The Bahamas!

Once we got the watermaker running again we focused on the next most important elements, after water: fuel for the engines and fuel for the captain. We filled up the diesel tanks and crammed beer in every crevice of the boat that wasn’t already occupied with cat food or cat litter. Not that you cannot find beer in The Bahamas; it’s just that everything is expensive!

Then it was just a matter of waiting for a weather window to cross the Gulf Stream, hopefully soon enough to have some beer still left, and before any other major thing stopped working. The Gulf Stream is a strong current that will push you North for the entire crossing from Florida to Bahamas, at up to five knots in the center. Intuitively you’d want a North wind to counteract the current, but actually the wind blowing against the current produces the most horrendous seas. The usual easterlies would be on the nose, so that’s not ideal either. We needed the more rare South or West winds. The wait could have been long, but we got lucky and soon had our one-day window with westerlies.

We departed at dawn and encountered a peaceful and almost windless Gulf Stream. When the wind picked up about half-way into the Stream we raised the sails but kept one engine running,  because we really didn’t want to spend more time in the Stream than necessary. At that point we had to aim more than 30 degrees off our target to compensate for the northward drift.

Flying fish welcomed us to Grand Bahama Island before sunset, but our plan was to take advantage of the conditions and continue Southeast across the Northwest Providence Channel to the Berry Islands. Once out of the Gulf Stream we shut the engines and enjoyed very steady winds. Except for a couple of tacks to avoid cargo and cruiser ships in the Freeport area, we kept our course with no sail adjustment needed for the entire night. It was new moon and, apart from the occasional ship, we could only see the stars above and a stream of bio-luminescent life behind.

We performed the flag dance and checked into the country at Great Harbor Cay, where every one was amazingly friendly. The clearance protocol requires you to fly the yellow quarantine flag when you enter territorial waters, then the captain reports to customs and immigration with the passports of the crew, boat papers, and in our case, the cat’s various certificates and import permit. You pay a cruising fee, they stamp your passports, you take down the quarantine flag and fly the Bahamas courtesy flag, and you’re done. Buying delicious coconut or cassava bread is optional.