Friday, December 13, 2013

T-2 Days to Bahamas

Five Years in the Making

We're now anchored in teal-accentuated ocean just south of Miami. The wind hums and thrums through the rigging as a northerly toys with us - but we're pretty well dug in and not going anywhere. I can see fireworks going off in one of the exclusive neighborhoods not far from here. Wonder what they're celebrating? We'll soon have something to celebrate too. In a couple of days we'll travel about 50 miles east, but those are significant miles as they will deposit us in the Bahamas. For me, this is a big step - not so much the crossing of the Gulf Stream - it shouldn't take much more than 7 or 8 hours - but the landing in a foreign port after voyaging over 1,400 miles from CT. Those 50 miles will make a big difference as they launch us into a new culture and a very different environment from anything we've experienced so far.

While we didn't plan it this way, it's almost 3 months to the day when we left our friends in CT and sailed off. Given everything we've done so far, it is hard to imagine what the next 3 months will be like. But rumors are that it involves endless beaches with only one set of footprints - ours! We can already see a dramatic change in the color of the water - it's become clearer and shaded in greens that we simply don't have words to describe. I don't even think Crayola would know what to call these colors. And that's just here in Miami! The Bahamas will make this seem an opaque and limited palette of green. Even our camera struggles with capturing the hues we're experiencing. It's almost as if there is something more than photons we're soaking up.

The ocean off Lake Worth: Blue-green with a hint of teal 
Jupiter Inlet: Frosted sea-glass green

Miami: Shades of emerald green


Planning the Crossing

The gulf stream runs as fast as 3kts north, so we have to adjust to make sure we have a quick ride rather than a long one. That means getting as south as you can before you tackle the stream. You basically plot a position south of your destination that is offset by the same distance the stream will take you north. You then just lock onto that compass heading and steer to that. Your actual course over the ground will be very different, but you'll wind up where you want to be. You also have to make sure that you go over in a south or southwesterly breeze because if the wind ever opposes the stream - things will get ugly fast. 

So, we're now as south as we should be and the stream is about 13 miles east of us. By this Sunday, we should have south southeast winds to head over on. It's likely that we'll be motor-sailing to help beat the stream. I think we'll land in Bimini and clear customs and immigration there. Then, we wait for the right wind and we're off across the Bahama Banks. 

The sun sets on Hollywood

72 and Cold


Ever since mid-Florida, we switched back to T-shirts and shorts. After a few weeks of that, I went outside the boat tonight and felt chilled. It was 72 degrees! I'm not sure I ever imagined I'd think of 72 as "cold". I know many of you are suffering from snow and ice and are not likely to feel much sympathy for us. 

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