Crossing to the Bahamas

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Second Star to the right
And on till morning
Come with me 
To where dreams are born
And time is never planned
         -Peter Pan by J. M. Barrie
This photo is the dawn as we (finally!) set out sailing east to the Bahamas

Wake up alarms were set for 0430, but were both awake before then, getting a jump on the day. The anchor came up around 5AM.  It took both of us to spot the channel markers in the deep darkness bathing the water while city lights added to the background visual clutter as we threaded Second Star through the maze of anchored boats.  

We followed our inbound track's breadcrumbs on the GPS back to the ocean and the safe water buoy guarding the Lake Worth entrance.  After clearing the jetties Second Star was quickly swept northward by the gulf stream taking us on a course more for Bermuda than the Bahamas. We focused on keeping Second Star moving fast so as to minimize our time in the grip of the gulf stream's bouncy current. 

This strategy played out nicely when a couple hours later the wind made a favorable shift and the gulf stream current diminished.  Our course for the day ran northeast, then east, then south east, putting us on the Bahama Bank at Memory Rock just after lunch.

Here the water goes from a few thousand feet of depth to about 30 feet depth over a distance of a quarter mile.  And then it gets shallow... really shallow.  We steered Second Star up into the wind to slow her down to provide a moment to raise the dagger boards before tiptoeing through the really thin places.   Once well settled on the Bahama Bank we slowly ran south enjoying the brilliant turquoise water.  

The water colors are so different from what we're used to! Bright white sand shows through the very clear water, but it can be 20-30 ft down.  Big dark patches appear to us to be hard & crunchy, but it's just grass in shallow water.  It was very hard to sail over those the first few times- I kept expecting to hear a scrape.  We will learn to read the water soon enough.

Charts show red & green navigational markers, or landmarks like weather towers that just aren't there anymore.  I'm assuming a hurricane swept them away and replacing them is low priority.  For those who have sailed these waters, we saw no trace of the marker for Memory Rock.  Personally,I'd want a marker for anything called "Rock".
We found our way into Old Bahama Bay Marina to end our day around 3:30pm.  The customs and immigration office is literally the first building we encountered when stepping off the boat.  So now, officially checked in, all the stress of routing and Covid tests, and five day windows is past.  The stress of these last few weeks of planning and coordinating and waiting melted off as we walked barefoot on the beach around the sparsely peopled resort. 
We have arrived in the Bahamas.



Comments

Lynn and Ed said…
Terrific! West End is a great place to check-in and start your Bahamas adventure. Now there is no schedule except for the weather. Interesting chart path.
March 18, 2021 at 8:00 AM
Kathy B said…
Congrats guys. Let the fun begin.
March 18, 2021 at 10:11 AM
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