We arrived safely back in the US in the company of our 3 other buddy boats, two cruise ships, a US Navy submarine, a US Army Landing craft, and a few Coast Guard small boat escorts all headed into Port Canaveral on Thursday morning. Our crossing took just over 22 hours, making good time. In fact, we slowed our engine RPM on more than one occasion to insure that we didn’t arrive too early. The Gulf Stream always provides a push for the crossing, and this trip was no exception. Our crossing was smooth and except for a number of squalls that we passed through the conditions couldn’t have been better. Some of those squalls contained some significant lightning, always disconcerting at sea. We suspect Celebrate may have been closest to one strike, and upon arrival at the port, discovered some anomalies in some electronic devices. Nothing terribly serious, but tasks to be added to the post-cruise maintenance and repair list.
We will be making our way north toward the Chesapeake, where Maerin will be hauled and put on the hard for new bottom paint and other maintenance. Another Bahamas cruise sadly comes to a close!