We crossed the Gulf Stream going from Lake Worth inlet, Florida, to the Bahamas. There are two ways of doing this. One is to go straight across to Eastport, pass customs there, and then slowly make your way down south. The other way we chose to go is to head roughly at a 45-degree angle and clear customs at Chubb Key. The latter one keeps you in the Gulf Stream longer and is about a 20-21-hour journey on our boat (8-knot cruising speed) versus about 8-10 hours to Eastport. We are headed to Exuma and wanted to get south quickly, so we decided to stop in Chubb. It means an overnight. We left Lake Worth at 11 am on Friday. It was a moonless night. We expected to see some traffic in the Gulf Stream but encountered none. This is the first time my spouse and I have done an overnight trip, so anxiety was a bit higher. But the journey was smooth. Once we entered the Bahama Bank, it was around 2 am, and we started seeing some traffic. We saw at least 4 small boats that were heading our way. We also saw a couple of well-lighted cruise ships just before we reached the Bahama Bank.

We followed the broken-line route from HenChicken to Mackie Shoal, then to the northwest channel, reaching Chubb Key around 8 am. The trip was rather uneventful and boring. Maybe one day we will take this trip during the day and find it more interesting.

Customs and Immigration at Chubb Key was very smooth and quick. After a couple of hours there, we went to Nassau Island on the west side. Anchored at West Bay. Nice holding ground, protected on all sides except the west. Guides said there would be swells, but we didn't actually find any, maybe because we were tired and slept through.

Here, we motored down the next day to Highborne Cay. Very easy 54 nm ride. Anchored overnight at Highborne Cay. Since our goal was to reach Georgetown quickly, we did not have time to explore much around Highborne Cay or Staniel Cay, and the next day we took off for Black Point.

Crossing the Gulf Stream

First Trip to the Bahamas