Monday March’s 26th, twenty eighteen
We left Peter Nygard’s anchorage on Saturday morning at first light. Twenty four hours later we were anchored on the bank about 20 nm from North Bimini. We slept for five or six hours and off we went again. As the sun rose we were approaching North Rock and our crossing to Port Everglades.
The forecast was for light south winds (under 10 kts) and that is what we got. At times we struggled to sail as the winds were lighter. Our angle from North Bimini and Fort Lauderdale didn’t give us the best boost from the current but neither did it hold us back much. The swells were certainly light and manageable. Our only issue was a collision opportunity with a 1000 plus foot container ship. We had to alter course to give me a one mile miss, that held us up a bit but much better than dancing with that big girl.
The most stressful part of our day yesterday was the arrival at Port Everglades. The entry had south winds that picked up to 15 as we made the shore. The chop and swells merged with the tidal current to give us a mini rage. Fracas loves to frolic in these but add to this the wakes from fast moving 50 and 75 footers… holy crap. The stuff was rocking.
Add to this choppy water the fact that it was spring break. There were boats of all sizes and shapes going every direction. The majority of these boaters are not seasoned and experienced boaters. We were a slow cautious mover in all these party boaters. We had to posture and line up for the three bridges between us and our anchorage for the night. We managed to get through the bridges and did not hit anything.
On the way we passed Laudy Lagoon Sandbar. We were at high tide, the sandbar was circled with about 100 boats all waiting for the tide to recede and the sandbar to come back. This pic shows orderly anchoring and was nothing like what was going on yesterday. A game of volleyball was underway underwater on the sandbar.
I have not been in traffic like this on the water since we transited the 1000 islands bringing Fracas home to the island.
Oh ya, as we were sailing between Nassau and North Light we got a call on the radio. They said they were on the cat approaching and asked if we were the Fracas from Little Current. Yes we cautiously replied. They said we are 
Craig and Day from Toucan. I met them in my role as manager of the town marinas. Their new boat is a cat named Toucan Deux. They saw us coming up on their AIS and they knew from Marilyn Lucy that we were in the Bahamas.
Today we will stay put and regenerate. We will also finish our check in and hopefully get our cruising license. more later