. Then, we just had to finish prepping Samba and provisioning for the rest of November and all of Christmas week with our kids who plan to visit us between Christmas & New Years.
Once in the Bahamas, food options and groceries are pretty limited so we try to load up with as much as possible before going. In this case, 3 car loads!!!
We learned that there would be a 1 day weather window to be able to cross the Gulf Stream on Friday! In fact Chris Parker, our weather router, said to be prepared to be socked in for a week once we get across!
Wednesday morning early, we left the boatyard in Stuart & traveled 5 hours down to Lake Worth, FL to spend the night anchored. Though a little lumpy, the trip wasn't too bad with seas under 3 feet.
We anchored just inside the Lake Worth inlet entrance where the water was clear, shallow and it afforded a lovely view of the incoming ships. Just behind us was Peanut Island, a favorite among local boaters.
We had 1 drawbridge to pass in Stuart and then it was out to the open seas! Yeahhh
Did you ever see a floating tiki hut? This fun little guy passed behind us.
We pulled anchor and moved across the channel to a protected place behind an island. That was soooo much more comfortable!
The sunrise was lovely and an indication of a breezy, but tolerable cruise down to Fort Lauderdale.
The 5 hour cruise from Lake Worth to Fort Lauderdale was a bit lumpy but OK. The final leg of the trip into Fort Lauderdale past Port Everglades is always interesting. Lots of cruise ships, mega yachts and mega mansions.
Things were still a huge mess in Fort Lauderdale after the big boat show, just a week ago. They were still disassembling docks and all of the infrastructure that goes into the boat show so we had a bit of difficulty finding a place to spend the night.
Fortunately, the Swimming Hall of Fame Marina had just opened back up for business on part of their docks so we pulled into there to spend the night and stage for our trip across the Gulf Stream on Friday. PTL!
