Tomorrow morning at 4:00am, we will cast off the lines here at West Palm Beach, and make the crossing of the Gulf Stream over to West End, Grand Bahama Island. We topped up our fuel tanks this afternoon, so we're ready to go!
We've been here in Riviera Beach almost two weeks, stocking up the boat's stores and waiting for a good weather window for the crossing. For 10 out of the 14 days we've been here, the wind has been out of the North, Northeast, or Northwest, blowing as much as 30knots per hour! Under those conditions, the Gulf Stream, which flows Northward along the Atlantic seaboard, builds larger and larger waves, typically 10 to 15 footers! Finally, today the wind shifted to the East and Southeast, and dropped to normal velocity. The weather forecast for tomorrow is good, with light winds and wave heights in the Gulf Stream dropping down to 4 feet or less by morning, and 2 feet or less by Thursday morning. Good conditions for the crossing!
The distance from here to West End is only about 54 miles, so it should take us no more than 10 hours. We should be there by early afternoon tomorrow, around 2:00pm. That gives us plenty of time to find the marina, clear customs, and have a good restful evening.
We're not sure how well our current internet connection will work in the Bahamas, if at all. So this may be our last blog entry for a week or so. Our current ISP is based on the Sprint network, and we just found out that it may not work outside the US. Yesterday, we ordered a new international wireless internet service from AT&T, but we won't have their device for a couple of weeks. Once that new service is active, we will have unlimited internet service pretty much worldwide, as long as we are within range of a cellular tower or network. That will enable us to browse the internet, maintain this blog, and send and receive email just as we do today.
Susan did order the international roaming program for our cell phones, so they should work just fine, but will be a bit more expensive. Basically, those calls will incur usage charges of up to $1.99 per minute. Our conversations will obviously be brief!
We'll do our best to keep everyone apprised of our current location, destinations, and travel experiences, through all means available to us.
Blessings to all from M/V KINGDOM
Love,
Walt & Susan
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