Quick rehash of events since we left Cape Florida:
We had been watching weather and wave reports for several days, and sought advice from other cruisers, both local (there were about 15 other boats in No Name Harbor), and afar (thanks Richard!). Everyone had a different opinion on what defines a 'weather window.' One German couple that had already circumnavigated once were going to wait until after Christmas and the prevailing east winds settled back in. A French Canadian couple was going to wait until Thursday night and try to ride the southerly and westerly winds that precede storm fronts down here.
We were anxious to go. Everyone's advice was based on being 'uncomfortable' - itself a very qualitative measure. Wave height predictions were 4-6 feet with a north wind. Nothing we hadn't seen before, so we were wondering, 'is this crossing overhyped?'
Richard, our friend sitting in the warm southern Carribean, we figured would give us honest advice. After all, he wasn't trying to rationalize a crossing decision like some of the other cruisers in the harbor.
"When there's a northerly element to the wind, the crossing can be pretty rough; that part isn't overhyped. Will it be uncomfortable? Probably not with only 10 knots, but even 15 knots will start building very short period waves that will kill your speed, make you uncomfortable, and probably result in taking you further north than you'd like. Best bet is to get out there and try it; you can always come back."
With winds forecasted at 10-15 kts from the North, and our next possible window not until Thursday night, we decided to try it, and if anything, we could always come back.
We left at 2 AM and found the conditions and predictions to be much what we expected. Wave heights were probably a little less than 4-6 feet, the wind was 10-15, and the resulting stream-wind interaction did produce choppy conditions that tossed us around a little. The only downer was that the wind clocked around to the northeast, making the passage an upwind beat instead of a more pleasing beam reach.
By noon, we caught sight of land, the water turned a pastel blue, and our depth sounder quickly went from being clocked out, to reading 50 feet.
Crossing through the cut at Gun Cay, we entered the Great Bahama Bank. We still had another 26 hours of sailing to go (courtesy of our destination being directly upwind), but the water here was consistently between 8-15 feet deep the entire time.
Now we're outside Great Harbor Cay eating breakfast after a very restful night's sleep. Today is Christmas Eve (we'll be celebrating in true Polish fashion with Wigilia) and we're all excited and hopeful that Santa will find us here, many miles from home.