This is the first time we have crossed to the Bahamas in such low wind. No sailing but boy was the ocean calm. We left Vero Beach at 8:30 am Nov. 28th and had a great ebb current moving us south to Fort Pierce. It’s always nice when the current works with you and not against. We were going out the Fort Pierce Inlet by 10:50 am.
We’ve also never crossed to the Bahamas from so far north. Normally we go to Lake Worth or further south because of the north flowing Gulf Stream. We had been given some advice about the directions to cross from Fort Pierce, so we created a course on the plotter that started with a heading of 140 degrees (southeast), then turned 90 degrees (east) when the current got too strong and the last leg was 150 degrees (south east). We got as far south as St. Lucie Inlet when our speed was dropping too much as we entered the Gulf Stream. We made our 90 degree (ish) turn and headed across the stream.
It was a very peaceful motor across Gulf Stream. There was very little traffic and with the light winds, there were no waves to impede our progress. After a short time we saw another sailboat heading our way so we kept tabs on that boat the whole way across. It can get a little boring so it’s fun to watch the AIS signals on the water. This automatic identification system (AIS) gives lots of info about the vessel including name, length, speed, type of vessel and very importantly it gives you the closest approach distance and the time to that approach. At night this is super helpful when tankers and cruise ships appear to be heading straight for you!! We had some fun watching 2 small pleasure crafts play chicken with 2 tankers!! At one point, the 4 AIS signals (which appear as green triangles on our plotter) were almost one on top of the other. Of course when you zoomed in on the plotter, you could see lots of space between all the vessels.
We made our turn to the south around midnight and were still getting some current from the Gulf Stream. It didn’t take long before we were in the faster Bahamian water and our speed picked up. It was a very dark night but as we approached West End, we could see the onshore lights – a very comforting thing. We decided to anchor just north of West End until morning. We got into the anchorage a little before 3 am.
This spot is known for poor holding and it proved true for us. Our anchor wasn’t grabbing so Mark decided to lower our second anchor just to make sure we didn’t drag when the tide changed. We were off to bed by 3:30 am.
Up early on Nov. 29th, just before 7 am. We had a great breakfast and then prepared to head into Old Bahama Bay Marina to clear into the Bahamas and to buy our SIM card for our wifi. We started the process of raising the 2 anchors around 8:30 and after much effort and a bit of struggle, both anchors were onboard by 9 am. We headed into the marina and by 10am we were cleared in and approved!! Unfortunately the shop that sold SIM cards didn’t open until 12pm and then the card had to be driven out to us from Freeport so it took until 2pm to finally have our wifi up and running.
We’re now anchored at Ginn Sur Mer and happily relaxing for the night. Tomorrow we’ll jump down to Great Harbour Cay with some nice north east wind. It’s another long trip – about 80nm, but we’ll stay there for a few days and finally chill!!
Crimson Kathryn and her crew 