Voyage to Florida, the final leg 11/30/2009

To ensure that I did not sleep through my intended departure, I left the inverter on to power my alarm clock. I awoke in the night and arose to check the battery levels as without sun for the solar panel and no breeze for the wind generator I did not have reason to suspect a problem but felt it prudent. The time was 1:30am and as long as I was already up I decided to begin my day. I started the motor, made coffee and awakened my electronics. The moon was nearly full, high in the sky and with no cloud cover I was able to see my shadow on deck with surprizingly good light. Once the anchor was retrieved I made my way through the entrance to my anchorage, back to the sea and on my way by 2:00am.

Traveling at night alone I relied on my electronic friends. "Radar" and I came to an agreement that he would maintain a watch zone of 6 nautical miles to permit me to cat nap should I elect to do so. I would need all that Knot-A-Lot could provide to make best speed for the 130 miles I will transit today so I unfurled the headsail and raised the main in the still of the night before I was to experience the breezes the sun will bring later. I retired to the cabin with my coffee periodically checking for traffic with "Radar". There were few intrusions into our guard zone, mostly fishing boats working the bank west of the Berry Islands. As fate would have it my course was well off the path of the east/west freighter traffic north of me. This would not have been the case if the alternative routing prevailed as originally intended.

The sun and I greeted a wonderful day with 1 - 3' seas from my aft starboard quarter and 5 knots of breeze from the south on my beam. I am hoping for more wind as the morning progresses.

The winds did build as suspected during the morning to a steady 10 - 15 knots by late morning. I added the staysail to my propulsion package and now had all that the boat had to offer contibuting to speeds of 7 1/2 to 8 1/2 knots over the ground as I entered the "River".

The GPS makes arrival calculations based on the distance remaining and current speed. The favorable seas, winds and my northwesterly track across the Gulf Stream all contributed to favorable velocity made good to my destination. I should have but did not anticipate the impact of the numerous eddy currents in and around the stream that slowed the boat to less than six knots over ground at times and speeds approaching 9 knots at others with no apparent change in the trim of the boat. None the less my speeds were better that those that I used to decide this run today.

With about 10 nautical miles remaining the sun retired from my company over the West Palm Beach shore having shared what was to be one of the most relaxing sails across the Gulf Stream any voyager could ever experience. The only incident was a condition common to sailing vessels, that being the tendancy of the boom and my head to compete for the same physical space. I arrived at Riviera Beach Marina at 9:00pm using the current of the intracoastal to lend assisstance to my docking alone, a tad weary. Once fastened to the dock I went to the Tiki bar for a rum, the journey over.....for now...................................

Voyage to Florida, Day 1 11/29/2009

I set my alarm clock for 5:30am to prepare for my departure. Claire said she would get up to assist me and came aboard at 4:45, a bit premature. She returned to her quarters on the Canadian boat and I dozed back and awoke at my prescribed time of 5:30. I prepared to depart, made coffee, started the iron jenny, heated up the electronics and went topside to survey the situation, no Claire. I walked over and knocked on the cabin of Claire's quarters. She rambled over shortly thereafter as did the captain of the boat behind me, Brian. With their assistance the boat was positioned so to allow me to back into the fairway, make my turn and Knot-A-Lot slipped into the pre-dawn darkness at 6:00am with Claire and Brian standing watch on the dock.

I made my required request to transit the harbor to Nassau Harbor Control on the VHF. The sun was beginning to greet me as I motored toward the sea.

As I cleared the harbor numerous small fishing boats were returning and a cruise ship was making port for their scheduled stop. I will be retracing our path back to the states. The course was set, the auto pilot engaged for the 52 mile leg north by northwest to Great Stirrup Cay.

The seas were 1 - 3' on my beam with light east by northeast breeze. I set the headsail and motored my way northerly in complete comfort. As the boat approached Great Stirrup dolphins greeted me and played off my bow. I logged better time than anticipated so decided to round the north end of Great Stirrup and anchor between Great and Little Stirrup for the night. I had debated with myself the idea of completing my trip tommorrow by setting course across the Gulf Stream direct to Florida in instead of the additional two legs previously considered. The decision to was made to push across in what could become a 24 hour run. By camping here I would shave just under an hour from my next leg.

I had my anchor down by 4:30, prepared myself a cocktail, settled in for some burgers on the grill and watched the sun set over a quiet anchorage.

The moon was already high in the sky shortly after sunset. The boat was quiet, my day was long and I retired to my bunk at 7:00 with the intent to get underway by 4:00 am tomorrow.

Beginning of the end 11/28/2009

This is the lighthouse at the west entrance to Nassau Harbor channel

Paradise Island lies to the north of the channel and is the home of the Atlantis resort.

We were berthed at the Nassau Yacht Haven. Crime in Nassau is prevalent and all of the businesses are locked with security even during business hours. This is Ricardo, one of the security guards on the docks at night. We shared conversation and coffee (beer) with them discreetly.

After Mason had left I moved the boat to a better slip situation on a dock with a Canadian charter company. They are French speaking from Lake Champlain and winter charter from this area. I met Shawn on the left down here with his sister on one of two boats his parents have here to charter. They had only arrived days before us and were geared to play. Spent one evening with them and discovered I could not keep pace but Claire could and did. 

Claire has endeared the Canadians and is not interested in ending her adventure. She has found quarters on one of their boats and will stay with expectations of a compensated position cleaning boats. I will take the boat back to Florida solo. This was to be my last night here. My weather window opened today after storms the past two days. The boat will slip away at 6:00am tomorrow.