The forecast all week long was for the winds finally out of the South. Chris Parker, our weather guru, says its a good opportunity but will encounter some brisk winds and five foot sea leaving Lake Worth but gradually dropping as we move east toward Grand Bahama Island. With even higher winds early in the day, we plan to leave late in the evening with the tide dropping to eliminate a problem with the bridge at Lake Worth Inlet which is too low for us to get under at high tide. After looking at the route and conditions, we decide to skip West End as we would arrive there at 2 PM and instead proceed on the south side of the island to Freeport and the Port Lucaya inlet. It adds 30 miles to the trip, but we will arrive in the early morning and have to get that far anyway as our next move will be southeast to the Berrys.
Five PM comes and we move to the fuel dock to fill up and wait till about 6 PM hoping the winds die down, but they never do. Its blowing 17-19 gusting into the 20's and we discuss holding off for another day, but the winds are clocking to the North in the morning, and we don't want to cross the gulf stream with high north winds. A French Canadian couple planning to go with us decides to wait, but we feel it will again require us to wait another few days to a week for another window. We decide to go, hoping the forecast is right and the winds will die down as we move east.
We exit out the Lake Worth inlet at 6:30 PM, just as its getting dark. As soon as we are out past the jettings, we can feel the wind on the open seas. Out of the south 17 plus and gusting to 22. Sails up and we set a course south of west End. As the night progressed, it never let up, at times moving more than 7 knts the winds kept the sails full and brought a quick crossing. The stream pushed us a little north and after the Gulf Stream altered course to keep us south of the island in the lee of the projected wind shift to the north. That also never came, the higher south winds continuing the last 30 miles to the south of Grand Bahama Island. With daybreak we were approaching Freeport Harbor and by 8:00 AM heading into the cut at Port Lucaya.
We did find an undiscovered treasure, we made a reservation for a slip at the Grand Bahama Yacht Club. Pulled into a slip at 9 AM to a wonderful marina, great staff, interesting neighbors and Customs and Immigration right at the marina office. Port Lucaya is a resort area with a large Marketplace and numerous marinas. The Yacht Club provided everything we could need, and although we slept most of the day on arriving, we stayed for three days and really discussed staying longer because we enjoyed it so much there.
On reflection, we have been so frustrated with weather delays, that I think we are both glad we made the crossing when we did. Like other heavy weather conditions, it also just increased our confidence in the boat. The weather is getting better, we are in the Bahamas and we can now keep moving south.