After being in Ft. Lauderdale for one month, we are finally ready....we think.....to make the crossing to the Bahamas.  First, we have to get to Miami, but that is a short day’s sail south and can be done in almost any weather as we stay fairly close to shore.   Sunday looks good as the weather will be sunny and the wind will be behind us from the north so it will be a comfortable fast sail.  

We thought we had gotten most of our major provisioning done when we rented a car at the beginning of November.  However, as the month progressed, the list started to grow.  We decided to rent a car one more time and did so on Tuesday and Wednesday.  We ended up filling our compact rental car and having to take four trips from the dock to the dinghy.  We bought large quantities, such as a 25 pound bag of rice.  It will take awhile to get everything into smaller portions for storage.  I have been careful to itemize all of our supplies on a spreadsheet.  At the end of our trip to the Bahamas we will be able to look at what we ran out of, what we had too much of, and what we wish we had purchased in order to shop more efficiently next time. 

Then began the unpacking and re-packaging.  Since you have to pay to get rid of garbage in the Bahamas, and also because we want to utilize our space well, I took everything out of the boxes and bags they came in and repacked it in ziplock bags, Food Saver bags, plastic “lock and lock” containers, and arranged everything in various storage areas.  Much of the multiple purchases, such as 17 jars of spaghetti sauce (2-3 meals from each bottle), 36 cans of tomato soup, 61 packages of microwave popcorn, etc., went in plastic bins stored on the floor in the forward guest cabin (photo above).  All the cupboards in the galley as well as spacious storage under the table benches are also full.  A large drawer under one of the queen size beds in a guest cabin is filled with a variety of soup.  Outside storage lockers are filled with non food items.  Being a bit anal, I have printed out labels for each plastic bin, made labels for the storage containers I transferred baking items into,  and listed on the spreadsheet where everything is stored.  (Linda, my teammate at Hastings Middle School, if you are reading this you’d be proud of me!)  This might seem a bit over the top, but it’s difficult to find items even without six months worth of food on a boat, so if I didn’t record everything, next June we’d probably find ten pounds of flour filled with crawling creatures at the bottom of some cabinet.  Speaking of flour, one helpful tip I read was to avoid those bugs which are already in flour from hatching, you put the bag in the microwave and heat it for five minutes.  I guess it kills the eggs. Not too appetizing to think about, but better than pouring a cup of flour into a recipe and having bugs crawling around in it.

Last night we washed five loads in the marina laundromat.  It’s been nice to use their laundromat occasionally, as our on board washer/dryer is small and takes enough energy that we have to run the generator when we use it.   We’ll go one more time on Saturday and I’ll also wash the covers of the bench seats around the salon table.  Also on Saturday, we’ll make a final run to Publix for a few more groceries.  The trolley runs from Ft. Lauderdale Beach to the shopping strip mall where Publix is located.  We could ride our bikes, as we’ve done before, but the 17th St. Causeway Bridge is very steep. 

While we were shopping we also picked up a few more replacement items as it’s difficult to find parts in the Bahamas and if they have to be shipped in there is a large import fee. Cruisers always try to have duplicates of everything that might break.   We will be making water as soon as we leave Ft. Lauderdale and will no longer be using bottled water for drinking.  There will probably still be a taste from the water tanks even though we will be cleaning them.  Therefore, we got a small Culligan water filter unit to put on the cold water tap in the galley.  Mark installed it last night and it’s working great.  

Everything needs to be cleaned before we leave.  Mark had been in the water cleaning under the hulls, but didn’t quite finish one side and one prop, so he’s going back in tomorrow.  It sure would be nice if he had a wetsuit or scuba tanks, but until that happens, he just holds his breath and goes under.  We’ll use salt water to wash outside, and then rinse sparingly with fresh water. 

Ready....set....go?  Well, at least we are ready.  That’s a step in the right direction after taking 1 1/2 years to get to this point.  When we moved aboard Seas the Day in August, 2008, we assumed we would be in the Bahamas last winter.   It looks like this time it is a go and we’re getting very excited.  The 50 mile crossing is nothing to us as we crossed the Gulf from Naples to Mobile last October, which took us four days.   Also, we regularly sail 50 miles on the ocean to get from one inlet to the next.  Many cruisers tend to stick to the ICW in the States, so for them it’s a bit worrisome to be out in water that is thousands of feet deep, with no land in sight.  Therefore, often they travel together in groups.  We’re content to go alone, thus leaving when we want to go, not when the group is ready.