YOU CAN'T CHANGE COURSES IN THE MIDDLE OF THE STREAM.

We are in FLORIDA.  Left Bimini just before sunrise. Gulf Stream crossing was supposed to be with Light & Variable winds.

Well, they got the Variable part right.  Fairly smooth the first third of the way, until we got to midstream. Then the winds BACKED to the NE, N, then NW.  Everyone says you must NEVER be in the Gulf Stream when the winds are out of the north. And they are right!  Marching Elephants, Pouncing Pachyderms, whatever they call them – went from SE tailwinds with 1' swells, 10 sec period, (no problem) - to OMG almost square waves when wind opposed the current.  Of course, this was when we were almost halfway across.

We aborted the NE course to Lake Worth Inlet (75 miles, 10 hours), and went with Plan B – turned west to Fort Lauderdale (50 miles, 8 hours) and hung on.  Was "challenging" for several hours; calmed down to reasonable (i.e. possible) the last 2 hours.  So, we are safely docked at Las Olas Marina in Fort Lauderdale.

Memo to Bob – you never want to cross the Stream ever again.  Please remember this.  Ignore all weather forecasts.

Have a case of culture shock – floating docks, hot showers, reasonable dockage fees, restaurants (coming real soon), real food, good beer (coming now), provisioning (coming later), boat repair (ditto – later).

More later – gotta finish off the Kalik Bahamian "Beer", then get some good old American food.

One of these days we still have to head up north.  Maybe in the ditch - bridge openings beat stream closings. Any day. Stay tuned.

The Gulf Stream today

No crossing today. Obviously.  Maybe Monday?

Looking west from Bimini, towards Florida

The Bimini Entrance - note the red nav aid

Bimini & Brown's Marina

Brown's Marina - We are the 4th mast from the left (the shortest one).
Boat is too short to see.

at Brown's Marina

Big John's, next door to the marina. Hey, mon - no joints in dis joint?

on North Bimini Island

View from end of our dock, Bimini

We are docked in North Bimini (marked on radar picture below). First squall hit already; pretty wild out here. Sails lashed down, eight docklines and all fenders deployed. Actually wore my heavy-weather foulie during the downpour. Damn- we even had to cancel the ad-hoc potluck supper here at Brown's Marina.

Bimini

We arrived in Bimini - Browns Marina on North Bimini - an hour ago.  We had a wonderful but exhausting 2-day transit from Nassau.

Yesterday: Rough leaving Nassau for a few hours, then it settled down and we were in Force-1 flat water, as we left the Tongue of the Ocean and got onto the Great Bahama Banks.  Stopped before sunset, anchored in absolutely the middle of nowhere - no land in sight - in 17 feet of water and calm winds and no waves or swells.  Slept like a bobby ...  Buddy Boated with Jon & Marilyn of sv-Escapade.

Wind came up overnight; up to 5 knots or so - nothing serious; no chance of dragging anchor even thought the light winds went from south to north overnight.  Slept throught it. no way was the Rocna anchor going to drag in these light winds - 100 feet of chain, and bridle. This was the anchorage I was most worried about this trip, and it turned out to be the best and calmest.

Today: Woke up to some light waves and 5 knot winds.  No problem.  Another 60 miles & 10 hours today. I took a nap, midday (Ilona at the helm). Woke up to some small waves on the banks, wind up to 5-10 knots. So after i had some coffee, we threw out the full genoa and motored at 7 knots for a couple of hours - all the way to Bimini. 

Tomorrow, etc: sitting tight here. Supposed to be another cold front (norther) on Thursday-Friday, but we are safe in port and there are lots of restaurants (& BARS) here on the island, or Cay, or whatever this place is. Looking forward to getting off the boat after 2 days, and eating out.

Chris Parker says *maybe* next Sunday-Monday will be a very mild crossing day for the Gulf Stream to Florida, if we don't mind motoring (we don't!).  So we may be in Florida by early next week.  After what we have been through, a 50-75 mile crossing of the Gulf Stream sounds like easy - especially after a good sleep and time on-land. We can wait for a really smooth weather window; no rush at all; it's still winter back home.

No way (NO WAY!) are we going back to MInnesnowta until we are sure it is over up there. (May?) Might cruise around Florida in our van - have friends and family in Dania, Naples, Sebring, Cape Coral; and the cruising community in St. Augustine. And would be nice to spend a day or 2 in Savannah and/or Charleston again before heading north.  No rush!  And imagine shopping without having to haul stuff home in the dinghy!

Dont know where we will park the boat for the coming summer.  Probably Indiantown again, although I would like a place with a mechanic we can trust.  People suggest St. Marys (GA), St. Augustine or Jacksonville (FL), or whatever.  Something to deal with when we get back across the Gulf Stream (next week?).  Not now.

We (finally!) have free internet and can Skype!  Civilization at last (sort of).

Voyage Plan - west from Nassau

Voyage Plan for sv-Ihana (assuming favorable winds and seas)

Traveling with buddy boat = sv-Escapade (at least to Bimini)

Monday Mar3 - leave Nassau, head NW, anchor on the Banks overnight
Tuesday Mar4 - continue Westbound
   a. Arrive Bimini (Alice Town); marina overnight (probably Brown's Marina, maybe Blue Water Marina) - if still daylight
   b. OR: anchor another night on the banks, just east of North Bimini; then arrive marinas (above) Wednesday

Then sit out possible bad weather on Thursday & Friday.

After that: Wait for a good weather window for the Gulf Stream Crossing - 48 miles to Fort Lauderdale, or 75 miles to Palm Beach / Lake Worth.

will be without Internet access until we reach Bimini; maybe there too, unless the internet there is better than it has been in the rest of the Bahamas.

Bimini Bound (sometime)

Still in Nassau, waiting for a good weather window to make the 165 or so miles to Florida.

First, we will spend a day heading west through the Northwest Passage for about 60 miles, i.e. west from Nassau, south of the Berry Islands, in deep ocean water - to the Bahama Banks. Will take about a day. Then we anchor overnight on the banks (!) - in 20 or so feet of water everywhere, but subject to current, surge, winds. Then next day we go on another 60 miles or so to Bimini.
We may have a buddy boat crossing with us - Escapade, a 45 foot Catalina. They have lived aboard for years, do boat deliveries, and in general seem to know what they are doing.
Possible weather window (need 2 days of calm, especially a calm night) tomorrow and Saturday, although rain is forecast. Don't mind rain, as long as the winds, seas, waves etc. behave themselves.
Otherwise, we sit tight here in the marina in Nassau while the stuff passes through on Sunday - then Mon, Tues, Wed look okay for the run to Bimini; depending on winds etc.
Plenty to do here in Nassau (i.e. the marina has a pool!), and there is an excellent (air conditioned!) supermarket right across the street. Where we are now, they provide good internet for free.

So, we should be in Bimini on Saturday, or by the middle of next week. it's supposed to be real nice, with food, marinas, things to do.

Then we wait there for a really good weather window to cross the gulf stream. Only 47 more miles to Fort Lauderdale, or 75 miles to Palm Beach/Lake Worth (but traveling northwest with a good push in the gulf stream). At 6 knots. Won't decide until we see the conditions - in any case, it will be an easy crossing - maybe 9 hours (all daylight) at the most. Worst case - an uncomfortable but safe day. But again we can wait for a good weather forecast (and hopefully an accurate one).

If/when we make it back to Florida - we will have our camper van, and plenty of people to visit with down in Florida. And much less expensive food and marinas and campgrounds. No intentions of heading north until Minnesota is inhabitable again - and it sounds like that might be a few months away.

Stay tuned ...