Weather windows and weather guessers
It took us a long three days of traveling to make it from Melbourne, FL to Dinner Key where we are now anchored. This location is a very common staging area for boats waiting to make the jump across the gulf stream to Bimini in the Bahamas. The trick with crossing the gulf stream comfortably and safely is to wait for what people refer to as a proper weather window. What constitutes such a window? In my understanding, what we are looking for is a wind forecast which has no northerly component. Ex. South-East or West, not North-West or North. The reason for this is that the Northerly-flowing gulf stream turns ugly when opposed by a north wind.
How is this for a strange looking cat?
You know you’re in the land of opulence when the boat houses
are as big as a large family house back home.
Confusion point: A north wind comes from the north. A north current flows to the north. Don’t blame me… I didn’t make it up.
Anyway, watching the weather closely, as most cruisers do, we saw a good window developing and knew that we would have to hustle our butts south if we wanted to take advantage of it.
From Melbourne, we got an early start and made it to the already-described Vero Beach. The trip from Vero to Palm Beach was an even longer day, with multiple bascule bridges that we needed to time in order to make it to our friends’ marina before dark. Happily, we were able to do just that and found Mark and his 2-yr old son Keal waiting on his dock for us at 4:05 PM when we cruised into the marina. Mark and Dawn were excellent hosts and it was very cool to tour each others PDQ 32s and discuss the similarities and variations. Although their boat is only 1 year older than ours, it has many items that are different. We had a nice dinner and a couple of drinks and then finished the night off by swapping sails on our boat (we took down our little jib and rigged our 150% Genoa in anticipation of some nice sailing the next day), topped up our water tanks and bought a few more grocery items from the nearby store.
Fortunately, we said our farewells to Mark and Dawn before we retired for the night because Rebecca and I cast off from their dock before sunrise. It was exactly 6:00 AM when we entered the main channel with our first challenge of the day navigating to and then through the Lake Worth Inlet in the dark. Our objective for the day was to take the outside route all the way from Lake Worth to Miami and then if things went perfectly, we’d cross to Bimini today.
The first step in the journey was ultimately uneventful but we have found it helps to have a bit of teamwork to make it go as such. Many of the marks on these channels are unlit and it is sometimes challenging to pick them all out. We have found that having the person who is not at the helm watching for the marks with a killer flashlight really helps. When they spot the mark, they can shine the light on the reflective top of it, lighting it up for the helms-person to see.
Once out on the open water, we found gentle rolling waves with 5 knots or less of wind. We had been warned by Mark and Dawn to decide early on if we wanted to stick with this passage or not because with the exception of Fort Lauderdale, about half way through the trip, there was no other safe inlet to come back inside. With these light conditions we had no reservations whatsoever and continued motor-sailing towards Miami.
Just another sunrise on the water. 🙂
Yes, we started the day dressed warmly.
Our dolphin escort.
Our friends Bill and Ana have told us on more than one occasion that when they read the weather report stating that the winds will be 5 to 10, they add both numbers together knowing that if will be 15. We should have heeded their advice because the forecasted 8-11 quickly built to 19 or more, with waves to match it. And of course, as any cruiser knows, it was DIRECTLY on the nose, offering no opportunity to raise sail for much of the day.
The waves built up to such a degree that we seriously contemplated bailing in to Fort Lauderdale. We ultimately concluded that although the conditions were (very) uncomfortable, they were in no way unsafe. We would just suck it up and continue on. A downside to the worsening conditions was that it slowed our progress, meaning that we would be lucky to make it to the inlet before dark. As it turns out, the sun set at 5:31 PM, just as we made it to the entrance.
All the fun wasn’t over yet though because we still needed to make it to the anchorage and find a place to drop the hook, in the dark. As our destination, Dinner Key, was more than an hour away, it got plenty dark! Narrow channels, unlit marks, shallow waters and a Bazillion mooring balls all conspired against us and yet here we sit, safely at anchor.
What’s on for today? Are we heading to Bimini? I think that will wait for tomorrow. During yesterday’s offshore run we determined that we need to improve the way our dinghy is sitting on the davits which is going to require a run to West Marine. This is actually why we decided while on-route to head to Dinner Key instead of one of the more common staging areas on Key Biscayne itself. When I last checked, the weather window would still be wide open tomorrow. I wonder if the weather guessers will be right about that.
We passed a cruise ship when leaving the Lake Worth Inlet
and saw this one when entering the inlet at Miami.
Sunset at Miami.
The day started with a beautiful clear sky but ended with a number of clouds.
The Miami skyline.
PS: We just had a guy come around in a boat telling us that we need to move ZTC. Apparently they don’t like us anchored in the middle of their mooring field. 🙂
Glad you made it safely. Tomorrow looks good — and you’ll have a MUCH shorter trip! We’ll be out on the same water but heading south instead of east. See you in the Exumas….
Have a safe and fun trip and we’ll try to do the same.
If you get a chance go into Coconut Grove – right there on the water. Neat place, also the PDQ Raven is anchored there. We lived there for 6 years, Peter worked at UM on Key Biscaynne. Graet place just needs less people!
Hope it all comes together – your crossing and warmer weather!
Stay safe!!!!
We saw Raven. Our trip to Coconut Grove consisted of a jaunt to West Marine and Home Depot. We’re now anchored in Hurricane Hole on Key Biscayne.
Miami….just doesn’t seem that long ago you were in the cool northern waters of New York. You’ve come a long way. Safe crossing tomorrow….Mark
Thanks Mark. Yes, it’s quite a difference!
So did you move and re-anchor or end up using one of their moorings? BTW, you’ll have to keep us all posted on how much time you’re granted to stay once you arrive in the Bahamas. I keep reading more and more that their only allowing cruisers 30 days (I got this from Bahamas Chatter). If it’s true I can’t imagine why they’d do that.
We moved, but it was our intention to do so anyway. Since we’re heading to Bimini, and that is one of the places apparently only granting 30 days, I’m not holding out for much more than that. Anyone can get an extension though. You just have to go through the hassle of going back to customs near the end of your permit.
Congrats on the safe passage, and good luck tomorrow!
bob
Thanks Bob!
Sounds like a fun trip! We were also in the rolling waves yesterday, coming back from the south keys to Key Largo… Bummer I missed you guys by a day! Sitting at the airport now heading back into snowy Baltimore!
Safe travels across the waves!
Sorry we missed you Igor. Yesterday would have been a blast if we were just out sailing instead of trying to get somewhere before dark. Tomorrow will be better… I can feel it:)
Enjoy the trip! Beautiful pics.
Even the stuff we don’t fully enjoy at the time (like yesterday’s motoring into the waves) is part of the adventure.
Weather windows? You need the powerplant from the 50-foot Skater powercat that was up here for the poker run a few months ago. ( http://www.g3racing.com/boat/ ) Florida to Bimini in under 22 minutes. Somehow, I don’t think ZTC would handle a pair of 1900 hp helicopter turbines all that well, though….
You’re about to hit the point where the culture really starts to change. Lose a few more degrees of latitude and the thermometer goes up, the pace of life goes down, the attitudes get easier and the schedules looser. This is where things really get interesting!
22 minutes? Wouldn’t that be nice!!!
We are sure looking forward to some of that laid-back island-time stuff.
Hi Folks, good luck with the crossing, & hope you get all that sun you are looking for & you are able to keep us all informed
Thanks guys. We may need the luck:)
As for the sun, I think they are calling for a chance of rain tomorrow, but at least it’ll be warm rain (we hope).
That strange looking cat is actually (technically) a tacking outrigger proa. It belongs to a friend of mine named Scott. He built the boat last year, and lives on it full time. He is quite a character, to say the least. Very interesting craft that includes a homemade self steering setup that works like a charm.
A more recent post talked about Alans Cay. We were just there a few weeks ago. There is a fast current in Alans, and putting down two anchors is a smart idea. While there, an “experienced” cruiser dragged his one anchor right into a friends boat. Be cautious of others (or yourself) with only one anchor.
Chris Curtis
Hey Chris. Too bad we didn’t get a chance to meet Scott.
Two anchors might have been helpful at Alans, especially had we been a bit outside of the main anchoring area. It’s only really prudent to lay down 2 anchors if either everyone does so or you are out of the way of the other boats that will swing with only one down.