Happy tax day from the Bahamas
15 April 2014 | Tied to dock at Bimini Blue Water Marina
John
Looking out at a passing sailboat from the Alice Town beach
Yesterday's 60 nm crossing from Angelfish Creek on Key Largo to Alice Town, Bimini was about as easy as crossing the Gulf Stream ever allows. Other than right around the Gulf Stream axis, the seas were easily handled at less than three feet. The axis gave us some five footer's but that was only for about an hour. We made a relatively fast crossing too. We averaged a solid six knots for the 10 hour crossing.
Unfortunately, we had to motor sail the whole way. The wind angle was too far around on the nose to allow us to sail with any speed, so the motor, running at partial throttle, was needed to help out.
The boost from the Gulf Stream was as always, impressive. The speed of the current can be estimated by comparing the ground speed calculated by the GPS and the boat's speed through the water calculated by the speed log. We first noticed the ground speed increasing about 9 nm off the shore. At its peak, perhaps 30 nm off shore, the increase was up to four knots. We were still seeing .2 knots just a couple of miles off the Bimini islands. The guide books say the Gulf Stream adds an average of 2.5 knots to the typical, well planned crossing.
That note about a "well planned" crossing brings up a sore point. Ann has mentioned to several of you that I was unhappy with my navigating on this crossing. That I was, but this being my blog, I don't have to fess up to everything in print. I'll just say that I did put together a well thought out plan for the crossing but I didn't implement it as I should have. I probably ended up adding about an hour to the crossing. Such are the trials of the lonely navigator.
Bimini has surprised both of us. We had assumed that since Bimini is just a nautical stone's throw from Miami for the big sport fishing boats that it would be a sleek, sophisticated port catering to millionaires. Well it may be in the exclusive resort further north up the island or down in South Bimini, but here in Alice Town where us plebeians stop, it's just a typical small Bahamas island. The main grocery store here would be considered a convenience store in the US and shopping consists of only a few small curio shops.
As is becoming typical for this cruise, the weather forecast may be trapping us here for a few days. Another front from the north is passing through tonight bringing in unsettled weather for the next several days. We are still evaluating several conflicting forecasts for a possible departure date.