Queens Highway, Man-O-War Cay

We spent two busy days in North Palm Beach. We arrived on Tuesday afternoon with just time to settle in. Wednesday was a full day. We are finally seeing more familiar boats. In the anchorage was Sapphire, who we last spoke with in Charleston. Also Blessed Spirit, who we have been looking out for came in. We have mutual friends and hoped to meet them. We met Tita and Corning Townsend Thursday morning at the dinghy landing. But we were in for a busy day.
With American Thanksgiving on Thursday, all the stores would be closed, meaning we had one day for final provisioning. First up was a trip to West Marine for some last minute essentials. A stop at the liquor store, back to the boat. Lunch at an excellent cafe. Then a trip to FedEx to mail off some Christmas parcels. Back to the grocery store for a final provisioning, back to the boat to pack everything away (space is getting limited). Back to the grocery store for the forgotten items, and the day was done. And all on foot! We weighed ourselves in the grocery store and were not surprised to see that we are not gaining weight in spite of our eating.
Thursday I called Chris Parker who repeated his forecast for a good crossing window, so time to fuel up. But not a single marina fuel dock was open on Thanksgiving. So back ashore with a gas can borrowed from Blessed Spirit and a walk to a nearby gas station for gas for the dinghy. We would have liked to fill up with diesel, but that was impossible, and we still had plenty aboard to see us into the Bahamas.
In mid-afternoon we lifted anchor and headed five miles south to anchor just inside the cut. Here we anchored amidst about two dozen boats all looking for a crossing window. The wind had slowly clocked from east to south east, and our plan was to leave when it made south.
Crossing the Gulf Stream has two challenges associated with its northerly current. First the wind must not have a northerly component to it. If it does, the seas can quickly build to dangerous sizes. And second, you must allow for the strong current. From Lake Worth to the Little Bahamas Bank is a distance of about 50 nautical miles. And across that distance the current averages 2 knots. For planning purposes we estimated our crossing speed to be six knots, meaning we would be in the stream for about 8.3 hours. During that time we would be swept about 17 miles northward. So to offset it, we have to steer for a point 17 miles south of our desired destination. To do that with our destination due east of Lake Worth, we would have to steer south-east, so we needed the wind to be at least south or south-west. The forecast was for it to clock from south-east through south during the night, then to south west the next night.
We woke at 3:00 am and found the wind had behaved and had moved south. A quick check showed we weren't the only ones up and about. Lights were showing on a dozen boats. With everything stowed, we crept down the channel into a turning basin where we hoisted our sails then headed out the cut.
In the fresh breeze we had a few merry moments in the large standing waves in the cut, but as we got out of its reach, we set out for a spectacular night of sailing. The southerly breeze was 15-20 knots, and with our course of SSE, we were soon reaching in reefed sails at seven to eight knots. By dawn we could just see a few of the tallest buildings of Palm Beach, and by mid-morning, just a few sails on the horizon.
Just after noon the depth sounder came back on showing us in 600' of water. Two minutes later it showed 20', then it settled out at 8'-10' as the color changed from deep blue to the bright turquoise of the banks. The seas fell away, the wind lightened and we had a glorious afternoon, anchoring at Mangrove Cay at 4:30pm.
By evening we had been joined by another six boats, four from Canada. Dinner of medium-rare tenderloin, cole slaw and potato salad with a nice full-bodied Cabernet Sauvignon, and French tarte with whipped cream, all served in the warm breezes blowing through the cockpit. It truly is Better in the Bahamas!!!