Away we are . . .

I can hardly believe it, but at last, we can now say that the big trip
has begun.
We left Cooley's Landing at 8:00 on Wednesday morning, forgetting that
the bridges on the New River are restricted until 9:00.
Never mind, this gave me an opportunity to show Jean-Francois the New
River by sailing up to the Davie Blvd bridge at slow speed, and then be
back in time for the opening of the 7th avenue bridge and the following
ones.
We briefly stopped at the Lauderdale marina to top up the fuel tank and
went thru the 17th street bridge at 10:00. Free at last ! No more
bridges, no more restriction, we are going to Jamaica.
The crossing of the Gulf Stream was probably the smoothest I have ever
experienced. Flat sea, a light breeze from the NW allowed us to motor
sail, with full main and genoa and anchor at the back of Bimini around
North rock around 8:00 p.m.
The only small worry was to find out that the odometer of the main
engine was not working. Probably, when the electronician went in the
back of the electric panel to change a breaker, the connection to the
odometer became loose. I will check that once in Staniel Cay.
At 6:30 on Thursday, anchor away to cross the bank towards the NorthWest
channel. We got there (I mean the exit of the bank) at 5:00 p.m. and
after having to take two reefs on the main because of a thunderstorm, we
are now motoring towards the south of New Providence Island hoping to
get back on the bank around 1:00 a.m. If all goes well, we should anchor
outside Staniel Cay around 5:00 p.m. on Friday.