We did not want or need any more war stories, and a pleasant crossing was our goal. The Gulf Stream might look like a mere 30 to 40 miles wide area of strong currents, but it can be a bugger to cross. Only a day sail from Florida, I thought the Bahamas would be packed with boats, but the tricky Gulf Stream crossing and cruising fees kept Floridians from invading in larger numbers. Add in a lot more people and boats to either enjoy, or contend with, depending on your mood, and the Keys didn't hold nearly the allure of the Bahamas. On a typical 40- to 50-foot liveaboard sailboat, that can get darned expensive. Any place we wanted to anchor was posted, "No Anchoring." In the Keys, boats are forced to berth in marinas, some that charge four dollars per foot (boat length!) per day. The Keys, which we had explored from Miami, seemed off-limits to boaters. Looking at a map you might think, "Big deal, the Bahamas are so close to the Florida Keys -how different can they be?" The differences are countless. In the Bahamas, anchor anywhere with a sandy bottom and you're guaranteed all those things. I like being warm I like white, sandy beaches I like water so sparkling I can see fish from the deck of the sailboat. The term "paradise" is overused, but that was the word that most often came to mind in the Bahamas. Starfish and conch on the bottom were barely distorted by the water and appeared close enough to pluck from the fine sand wafting back and forth around them in the movement of the waves. With windswept trees leaning far over the white-sand beaches, as though they were stretching to preen in the mirrored water's surface. The scene rivaled any tropical island screensaver. "Look Glen, the water is so blue, clear and shallow we can see the shadow of our boat on the sandy ocean floor! How cool is that?"
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