We are as ready as we feel we can be at this point to actually get to The Bahamas. Upon reviewing the Explorer Chart book, it is recommended that one waits for a South wind, no more than 15 knots with the next days forecast a South to South-West wind no more than 15-20 knots. Be patient is the key. Our weather window we feel will be around January 14, 15, or 16th.
Monday, January 15th
We awoke at 0500 to a very calm marina. The weather report is stating seas off Ft. Lauderdale to Miami are supposed to be 2-4 feet. We decided to-day is our day so by 0700 hours we had everything stowed away and headed out the Dania Cut. We had a very slight breeze, put up the jib and shut off the motor. I only received three rope burns on this inaugural trip..(Glen---Randy only yelled at
me twice to-day!!)We are heading on a course of 186 degrees. The weather has turned nasty. Seas went from 2-4 to 6-8 feet and very sloppy. Off of Miami every building disappeared as the rain squalls hit. We had the wind against the current, then the current, wind and rain against us. Getting into Biscayne Bay proved a little tricky. The GPS is marvelous. Once we found our waypoint and confirmed the initial marker we made our way slowly into the channel.
After making contact with the Rutherford’s on UNWIND we found them in No Name Harbor.
At 1600hrs., after an 11 hour day we have rafted to UNWIND . What an incredibly long day to say the least.
The Rutherford’s had a nice cup of tea waiting for us. After some discussion the decision was made that there was an excellent window to cross the Gulf Stream tonight around 2100 hours. Randy and I went and had a quick nap for about an hour.
No Name Harbor actually is a very well protected Bay. In one respect it would have been nice to spend a bit of time there, however, we really didn’t want to miss this weather window, plus the bugs were awful. It was like being in Ft. Lauderdale. We also really liked the idea of making the Gulf Stream Crossing with another boat.
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