May 31-June 2 2015 Black Point Settlement to Lake Worth, FL

I was up really early again with the sun.  Not by choice either.  Since I was up anyway I checked the weather and found the latest update suggesting that we had Tuesday as the last decent day to cross the Gulf Stream.

Today is Sunday.  It’s 250 miles from where we are to Florida.  If we don’t make the June 2 crossing we will be here another week in a marina somewhere because the weather is going to turn nasty.  In fact there is, now, an almost 50% chance there will be a tropical storm forming and making its way up across the Bahamas and Florida.

So its 5:30 AM.  Mary is dead asleep.  Two sailboats near us are pulling anchor.  A quick computation says we can be in Nassau by 8 tonight if we leave right away.  That commits us to attempting a North West Channel crossing tomorrow which is 38 miles of open ocean, and then a 75 mile crossing of the Gulf Stream Tuesday.

What to do?  Easy.  Wake up Mary.

Leaving Black Point Settlement

We were on our way at 6:30 AM out into a calm Bank with only a slight swell and sunlight galore.  Wonderful cruising.

Just stowed the dinghy and didn't bother deflating it

I had to let Jeff know we wouldn’t be able to met up with them now that we’re trying to make this weather window.  So he doesn’t get his hat right away, and we don’t get our movies right away either.  But we’ll be seeing them this fall when we return here.

It was an endless day cruising at 7.5 MPH for 14 hours.

Nassau gets its oil by tankers like this one

We came up towards Nassau and followed the southern coast of the island, past a tanker ship and then using charts carefully, went into the anchorage area.  There were only a few other boats there so we picked a spot and, mindful of the reports of poor holding, laid out 100 feet of chain and the snuber.  I’m pretty sure we were hooked well.

Pulling into the anchorage

We didn’t run the generator or make water because we were leaving at 6AM the next morning and  running for 12 hours or more which will charge up the batteries and then some

We just enjoyed a drink and a sunset and then went below but not before watching another boat come

in well after dark and anchor near us.  Brave soul doing this at night, but there as lots of moon light.  His arrival did jog my memory about fixing the starboard running light.  Better do that tomorrow because I’m pretty sure we wont be arriving at the Bimini Northwest anchorage until nightfall.  It’s a 121 miles!

I was able to post a blog entry, taking advantage of the strong Nassau cell signal.  Earlier I had added 5 GB to our BTC phone because I had a ton of pictures to up load.  And I got most of them uploaded.  The rest I’ll do when we’re anchored at Bimini.

The stateroom was a sizzling 83 degrees but all I could do was run a fan since the A/C units wont run on the inverter.  Oh well!

A rare (for us) sunrise

Neither of slept very well so we were both up at 6.  I did an engine room check and made coffee.  While it was brewing we raised the anchor and made our way over the small, shallow bar at the western end of the anchorage then out to Northwest Channel.

Chart plotter displaying our position as we slowly travel west

The Northwest Channel is the ocean.  And deep, like 3000 feet and more.  Ocean swells have a much different motion than those on the bank.  They tend to have a longer period and are deeper so the motion of the boat is a slow rolling in most cases.  And this was one of those cases where we pretty much rolled our way towards the Bahama Bank about 43 miles to the west.  It was actually a pretty good day to be out here and except for the endless hours.

Once we entered the Bahama Banks the water depths went from several thousand feet to 15 feet in the span of a few minutes.  I wonder what that looks like.   A big cliff maybe?

And we had 6 hours to go 61 miles before nightfall.  Easy in a car.  Not so easy in boat going around 8 mph.  This was going to be an, anchor at night situation.

As we motored along in the calm seas of the bank the autopilot was steering flawlessly while I fixed the starboard running light made sure the two spot lights we have on the bow worked.   After that it was seemingly endless hours of being hot up on the fly bridge and marveling at how clear the water was.  And how shallow it appeared even though we were in near 20 feet. 

We passed over the Mackie Shoal, very close to where we anchored on our way from Bimini to the Berry Islands.

As the sun set we were still almost 20 miles from the anchorage.  Its just a place near Bimini and we can anchor really anywhere out here on the Banks.  But being near the island is a little safer since there is commercial traffic out here and they are not always diligent watch standers.    In this case tonight we'll be on a windward shore so there wont be any wind or swell protection form the island.

It was dark, but with an almost full moon as wound our way through the various shoals.  But we made it to the spot we wanted and I turned the boat around to face back into the disturbingly energized waves from the east.  Ironic that we are anchoring in a wide open spot, that’s facing east.  We were already bouncing pretty good before even setting the anchor.

We let out abut 20 feet of chain and it pulled up tight so I let out another 100’ feet and we attached the snubber.  We weren’t moving except up and down with the waves. 

By now it was 10PM and I still had to run the generator so we could cool down the boats interior and make water. 

That took until 11:30 so we didn’t settle in to bed until midnight.  And its another 6AM morning for us because the weather forecast describes tomorrow as a delightful crossing day but only before evening because that’s when the bad weather is predicted to arrive in Florida.

Luckily, we have coffee!

Good bye Bahamas.  Leaving Bimini for Lake Worth

We had the anchor up, and coffee made by 6:15.  We motored through the northern shoal by North Rock and out into the ocean and the Gulf Stream.

We were making for Lake Worth which is basically Palm Beach, about 85 miles away.  Luckily the Gulf Stream will push us that way, giving us a speed boost of about 3 miles per hour.  We’ll be flying. 

And we were. Almost 11mph for a few hours.

Half way to Lake Worth

I had the radar on and we were in company with quite a few other boats either coming or going to the islands.  The seas were almost flat calm.  Well for the ocean they were calm, just a gentle swell almost on our stern.  If it weren’t for the overcast skies this would be the perfect ocean cruising day.

We began picking up the coast line on radar (I had it set for 25 miles) and the Gulf Stream continued to push us along at 10.8 mph.  I wont admit this to Mary, but it is rather nice to be zipping along
almost 3 mph faster than we normally travel.

Mary tried calling the immigration people when we were in sight of the coast.  The procedure is to call and let them know we are back in the country but she was scolded because your not supposed to call before your anchored or at a marina.

Entering the harbor at Lake Worth 

We came into the Lake Worth inlet and tried to anchor in the south anchorage near the turning basin for the commercial harbor.  I read about some shallow spots where dredging had pushed large amounts of silt into the anchorage.  An sure enough we found them.  Went momentarily aground but it was soft silt so I was able to back off.

What a great way to reenter the country.  Aground in Palm Beach!

I was too tired to try and poke around to find a decent spot to toss the hook.  The whole area seemed iffy to me anyway.  Especially this one spot where a whirlpool was swirling around.  Weird to see that.

North Anchorage which we left for one further south

So we went south about  mile and dropped the anchor right in front of Rybovich Marina, a mega yacht marina.  It's almost the same spot where we anchored last year.

Mary called the immigration people and they dutifully noted our information and didn't ask any questions.  So I guess we have legally re-entered the country.

We're anchored right near Rybovich Super-Yacht Marina.

We are firmly secured to the bottom and just waiting for the rain to get here.  Tomorrow we leave for Stuart and a week at Loggerhead but we may have to spend one night at the Hampton Inn because the marina is still embroiled in this silly controversy regarding live-aboards.  It basically means we can be on the boat over-night for only four consecutive days.  We’re staying a week.  So, one night in a hotel.   I think we can manage!