The Captain and Crew of Second Wind are back in the Philadelphia area and relaxing on the Delaware Bay after completing our first trip to the Bahamas (see pictures below).  We are also happy to announce that shipments of Laughing Pirates air freshener/deodorizers are back to normal after the temporary delay reported last month.

Here we are laughing our away across the deep blue of the Gulf Stream on our early June return. The strong current and the southwest headwind made our 65 nm trip quite a long, but uneventful day.  We started at first light from Mangrove Cay, cruised past Memory Rock and then motor-crabbed across the stream which on this day extended to within a mile of the Florida coast and Lake Worth inlet (North Palm Beach).   We anchored in Lake Worth as darkness descended.

We attempted to use the new CBP (Customs and Border Patrol) Roam app to manage our re-entry to the US, but the program seemed a little awkward to use which led to some user errors and an “Entry Denied”.   According to the first agent I called this required us to pay a visit to the customs office near the inlet the next morning.  But the agent at the office said we should try again to use the “buggy” app vs. waiting on hold with the 800 number.  With some corrections to our profiles we resubmitted our electronic entry request and then within a few minutes completed our online video interview with another very helpful agent.  “Entry Approved!” With our corrected profiles we should have no problem completing the process on our next re-entry.

It was a great trip and experience and we definitely would like to further explore  the many other islands and areas of the vast Bahamas and its crystal clear waters.

Captain’s Note: With the beautiful sunny weather and steady breezes we were able complete this three-week cruise from Florida using a total of only 80 gallons of diesel.  This was accomplished by relying on our solar array to power our refrigerator and freezer boxes, ice-maker and fans while sailing/motor-sailing stretched our cruising mileage.   On our next trip we will adjust our loading to bring less fuel and more of other liquids.