REPORTS FROM THE RIP: BACK IN THE USA

We have covered a gulf, an ocean, sounds, coves, bays, lagoons, 5 country's, and two common wealth's over the past 6 months. We caught lots of fish and met many new friends along the way. We explored and competed and relaxed and worked hard. The past 6 months seemed to fly. ( well except the time in the DR). But the best part of the entire trip was seeing the buildings on South Beach , Miami materialize on the horizon. Its good to be back in the USA... I guess I will have to brush up a bit on my spanish.
The last few days have been picture perfect. The seas were flat and the skies were clear. And best of all, the boat was pointed towards the United States. Our First afternoon we just ran from San Sal to Cat. The skeeters were so freakin bad we could not even step outside the cabin. But it was OK were were headed towards the states.
Day two was an enjoyable one. We cleared the Exumas around lunch time and stopped on my favorite coral heads. Kyle and I took turns hopping in the water and had great success. Oh and by the way... I got another real big lobster. Kyles were small. LOL. That afternoon we made our way into Atlantis in Nassau. The place was packed with families and it stormed. But thats ok because were were heading to the states. Today, we made our way from Nassau across the Great Bahamas bank. I have spoken of this before but the colors of the water there are so brilliant. Add to that the slick calm water and the water seemed to shimmer with bright blues and greens as the light reflected off the shallow waters on the bank. It truly is mind boggling how incandescent the water appears. We did stop on a few spots and got some lobsters. One of the spots that I had marked but not snorkeled on 6 months ago when we were runniong the other direction. I jumped in the water to find the remains of a very old single engine airplane. The were no lobsters but it was teaming with snappers and lionfish.
The last two hours of todays run was across the gulfstream between Bimini and Miami. The water was so slick calm that you could see the reflection of the boat next to us as we made our way across the calm waters. About 4pm we had Miami Beach on the bow. It was a great feeling knowing that we were almost back in the good ole USA. Its now somewhere around sunset. The afternoon thunderstorms over the everglades have the show obscured but it does not matter because we are back in the USA.