Ah, yes. I do love Ft. Lauderdale, but, as the saying goes, "It's Better in the Bahamas"!

We left Ft . Lauderdale at sundown. Exiting Port Everglades at 6pm on a Sunday nights means that ALL the cruise ships had already left. In fact we heard them leaving all afternoon on Sunday. The traditional three whistle blow to indicate to all that they are leaving port. The one that had us laughing the first time we heard it was the whistle blow for the Princess Cruise Line ships. They do a three whistle blow, but then also do a "ship's whistle" version of the theme song for the 80's show: The Love Boat. It was so neat to hear this the first three times...but there must have been several Princess Cruise Liners leaving port one after another. After hearing the theme song three times in a row for 5 vessels it's not so cute anymore. 

The wave forecast had been optimistic at best. I think the seas were much more built up than what they had predicted. It was a bumpy crossing, but a FAST crossing. We expected to take 11 hours to get to Bimini, we could have been there in EIGHT! We were moving at 6.5 knots with only the mainsail up! We had to slow down our sailing to 2 knots for the last four hours of our trip just to wait for the sun to rise so that we could see our way into the Bimini channel.
Upon arrival, we hoisted the Q flag (Quarantine flag) and then checked into Customs and Immigration. Then, as promised, John and Joanne had us over for an Eggs Bennie breakfast! It was so good to have hot food placed in front of us after a night crossing! 

With a full tummy, I had a good sleep for a few hours. Then, we went to the beach! The waves were great fun. 
 
So we got our weather window. It was a pretty bumpy ride. But, we made it! We're in the Bahamas and the crews of Exhale, Simunye and Inspiration are HAPPY!