Lake Effect on Great Loop: Returning to USA

Entering Atlantic Ocean

After two months on the Sea of Abacos it is time to return to the USA and to complete our loop. And as our friend Steve said comeback to reality.
To leave the Sea of Abacos you must check, double check and triple check the weather forecast because you have to cross the whale. There you enter into the Atlantic Ocean and a few miles later you exit it. It is a treacherous area. We had so so weather prediction but we decided to do it since it isn't a long crossing. We could take an hour of rocking. As we neared, the weather looked favorable but we wondered if the exit would be bad. Turns out the weather predictions were wrong. The ocean was calm and the tides were favorable. Easy.. Easy.
First stop as we left the Sea of Abacos was to No Name Cay to feed the wild pigs. They live alone there but they have plenty of visitors. Even tour boats go there. It was fun to see.

Then we were off for one night of anchoring. There we met up with our buddy boat who had beeen visiting at Green Turtle Cay while our friends visited us. We missed that island. Now we have a reason to return. We anchored at Great Sail Cay. We were there in February and there was about six boats. But this time, we were thirty one boats. We were rewarded with a beautiful sunset and sunrise. WOW.

Sunset

Sunrise

The next day we were off to the West End to await our crossing. We waited an hour for fuel so we aren't the only ones crossing the next morning. That night, we celebrated our seventh month on the loop and our last night in the Bahamas. We did this at the best restaurant in town. It's also the only restaurant. We celebrated with our buddy boat and friends from Midland we met on the river system.

Crossing day we were expecting rough waters but it turned out very nice. I got some tuque knitting done. That and reading are my favorite things to do for long travel days.

We arrived at Fort Pierce City Marina early afternoon. It's a great place with an easy walk to the center of town. There are several restaurants and a beautiful waterfront. The only downfall at Fort Pierce was checking into Customs because we were reentering the USA. We had this number but neither of us could call with our telephone. We borrowed a telephone to make the call. That was a 45 minute call. After we were told that we had 24 hours to check-in in person. The office is at the airport. It's no fun because we don't have a vehicle. Uber it is. Our driver said it was her first day of driving. I hope I misunderstood that.

Now we have permission to resume our adventure as we travel North towards Canada. First stop was Sebastian. It's a smal town in the Treasure Coast. We went to visit Mel Fisher Treasure Museum. Nice place to see the work of salvage explorers. In 1985, Mel found the largest treasure find in the world.

Nuestra Señora de Atocha on July of 1985. They continue to salvage that ship today.

After two days of being rocked by the strong winds at Captain Hirams Marina we are off. It is a travel day. We are off to chase the Easter Bunny. Now that the internet is better I might resume my map so you can follow along.