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| The Bahamanian courtesy flag. |
Now that I've delivered the punchline, here's how it started:
We arrived early yesterday morning (Christmas Eve) at West End after what was a rough passage from Port Everglades inlet. The rough part is something we are getting used to.
Getting out of the inlet with the flood coming in set up some short, steep waves. This was to be expected -- it was more important that we leave so that we arrived in the Bahamas in daylight rather than have a smooth exit from Ft. Lauderdale. After a few miles, the seas calmed down a bit and then soon after we entered the Gulf Stream.
As we've discovered from our previous GS crossings, if the wind is out of the south -- as it should be to scoot across the north-flowing current without drama -- the stream can actually lay the seas down, making this much-dreaded part of the trip actually quite pleasant.
We steered a course of about 90 degrees (due east) on the compass, which was to have compensated somewhat for the strong northerly set of the GS, plus magnetic variation of 7 degrees and compass deviation of -2 degrees. However, as we were pushed north over the 50-mile GS crossing, we also saw the wind, which had been SSE, back to SE. That meant our option to go to Lucaya was shut down -- we'd have to motor for hours directly into increasingly steep chop to get there. Option 2 was to go to West End, which is actually about 20 miles closer, but farther north.
There was only one problem with that plan: being closer meant that we'd arrive there in the dark. Entering an unknown harbor at night is a bad idea, especially in a place such as the Bahamas, which is famous for its reefs and shoaling. That forced us to stay out to sea for hours while we waited the sunrise.
We could have hove to, but Noi was already sea sick over the transom from the short-period waves and I didn't want to try anything out of the ordinary without backup. This forced me to take over pretty much all of the helming duties. That prospect seemed exhausting so I devised a plan to make it a bit easier on myself. Sail-wise, all we had out (in 25-28 knots of wind) was a half-rolled Yankee -- a small sail to begin with, made smaller by being reefed down. There wasn't quite enough sail to punch through the waves, so with the helm over and locked down, Symbiosis crabbed along toward her destination at about 3 knots. I could take my hand off the wheel and let her self-steer. It would have been more comfortable to smash through the waves at 6 knots, and we could have easily done that, but that would have put us at the entrance to West End at 0300 -- way too early.
Eventually, Noi got over her mal du mer and was able to resume a watch shift as the conditions subsided a bit. By around 0700 we could see the outline of West End and knew the entry point for the Old Bahama Marina was on the north tip. Getting in was straight-forward and we got a spot in the nearly empty marina basin. Customs and Immigration was easy too, but expensive -- $300 for a cruising permit that lasts six months. If we'd been able to cut 7 feet off Symbiosis, it would have cost us half that much!
On the dock, I soon encountered Quebecois Carol, from a 36' Carver (powerboat), who inquired about the sea conditions. She explained that she and her husband (Michel) had gone out that day and turned back because of seas they were the worst they'd seen in six years of cruising the area. We learned later that Carol is the author of the only French-language guide to the Great Loop (U.S. East Coast/Mississippi River), Le Great Loop Avec Emotion.
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| Bahamas meets Thailand -- Noi's lobster salad. |
Everything was going great for our holiday. We enjoyed a lobster breakfast (thanks to a local vendor who sold us seven live lobster for $45 -- we overpaid, as it turned out). Delicious. At the marina we are staying at, there's a mandatory $15/day charge for water, so we decided to take advantage of it and washed the boat top to bottom. Noi wanted me to open one of the floorboards that provide access to the bilge so she could clean there as well. I balked. These floorboards have been a constant pain -- no matter how many times I shave down the edges of them, when they get wet, they swell up and will not budge. I have taken to using a screwdriver in the handle to pry them up. Well, this time the screwdriver slipped and gashed my left pinky. It was a pretty deep cut and I also thought there was the possibility that I'd broken the finger. Despite it being Christmas, there was a local driver available and he brought us to West End clinic. An ethnic Indian (as in South Asian) nurse took a look and she insisted I go into the main town, Freeport, for an x-ray. So, off to Freeport. After literally hours of waiting in the ER (isn't it always like that?), I finally got an x-ray (not broken) and five stitches. It hurts a bit and I am medicating it with coconut rum. What a day!
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| At the clinic in West End. |
Anyway, Merry Christmas!
Nice story...I have a question. I thought that we must avoid crossing Gulf Stream if the wind direction is NW, N, or NE. Other wind directions should be OK. Did I miss something?
ReplyDeleteYou are correct. We have always crossed in a south or southeasterly, preferably 15 knots or less, though 20 knots from that direction has also worked for us. With winds out of the south, the stream tends to lay down the waves, so it's smooth sailing. Of the three times we've crossed, always with a southerly, we've had an easier time inside the stream than outside of it.
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