The weather reports for a Thursday crossing to the Bahamas looked a little iffy, but doable. The big factor in crossing from FL to the Bahamas is the Gulf Stream, which can be calm as a lake or rough enough to beat the devil out of a boat and crew. The cruising mantra is never to cross with any winds that have a "north" element to them (i.e. winds coming from the north, north-west, north-east, etc) as these will blow against the north flowing gulf stream, causing large waves. The winds for Thursday were predicted to be from the north-west and shifting to north-east during the day, but at 10 knots or less. Val has been helping me plan the crossing and volunteered to go over with me as crew and fly back once we arrived.
Got underway from Bruno's Zoo at 0345 to catch the 0400 and 0430 bridge openings (for the two bridges between the zoo and Port Everglades inlet). Cleared the inlet at 0445 and pointed the bow towards West End, Bahamas.
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| Underway at 0'dark-thirty |
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| Sunrise at sea |
It was a little rough while crossing the middle of the Gulf Stream (which is approximatly 20 miles wide) but once we crossed, it smoothed out and was nice sailing.
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| Underway in the Gulf Stream |
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| Casey and Val - the happy crew! |
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| Running up the "Q" flag |
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| Safely moored West End, Bahamas! |
Heading to the Bahamas is something most all east coast cruisers talk about (myself included) but I never actually thought I'd make it over. Thanks to the help from friends like Val, Lisa (Val's wife) and Casey it finally came to pass! I'll also have to thank my wife Marilou for her support (and for letting me take off in the first place!).
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