We made it to the Bahamas! We crossed on Thursday to take advantage of a window in the weather that would make the Gulf Stream crossing more comfortable. We left Florida at 5:30am and arrived in West End at about 4pm (55 nautical miles).
From an objective perspective, the crossing was uneventful. The weather was fine and we had other boats in sight and VHF range the entire way across. Hill planned a route that kept us on course and used the autopilot for most of the way. However, from my perspective, it was awful. I was slightly seasick and started to get panicky about not being prepared in case something happened to Hill. I spent most of the trip sitting at the front of the cockpit leaning against the dodger with my eyes closed. Not my finest moment.
Hill and I are docked at the Old Bahama Bay Marina in West End. We decided to stay in a marina due to a norther that was scheduled to blow through after we arrived. It kicked in yesterday and we had 20-30 knot winds all night from the north. Even though we are docked, the boat is facing south, and we had small waves whacking loudly against our stern all night. Neither of us got much sleep. Until yesterday, I had found the interior of the boat to be very comfortable, but once the wind kicked up, I got a horrible headache. So we ended up going to the bar and hanging out with some of the other sailors staying in the marina. There are two boys from Canada (ages 20 and 21) who are in a steel boat they built themselves and sailed through the Erie Canal and down the Hudson River and the Intracoastal Waterway. They also crossed over on Thursday. One of them had never sailed before this trip. After listening to their story, I told Hill that I couldn’t believe that I was worried about us!
Another norther is scheduled to blow through in a few days, but we are hoping to take advantage of the next window on Monday or Tuesday to sail to Great Sale Cay. Tomorrow we’re going to watch the Superbowl in town. Good times!
Hang in there Beth! Sailing can be freaky. The sudden unexplained booms and bangs (er not booms and vangs) are some of my least favorite aspects of the whole thing. I always immediately imagine sharks/a hole in the hull/insert your own worst nightmare here. But so far it's never BEEN any of those things. Thanks for your lovely writing here.
Posted by: dargie | February 02, 2009 at 09:43 AM
Congrats on getting across! How about some pics of those solar panels and you guys drinking something with an umbrella in it?
Posted by: Zach | February 02, 2009 at 07:53 PM
Thanks for the advice, Dargie!
Zach - the issue is not that we aren't taking photos but that we haven't had an internet connection decent enough to upload anything yet.
Posted by: Beth | February 04, 2009 at 02:22 PM