Got up at 4:00 am for the Endeavor lift off. It was mesmerizing to watch that orange/yellow ball turn into a long orange dash then take the shape of a comet as it streaked up and southward. I could almost picture the astronauts in the shuttle high fiving each other as they left the booster rockets and atmosphere behind. After the launch, we gave the weather a final check, grabbed our coffee, radioed the other boats and left the channel between 5:30 and 6:00am. I think we’d all pretty much seen enough of Lake Worth and were of the same mind to move on – either across if the seas were kindly or further south if our stomachs couldn’t take it. On the way out we heard Equus chatting with another boat that had just pulled out – he’d left the anchorage about a half hour to an hour before us and Blue Pearl was able to make contact with them.
The winds did have a Northerly component to them but they were very light – less than 10 and losing speed as the day went on. We had a wonderful sunrise and the song “Red Rubber Ball” kept playing through my head as we motor-sailed eastward into the sunrise. It was a little choppy and roily, as we hit the Gulf Stream, but not too bad. Wayne didn’t feel to good and it seemed like the Dramamine wasn’t doing much for him but making him woozy. The sails helped stabilize the boat as the swells/waves grew from 6-9 feet. They had a period of about 6-9 seconds, so while they grew, none of them were breaking – just gentle rollers. The picture shows Azaya and Blue Pearl starting to go down the other side of a swell.
I never did get to see that beautiful purple water this time. I watched the colors change from the sea green to blue to inky royal blue and for a brief period a purple blue but when the clouds started rolling over us I knew I wouldn’t see that rich purple color I was looking for.
We did see quite a few Portuguese Man-o-war sailing along the tops of the water hunting for food. They were showy with blue bottoms, red streamers in the water and pink lined little top fin sails. It put me in the mood for some music so I started playing Jonathon Livingston Seagull and singing along with the music while manning the helm.
The picture of the Man-O-War below was taken at Old Bahama Bay West End.
Not long after Equus had radioed that he’d lost a lure to a sail fish, I saw one leap out of the water. Wow! It was a good size one – about 6 –7 ft. I yelled and pointed but Wayne missed it. I’d never seen one in real life before and it was a real treat!
I enjoyed the camaraderie of traveling with the other boats. This was their first crossing and one of them had radioed that it was comforting to be able to look out and see another couple boats. I mentally digested that and compared this crossing with them to our first crossing alone and had to whole-heartedly agree. This was much nicer. I loved the excitement of hearing about a captured Mahi, a lost sailfish and sharing how we lost a fish :) We had nibbles on our spiffy green and yellow hula lure, but couldn't hook the fish. When we pulled in the Cuban YoYo we found out why. We never removed the protective shields from the hooks! LOL - no fish for dinner!
It was wonderful to be able to chat back and forth with them to see if they were seeing the same things – color changes in the water, flying fish, sail fish, man-o-war and the dolphin that joined our little voyage, if only for a short while.
I had a dolphin that joined us. It raced up from the back of the boat to the bow and was swimming along and under the bow, crossing back and forth. As I saw the sleek mammal, I radioed Blue Pearl that it might be heading their way, threw down the radio, grabbed my camera and raced to the bow of the boat to take pictures. I took several, then thought about capturing it on video to share with the kids back home. I hope I didn’t squeal to loudly on the video. I posted it to my face book page and have got to figure out how to insert it into my blog next. Lets try this: I loved hearing the excitement in Mary’s voice, as she was the first to see the turquoise water as we neared West End, Grand Bahamas to enter the marina. Four little sailboats crossed the Gulf Stream and entered the Bermuda Triangle – some for the first time – a successful passage for all from Lake Worth, to Grand Bahamas. Welcome to the Bahamas Mon… First to enter the harbor was Equus (Ralph and Ed from North Carolina), then Azaya (Mary and Axel from Alaska), next Blue Pearl (Pam and Glen from Canada) and then Kolibrie. We raised our quarantine flags to enter the port, then as we all cleared customs and returned to our boats, we raised our Bahamas flag. So it’s official – we are here. We have a bottle of bubbly that we wanted to share with the others to help them celebrate their first trip here. But we all ended up doing happy hour and dinner at the restaurant here. It was so nice to be able to put faces with each of the boats that we’d been chatting with in Lake Worth. A dinner of cracked conch shared with good company and happy but tired souls! We’ll share the bubbly tomorrow!
From left to right: Ed (Equus), Mary (Azaya), Glen (Blue Pearl), Pam(Blue Pearl), Ralph (Equus), Wayne (Kolibrie) and Axel (Azaya). I'm behind the camera :)
It’s been a long but delightful day for me. My only real question is… Who won the Superbowl? I shot off an email back home to tell of our successful arrival and am getting a well-deserved sleep… Welcome back to the Bahamas mon…
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment