Once in Nassau harbor we anchored just before the cruise ship dock and contacted SV Margaretaville as they were going to leave Nassau (with SV Cardea as well) early the next morning. That evening it blew quite hard with choppy waves in the harbor.
Thankfully it settled overnight and when we received permission to exit the harbor the next morning the water was flat calm in the harbor with only about a 5-6 foot swell outside. There were 4 boats that left the same time and we saw a couple on AIS in front of us.
When you leave Nassau you immediately enter very deep waters compared to the shallow waters on the Bahama banks. The deep waters around New Providence (Nassau is here) extend north to the Northwest Channel and south and are geographically the shape of a tongue. The tongue is a very deep body of water that can get really rough at times. Depending on the tides and wind direction the Northwest Channel (joins the tongue to the Great Bahama Banks) can have very steep waves and a lot of current. Lucky for us when we got to this junction the tide and current was in our favor and it was relatively smooth!!! There were 15 boats at the Northwest Channel with us and yet there no land in sight!!! It was amazing!!! The boats included sailing yachts and million dollar fishing boats.
The motor boats were all fishing so Byron decided to try it too since we were leaving deep water and entering shallow water. Within a few feet we went from water depths greater than 2800 feet to 27 feet and again we could see the beautiful turquoise water of The Bahamas; if only for a short time as darkness and nighttime was setting in. But not before Byron caught a fish!!!!!!!!!!! We were not sure what it was…… so we let it go. He was so proud that he had caught another one!!!
As we got on the banks we could still see Margaretaville on our AIS but we could not see Cardea; neither could we communicate with them on radio as they were out of range. We did hear another boat calling them and could only hear the other boats conversation so we knew they were fine. We wanted to let them know that we were proceeding toward Bimini as planned. Margaretaville decided to follow us toward Bimini too. I needed a bailout plan in case the predicated weather for the next day was predicted to be worse than expected. Whereas we knew Cardea decided they would go to “Hens and Chickens” and sail overnight directly to Lake Worth.
As darkness approached the wind went down for awhile and the sunset was absolutely gorgeous!!!
Byron had a nap and I put out the sail again as the winds picked up. We had a great sail. We sailed until just east of Bimini and at 12:30am March 4, 2020 we anchored for 5 hours to take a break. I wanted to do the Gulf Stream during daylight. Night sailing with high winds and seas always seem more frightening to me!!!
At 5:00 AM I looked at all of the weather apps and thought “we must be crazy” as I knew winds were going to be 20-25 knots and seas for those winds would be large…. What to do………………….I knew the seas would be on our beam and the wind would be on our quarter but I knew another window was not opening for at least a week…. Hmmmm……………….. I also knew the winds were not northerly so it may be lumpy but waves would not be steep and dangerous… I never mentioned any of this to Byron as he was sleeping so soundly…. ………………
At 5:30 am we pulled anchor. Before long SV Margaretaville was also coming. Once we got off the shallow Bahama bank the waves got larger and it was uncomfortable for awhile. We knew when we entered the Gulf Stream as the water temperature increased and our speed increased. We rolled and rolled!! Thank god the boat can do it!!!!!!!!! To compensate for this discomfort, and make the ride more comfortable later on, we decided to go off course to the south for a few hours so that when we headed north to our destination it would be more comfortable with both wind and seas on our quarter. The wind was 20-25knots and seas were about 8-10 feet with about 5-7 sec interval. This worked well as we knew the current in the Gulf Stream would assist us to Lake Worth in a timely fashion. It was so timely that we did 77nm in less than 8 hours and at one time we actually were doing 12.7knots (unfortunately I did not get it on camera…). It was a rough and fast ride (but better than when we did it in December). Thank god we made it safely!!!!!!!!!!!!
For anyone who knows me “I am a salt addict”. Roast chicken chips are my favorite salty food. For every Cabot Strait crossing I had them and when I came in October I brought 2 bags: one for the December crossing and one for the crossing back!!! I knew they would be outdated on my return trip and I also knew that they may not be "fit to eat" as they may also be soggy… But I had double packaged them in Ziploc bags and prayed that my comfort food would survive the journey. They did!!!!!!!! I was so happy when it started to get lumpy and I could eat my chips one at a time to my heart’s content!!!! I did have to share them this time… I begrudgingly did so lol!!!!!
As we got closer to Lake Worth it was time to call Border Security/Customs in the United States for permission to check into their country. Again I used the ROAM app. It is a wonderful easy and fast way to check in. Within 5 minutes of submitting our arrival we were processed and approved to enter their country; even without an interview. It was an amazing and positive experience for us.
Meanwhile, Cardea (who sailed all night) called us and we realized they are only 30 minutes ahead of us even though they sailed all night. They also spent numerous hours trying to use the ROAM app and when it finally worked for them they had an interview with an officer and got their approval as well. All of us were so happy. We were all going to Lake Worth Inlet.
Margaretaville had changed course during the sail and turned toward Fort Lauderdale as it was a shorter crossing but much further south. Thankfully we were all safe and all in the country we had left many months previously!!! It is hard to believe how fast time flies when you are having fun!!!!
Back in the USA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And they had a welcoming committee to greet us!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It has been a blast!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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