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We left West Caicos (#1) the end of March to head back to the States, our first stop being Mayaguana (#2) in the Bahamas. From there, it was a 24 hour run to Rum Cay (#3), where we stayed for about a week waiting for a "front" to pass. When the weather cleared, we decided to go nonstop to Miami, traveling with Marco on "Elixir of Life". We left Rum Cay and sailed through Exuma Sound pacing ourselves to arrive at Conch Cut (#4) and cross Little Bahama Bank at daylight to avoid the coral heads. Once in the Tongue of the Ocean (#5) we sailed through the night to the Northwest Channel Cut (#6) arriving at daybreak. We crossed the Great Bahama Bank on a rising tide, at times dragging our keel through the sandy bottom! We reached the cut between Cat Cay and Gun Cay (#7) just before dark making the pass without a problem. We anchored behind Gun Cay to wait for Marco, who with his 7' draft, ran aground in the Great Bahama Bank. Once free, we guided him through the cut with our waypoints and by 10pm we were both underway, finally back in the deep water of the Gulf Stream heading to Miami. Shortly after we were underway, we heard a Mayday call from a Canadian couple who had lost propulsion as they attempted to cross the cut we had just passed through. Their boat ended up on the rocks and we assisted with a radio relay to the Coast Guard for their rescue. |
