Atlantis Adventures!

After enjoying our first night at the Nassau Marina at Atlantis /Paradise Island, Bish got the boat "ship shape" and prepped for my girlfriends arrival. 

Debbie, Angela, Laura and Wendy all braved a red eye flight from LA in order to maximize our playtime at Atlantis. Such champs!

As soon as they arrived and got settled in, we found a "straw market" and had fun perusing their handmade items. We departed the next day, so timing was essential to fit everything in that we all wanted to experience. 

This woman was the absolute nicest shopkeeper ever and greeted each of us with a warm hug. 

The people of the Bahamas sure seem to be nicer than anywhere else!

Angela even spotted some must have turtle salt shakers. Ha!

We had our marina golf cart driver chaperone us around. He was hilarious!

Then... It was time for us to hit their MASSSIVE water park! 

First up... The water slides! 

We all felt like a bunch of kids having a blast all afternoon.

We went through a long dark tube riding individual inner tubes. Once we plummeted down some very sharp & scary turns in the dark, we ended up floating through the shark tank. What a surreal scene that was...

There's another water slide that has a 65' drop and shoots you through a tube in the shark tank. We chickened out for that one. 

We had a ball racing on the tandem water slide below. It was scarier than it looks... Some of us even hydroplaned midway down it. We roared with laughter once we came up for air out of the water & double checked that our bathing suits were still intact. It was SO much fun!! The only caveat- once we descended this slide... All of us girls rushed to the bathroom as it made us feel that we had to "GO"! (Which turned out to not be the case.) Embarrassing and hilarious all the same. 

Next up was the inner tube slide that dumped us onto a "lazy river" that actually was filled with intermittent rapids. Even better and it felt like a bonus round that lasted over an hour. We could have been on that rapid river for hours, but sadly they closed at 6pm. Wah wah.

Afterwards the girls, Brad and I roamed the park to make sure we didn't miss a thing. Even in some pouring tropical rain, the fun was not about to end. 

Brad adorned himself with the greatest conversation starter... A TRUMP hat. 

Gifted by the girlies of course. What a crack up and Brad loved it!!

We toured the underground aquarium after we exhausted the water slides. 

However, to get to the aquarium we had to walk through the casino and that was dubious...none of us could decide to imbibe or not as there was "action" everywhere. Ha!!

Most of us weren't big gamblers, so we passed on that activity. 

Walking around in our wet bathing suits was luckily another deterrent as well. 

And the only thing to cap off a great day was a wonderful Italian dinner that night. Fun was had by all and I couldn't believe the girls all rallied to such an extent after taking the red eye!

Palm Beach to Nassau, Bahamas

We departed the dock at 6:00pm to catch the 6:15 Flagler Bridge opening right next to the marina. We had a 19 hour cruise south to Nassau and this was the perfect time to leave in order to arrive the next afternoon before dark. 

We were so psyched to get the Caribbean portion of our 20,000 mile crazy adventure underway!

 Brad could hardly stand the excitement. And now...a word from our sponsor.

You never want to arrive into a strange marina at night...especially a foreign one. Too many obstacles and things that could go wrong. This is the last bridge crossing we will have until we arrive home in Newport the middle of next year. 

We radioed ahead and requested an opening and once granted, the bridge couldn't open and became stuck. All we could do was wait. Ruh ro!

Our only other choice was to head south down the intracoastal to Boca baby....and that meant we wouldn't hit the open ocean until 9pm. So...we opted to roll the dice and wait out the Flagler Bridge while they called for an engineer. At least the beginning of our Caribbean adventure had some excitement already!

Finally, an engineer came out and got the bridge working after an hour and a half. (Which was actually quite quick in my opinion) They hailed us on the radio to let us know we could cue up and move ahead. Woohooo! 

Instead of leaving from the marina at dusk as planned, we departed under the cloak of darkness for about 6 miles as we dodged random little fishing boats, lots and lots of buoys and a random manatee or two. 

A few hours later we crossed the Gulfstream which slowed us down a few knots. The Gulfstream is best described as an underwater river that runs beneath the ocean extremely rapaciously and stretches from the Gulf of Mexico...all the way up the eastern seaboard. I think of it like the jet stream, but with water. It really ramps up in the month of November (cue rough waters!) and luckily we are ahead of it! (Brad is always ahead of the game for that matter.)

And then, there we were...crossing the BERMUDA TRIANGLE! Dun dun dun.... 

Holy crapamolé is right! I said a prayer and didn't poop my pants luckily. 

The Bermuda Triangle is loosely referred to as the Devil's Triangle. It's here where numerous ships and planes have disappeared without explanation. Goodtimes! The only "oddity" of our night crossing was when Bish came upstairs to ask us why we kept calling him on the boat phone in his room. Well, we weren't. He said it rang 4 times and no one was there. So that's one mystery of the Bermuda Triangle that will never be solved. Somehow we will cope and get through this. Maybe it's due to climate change.  Ha! We can ask Bernie about that one... 

Brad and I ended up doing "watch" together from 9pm-3am. We ran the boat at night from the flybridge as it was such gorgeous weather. Warm and balmy with a nice breeze. We crusied past a ton of cargo ships and freighters, and passed the time playing "heads up" on my iPhone.

 It's a hilarious trivia game and an "app" you can download if you're with one other person or in a group. You hold your phone up to your forehead while the other person gives you clues so you can guess the answer. It certainly kept us awake with hours of laughter...In between watching the radar and filling out the cruising log that is. We also watched the night sky as it was blanketed by a million stars. I even saw a few shooting across our path. Just idyllic! 

We arrived to Nassau the next day around 12:30pm. The seas cooperated and had been flat as can be luckily. 

We were greeted at the harbor entrance with a quintessential lighthouse and our first glimpse of the turquoise waters that we're sure to be a familiar sight for the next six months. 

We pulled into the harbor and there were only two cruise ships in port which is allegedly minimal on the scale of what they normally have there. 

Bish prepared our lines and got the fenders ready as we were going to be docking at a standing dock. 

As we approached the Atlantis resorts marina, it was apparent why the name was so apropos. 

Atlantis was a behemoth of a resort!

Here we are pulling into our dock. 

What a view and all of those sherbet colored houses are going to be a great backdrop!

Bish checked us in at the dockmasters office, which as marina offices go was pretty sweet digs. 

Soon the customs officials came aboard to clear us into the country. That involved some paperwork and passports. Then it was time for lunch...Off to the village we went.

and a much needed nap after that. Having fun is hard work. Haha! 

We checked out their massive aquarium at night and it was quite well done. 

The eels were a bit creepy however. 

Tomorrow...the girlies arrive!

Norfolk,VA to Palm Beach, FL

Once again, the blog had a bug and didn't seem to post a few weeks back if you were subscribed via email. So, this post tardy, but enjoy nonetheless!

We weren't sure if this trip was going to commence on our planned departure date as Hurricane Erika was imposing herself on south Florida.

 Luckily she behaved just in time and we were off!

We departed LAX on a Monday and had to connect in Washington DC in order to catch a puddle jumper to Norfolk, Virginia. 

As we finally arrived to the Norfolk Marina after a long day of flying, we hopped aboard and fired up the boat engines...time to get our adventure on the road!

Bish had prepped a wonderful dinner for us and we left the marina just as the sun was setting. 

The weather was nice and balmy... Perfect for an evening cruise. 

Brad was busy getting our route confirmed and mapping it all out. Brad is my spirit animal.

We were rushing to get out of the harbor before nightfall so that we could spot any potential hazards that wouldn't show up on our radar. Buh-bye crab pots!

About 5 hours later and still off the coast of Virgina, we witnessed live fire coming from two massive ships a few miles away. Yipes! Battleships?!

We quickly changed our course and turned on a dime, heading in a revised direction STAT! This was a first for us. Why hadn't they broadcasted their live fire practice to alert fellow boaters? Then, within minutes the US Navy was heard over the radio and we learned that they were having target practice out in the ocean & to keep a 3 mile distance from them. We were only 2 miles away, so we skedaddled! I hadn't seen anything close to this with the exception of the Pirates of the Caribbean ride at Disneyland. Haha! They had a lighted target that they shot at with out in the ocean. Watching this take place at night was so cool! Luckily they weren't having target practice with missiles, as they did the following day. 

Tuesday, our first full day on the water was uneventful. The seas were quite lumpy with a south swell, but that soon flattened out for great cruising. We hardly saw another boat, as it was early in the season to be heading south. We knew we had a great window in between hurricanes and Brad had timed it perfectly. If we waited to head south the following month, seas would be much rougher and hurricanes could step up their game. 

By early Wednesday morning, we arrived back in Charleston, North Carolina. We even arrived before the fuel dock opened which gave us time to get a morning walk in before we fueled up. Dawn patrol!

Back at the Megadock... Long as can be and not nearly as packed as the last time we were here. 

The marina was quiet as a mouse.

The colorful sailboats were all lined up and looking spiff.

I was busy on my morning walk breaking rules. No one popped me either. Security!

Walking forever in the sizzling morning sun wreaks havoc in this humidity.

I mean...I know its good for your skin and all, but the HAIR!

The yacht club was closed at this early hour.

The bar in the boatyard was ready for business though. Too funny. 

And the megadock continues...

And still keeps going...

Morning mussle nibbles for the seagulls...

This meant the tide was out. 

1500 gallons of fuel later, we headed back out to sea. Next stop...West Palm Beach, Florida. 

En route to Florida and just 60 miles off the coast of Georgia, we were surprised to see that the ocean depth was only 150'. It was there that we checked the remnants of hurricane Erika on our radar. Luckily we are missing out on it!

Brad was right... The weather behind the dissipating hurricane was great. Seas were smooth as butter!

We normally run about 13 knots, however running against the gulfstream with a 5-6 knot current has us slowed down to 7-8 knots. Womp womp. Hard to believe that this vast ocean has a current. Brad had expertly calculated our fuel usage, so we won't be chancing our fuel and speeding up or adding onto our arrival time by circumnavigating the g-stream. A little (major) lightening storm offshore has provided a nice evening light show. 

By 3:30am when I finished my "watch" and was off-duty from my late night captain duties, the gulfstream was dissipating and we were slowly speeding back up toward 13 knots. Yippe!

The sea temp is almost 90 degrees. E-gads! No wonder oodles of sharks are swarming our beaches.

We pulled into West Palm Beach just as the sun was setting. Thunder clouds are de rigeur this time of year. 

And we had to cruise below 5 knots as the harbor is full of manatees. 

And what's that? Yes, another bridge opening we had to wait for... Par for the course in Florida.

Flagler Bridge baby!

Finally, after a 3 day and 800 mile "dive bomb" run from Virginia, to swampy Florida...we are all tucked into our slip. 

And what's more exciting than a few storm clouds out?

Torrential blowing rain, thunder & lots o' lightening!

I was caught out in it and got soaked to the bone. 

Thought I was going to get blowin' away or struck by lightening.

Turns out this is a daily occurrence in the summer. Everyone seems to know that you don't go out between the hours of 3-5pm. Too funny.

After the storm...

It was HOT & mc nasty sticky out...and what could I do about it? Nada.

 

The US / east coast portion of our adventure is complete. We've now traversed 11,000 miles of our 20,000 mile adventure. We absolutely loved every minute of it and have been lucky that our boat has worked flawlessly on such a long journey. 

Let the happy dance commence & shake it like a Polaroid picture! 

Our next voyage will head south to the Caribbean where we plan to journey as far south as the Grenadines which is just above the top of South America.  Can't even wait!