Happy Purim

Happy Purim tonight and tomorrow. May you get so drunk that you cannot tell Blessed Haman from Evil Mordecai (or something like that...)

Where the girls (and boys) are

No longer the slave of ambition

I laugh at the world and its shams

As I think of my pleasant condition

Surrounded by acres of college spring breakers barely wearing bikinis ...

[Old Settler's Song, slightly modified]

The buddy boats are scattered all over the Bahamas & Florida

Flotilla status: Ihana @ Fort Lauderdale. Tranquillity @ Nassau. Utopia @ Little Farmers Cay, Exumas. Pelican @ Abaco, or still on Eleuthera. Time & Tide @ Great Harbor Cay, Berries. Rag Doll @ George Town. Nothing like traveling together with buddy boats ...

Sushi dinner at Fort Lauderdale Beach

If you knew Sushi, like I know Sushi, oh! oh! Oh what a meal! I took the Ilona out to dinner at the new beachfront sushi bar, here in Fort Lauderdale. Wonderful place, outstanding food (and beer). And I didn't have to do the dishes.

Dessert - mango mousse with berries

Sushi Bar across from the beach

Looking toward the beach from inside the Sushi Bar

Fort Lauderdale.

Fort Lauderdale. Looks like we will be here for awhile. Too windy & wavey & swelly to go outside for the jump to Lake Worth Inlet, then Stuart. And we can't go up the ICW on the weekend - too many boats then. It's spring break time - surrounded by too many acres of teeny bikinis and drunk guys. Well, we have trolleys, boat outfitters, Publix groceries, restaurants, crowds. Not a bad place to be, actually. Will try to make Stuart (Hinckley) for boat service and repairs within a week; maybe put Ihana on the hard there for this coming summer.

Point of No Return

This photo of Ihana's chartplotter shows the track of our Gulf Stream crossing last monday.  The original intention was to continue on our Course To Steer of 322M; as we entered the strongest current of the northerly-flowing gulf stream, the set and drift would bring us farther north, so as to arrive at the Lake Worth inlet without changing our heading - and in the minimum time.

See previous posting, about the details of what happened to us. As you can see, mid-crossing was when the winds backed to the north and strengthened, making the crossing extremely unpleasant at best, and extremely dangerous at worst.

This happened just after we passed the Point of No Return - the point in the crossing where it would have been harder to turn back to Bimini then to continue on to Florida.

The course change is obvious on this track, as we took the shortest route and headed directly to Fort Lauderdale.  This got us out of the Gulf Stream the fastest, and since we had no way of telling how bad the conditions were going to get, the safest and smartest "course of action" (literally) was to abort Plan A = Lake Worth.

Note that the rhumb line directions and the courses to steer were pre-set and visible, for either destination.  Good planning.

According to Wikipedia: "The point of no return is the point beyond which one must continue on his or her current course of action because turning back is physically impossible, prohibitively expensive or dangerous. A particular irreversible action (e.g., setting off an explosion or signing a contract) can be a point of no return, but the point of no return can also be a calculated point during a continuous action (such as in aviation)."

Pictures - Leaving Bimini

Sunrise over Bimini, as we left to cross the Gulf Stream to Florida

Bob at the helm