We bid farewell to the beautiful Bahamas, gave the amazing water one long final look, and exited the Abacos through Nunjack Channel. We headed north, following Granny's compass on a heading of due north. She always said it would get us safely home. We had a nice afternoon and spent some time enjoying it from up high on the flybridge. We brought down our Bahamian courtesy flag which we had flown since March 1. Mother Nature had claimed almost half of it while whipping it in the breeze. Three hours into our trip, I spotted an odd something in the water. Through the binoculars we identified it as a mylar balloon. The challenge was then upon us to go scoop it up. Successful, I brought my catch to the bow and celebrated that "Its A Girl." Nightfall on Day 1 came with a nice orange sunset. We settled in for the first overnight segment, marveling at how bright and plentiful the stars were in the pitch black sky.
At midnight as I took over my first three hour watch, the seas were beginning to build. The wave height wasn't as much of a concern as the period and direction. It was also raining on and off, so we had to keep the doors shut. All those factors conspired to make me queasy and I was green at the gills by 3:00 when Barry relieved me. I slept well though and my 6:00 alarm woke me from a deep sleep. I found more rain as a small line of thunderstorms was passing through. We couldn't figure out what the daylight had revealed to be on our windshield. Even after many passes of the wipers, two spots remained. Once the clouds moved through, an inspection of the decks revealed the unfortunate presence of a dead flying fish on port side deck. Our CSI skills in full operation, we put together that he had taken a giant leap and struck our windshield. Almost simultaneously we asked what was the last thing that went through his mind upon leaving the water. Our answer rang out in harmony ... the windshield! I scooped up the little guy and gave him a proper burial at sea. Barry also found another unfortunate soul on the starboard side deck.
We passed the day listening to a shuffled mix of music stored on my iPhone. Even a library with over 500 songs gets old over a span of over 50 hours. I was disappointed that I was unable to read without getting queasy. Before we knew it, we had passed our halfway point and another sunset was occurring. Our final daylight activity was scooping up another mylar balloon. (Please don't release mylar balloons.) Our second night's weather was much calmer, but there was plenty of traffic to keep us alert. A few course adjustments were required to avoid the paths of the big boys. The sunrise brought the cargo ships to light. I also found that we had collected our third fish of the crossing. We didn't like seeing them dead on our decks, but they were cute and clean -- very different from the Asian carp that jumped aboard and made a huge mess while we were on the inland rivers.
Around noon we got our cell service back. That's a sure sign we were close to civilization. We quickly cleared customs through the ROAM app and set our sights on the channel markers leading into the Charleston Harbor Channel. The Sullivan's Island lighthouse was to our starboard and Fort Sumter to port as we worked our way upriver. The Ravenel Bridge over the Cooper River was off to starboard as we veered to the left and headed up the Ashley River to Charleston City Marina. We had great timing and arrived right at slack tide. Our tie-up to the floating T-dock was uneventful.
We celebrated our return to the States by pulling out the hose and hooking up to a free and unlimited freshwater source. Crossroads got a good bath and she floated higher in the water after most of the salt accumulation was removed. We had a quick dinner onboard and called it an early night. We will welcome a good eight-hour snooze to get us back to normal before exploring Charleston tomorrow.
At midnight as I took over my first three hour watch, the seas were beginning to build. The wave height wasn't as much of a concern as the period and direction. It was also raining on and off, so we had to keep the doors shut. All those factors conspired to make me queasy and I was green at the gills by 3:00 when Barry relieved me. I slept well though and my 6:00 alarm woke me from a deep sleep. I found more rain as a small line of thunderstorms was passing through. We couldn't figure out what the daylight had revealed to be on our windshield. Even after many passes of the wipers, two spots remained. Once the clouds moved through, an inspection of the decks revealed the unfortunate presence of a dead flying fish on port side deck. Our CSI skills in full operation, we put together that he had taken a giant leap and struck our windshield. Almost simultaneously we asked what was the last thing that went through his mind upon leaving the water. Our answer rang out in harmony ... the windshield! I scooped up the little guy and gave him a proper burial at sea. Barry also found another unfortunate soul on the starboard side deck.
We passed the day listening to a shuffled mix of music stored on my iPhone. Even a library with over 500 songs gets old over a span of over 50 hours. I was disappointed that I was unable to read without getting queasy. Before we knew it, we had passed our halfway point and another sunset was occurring. Our final daylight activity was scooping up another mylar balloon. (Please don't release mylar balloons.) Our second night's weather was much calmer, but there was plenty of traffic to keep us alert. A few course adjustments were required to avoid the paths of the big boys. The sunrise brought the cargo ships to light. I also found that we had collected our third fish of the crossing. We didn't like seeing them dead on our decks, but they were cute and clean -- very different from the Asian carp that jumped aboard and made a huge mess while we were on the inland rivers.
Around noon we got our cell service back. That's a sure sign we were close to civilization. We quickly cleared customs through the ROAM app and set our sights on the channel markers leading into the Charleston Harbor Channel. The Sullivan's Island lighthouse was to our starboard and Fort Sumter to port as we worked our way upriver. The Ravenel Bridge over the Cooper River was off to starboard as we veered to the left and headed up the Ashley River to Charleston City Marina. We had great timing and arrived right at slack tide. Our tie-up to the floating T-dock was uneventful.
We celebrated our return to the States by pulling out the hose and hooking up to a free and unlimited freshwater source. Crossroads got a good bath and she floated higher in the water after most of the salt accumulation was removed. We had a quick dinner onboard and called it an early night. We will welcome a good eight-hour snooze to get us back to normal before exploring Charleston tomorrow.
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