From: Nassau Harbor Club Marina, Nassau Harbor, New Providence Island N25 04.489 W077 18.764
To: Honeymoon Harbor, Gun Cay N25 35.155 W079 17.650
Approximately 115 miles
After chatting with a few other boats this morning (we weren’t able to get weather) it sounds like the weather is moving faster. We decided we’d make a run from Nassau to Gun Cay with Shining Star and drop anchor this evening. Then see what the weather looks like in the morning and either put in at Bimini or continue on to Ft. Pierce tomorrow. Ft. Pierce is quite a distance away even with the Gulf Stream helping us along.
After putting the waypoints in the chart plotter, we released our dock lines, got permission to leave the harbor from Harbor Control and headed out towards the North West Channel under sunny skies and winds from the NE at about 13. We’re motor sailing and traveling at about 7 knots with our main and Yankee. Otto has the helm and we’re taking turns watching Otto. With approximately 115 miles at 7 knots (if we can maintain that) we should be traveling a little over 16 and half hours. One long day to Honeymoon Harbor. Bob was predicting we’d get in around 9-10pm. I don’t know about him, but we definitely can’t travel that fast. We pulled out just before 8am and looking out towards the west it looks like a fleet all heading westward. I can count 12 masts/sails ahead of us in the distance and on the horizon. I’d say everyone was waiting for the same weather window. going past the cruise ships I noticed one with gems on it - kind of showy for not being a Disney Cruise liner.
Instead of Ft Pierce (128miles/18 hours) we did switch to Pt Everglades for the next leg of the trip. That way we can do a day crossing. I went down for a quick nap and when I came up again we’d caught up with the rest of the Armada. Wow, it’s kind of thrilling to come up top, wipe the sleep from your eyes and then be jolted awake with the realization that you’re in the middle of a fleet of boats with nothing else around in sight but water. What a kick of adrenaline that was!
At 6:30pm the wind really started dying down so we dropped the sails. It’ll be dark in another hour and we’ll continue motoring across the Great Bahamas Bank in about 8-12 ft of water until we get south of Bimini to Gun Cay. I made a salad with some chicken for dinner and we ate it up top under twilight.
It’s interesting to note that in the dark, as we go through the water, we can see no bioluminescence in the water. Usually at night, the wake of the boat generates little dancing lights in the water as we disturb the little creatures that biologically produce light so the water glows in the boats wake and ripples as we disturb them. It seems odd to be going along at night and not see this phenomenon. I miss it and wonder if the unusual cold snap in January killed off a lot of the little creatures that generate this magical sea light that lights our path. Bob radioed over every so often and we talked about seeing the planets – Mars, Venus, and he thought perhaps Jupiter or Saturn? We talked about constellations, night skies and telescopes. It was a nice way to fill the void that darkness brings. Looking at Orion that follows our path across the Bank as he chases the bear, but never quite catches it. What is it we’re chasing across the water, following a compass point across the water?
2:00am (3/25/10). We’ve gone 115 nautical miles and have dropped anchor in 8.5-9 ft. Good night world… uhm… or good morning – whichever – it’s time for bed…
After chatting with a few other boats this morning (we weren’t able to get weather) it sounds like the weather is moving faster. We decided we’d make a run from Nassau to Gun Cay with Shining Star and drop anchor this evening. Then see what the weather looks like in the morning and either put in at Bimini or continue on to Ft. Pierce tomorrow. Ft. Pierce is quite a distance away even with the Gulf Stream helping us along.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment