We made it across!
The Gulf Stream for those who don’t know, is a fast moving undersea channel of warm water that flows from the Gulf of Mexico into the Straits of Florida between Cuba and Florida and continues north along the coast to south of the Grand Banks off Newfoundland turning east into the Atlantic. It is somewhat the same path that hurricanes take when they leave the Caribbean.
It flows at 3 kts through a deep channel between Florida and the Bahamas Bank on which the small islands of North and South Bimini, Cat and Gun Cays sit on the very western edge. We bought the Explorer Chart books for all of the Bahamas but because this area is so small it has a chart all of its own. I think it is for someone to get an extra $12.95...but it works.
We set out from Coconut Grove, a ritzy little area just south of Miami, on Wednesday afternoon and sailed across Biscayne Bay in an hour and a half and arrived in a very cosy little anchorage,(called No Name Harbour!) which is the staging place for a number of boats crossing the Gulf Stream. There are some who leave directly from Miami through Government Cut, the same channel the large cruise ships leave but we wanted to cut an hour and a half off our trip. When we arrived at No Name there was hardly room to anchor, because there were so many boats thinking the same as we were.
The wind was from the east when we anchored, not a good thing, but expected to change to the south overnight, then to south west during the day on Thursday. Just what everyone was looking for. The light wind moving in the same direction as the Stream is a good thing. If the wind is from the north it is counter to the current and kicks up a very nasty chop. In case you are wondering, the wind from the east is across the current so you would be fighting the current north as well as motor sailing headlong in the breeze (wind). It is a lot of what we do on Lake Ontario, at least in one direction.
We rose at 3:00 AM as planned, and already most of the anchored boats there from the night before, had deck lights on ready to weigh anchor, some already with engines started, almost a carnival atmosphere, and a happy anxious time for everyone who had waited for the moment for so many years. Except, I noticed while hauling the anchor, the breeze was still coming from the east. With the promise of south-east to south winds, we headed out the entrance cut and were happy to see so many mast lights ahead of us. It was pitch dark ahead with the glow of Miami behind us. The swells coming in from the deep ocean were right on nose, together with the wind, although it was light. Again, we thought we made a wrong turn and we were back on Lake Ontario.
It took until 7:00 for the sun to be fully over the horizon so that we could see the four foot swell was not the normal ocean swell, but sharp so that the boat rose on one, but pitched into the next one. A bit of a rough ride to start but we hoped it would get better once we reached deep water. Just before sunrise a large catamaran turned back as he thought the pounding might get worse in the Stream. The larger boats were now well ahead of us and overhearing their conversations got the impression it was getting better. By halfway we were holding our own and the wind was clocking to the south so our speed increased. Now at over seven knots we were sailing. When you are sailing the boat handles a lot better and the swell doesn’t affect it as much.

We arrived at two o’clock in South Bimini, after sailing on water that was so blue I had only seen it before in paintings. The blue was the colour of a Vicks cold medicine or Noxzema skin care lotion bottle for those who can remember. The deep blue at the sides of the boat were darker than those behind, both a natural contrast and both amazing to stare into. The charts say we were passing over water that was 700 meters deep and full of more varieties of fish than anywhere else. We were anxious to tow a lure but the water was so rough all we could do it sail it.
As soon as we docked the dock master was there with all the forms which we had to take to immigration and customs office at the airport. A beat up old passenger van with a steering wheel on the passenger’s side and the sliding side door that had a hand-made sign stuck to the inside “Please let the driver open the door – It’s broke” served as our taxi. The driver was big friendly guy with a cap that was at least two sizes too small sitting on his bushy head. He slowed down or stopped several times on the way to the airport to yell at people he knew, followed by a thunderous laugh.
When we arrived at the airport getting through the documents, while thorough, was easy. Both the customs guy and the immigration lady were helpful and courteous and with wide Bahamian smiles they welcomed us to their country. Their country thus far sits in a beautiful setting, is populated with friendly people who have very little. The population is small and the economy depends mainly on tourism, although there is some fishing. There seems to be a lot of unemployed people hanging around parks and the liquor store. The little park diagonally across the street from the liquor store has picnic tables on which sits a large bottle of rum being shared with all the buddies who drop by.
In Alicetown, the capital, the streets are narrow and traffic consists of scooters, motorcycles, a lot of four wheelers, golf carts, a few cars and delivery trucks. There are shops set up along the street intermixed with closed up buildings and some remains of others that either burned to the ground or destroyed by hurricanes. It has been some years since either happened but no one has got around to cleaning it up yet. The attitude of both towns, the other being Baillytown, was cheerful and everyone was cheerful and polite, but nobody saw any urgency to taking care of a situation that could be improved. Everything looks like it is either falling apart or it hasn’t got started yet. There is a nice wire fencing delivered to surround two basketball courts and it was hard to tell if some of it had been installed and blew down or somebody started the fencing and just got tired of doing it and went home...a couple of years ago! Nobody wanted to talk about it. Even the two storey resort on the beautiful west shore, was only operating the restaurant and rooms on the ground floor because no one had bothered to get around to fixing the balconies or the stairs to get up there. Both were rotted to the point no one could use either, so rather than fix it they just closed it off and continued business on the main floor.
After staying the extra day, as it appeared to be a check-in point for most boats, we decide with a nuber of other boats to leave for the Berry Islands which are across the Bahama Bank. Because it is a two day trip it would require stopping halfway there and anchor overnight with no land 35 miles in any direction. After leaving Bimini we headed north to round the Great Rock the set the autopilot for Bullock’s Harbour on the Great Harbour Cay. We decided to anchor just before a downpour looked to hit us, but before we could get the anchor down it came down in buckets. It was a little rolly during the night but flattened out by daybreak. Getting up with our coffee and going outside we looked to be floating on air. We were anchored in seventeen feet of water but it was so clear you could make out every pebble of sand on the bottom! When we pulled the anchor we motor-sailed along on auto-pilot for most of the day staring overboard at the life under the sea on the Bahama Banks. It was like living in a dream. The sea water is as clear as the pictures show it. Maybe clearer.
We arrived in the afternoon Sunday and anchored in a quiet little bay which had a man-made channel coming into it, by cutting through the rock that led into the bay. We only stayed the night and to pick up fuel in the morning as we were heading north around the two Stirrup Cays, one owned by Norwegian Cruise Lines and the other by Caribbean Cruise Lines. These are private islands owned by the cruise lines where we saw a ship from each company anchored off their island. They had just each disgorged thousands of people onto perfect white sand and palm trees and all the facilities needed for that many people to exist for a day. They all will be happy to go home and say they have been to the Berry Islands, although they have been to one beach for one day. But it will be one of their happiest days.
We plan to take a week to cruise through and anchor in some of the amazing scenery on this continent. The beached and the coral shores are beyond describing. It is January 20th and the water, wind and temperature are perfect. I will post some pictures to try to give you an idea of what we wake up to every morning!