So close but yet so far away … to get to the Bahamas from Florida via sailboat involves crossing the Gulf Stream. It is literally a river within an ocean, traveling north at 5-6 knots at the center and can be 20 miles wide. So while the trip from Miami to Bimini is “only” 45 miles, a good portion of the trip is spent being swept northward while trying to make easterly progress. Crossing the stream with a south wind component is a MUST, so it is in the same direction as the current of the Gulf Stream, making the waves smaller and allowing for the fastest point of sail for the trip. Any northerly component to the wind creates large standing waves and means you must wait for a better day to cross. We attempted our first crossing from Lake Worth, FL. Several other boats were planning to cross – leaving around 3:30am and hoping to make landfall at the West End of Grand Bahama, about 55 miles to the north east. It is often great to travel in a group so that if anything were to go wrong, help is nearby. Unfortunately, we didn’t get very far on our first attempt. The ocean swell offshore was nearly directly on the bow and waves were spaced close together making it difficult to get the speed we needed to make our destination by nightfall. One of our traveling companions in a sailboat turned back due to rough conditions and after about 4 miles, we did the same. We were back in our slip at the marina by 7am. We learned a lot from the first attempt. First, take seasickness medication an hour before departure (both Reed and Karrie were affected). Second, pay close attention not only to wave height but the number of seconds between waves – 4 sec intervals is too close together. Third, since we were still new to the boat, it would be a better plan to travel only in daylight. Keeping those lessons in mind, we traveled south to Miami via the ICW to make the shorter, daylight-only crossing from there to Bimini. We pulled up anchor around 5:30am on April 15th and watched the sun come up as we left Government Cut entrance channel. All those susceptible to seasickness had taken medication, the conditions were better with longer wave intervals and predicted SSE winds, and the distance was such that we could make landfall in Bimini well before dark. We also had extra crew aboard with Karrie’s sister, Heidi, and her two youngest kids, Michael and Magdalena, on board. (More about their visit and adventures in a separate post). We felt the impact of the Gulf Stream almost immediately and for a good part of the day. We anticipated an 8 hour sail but with the winds being more ESE and directly on our nose, our speed was negatively impacted and we were swept a bit more north. The ocean was an incredible shade of dark blue, enhanced by the sun and clouds. We also had some sea turtle and Portuguese Man-O-War jellyfish sightings. There were lot of fast sport fishing boats that sped past us toward Bimini, causing a little bit of jealousy at how much easier the trip is for them, but they probably spend as much on fuel in a day as we use in a month! We made it to South Bimini Island around 5:30pm – about 12 hours after we started. It felt great to see the incredible shades of blue water, white sand, and be welcomed warmly by the locals at the marina. There were two pools so the kids, Heidi, and I had a refreshing swim while Eric cleared us in for customs and got our cruising permit. Some dinner, ice cold beer (Kalik is the Bahamian beer) and let the Bahamas adventures begin! | |
1 Comment
molly
5/22/2015 07:00:53 am
ha ha! the wave timing sounds like you are in labor and timing contractions. :) Love the photos. Nothing like the color blue in those waters there.
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AuthorsWe are Karrie, Eric, Ava, and Reed Sanderson. Our house is in Seattle but our home is wherever the four of us are...and for the next two years, our home is Night Music, a Tartan 37 Sailboat. Archives
June 2016
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