Bahama Adventure Day 1

H

hank schneider

New member
Hey Folks
***Secret Advice*** For a crossing to the Bahamas here is the key - Make friends with someone with a deep V boat - bigger the better!

Trip Hilights - Drove from NC Mon & Tues - Very happy with my 2001 Ford 150 - new tires & brakes made me feel safe - that would soon go away.

Left out from West Palm Beach at 5:45 - Me and my son Gavin, Alex who has a house at Man o War in my Cape Cruiser. Pat and David in a 31 ft Juipter w twin 200's. The channel was very rough but I assumed it would settle - 45 min out I asked if we were in trouble in the CC and the answer was "not yet" - We proceeded on but were getting slammed pretty bad - the seas were up to 5 ft - wind 15-20 k - very close together and confused. I'd guess 60 slams, 6 bow dips and 4 head bangers - now have scabs that are quite dressy.
We had gone to far to turn back - the 59 m crossing to Memory Rock took 10 hours - we stopped in the lee of Mango Cay and Alex off loaded to the big boat so we wouldn't continue to slow them down. We headded for Great Sail Cayfor shelter for the night. It was 21 nm away with an estimated time of arrival of two hours - after an hour we were 16 nm away with an estimated time of arrival of two hours - after two hours we were 12 nm away with an estimated time of arrival of two hours - we arrived at GSC at 8 -swam ate dinner drank wine and slep the sleep of the dead - very pretty sunset and setting.
This was my first ocean trip and I suddenly realized we had driven 100 nm east into the ocean in nasty weather - folks in the other boat also took a beating. Felt safe in my boat but would not recommend it. It gets batter.
Hank
 
I guess there is a lesson here about watching the weather and pay close attention to the seas, ultimately the captain makes the go or no go call. It is nice to know the boat can handle it, just depends on how much pounding we want to take. Great story.
 
Hey folks
From where I am sitting (Creek Cove MoW) it was worth it - I'm proud of my back - I can still move. I'm flying back to WPB on Sat and will bring the other crew of kids down on June 21 and will take the boat back then - found someone to pull the boat and put 2 more coats of bottom paint on - brought the materials wiith me and I didn't want to fool with it again. Hope to have some pics up soon. Looking for a bigger boat - and that was my wife's suggestion - am I not a lucky man??? - first a truck for saftey, then a kicker now a 26!!!
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Hank,
You should of had a boat with twins. It would have been much better :P You need to wait for two to fours. Four to eights its land you'll appreciate.
Ya mon!
D.D.
 
crossing to the Bahamas certainly demands a very close watch of the weather. Not sure what your wind condition is currently, but on the
Gulf coast for the last several days we had winter type conditions with winds out of the North. Looking at the historical data for yesterday, it looks like both NE and SE during the day. The Northerly wind is a condition which is the worse for crossing the gulf stream-wind against current.


Generally some of the best crossing times are in the summer months. Have fun and enjoy the trip!
 
Congratulations on your crossing. I hope the wind conditions are better than they are in NE Florida. We've expierenced gail force winds for the last two days and heavy erosion along the coast.
 
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