Wednesday, April 20, 2011
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Florida to Bahamas and the return
MILUNA left Fort Lauderdale March 26th after Lisa arrived and last minute things were purchased for our trip. We headed southwest from Port Everglades towards the Bahamas for two weeks or so of sailing and diving. It would be our first trial with the Atlantic Gulf Stream in a sailboat, the ocean river that flows westward from the coast of Africa towards South America then north, below Cuba and then along the coast of North America on to Europe. I read about the force the stream utilizes to move unsuspecting boats in a northerly direction, but I had been fishing in the stream and on it's edge off the coast of North Carolina a couple of times. There never seemed to be a problem going where ever we wanted while in the fishing boat we were using. We hit the stream sometime that night and noticed the conditions had gotten a little rougher, but everything seemed fine. We were sailing and had smiles on our faces. We had visions of clear water diving, lobster tails and conch. We sailed through the night and plotted our position on our paper chart the next morning. There must be some mistake I thought, we had headed southwest, but we had gone northwest. We were no where near where we were supposed to be. How could we possibly be so far north. I even got out my spare GPS to check it's coordinates against or main GPS. They agreed. We really were several miles north of our target. After sailing against the wind trying to correct our mistake we realized after awhile we were getting nowhere and why should we worry. We were here in the Bahamas. The water was clear, the weather was great and the sun was friendly. Lets drop anchor and enjoy, it didn't matter where we were exactly. This place was as good as any other. We had gotten to Grand Bahama Island, Westend they call the town where we made our anchorage.
We opted not to pay the $300 entry fee so we could not set foot on their land, but we could anchor in their waters. After settling down and changing anchorages we were visited by two local men in their fishing skiff offering us fresh lobster tail, conch and stone crab. We bought portions of all three and these friendly men offered to go back to town and get us a case of cold Bahamian beer. Eclipse by name and as usual better than any mass produced beer available in the US. So lobster tails were the first meal and what a meal they were. It helps that Lisa is an accomplished cook making wonderful meals the whole trip. Next mealtime it was the stone crab's turn. They weren't as good as the lobster but quite edible. Next time was the conch, my favorite. I might be able to eat conch on a daily basis for a very long time and look forward to being in a place where we can harvest them. Because we did not pay the entry fee we could not legally fish in their waters. So our days were spent diving and fixing things that always seem to break, bend and move to the wrong place.
We were never in a hurry, but the time went far too fast. It was a little struggle to remember which day it was so we would make it back for Lisa's flight. We watched the weather and waited for a southeast wind so we would have a smooth sail back to the mainland. We knew the stream now and we were ready for it's forces so off we went, all sails set but for the staysail. We started off great, 6 knots or more as I remember and we promptly slowed down as the wind dropped and the iron genny came out. So back to motorsailing and then we hit the stream again at night with Lisa at the helm. I was trying to catch some sleep in the forward cabin as the noise from the engine is rather loud in the aft cabin. Rolling back and forth and feeling the bow crash through 8' seas is not condusive to a sound nights sleep, but it was fun. We were sailing. So back east to Florida and again the stream showed us who was in charge as it once again took us more north then we wanted to be, but not as bad as going over. When we got close to the coast we decided to duck into the Intracoastal Waterway at Hillsboro Inlet to have quiter water going south. Lisa lined us up on the entrance bouys and we slipped into the protection of the canal. It was a pleseant ride to Fort Lauderdale, but the 2 weeks went by way too fast, but there's next time.
We opted not to pay the $300 entry fee so we could not set foot on their land, but we could anchor in their waters. After settling down and changing anchorages we were visited by two local men in their fishing skiff offering us fresh lobster tail, conch and stone crab. We bought portions of all three and these friendly men offered to go back to town and get us a case of cold Bahamian beer. Eclipse by name and as usual better than any mass produced beer available in the US. So lobster tails were the first meal and what a meal they were. It helps that Lisa is an accomplished cook making wonderful meals the whole trip. Next mealtime it was the stone crab's turn. They weren't as good as the lobster but quite edible. Next time was the conch, my favorite. I might be able to eat conch on a daily basis for a very long time and look forward to being in a place where we can harvest them. Because we did not pay the entry fee we could not legally fish in their waters. So our days were spent diving and fixing things that always seem to break, bend and move to the wrong place.
We were never in a hurry, but the time went far too fast. It was a little struggle to remember which day it was so we would make it back for Lisa's flight. We watched the weather and waited for a southeast wind so we would have a smooth sail back to the mainland. We knew the stream now and we were ready for it's forces so off we went, all sails set but for the staysail. We started off great, 6 knots or more as I remember and we promptly slowed down as the wind dropped and the iron genny came out. So back to motorsailing and then we hit the stream again at night with Lisa at the helm. I was trying to catch some sleep in the forward cabin as the noise from the engine is rather loud in the aft cabin. Rolling back and forth and feeling the bow crash through 8' seas is not condusive to a sound nights sleep, but it was fun. We were sailing. So back east to Florida and again the stream showed us who was in charge as it once again took us more north then we wanted to be, but not as bad as going over. When we got close to the coast we decided to duck into the Intracoastal Waterway at Hillsboro Inlet to have quiter water going south. Lisa lined us up on the entrance bouys and we slipped into the protection of the canal. It was a pleseant ride to Fort Lauderdale, but the 2 weeks went by way too fast, but there's next time.
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