And so the Winter is over

 With a sigh of regret and a bit of apprehension we departed Bimini for the U.S.. It's been almost six months since we left the U.S. back in November. In fact our immigration papers expired on 5/15/10 so we really stretched our stay out as far as we could. Renewal of the papers is an option, and some do, but maintenance on Freedom is piling up and the only place to perform that is back in the States when she comes out of the water for the Summer.
  The weather leading up to our departure was quite windy on many occasions. The Gulf Stream was not kicking up much but it was certainly agitated enough to prevent us from running it. After all we only have 13.5 feet of beam and we travel at about 8 knots. The combination of waves at short intervals lends itself to a slow ride with some sharp rolling. When they are close together the ride can be quite uncomfortable. Big 2000 HP Sporties eat this up without flinching. Ok, even the 40 footers with about 1000 HP have a good ride.
 But not us.
 Forecast data had the Stream at 2 feet or less. As many of us have learned this was not exactly the case. It was more like an ocean swell of 2-3 out of the South West with chop on top out of the South East that was representative of the forecast. So that meant we had the obligatory wave at 2-3 times the forecast picking us up and rolling us suddenly. Maybe it wasn't so suddenly because after all, you've got to be blind not to see it coming. Folks feeling seasick don't see it coming. They merely flow with the go. No one lost it but suffice it to say it was close.

 In spite of that we whiled away the time watching flying fish shoot out of the water and glide above the waves. Once in a while other boats appeared as they traveled to their destinations. We figure that there were several headed to Lucaya or West End, as well as others traveling to Bimini. Many left with us upon reciept of the favorable forecast for the Gulf Stream crossing to Florida, but all of them out ran us.
 I have uploaded the Garmin data including this run from Bimini to Pompano. It has our average speed at 7 knots from Bimini to Pompano Fl..  Note that this includes the ICW time heading up to Pompano, and that has time waiting for bridges to open so this is not representative of the average while we were out in the blue water.  Out in the Gulf Stream our combined stream speed and forward motion had us at 10 or 11 knots over the ground on several occasions. Given the boat was making about 8 knots the affect of the Gulf Stream and Weather are now more understandable. We tried to maintain the course recommendations in the guides that account for the Gulf Stream current but the addition of the wave action and wind was enough to blow us North beyond the assumptions the guides made. The wave action alone dictated a more Northerly course to make the ride tolerable. It's not like we have a sail to flatten out the ride Maggie.
 But we slogged back towards Port Everglades because Hilsboro Inlet has a bit of a reputation. The wind and wave action appeared as though they would make this inlet a "ride".
 As a result I had to make a couple of corrections to keep us on track for Port Everglades Florida. One for commercial traffic, and much later on, another Southern correction to hit the Port Everglades inlet. The commercial traffic out in the ocean moves faster than one might expect for their size. In no time at all they are upon you and if you drop your guard their wake will catch you by surprise.
 Now that we are back in the States we are trying to gear up again. It's culture shock. Drive on the right, traffic lights, and stop signs. Cars are everywhere and moving fast, instead of an occasional golf cart with a friendly face offering a ride to Hope Town. On the upside we can rent a car for what it costs to rent a golf cart in the Bahamas!
 That and there are Italian restaurants serving up Calamari with Hot Peppers and Marinara.

 It's good to be back in the States.

 Now we have the usual remarks from dock masters over the air. After the initial dialog to establish connections and recall the reservation we have;
 "Sands Harbor this is Freedom, which slip will we be in?"
 "Freedom you will be in slip 15"
 "Ok Sounds good."
 "Freedom do you know where slip 15 is? Have you been here before?"
 "Negative"
 "It's between slip 14 and 16".

 Having been out in the heat and on the water all day I was still able to laugh and afterwards he did give us much better directions. Dang Aussies, always have to get their shots in.