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| On our way out of Fort Lauderdale |
Since Tuesday we've been in Sopadilla Bay, Providenciales Island (Provo for short), Turks and Caicos, also known as the British West Indies. It is a small island and we are currently tucked into the West side in an industrial area. That means no real amenities. But, before I go into where we are currently, let me go back a few weeks and share how the trip has been going thus far. I've been very limited with internet and unfortunately my laptop battery is completely exhausted and has to be plugged in to work. And the Ipad does not appear compatible with the blogspot website, thus the weird post from a few weeks back with no pictures. Alas, that can be a frustration, but finally we have access to internet, albeit from a villa on shore. It's unsecured so free game. :)
So thus we return to the beginning of the cruise, Fort Lauderdale. . . .
(In case you’re wondering, this is NOT what the Gulf Stream
looked like a few weeks ago. It was so rough and wet
that I didn’t get any pictures going across.
This pic was taken on the Grand Bahama Banks with Chubb Caye in the
background. I wish it would have been like this.)
On Sunday
(December 8th) we headed out of Fort Lauderdale. We knew seas would be about 4-6 feet but it
was the only window we were going to have for we didn’t know how long. The Gulf Stream is basically a river within
the ocean that flows in a northerly direction.
When winds are coming out of the North or Northeast steep waves can
build since the winds are pushing against that current. We put up the main sail and the stay sail
which gained us some stability as well as an extra knot in speed. We cruised at around 5-6 knots per hour. Really the best ride is in the cockpit so I
sat next to Terry most of the time, getting drenched from time to time as we
would hit a large wave. We hit a few
rain squalls which would send me down below where I would read for a bit. At one point we saw what we thought was a
fish jumping, then realized that it was a whale surfacing. It was a ways out but was staying right in
line with us for quite a while, finally with a flip of it’s large tale it dove
deep and we never saw it again. We did
catch a small Yellowfin Tuna along the way which we ate the next day. That was our only catch that day.
Our plan was to motor across the Gulf Stream then to cut up
through the Northwest Providence Channel, but after nightfall we hit squall
after squall with no moonlight to guide our way. It’s almost spooky the way the wind picks up
as soon as the the sun goes down. So if
you’re experienced 10-15 knots, all of a sudden you may be experiencing,
17-20. This is because during the day
the ocean surface heats keeping the winds subdued about 40 feet above the
ocean, whereas at night the ocean’s
surface cools and the winds drop down to the surface. Therefore, the weather is always a bit more
intense at night. At around 10:00
p.m.Terry made the decision to turn back towards Bimini and we motored the 20
miles back to Bimini where we anchored that night. Motoring back wasn’t nearly so bad because we
were coming with the waves making for a much smoother ride. We got into Bimini at 2:00 a.m. We slept a few hours and pulled anchor about 8:30 the next
morning.
From there we crossed
the Great Bahama Bank.
“The Banks” as they are often referred to is a shallow area
surrounding the Bahamas. Depths range
anywhere from 1’ to 30’, which makes for the most spectacular aquamarine blue
water you’ve ever seen. We were going
downwind so we rode with all sails up in what is called “wing and wing”. Our little boat looked like a lovely bird
floating the water.
It was the most relaxing, smooth ride. Dolphins joined us several times and we
watched starfish as we cruised by at a steady 6 knots. At one point the dolphin played in our bow
wake and Terry even got to touch one!
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| Yes, Terry is working on his tan. |
After spending weeks with wind, cold and crummy weather and
now to revel in warmth and sunlight was just what I needed. I kept saying, “this is the best day ever”,
and it really was.
We anchored on the Banks in about 10’ of water, the next day
going by Chubb Cay. (That is the picture at the top of the post.)
Here are a few more pictures of our two days across the banks. It was amazing to say the least.
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| Mike with a Barracuda |
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| Chubb Caye (You move so slowly sailing or motoring that you think, "Oh, I should have taken a picture of that." and 45 minutes later you still can take pretty much the same picture. Time and speed are so relative.) |
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| We thought we say some fish feeding but it turned out it was a Manta Ray. He was about 6-7 feet across. He was beautiful. He didn't stick around long but he was impressive to see. I'd never seen a Manta Ray before. Ten we saw a slightly smaller one a few moments later. (I honestly can't remember if this is the smaller one or the larger one. ) |
I'll try to post a bit more this evening. We're going to go look for a conch for our dinner. :) Thanks for being so patient, it's been difficult to post anything this last couple of weeks.
Happy sailing,
Camile
