West Palm Beach to West End

—Blogpost written by Bob

Gulf Stream Crossing

We've been watching this weather window for over a week.  We picked it because the wind was predicted to be light and it has been more than a day since the strong northerlies have subsided.  We're OK with motoring across the Gulf Stream--we are not "purist" sailors who need to always sail. 

We also selected West End as our destination in the Bahamas because we felt that Bimini (the most logical destination for heading to the Exumas) would be very crowded because of the Hurricane Dorian-related destruction to the Abacos and the shift of all the previous Abaco cruisers to the Exumas.

We weighed anchor at the (ungodly) hour of 4:30 AM on New Year's Day, 2020.  It took us 30 minutes to get out to the sea buoy marking the Lake Worth Inlet (in the dark).  (A tug pulling something that looked like dredging equipment followed us out the inlet.)  From then on we were completely navigating by GPS (since we couldn’t see anything) and using our autopilot to maintain our course. Of course, we had to make continual course adjustments as we met varying degrees of northerly flow from the Gulf Stream to stay on the rhumb line. As we entered the core of the Gulf Stream where the flow rates were greatest, we had to increase our angle into the stream by 30 or more degrees.

One of the dozen or so flying fish we attracted
during the Gulf Stream crossing.  They
were all very small, about the
size of sardines.

At some point we collected about a dozen small flying fish on deck—we think it was during the early morning hours while it was still dark.

The worst part of our crossing was in the morning hours during the darkness because the northerly wind was strongest at that time (about 10 knots). The wind produced large rollers which were hitting the boat on our aft quarter and causing the boat to yawl and roll. At this point, we both felt the enormous distance that was still ahead of us and momentarily wondered about the whether our efforts on this crossing were worthwhile. As daylight began, the trip started to improve and so did our attitudes.

Lola was a real trooper during (her first) crossing! She started out nestled on the back deck (within the cockpit enclosure) and eventually moved up onto the cockpit coaming (still contained by the enclosure). She clearly preferred to be outside with us (if she had to make an ocean passage).

Lola curled up on the cockpit coaming
just inside the dodger as she made
her first Gulf Stream crossing.

When we reached the half way point, the sea state settled and our boat speed improved significantly and the ride became much more pleasant.

The color and clarity of the water when we got close to West End was really impressive, even though we’ve seen it many times before.  We entered the basin at West End, Grand Bahama, shortly after 2 PM, making our fifth (my seventh) successful crossing in 9-1/2 hours.

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The following image shows the path and velocity of the Gulf Stream for today, January 1, 2020 (New Year's Day).  The horizontal red line was our actual route across the Gulf Stream.  While we were following the rhumb line (straight line) from Lake Worth Inlet to West End, the boat pointed southeastward for most of the crossing and our boat speed was negatively affected by the current.

This is a map of the Gulf Stream for the day our 
crossing.  It changes a little bit each day.  
The horizontal red line was our actual 
route for crossing between Lake 
Worth Inlet and West End,
Grand Bahama.

When we got close to West End we experienced a counter current running south but it was not nearly as strong as the northerly current in the Gulf Stream.

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When arriving at Old Bahama Bay Resort & Marina, we immediately topped off our diesel tanks (16.8 gallons), got into our slip (C-28), and the started the Customs and Immigration process. Customs and Immigration took about 45 minutes, much longer than anytime previously—our cost was a whopping $600 (a big increase just started January 1) because we intend to stay more than 3 months. (This was the first time that a Customs officer actually came to our boat during check in and it was primarily to check the serial number on my pistol.  It was also the first time they actually asked about us having any pets and checked Lola’s Bahamas pet permit and international health certificate.)  I was grateful that the Customs & Immigration office was open for business on New Year's Day!

After Customs and Immigration, we adjusted the position of our boat in the (much larger-than-necessary) slip so that our 62 feet (total) of shore power cable would reach. I also had to use our 50-amp to 30-amp adaptor. We then settled in and celebrated our fifth (and my seventh) successful Gulf Stream crossing with a chilled bottle of champagne.  Life was good again.

Thursday, January 2

We decided that we just needed a day of rest and not move again for a little while--we stayed at Old Bahama Bay Resort & Marina another night.  The following images were taken during our stay over day on Thursday. January 2, 2019.

s/v Rainy Days is the sailboat on the
right side of this image.

A line of sailboats waiting on customs clearance.
These boats made an overnight crossing
of the Gulf Stream.

This simple image of a brightly colored but
rusting pay phone is purely Bahamian.

Maggie just had to walk along the nearby
beach in the morning.

Lots of fishing boats out of West Palm Beach
dock on the south dock.

At noon we had lunch at Teaser’s Tiki Bar near the pool. I had conch fritters with a Kalik (a local beer) and a frozen bushwhacker to end my lunch. During lunch, we discovered that the couple sitting next to us were the captain and mate on a charter sailboat we had rented in Bocas del Toro, Panama, about 6 or 7 years ago. What a small world!

The frozen bushwhacker was all I could handle. I needed a nap afterward. However, I set an alarm so that I didn’t miss getting our BTC SIM card at 3 PM at the on-site store. By this time the ordeal of our Gulf Stream crossing seemed so distant, just a past (minor) inconvenience.

When I dropped by the store to pick up our BTC SIM card—of course, it wasn’t there yet but I was promised (maybe that’s too strong a word for Bahamians) that it would be in before we leave tomorrow at mid-morning. We’ll see...

Showers (here) were even more of a crap shoot. There were three men’s shower stalls in the marina’s main shower facility. Only one had a shower curtain but that one didn’t have any water. I picked the cleanest looking one of the other two but there was no hot water. There was nothing better to kill a buzz from a frozen bushwhacker than a cold shower! Why do we love the Bahamas so much? I guess it’s because it is so unlike the USA. Providing that a shark doesn’t decide to have one of us for lunch, it’s healthier too.

We decided to stay put here in West End for a couple more days before proceeding further because of predicted 15 to 20 knot southerly winds over the next few days...stay tuned!

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