Follow Our Track
For New Years we put the boat in a slip at a marina close to the girls in Palm Beach Florida and had a great celebration with our daughter Erin, Packy and Ashlyn. We appeared to have a good weather window to cross over to the Bahamas on the morning of the 3rd. When we left at 3:30am there was no wind; the ocean was fairly calm with seas less than 2 feet. We had to run the motor the whole way, but when we got close to the Bahamas we had enough wind to motor sail which added maybe a knot to our speed.
Our point of entry was above the West End called Indian Rock. Unlike going someplace on the bay where you have land around you, this is the middle of the ocean. The only land we could see was the West End, but many rocks, sand bars and the like to make for a bad day so you had to navigate to this small channel. Just before we got there, the GPS started messing up and I did not trust it, so I was hand steering the boat using a single buoy as a point of reference. We made it through the narrow opening and onto Mangrove Cay for the night. Absolutely a deserted island, there were no sound at all – pitch black except for the moon and stars, awesome.
So 2 days later we are in the Black Sound at Green Turtle Cay. We got here in time to clear customs, but when I hiked over to the office the man said my wife needs to be here also. Everything I read said “the captain only to customs, everyone else mast remain aboard.” He said to come back tomorrow at 9 with your wife. So we went in this morning and waited, a policeman said he was coming in on the 10:30 ferry, we waited till 11 no customs person, we are on island time now, mon. . . I’m going back into town this afternoon, and I promise some pictures, we forgot the camera thinking that customs was the most important thing.
The First Mates view of the crossing
The first big leap in our journey to the Bahamas was crossing the Gulf Stream, an “ocean river”, flowing northward at two knots or more, with the greatest speeds in the center of the stream. It can be a tame kitty, a raging lion, or somewhere in between. There are a number of factors to consider: wind speed, wind direction, and sea state. On our first two attemps to cross we had to turn back. The weather report seemed to indicate a green light, but the water was very lumpy. The third try was a success, so we’re here.
The crossing was about 50 miles, but it took 12 hours. I should explain that once we entered the Bahamas, we still had about 100 miles to go before we reached an island populated by people. When I say we anchored for the night, it was next to a little spit of land in the middle of the Atlantic ocean. Thankfully the ocean was like a mill pond the past few days. The beauty all around us was incredible. The silence was total and complete. Nothing. The scenery kept changing as night began to fall. The sky became an intense orange, then red orange. The sky was on fire! Once night was complete it was the blackest I’ve ever seen. There were big bright stars along with a gazillion small ones, twinkling stars and shooting stars. As an added bonus all the stars reflected on the ocean surface. We were in awe of the scene before us.
A word about the water. It was/is clean and clear. In 17 feet of water we could still very clearly see the ocean floor. The varied colors of the water catch your eye – a graduated spectrum from the pale aquas through the deeper teals and on to midnight blues of the ocean depths.
Did I mention that we had not seen another human being or boat in three days?