We woke up about 3:30am and left our anchorage at a little after 4am. We were not familiar with the channel and oddly 2 red marks that were supposed to be lit were not. We could see the green lights so depended on them. It was a little tense getting out. About 1 1/2 hours out we hit the Gulf Stream. We read how to figure your course and thought we knew what to do but still it was our first time doing it without another boat to follow. The first part of the Gulf Stream sail was something akin to riding over a washboard up hill. Not fun at all. After we changed positions enough to not be fighting the current so much it was much better. It took us about 8 hrs to get through the Gulf Stream part of the trip. We got a lot bigger push than we expected. Winds were 3 to 15kts and at times we made over 9kts headway. By late morning we turned the motor off and just sailed the rest of the day. It was faster than using the motor too. We could see 4 and 5 sailboats most of the time. Going to the Bahamas too no doubt.
About 2:30 in the afternoon Wed we entered the Bahamas Bank. This took us from 1700ft to 20 to 30 ft of depth. The deep ocean looked dark blue sapphire in color, when we entered the Bank the water almost instantly turned bright turquoise topaz blue. It was so clear and the sand bottom so white it reflected the sunlight off the bottom back up through the water so it looked lit from below like you see in pools sometimes. I had gone below deck for a few minutes and it was dark sapphire and when I came up we were on the bank and the water had gone to bright topaz blue. I had forgotten how striking it was from 2 winters ago when we cruised the Bahamas for a month.
We made such good speed that we were going to arrive at the Great Harbour Marina in the wee hours of the morning. We decided about 3am to drop our anchor in 30ft of water and sleep til dawn. We got up at 6am and came the rest of the way in to the marina. We arrived about 9:30am. Customs was right there on the dock when we tied up and our paperwork was all done in no time. It was much less of a hassle than two yrs ago.
The night sailing Wed night was not bad. It was warm enough to cause condensation on the outside of our front window so we rolled it up. Fortunately it was warm enough that it was comfortable to have it open. We needed to see. Would not want to run over some sailboater taking a nap. Both of us took a turn sleeping while the other one kept watch. The moon was almost full and reflected almost like the boat had headlights. It was more pleasant than the first 5 hours of the trip for sure. Our first night sailing all night several years ago was not so pleasant. (Pitch dark and cold)
Lee got a Bahama Telephone Co sims card for his phone so his USA cell number won't work until we return to the states. If anyone needs to phone us you will need to use my cell number. We think this will let us get on the internet easier and be cheaper in the long run than buying international minutes from Verizon like we did before.
Lee's version
We waited for a weather window to cross the Gulf Stream. Wednesday and Thursday looked like what we were looking for so we went. Our plan was to cross to North Rock just North of Bimini and then to Great Harbor Cay in the Bahamas. It is one of what is called the Berry Islands.
Not being confident in our (my) calculations on the impact of the Gulf Stream which runs 2-2.5 knots to the North, we decided to allow as much time as possible and be sure to get on the Bahama Bank before sunset. As a consequence we decided to leave our anchorage at Cape Florida (aka Outside No Name Harbor at 4 am. )
We got out in the ocean and held South of our rhumb line to allow for the Gulf Stream effect. We held a course of 110 degrees as calculated by the instructions on The Cruising Guide to the Bahamas. I don't know what would have happened if we had held that course but it became obvious that we were bucking the current, so we turned North some to take advantage of the Stream. We swung North and crossed our rhumb line then held East and NE to North Rock. I was unable to make North Rock due to the direction of the waves and the continued effect of the stream but we went onto the Bahama Bank just South of Mossell Bank about a mile and a half South of where I intended. I’ll take that.
As we crossed onto the Bank the color of the water changed from deep dark blue to bright, vivid turquoise blue. Lynda says it was the color of blue topaz. It was beautiful. We arrived there at 2:51 on Wednesday. Our concern about arriving while in daylight was overblown. We calculated that part of trip would take 10 hours and that's what it took. Hooray for piloting skills.
We had been unable to sail due to the wind being exactly on our nose so we had motored the first half of the Gulf Stream. Once we got to the second half of the GS & the Bank we had favorable wind direction and speed of 9 knots. We put up the sails and turned off the motor. Glorious silence. We sailed until dark when one of the crew didn’t want to deal with the sails in the dark so we resumed motoring.
We had calculated that at the whole trip would take 30 hours. It became obvious that we were going to get the Great Harbor Cay in about 24. The was going to put us at the marina at about 4 am and that wouldn't work. We decided to pull off the beaten track by a mile or so and drop the anchor for a few hours much needed sleep. We anchored in 30 feet of water. Slept like a log until the swell started jerking at the anchor rode. When we stopped it was calm, so being the lazy creature Lynda accuses me of being, I decided we didn't need the snubber. I awoke about 7 with the anchor rode making a terrible noise. We decided it was near time to go on to the marina so we pulled up all 150 feet of rode and headed to the marina.
The marina was tricky to get into. I had read all at the descriptions and looked at all the charts and aerial photos. As I approached the entrance I was looking to the right for the entrance when it became obvious that I needed to turn 90 degrees to the left. That took us through a very narrow cut in the rock and into Bullock Harbor. I almost missed it completely. We meander through the channel and made it into our assigned slip 46. Marinas tell you that you have slip 46 like you would obviously know just where that is.
Anyway we got into the slip with considerable effort and got tied up. We were met by the dock hand and customs officer. Customs check in was very easy and comfortable. One thing. Concerning firearms. I was under the impression that a lock box was required. I was told that I could do whatever with the arms and ammo on the boat but, not to take it off at the boat. If you do, BIG trouble. Anyway, here we are and ready to explore the Berry Islands. Bad weather the next couple of days and then off we go.
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