It seems that we can cross to the Bahamas tomorrow, Thursday. According to all four of my weather sources, it will be a decent day to cross, but the window collapses Friday morning. So we are preparing the boat for sea, taking down pictures, locking the freezer, and in general lashing down everything that can move. As can be seen in the first two pics, we have a 50NM trek in the open ocean, then another 50NM trek to Great Sale Cay, where we will anchor for the night. From there it is a short hop to Green Turtle Cay, our final destination for now. The roughest part of the trip will be in the gulf stream. We will enter it a few miles out from Stuart, and exit a few miles from the point where we enter the Bahamas Bank. Once on the bank, the depth is 20' or less, and much calmer. The gulf stream is described as a river of water flowing north and it goes all the way to Britain. It flows at about 5 mph, so it can affect a boat's heading, which requires adjustment to our navigation while we cross. Fortunately with a working auto pilot, which is integrated with our GPS, it can auto adjust, making navigation much simpler that when I was growing up. I do have all my old paper charts, and navigation tools, but I am a bit rusty, having become spoiled to the new toys. It is basically point and click if everything is working. You do have to keep a lookout however, to avoid being run over by a ship, in the busy shipping lane between Florida and the Bahamas.
This year we plan to stay in the Abacos, instead of our general haunts of Eleuthera and the Exumas. The Abacos are the northern part of the Bahamas chain, and form one of the most protected cruising ground in the Bahamas chain. The Bahamas stretch about 500 miles and consist of about 29 islands and 661 Cays. Many of the Cays in the Abacos were established by British Loyalists who fled the newly formed United States after the revolution. For example, Green Turtle, Man O War, and Hopetown all have an English flair. They were devastated by Hurricane Dorian a few years back, but have made remarkable progress since then. When we passed through the Abacos two years ago on the way home, we were so impressed, we decided to visit them exclusively this trip. Our first stop will be Green Turtle, where we will leave the boat for a few weeks and fly home. Hopefully my next post will be from Green Turtle!
Crossing the gulf stream.
The best carrot cake ever, in West Palm Beach.
The magnificent playhouse in West Palm.
The Harborage Marina in Stuart.
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