You two really are privileged travelers, were the words my dad blurted out as we walked off the dock of the Green Parrot restaurant Nassau Harbor.
After 19 days of perfect weather, we woke up early on the day of our departure to winds that had kicked up to an unsettling 30 knots with a 2ft chop during the night. Just the night before we had dingyed ashore in calm conditions to Potter’s Cay for our last opportunity at the local faire of conch salad and Kalik beer. However, aside from a few unexpected dousings of saltwater on the dinghy ride to the dock, we really had timed our trip perfectly for weather and sailing conditions both on our departure and the arrival. Unfortunately for my dad, he would remain on high alert anchor watch for the next 24 hours in the harbor keeping an eye out for dragging boats while awaiting my mom’s arrival the following evening.
As any “privileged traveler”, like Amy and I can attest, it’s very important to cross the Gulf Stream from Florida to the Bahamas in settled weather as a the frequent north winds of the winter counters the flow of the gulf stream and can really kick up nasty and unsafe conditions. Of course, leading up to our departure from California I had been watching the weather very closely in hopes that we might get a break in the seemingly endless 2week long blow that Florida had been experiencing since Thanksgiving. Vacation time is precious to us privileged travelers and we weren’t looking forward to spending a week or even a few days at the dock or on the hook waiting for the right weather window. The day before our departure I sent a message to my dad saying, “it looks like we’re going to get a 12-24hr window starting the afternoon of our arrival, so please do everything in your power to have the boat ready to set sail.” True to form, Dennis worked tirelessly thru leaking water tanks, battery charging issues, and provisioning to make sure we could capitalize on this weather window.
Upon our arrival into the Fort Lauderdale airport, we hired a shuttle van to take us down to the town of Homestead south of Miami and their fairly remote marina. We arrived at the boat at 8:30 with Burger King and Rockstars in hand ready to get our boat and safety briefing and hopefully set sail. The air was still as can be, the no-see-ums were in effect and I was sweating like a true Californian who’s not used to the humidity! Amazingly enough we pulled back from the dock in the dark of the night at 10:45pm and were on our way. We headed out the channel and then northward towards Cape Florida where we eventually transited the cut thru the barrier islands and reed somewhere around 12:45am.
The first half of the gulf stream crossing was windless with sloppy seas and 3 unnerving course deviations to avoid collisions with passing tanker traffic. At one point on our easterly course we were fortunate enough to get sandwiched between a northbound tanker off our bow close enough to see the crew in the wheelhouse with the naked eye and a southbound tanker about a ¼ mile off our stern. About 20 miles out of Miami things started to slow down and we were able to settle into the cruising life of autopilots, warm waters, and our eventual landfall at Gun Cay where we dropped anchor around 10:45am, 12 hours after our departure. Here we raised our quarantine flag as required prior to clearance with customs and rested up. Later that afternoon we all took a swims and grabbed several conch that were of course, right under the boat! Diving in, the water was a balmy 80 degress, Little did we know it would turn out to be the warmest of our trip undoubtedly due to the close proximity and influence of the gulf stream.
In the Bahamas, most passages can be completed in day trips, typically in the light of day. However there are 2 main passages that are not; the Gulf stream and the Great Bahama Bank, the next leg of the trip. And, as any smart navigator would suggest, it’s much easier and safer to depart from your current position, the one you are familiar with in the dark, so that you can arrive at your destination in the daylight and be able to see where you’re going on the approach.
If you’ve never experienced sailing the Bahama banks you need to, it’s quite an unusual experience. During the leg from Gun Cay to the Berry Islands, you will be out of site of land for roughly 70 of the 80nm but will be able to see the bottom the entire way with depths never exceeding 20-25ft and typically averaging 10-12ft. If you fell overboard in the middle you couldn’t swim to shore but could touch the bottom, if your boat sank you could stay high and dry by just climbing the mast!
After 19 days of perfect weather, we woke up early on the day of our departure to winds that had kicked up to an unsettling 30 knots with a 2ft chop during the night. Just the night before we had dingyed ashore in calm conditions to Potter’s Cay for our last opportunity at the local faire of conch salad and Kalik beer. However, aside from a few unexpected dousings of saltwater on the dinghy ride to the dock, we really had timed our trip perfectly for weather and sailing conditions both on our departure and the arrival. Unfortunately for my dad, he would remain on high alert anchor watch for the next 24 hours in the harbor keeping an eye out for dragging boats while awaiting my mom’s arrival the following evening.
As any “privileged traveler”, like Amy and I can attest, it’s very important to cross the Gulf Stream from Florida to the Bahamas in settled weather as a the frequent north winds of the winter counters the flow of the gulf stream and can really kick up nasty and unsafe conditions. Of course, leading up to our departure from California I had been watching the weather very closely in hopes that we might get a break in the seemingly endless 2week long blow that Florida had been experiencing since Thanksgiving. Vacation time is precious to us privileged travelers and we weren’t looking forward to spending a week or even a few days at the dock or on the hook waiting for the right weather window. The day before our departure I sent a message to my dad saying, “it looks like we’re going to get a 12-24hr window starting the afternoon of our arrival, so please do everything in your power to have the boat ready to set sail.” True to form, Dennis worked tirelessly thru leaking water tanks, battery charging issues, and provisioning to make sure we could capitalize on this weather window.
Upon our arrival into the Fort Lauderdale airport, we hired a shuttle van to take us down to the town of Homestead south of Miami and their fairly remote marina. We arrived at the boat at 8:30 with Burger King and Rockstars in hand ready to get our boat and safety briefing and hopefully set sail. The air was still as can be, the no-see-ums were in effect and I was sweating like a true Californian who’s not used to the humidity! Amazingly enough we pulled back from the dock in the dark of the night at 10:45pm and were on our way. We headed out the channel and then northward towards Cape Florida where we eventually transited the cut thru the barrier islands and reed somewhere around 12:45am.
The first half of the gulf stream crossing was windless with sloppy seas and 3 unnerving course deviations to avoid collisions with passing tanker traffic. At one point on our easterly course we were fortunate enough to get sandwiched between a northbound tanker off our bow close enough to see the crew in the wheelhouse with the naked eye and a southbound tanker about a ¼ mile off our stern. About 20 miles out of Miami things started to slow down and we were able to settle into the cruising life of autopilots, warm waters, and our eventual landfall at Gun Cay where we dropped anchor around 10:45am, 12 hours after our departure. Here we raised our quarantine flag as required prior to clearance with customs and rested up. Later that afternoon we all took a swims and grabbed several conch that were of course, right under the boat! Diving in, the water was a balmy 80 degress, Little did we know it would turn out to be the warmest of our trip undoubtedly due to the close proximity and influence of the gulf stream.
In the Bahamas, most passages can be completed in day trips, typically in the light of day. However there are 2 main passages that are not; the Gulf stream and the Great Bahama Bank, the next leg of the trip. And, as any smart navigator would suggest, it’s much easier and safer to depart from your current position, the one you are familiar with in the dark, so that you can arrive at your destination in the daylight and be able to see where you’re going on the approach.
If you’ve never experienced sailing the Bahama banks you need to, it’s quite an unusual experience. During the leg from Gun Cay to the Berry Islands, you will be out of site of land for roughly 70 of the 80nm but will be able to see the bottom the entire way with depths never exceeding 20-25ft and typically averaging 10-12ft. If you fell overboard in the middle you couldn’t swim to shore but could touch the bottom, if your boat sank you could stay high and dry by just climbing the mast!
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