Homeward Bound

We left Nassau on a good weather window and sailed like crazy for two days across the banks, anchoring near the Northwest Channel Light the first day (in the middle of nowhere on the ocean, basically) and made it to Bimini the next day. After a day of recovery, we anchored out on the ocean side -which was supposedly in the lee that night - and awaited the Gulf Stream Crossing planned for the next morning. Did we realize that night would blow up like crazy with lightening and thunderstorms all around? I guess not. It was a bit hellish. No, that's an understatement. It was hellish. The boat was being tossed about like crazy, things flying from one side to the other all night, meanwhile lightening is flashing all around and it's raining torrents. Yikes! When it finally all settled down there was no question but we had to limp back to the dock (Weech's Bimini Dock) and tie up and get some rest. Whew! Although the predictions were good for crossing the Gulf Stream in terms of wind direction and wave heights, the threat of thunderstorms was high. I already had flights booked from Palm Beach to Marquette, and was relatively determined to make them. This left us only one option - to go the next day or get stuck behind a new weather front and wait another week in Bimini. We made a deal that if it was nice in the morning we would go. Around midnight, the thunderstorms and lightening blew up again, and persisted throughout the night and into the morning. It all started to lighten up around 7:30am, at which time we started to think really hard. Luckily, a number of other sailors were on the VHF talking about the single sideband reports they had heard and their Sirius weather connections, etc. While Wayne was talking to the guys in the boat next door, I heard a conversation between 2 parties, one of whom said the latest report was rising barometric pressure in Miami and the other who said the radar showed the thunderstorms moving off to the north. I popped up out of the boat and said, "we're going". Wayne looked at me for a minute (having had hair-raising experiences with thunderstorms on Lake Superior) and said, "ok." By 9:00 that morning we had gotten out the tricky entrance channel and were in the Gulf Stream. The wind was pretty good - South-Southwest - which gave us a close-hauled reach. The current was pushing us north and the wave heights were very decent. We blasted across the Ocean at maximum speed and ended up in the Fort Lauderdale mooring field by 5pm. Heaven! We made it! We were beat but euphoric. Didn't get off the boat till the next day. About 30 miles and 13 bridges later (each bridge requires one to wait for the next "opening" time) we dropped anchor in Lantana near the Old Lime House restaurant. We knew this anchorage from our way down with Claude. We inflated the dinghy, put the motor on (which by some miracle worked) and got into town. There may in fact be a god or maybe it was the force. Well, whatever it was - there was a public library within 6 blocks with internet and printer capabilities. Wayne managed to activate the cell phone, book his own flights with frequent flyer miles, and call the marina in Indiantown. I booked a hotel room near the airport on Hotwire, printed out my flight and hotel confirmations, and we were golden. Had a lovely dinner at the Old Key Lime House and took the dinghy back to Cassie for my last night on board. The anchorage was wonderfully calm and we spend a lovely night. Bags packed and ready for action, Wayne dropped me off this morning and went on to do battle with about 45 more miles of the ICW (including bridges, bummer) to take the boat to Stuart on the St. Lucie River. He will anchor in the Hobe Sound tonight and with any luck reach civilization again tomorrow. I feel awful for bailing on him but... I just took a very long, luxurious shower in the lovely room I have at the Doubletree (used to be the Radisson) after a great run and workout in the clean and well-equipt gym. I am using a computer which is available to guests at all times, and I feel and smell great! I have HBO in the room and am not likely to leave it very often. I have books, television, a bathroom, individually controlled climate, all the soap and lotion and toilet paper I could ever want. In short, nirvana. I understand it's snowing at home and have asked my son to bring me warm socks, boots and a jacket when he picks me up (with any luck my plane will make it) tomorrow night. Maybe I'll still get a chance to do some cross-country skiing this year! The Carribean chapter closed for me now, my thoughts are entirely with my family and friends up north. We have decided, however, to keep Cassie another year and venture off to and through the Florida Keys next winter. Yeehaw!

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Bimini and the trip home

We blasted up to Bimini from Nassau in 2 days, and took the day off today to recover. Bimini as you may know is a famed fishing haunt of Ernest Hemingway. We saw a lot of photos and interesting memorabilia in the museum and just generally hung out all day. It's a very fun place, but not a fun place to take your boat in and out of - the channel is narrow and inobvious. We'll be basically going by sight to the deeper waters. We're leaving in just a couple of hours to navigate this treacherous channel, make a big arc and swing around to the ocean side of north Bimini where we will drop the hook asap and just hang on until the wee hours of the morning. This will require more navigation by sight and depth sounder but we are communing with the medichlorians and hope the force will be with us. Then we'll lift up the anchor in the wee hours and head straight over to Lake Worth, thereby crossing the Gulf Stream during what we hope is an excellent weather window. Homeward bound!