While we weren’t planning to cross back to Florida this soon, the windy cold fronts won. It cost us $400 to Bahamian Immigration just to extend our stay for (what ended up as) only 1 1/2 days. Leaving Spanish Wells we had hoped to head south to spend a week in the Exumas. Pass – several windy days forecasted including some with strong west winds (not much west protection available). Rock Sound for a week, then Exumas – worth it? In the end, we decided to head west to the Berry Islands as we haven’t explored there recently & it was at least in the direction of our eventual return to Florida. A bonus was that the Great Harbour Cay Marina offers nice protection & is reasonably priced so we could hide at during the cold front. Rather than zoom right to the marina, we (I) wanted to first spend a day or two exploring. As the forecast became more severe, we decided we’d better make marina reservation, but too late – now full with a waiting list 😦

On the way to the Berry Islands – look at that blue water! It’s been a while since I’ve caught a mahi, unfortunately I didn’t this time either – he escaped off the hook as I was attempting to net him – too bad as about 2 1/2′.

Fortunately his distant cousin did make it onto my grill (grouper fillet bought in Spanish Wells). Very calm seas before the cold front.

The Berry Islands are certainly geologically unique. The area surrounding them (white) is several thousands of feet deep. The interior areas (blues) are 2′ – 6′. The greenish areas are nearly awash at low tides

Not a fun 4 days (or nights trying to sleep) as the winds gusted over 35 knots with clocking around from NE, E, SE, S, SW, to W. We moved several times (at high tides as nearly everywhere is shallow) ending up anchoring off Cockroach Cay(!) which was just a little sliver of protection.

We considered next going to the marina (boats would probably be leaving) or perhaps spending a few days at a marina in Bimini as another cold front was arriving with gusts to 40 knots. But, why? Two perfect weather days were coming up, so we decided just to cross back. Day 1 anchored off Bimini, day 2 crossing to Stuart (first time using St. Lucie inlet and oh so much fun on a Saturday with locals zooming past). It didn’t seem the seas could calm down so quickly, but both days were perfect with the light winds directly behind us (always a plus). Later we were extra glad we had crossed, as reports from other cruisers throughout the Bahamas related that the cold front was particularly nasty of clocking winds with gusts to not 40, but 50 knots!

A Tornado Warning + was our welcome back to Florida! Fortunately, we were at a very protected slip in Fort Pierce where the wind was only really bad for a couple of hours. Couldn’t complain too much as we scored a few complimentary days of dockage & diesel at a discounted $3.06/gallon with our Safe Harbor Marina membership. A Publix grocery store within walking distance was a plus as well.

Crossing a week or two early means we don’t have to rush at all going north (don’t want any cold temps!). We’ll next be in Vero Beach for a (short) week with a rental car so we can exchange some things between our boat & our storage unit, get pizza, visit Publix more and ABC too!  Will perform engine maintenance & our usual northbound routine prep.