Crossing the Gulf Stream

Sunrise Crossing

At 3 AM we turned on the coffee pot, detached the dock lines and headed out into the dark channel out of West End, Bahamas.  Destination Fort Worth Inlet, Florida USA!  Boy, it was a black night as we shined our huge flashlight picking our way around the winding channel that took us into the Atlantic Ocean.  We donned our life jackets, of course, and hooked ourselves into the cockpit.  After a few hours we saw a high lighted object "out there." Our radar and AIS told us it was the Bahamas Celebration Cruise Ship going about 12 knots.  We avoided it, but later we heard a Coast Guard announcement that one of the passengers was missing overboard! 

The sun coming up on the ocean is just fabulous - a huge red ball lit up the sky.  I was delighted to see the daylight and the inky blue waters of the Atlantic.  It was a calm passage with gentle seas with one to  two foot swells. A southeast wind made for great sailing.

Richard planned to sail SW approximately fifteen miles to position ourselves south of Lake Worth before the Gulf Stream carried us back north. But then, a bright light appeared in front of us that we eventually identified as the Energy Center, a tanker, not under command, drifting NW at one knot.  Since Richard did not want to turn South we turned west creating a few tense moments before the drifting tanker was clearly behind us.  All turned out well as the Gulf Stream did not appear to be flowing at the ripping four to five knots that some had predicted so we didn't need so much "southing" anyway.  

The Tropic Sun, a container ship, loomed up astern on a course to carry her very close to us. We changed course to give her a few miles separation. Otherwise, we did not encounter a lot of ship traffic.    

Before we knew it, after 10 hours motors ailing, just 12 miles off shore, we could see the condos of the U.S.  As we approached the shoreline, we entered through Lake Worth inlet.  As there is quite a tide ripping through, we carefully negotiated the space between the red and green markers.  We then turned into the calm Intercoastal and after a trip of about three miles, we arrived at Old Port Cove Marina, a lovely spot!  We were greeted with a "free" bottle of red wine and a 25% discount because we are members of Boat U.S.  We are surrounded by many more fishing and speed boats than sailboats.  Everyone is very nice and we celebrated our arrival today with a luscious lunch at the Sandpiper Cove Restaurant here on the premises.  By the way, we had to clear customs.  We had arranged this ahead of time by going to the Fort Myers airport.  For boaters US Immigration  issues a special phone number that we called, and we were cleared via this method instead of having to visit the local airport.  Yahoo!  We are back in the Good Ole USA!

Tomorrow we leave here and head up the Intercoastal Waterway through lots of bridges to the town of Stuart.  From here, we hope to travel Lake Okeecobee.  More later.

JOANNE'S TOP MEMORIES OF THE TRIP      

New Bradenton friends, Barb & Carl 

 - Meeting friendly Bahamians - especially the people of St. Michaels Catholic Church in West End - so nice!

 - Getting to know other boaters and make new friends - Denny & Deb from Deadwood, SD on s/v True North,  Carl and Barb from Bradenton, FL on s/v Wind Traveler, and Fred & Joanie on s/v Heavenly Sent were great! 

-We loved Rib Night at the Jib Room with the Limbo Man.

- Riding in Hammer's white limo from West End to Port Lucaya with Carl & Barb and Fred & Joanie.

 - Hanging out with Sue & Gene on s/v Yorkshire Rose and playing RummyQ, having them for spaghetti on our boat, and going out to dinner with them.  Meeting up with the Buschers and learning a neat art form from Sandy.

 - The gorgeous blue waters, the lighthouse at night on Hope Town, biking Elbow Cay and taking the Gulf Cart around Green Turtle.

Food Note:
The Bahamas are known for "cracked conch."  It is a lightly fried tenderized seafood from the conch shell and it is delicious. Also, "peas and rice" is a common side.  The peas are very small black beans and the rice has some unique spices in it.  Very good!   We went to a bakery and bought their "coconut bread."  It is a delicious sweet bread and we had it for dinner warmed with butter and also made French Toast with it.  Yummy!  We also enjoyed their fresh grilled fish - the local mahi and grouper.

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