From Hell to Paradise

Picture this: You are an elderly couple alone in the middle of the night on a small boat going 9 mph out on the ocean, several miles away from land.  It’s pitch dark.  Suddenly a boat with no running lights zooms up behind you.  They don’t call you on the radio.  They shine a huge spotlight into your boat.  You can’t see them and you don’t know who they are or what they want.  I have never been so scared in my life.  After a few minutes, they turn off the spotlight, zoom up even closer, and turn the spotlight back on.  Ron says it’s probably the Coast Guard, and I know it *probably* is, but what if it isn’t?  I’m shaking like a leaf, and that never happens, but I can’t help feeling completely vulnerable.  After a few more minutes of silence, they turn off the spotlight again, and then they’re just out there in the dark.  Ron is looking at radar, and after a couple of minutes, he says they’re gradually dropping back behind us.  My breathing slowly returns to normal.

At 10 AM, we arrived at Old Bahama Bay, West End, Bahamas.

A little background: Ron had made a few posts at the start of our trip, but then we didn’t post to the blog for the rest of the trip down the ICW, for some reason that escapes me now.  Quick summary:  we left very late, I got sick, and we dashed for Florida, making one quick stop in North Carolina to visit family, and one 3-week stop in Georgia to finish Ron’s list of boat refit items.  We now have a new watermaker, far superior to the old one.

So on Tuesday, we arrived at Riviera Beach Marina in Florida, our departure point for the Bahamas.  Wind predictions for the next day were great, but we couldn’t leave so quickly, because Ron still needed to pick up some boat parts at Boat Owners Warehouse, and we still needed to make our last run for provisions.

Our last sunrise in Florida.

The next good weather window was going to be Monday. Okay, so we’ll be in Florida for almost a week. But weather predictions for a week in advance are not very reliable. Sure enough, with every day we were in Florida, that nice day for crossing moved another day away from us. By Thursday, the next good crossing day was the following Thursday. Rats!

Now, here’s the thing about crossing the Gulfstream. (Warning, this will bore the pants off our non-cruising readers–it’s ok to skip this paragraph). Two years ago, before our first crossing, Ron researched very carefully. Everybody advised that you must wait until 24 hours after the wind has any North component (a North, Northwest, or Northeast wind). The theory being that since the Gulfstream is headed North, winds out of the North will kick up ugly waves, and it takes hours for them to subside. Aside from wind predictions, there are also wave predictions, and we prefer not to cross if the waves are forecast to be higher than 1 foot, so that if the prediction is a little off, waves probably won’t be much over 2 feet. On Friday, I noticed that, despite northerly winds on Friday, waves in the Gulfstream were forecast to be only 1 foot on Saturday, starting at midnight and lasting until 1 PM. So we decided to make a break for it. We left the marina at 2 AM Saturday morning. It turned out that, for this trip anyway, forecast wave height is more important than what the wind was doing the day before.

The crossing was completely lovely as far as the weather was concerned. HOWEVER, there was one drawback to leaving in the middle of the night. We caught the attention of Homeland Security. Which in the daylight would not be a bad thing. But at night, it wasn’t pleasant. I think if it happens again, I’ll assume it’s law enforcement and not be frightened. At least, not terrified.

The first couple of hours were too choppy for Amelia, but she quickly got comfortable.

West End was badly damaged by Hurricane Matthew.  Old Bahama Bay lost their beachfront shack serving breakfast and lunch.  But they have cleverly converted their little kayak and bicycle lending shed to serve drinks and lunch.  Ron and I headed over there yesterday and had lovely cracked conch and fried mahi, with excellent fries and cole slaw. Harold and Erica were as nice as ever, and we had a long chat with Harold about the rebuilding efforts in West End after Matthew.

They put out this Coke can to attract the bees and keep them away from our food.  It works!