The party goes on !

Roger is taking the picture, Linda in the background

Having surrendered the car on Sunday afternoon, John from the Solomons Island, came to pick us up at Enterprise Rent a Car and took us back to his condo and Monica. There, I showed them the way I do "mayonnaise", and then he took us back to Papy Jovial and Harbortown marina where we had a quiet dinner, preparing to leave the next morning.
Again, we had to deal with a bridge, this one opening only at 8:30. Little scare as we were leaving. I had cleaned the main strainer for the raw cooling water for the  engine and forgot to reopen the sea cock. Consequence, high temperature alarm. I immediately knew what it was, but I was in the middle of manoeuvring to get out of the marina, and by the time I dove into the engine compartment and opened the sea cock, Papy Jovial was already scaring birds in the trees lined up between the marina and the barge canal. Fortunately, no damage.

Crossing the Gulf Stream

But we had to speed up to make it to Vero Beach marina where I scratched the hull against the finger pier, which is raw concrete and no fender of any kind.
Next morning, we left as early as possible to deal with 8 bridges on our way to Old Port Cove marina in North Palm Beach. There, we had dinner with Steve and Lili who have a condo there, have their boat at Shelter Bay marina in Colon, and are preparing to leave for New Zealand early next year. Preston and Sherry, Roger and Linda (aboard Sandcastle), Karen and myself and of course Steve and Lili for yet another wonderful evening.

West End to Ezio's

By 4:30 next morning, I was awake, and although I had said that I would not leave before 6:00 to have some daylight, we actually left at 5:40 headed for West End.
The crossing was uneventful but the conditions were slightly less than fair, with headwind forcing us to tack under engine and main sail, and 4 feet seas on the nose, which Papy Jovial does not like at all.
We got to West End in pitch darkness and since I had not been there in a long time, I was not very comfortable coming in. It went however smoothly, and we were tied up in time to welcome Preston and Sherry who were just behind us.
Clearing customs and immigration went like a charm next morning and we were able to leave at 8:40 and arrive at Ezio's on the Great Lucaya Waterway around 3:00 p.m.
Now, we are in the Bahamas.