West Palm Beach to West End

--Blogpost written by Bob

This blogpost covers our Gulf Stream crossing from West Palm Beach to West End on Grand Bahama Island and the first two days of our (unplanned) layover in West End.

West Palm Beach to West End

This is my fifth (and Maggie’s third) Gulf Stream crossing and so far every one of them has been unique. I’ll never forget my first crossing and seeing the clouds above Grand Bahama Island in the wee hours of the morning when we were still 25 miles out. That was 26 years ago when we used LORAN C for navigating. When the sun rose, the ocean looked as smooth as an oil slick. It took us a little over 12 hours to cross from West Palm Beach to Port Lucaya (on the south side of Grand Bahama).

Today, we left West Palm Beach at 3 AM (at dead low tide) in nearly complete darkness (a new moon).  We were concerned about getting past the 230-feet long x 63-feet wide dredge, C.R. McCaskill, that has been working in the inlet but when we checked our AIS on the way out, the dredge had moved outside the inlet. 

We decided to take one hour shifts at the helm, with me taking the first shift to get us safely into the open ocean. The first couple shifts were boring because we couldn’t see much of anything but it was nice and cool.  The depth sounder exceeded its capability at 458 feet—it just flashed that reading most of the crossing.

Between 6:15 and 6;30 AM, a warm glow appeared
in the east, even though it was still pretty 
dark in all other directions.

The east got brighter by the minute.  You can see how
smooth the water was at this point.  

Then, there was first light at shortly after 6:30 AM—we were 3-1/2 hours into our crossing and 36 miles to go to our waypoint destination.  Our GPS/chart plotter counts down the nautical miles to our waypoint, which is right at the harbor entrance for West End.

We arrived at the turning basin at West End at 12:30 PM, a 9-1/2-hour crossing!  Just when I slowed down and tried to take it out of gear, I couldn’t shift gears!  The transmission control cable broke again!  We quickly dropped the anchor in the turning basin and made preparations to shift manually (Maggie shifting on the transmission in the engine room while I steer the boat).  We made it into a slip in this condition.

I immediately checked in with Bahamas Customs & Immigration (they were extremely helpful and efficient) and then made arrangements for our slip. There was a problem with our assigned slip (C-30) in that I had to go into the slip bow first and, in this position, our 50-foot long shore cable wouldn’t reach the electrical pedestal on the dock.  With the help of a couple dock hands we manually pulled the boat around 180 degrees and into the adjacent slip (C-31).

Then, I pulled the compass off the binnacle to inspect the closest end of the control cable. We quickly determined that the cable broke—I could pull it out of the cable covering without disconnecting it from the transmission. I think it was due to a slight twist exerted on the thin solid cable when I tightened the lock nuts in place when I replaced the cable in Vero Beach about 2 week’s ago. 

I called Advantage Marine (my “go to place” for control cables) in Vero Beach to get a new control cable shipped to us here in West End. They recommended an upgraded stranded core cable--it can better withstand kinks.  They promised to ship it out tomorrow morning for expedited delivery.

So, while it was probably our easiest Gulf Stream crossing, the end of the day made it one of the worst. I have a feeling that we may be spending Christmas here in West End because there simply isn’t enough time to receive the new cable, install it, and make it to Marsh Harbour (which is 3 days away from here).

First Layover Day in West End

I slept so soundly last night! I woke up automatically at first light and took my camera for a walk around the marina.

s/v Rainy Days tied up in slip C-31 at Old Bahama Bay
Resort & Marina on the morning of December 20.

This morning, we decided to limit our restaurant meals to one per day because it is so tempting to just eat at a nearby restaurant for all meals and it would be very expensive.  So, we went out for breakfast—we’ll see if we can stick to our decision and for how long.

The closest yellow building is Customs, the second is the
showers, and the furthest is the marina office.
This looks like a postcard, doesn't it?

This layover period in West End is probably good for me—it forced me into a more slow-paced lifestyle. After catching up with my blog writing in the morning (using the WiFi in the hotel lobby because we can’t get it from our boat), I found the locations of a couple businesses near Freeport (including the BTC office), and came back to the boat to charge the cell phone I purchased in the Bahamas in the spring.  (Later, I found out that I could top up my Batelco cell phone at the marina’s store but I needed a new SIM card which they couldn't provide.  It took visiting two more BTC locations to actually get a new SIM card!) Maggie walked along the small beach on the north end of the marina (the water was warm) and checked out the water temperature in the pool (it was cool!) while I was in the hotel lobby.

The lobby, restaurant, and gift shop is on
the right side of this image.

Maggie has nick-named this place “No-see-umville” because we both experienced a lot of bites from “no-see-ums” here in the spring.  Even though, I lathered up my ankles and legs this morning with Avon’s Skin-so-soft (which very effectively repels “no-see-ums”) I feel (or imagine I feel) little bugs crawling on my ankles and legs.  Maggie is usually the one with imaginary diseases—she needs only the slightest of a suggestion.

This is the beach just north of the marina.

I spent most of the morning (Wednesday, December 19) setting up a FedEx account to make it easier to have the new control cable shipped to me. In the end, I had to have instructional help from FedEx because their computer system was malfunctioning. I had Advantage Marine simply use my new FedEx account number. This all took about 2-1/2 hours and we’ll see if it all works according to plan. I hope to have a confirmation of when the new control cable will arrive by late this afternoon.

This place, Old Bahama Bay Resort & Marina, is a very convenient place to stop and clear Customs. The pace is slow, the food is great, and the people are warm and friendly. The only downside is the presence of no-see-ums when the wind is very light.

Second Layover Day in West End

Today (Thursday, December 21), we rented a car and purchased a new SIM card and a “top up” at the BTC office in Eight Mile Rock which is the settlement about 10 miles south of West End.  (They drive on the left side of the road here in the Bahamas.).  We also drove to FedEx in Freeport in the hope that our transmission cable arrived early.  FedEx was on the ball—they expected my shipment to arrive soon and had requested a printed receipt from the shipper (the existing hand written receipt was not acceptable to Customs).  Also, we found out that Customs closes at 1 PM tomorrow for the holidays—if we can’t get it through Customs tomorrow morning, we can’t get the control cable until Wednesday morning!  So, tomorrow morning, we head back to FedEx in Freeport (about 30 miles away).  More to come...


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