Earlier in the week, while anchored outside Dinner Key Marina, we learned from Chris Parker, our weather router, that we had a small window to make a crossing to The Bahamas. We needed to leave on Thursday, March 10, 2022, in the afternoon, and arrive by Friday night. The relentless winds were to die off some on Thursday and move from the south which would make for an excellent Gulf Stream crossing. As the stream runs south to north along the Florida coast, it would be suicidal to try to cross when the wind was coming from the north as the current and winds would be opposing, and the waves could become extremely steep. It was best to cross with a southerly breeze and north moving current. This combination keeps the seas in a relatively flat state as long as it was not too windy.
Therefore, it was time to kick it into gear. We made a list of all the chores we needed to do before we could leave:
- Find a COVID location: a friend said the Salvation Army was a good place to go. We needed a test no more than 72 hours before our arrival.
- Complete the online customs and immigrations forms and apply for our health travel visas.
- Finish provisioning with items like meat and vegetables which would be costly or nonexistent in the Bahamas. Buy bug spray, refill prescriptions, and go the bank for bills of small denominations.
- Laundry clothes, towels and sheets.
- Sign up for an international calling plan: we chose Google Fi.
- Map out where we will be heading. Chris Parker suggested we skip Bimini and go further east. Otherwise we would be stuck in Bimini waiting for another weather window to travel further east. So we chose a 20 hour run from Key Biscayne to Great Harbor Cay. Ben read and charted all week and belabored whether to seek deep water or sail over the Bahama Bank at night. Our friends convinced us that there was no problem going over the Bank after dark using one of the recommended routes.
- Re-check on our boat insurance to be sure we were good to go.
- Set up the satellite phone to receive Chris Parker emails.
- Assure we had necessary spare parts and other maintenance supplies we would need.
- Complete an engine check and fill up with diesel and water.
With our list made, we began checking it off as we had 4 days to get everything done. One rainy day, we cleaned the inside of the cabin, put away things that we would not need and secured items for the passage. When the weather let up, we scootered to the CVS and then shuttled the scooters from the marina back to the boat.
The next day, Robert obtained a car from a friend, and graciously took us to the grocery store. The dinghy was so ladened with provisions that we had a salty, wet ride back to the boat. Then I parceled out the frozen food and meat into vacuum seal bags and made some instant pot taco chicken and plain chicken for future meals. I had already made a King Ranch Casserole and froze it.
On Wednesday, we ubered to the Salvation Army expecting a line for the covid test, but we walked right in and were finished almost before the uber got around the corner. Next, we ubered to the Bank and decided to have brunch at a sidewalk café. This would be our last outing in the cute area of Coconut Grove. We had become very attached to this part of Miami which was scooter friendly and lined with parks and eateries.
Before we even got back to the boat, we had our COVID results-Negative! We uploaded the information and finished our online forms for entry into The Bahamas. We were approved, payment made and ready to go!
Ben completed his list of chores while I made sure everything was safely stowed in case we got into rough seas.
Robert joined us for dinner of steaks, bacon wrapped asparagus, roasted potatoes, and garlic bread. Of course, we also had wine and chocolate covered almonds as was our tradition. Robert had gone by Trader Joes and brought me almonds and a case of wine. He is such a sweetheart. We would miss him as he has been a wonderful friend since we met him in Chesapeake over the summer. I hoped we would catch up with him again one day!
Finally, it was Thursday. It was time to finish our last-minute chores, hoist anchor and cross over Biscayne Bay to Crandon Park Marina for fuel and water. Afterwards we raised and reefed the main, as the wind was still blowing strong, and headed for the Biscayne channel to enter the Atlantic. We passed by the numerous regattas across the bay before entering the channel. We were on our way! It was 1600 and we had about 20 hours of sailing in front of us, but by golly we were headed to the Bahamas—Finally!!!
When we first entered the Atlantic the sea state was quite bouncy. However, once we entered the Gulf Stream, the waves settled a bit. There were only a few boats on the horizon and a cruise ship that came out from Government Cut as the sun was lowering in the sky.
After an off and on rainy morning, the afternoon had turned out gorgeous. We sailed with a reefed main, a full jib and made 7-7.5 knots in 11 knots of wind. Not bad. The Gulf Stream was ripping as our heading was 110 but we were making 69 degrees over the ground. We were awed by the sunset as we settled into night watches.
We saw very few boats, but this luxury yacht lit up the sky in the distance.
I took a short nap and awoke about 12:00 as we were passing Bimini and entering the Bahama Bank. The moon was up and once we passed the lights of Bimini, the Bank became quiet and dark with only the sound of boat surf.
We continued to average around 7 knots with a heading of 93 degrees straight for Great Harbour Cay. Ben took a nap now that he felt secure we were on a good heading without any major obstacles. When it was my turn to nap, the wind and waves had shifted some and from 4-6:00, the boat bounced and pounded off wave after wave. The waves were not that steep but the direction of them made for an extremely bumpy ride. Somehow, I did got in a short nap and was ready to take over so Ben could get some rest before we had to navigate into the harbor.
As I took the helm, the sea state calmed, and I had a wonderful sail with the wind at 50-60 degrees going 8-9 knots for a spell. It was a fun ride.
We made the trip in 19 hours and entered the harbor, after lowering the sails, around 11:00 on Friday. All the navigation markers, except one, were missing. So we used all our tools to navigate the narrow cut. This harbor and marina were extremely well protected as there was land and hills 360 degrees. We had gotten a reservation at the marina because there was an expected blow coming in on Saturday and we didn’t know about the holding in the area.
The people at the marina were extremely helpful and friendly as we tied up our boat and asked about checking into Customs and Immigration. We found that both entities come to the marina office to meet us. They were both efficient and friendly, and we were all done in no time. Now it was time for a real nap. We turned on the AC and headed for the berth. I was so excited to finally be here, but for now I just needed rest!
On Friday night, the marina held a Grill and Greet barbecue. One of the locals brought in Bahamian Barbecue for purchase. There was quite a crowd of cruisers who attended, and we met folks from Texas, another Catana owner, a guy with a performance Catamaran who sails by himself and lots of other folks. It was a fun night and a great way to start off our adventure in The Bahamas!
Saturday, March 12, 2022
We were surprised that both of us slept like logs last night. After our long nap yesterday afternoon, we were afraid we might be awake half the night, but we awoke rested and raring to go.
When we arrived yesterday we found that our Google Fi was not working. Andrew from SV Reload and Recharge, that we met last night, indicated he was meeting with an Aliv rep at 10:00 at the grocery store in the morning. So we thought we might get a sim card as back up until we could figure out why Google Fi was not working.
Thus, we hauled out the scooters and went into town. We sat with Andrew for about 1.5 hours waiting for the rep, but finally gave up. We had read about the beauty of Sugar beach on the north side of the island. So we took off in that direction. I thought that most of the islands were flat in The Bahamas, but this one had quite of few hills. This was the first work out for our scooters on this type of terrain. We had to run them hard to get up some of the hills.
The scenery was beautiful and the water was amazing!
We went so far that Ben ran out of battery on the way back and had to almost walk his scooter part of the way. Nevertheless, we had a great time. This is what island life is about. Meeting people, exploring, and enjoying the warm, sunny breezes!
We ended up having an impromptu happy hour with some of the folks we had met. SV Hula Shack, an Amel 50, was moored next to us. We had admired their boat in York River Yacht Haven last summer. Small world! James and Fei popped over for a time as well as Andrew. However, right before sunset, Andrew noticed the front was blowing up and he left quickly to get back to his anchored boat.
James and Fei also left to double check their lines while we also retied some of our lines and fenders. Shortly thereafter, Will and Sherry from SV Billy K, 40 foot Catana, stopped by for a while. It was wonderful to hear each boats cruising stories and plans. Being new to the area, we picked everyone’s brains that we could.
Sunday, March 13, 2022
It was actually a chilly 67 degrees this morning. I ended up wearing yoga pants and a long sleeve shirt which was unheard of for me. We tried to scooter to Shell Beach, but the road petered out about halfway and the ruts were too much for the scooters. So we turned around and went to the Beach Club (even thought they were close) to admire the beach, turquoise water and surf. We met some other folks from the marina who were sitting on the deck chatting. They allowed us to join in their festivities. It was an interesting group from Tennessee who had traveled here on their trawlers.
We spent the afternoon working to make Google Fi functional. Ben figured out how to change the settings and finally got us up and running. Yay! Functional phones, mostly!
Monday, March 14, 2022
We are not sure when we are leaving but there may be a weather window tomorrow. So we spent the morning doing laundry, talking with others in the marina about next stops and getting a backup Aliv hot spot.
The beginning of our Bahama Adventure has been amazing and we can’t wait to soak up more of what these islands have to offer! Stay Tuned!
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All very cool! It was nice of y’all to lower your standards and hang out with some trawler folk for a while! 😎
We love boaters of all kinds! Have met some very nice trawler folks including you!