We Made it Back to the US, and We're Still Alive! E5

I've sailed across the Gulf Stream twice in my life, both times on Apple Pie (my dad's Morgan 38), and both times with him. But this trip, I was on my own, with my husband, Jeff, of course.

The trip was mostly uneventful, but there are always exceptions, right? Well, this time was no different.

We left from Chub Cay, Bahamas on Christmas Day. We woke up at 5:45, hit the snooze button, and got out of bed at 6:00 AM. Anchors away and under sail at 6:25. (I love not wearing make-up.) We needed to make no less than 8.5 knots all day to arrive in Bimini before sunset, so we’re at full sail with both engines at 2500 rpm making 8.5 – 9 knots. Around lunchtime, we cut out the starboard engine and were making 8 knots. After about an hour, the wind began to slow. We turned on the other engine to ensure we arrived with some daylight to spare. Saw so many fishing and pleasure vessels heading the other way. I’ve learned that I’m not a fan of power boaters. They’re loud and obnoxious, and they think that passing you 150’ away while making 16 knots is just fine. It isn’t. Beam wakes suck. It’s a good thing we’re flexible.

Now for the good part. The channel entering Bimini is tough. It’s flanked by two sandbars, and the markers at the entrance to the channel are gone. The wind was about 25 – 28 knots from the north and the waves were about 5’. It was getting dark. This was going to be interesting.

We approached the channel from the west side heading south. But the waves breaking over the sandbar were huge and running from the west sandbar across the channel to the east sandbar. We saw two channel markers inside, but we couldn’t see the mouth of the channel. The waves over the sandbar were about 7’-10' now, the sun was going down and we were getting nervous.

We saw another sailing cat several hundred yards away, spoke to them on the radio (Hi Katie Baker!), and they offered to have us follow them in.

Then a stranger hailed us on the radio.

“Sailing catamaran at the Bimini channel – are you trying to enter the channel?”

“Yes.”

“Do exactly what I tell you and you’ll be fine.”

“Who are you?”

“I’m just a guy who lives in that concrete building in front of you.”

Ok strange man on the radio. We’ll trust our lives and our boat with you. Why not?

“Ok, what do we do?”

“Drive about 100 yards south, then turn 90 degrees east. Motor past the first sandbar and make a hard 90 north. But don’t turn too soon.”

The wind was ripping and the waves were rocking! My heart was beating so hard, I could barely hear him. We turned east and were promptly picked up by a huge wave, surfed down it at 10 knots. Wind Therapy reached the valley of the wave and shuddered. The sea wall was so close in front of us now. Then we were picked up by another wave. This one started to turn our bow north as the rocks in front of us got closer and closer.

“Be careful! Don’t get sideways on the wave!”

“We’re trying. We’re trying!” (Is this happening because I didn’t go to shul on Yom Kippur this year?) Jeff threw the throttles into full gear and turned the wheel hard to starboard. We hit the valley of the wave again. More shuddering!

“Turn north right now! Turn! Turn!”

And we did. Suddenly, we were in the channel.

“See that steel beam sticking up out of the water in front of you?”

“Yes.”

“Don’t hit it. Have a good night.”

Holy shit. Breathe for a minute. Just breathe.

Now all we have to do is dock. The sun has gone down. We have about 20 minutes of residual daylight left, and we can’t find the marina where we have a reservation. The people on Bimini aren’t big on signage.

Jeff: “What should we do?”

Me: “Tie up to that T-dock over there and work it out in the morning.”

As we approached the T-dock, a security guard came out to catch our lines. There was so much wind, and the water was so choppy! We approached the dock, and I tossed him our bow line. He caught it, but just stood there with it in his hand. You can’t hold a 20-ton boat with just a line in your hand! “Tie it to the cleat!”

“What?”

“Tie it to the cleat!”

Remember that whole current thing we dealt with in San Juan? Well, here it was again. The current grabbed our stern and started carrying it away from the dock. This was a force to be reconned with. As we drifted further and further away from the dock, the security guard thought now would be a good time to tie up to the cleat.

“Not now! We’re 25′ away from the dock. We'll rip the cleat out!"

"What?"

Let it go! Let the line go!”

And, so, he did. Tossed it right into the water. Now, let’s try this again. Only we’ll back into the current, and I’ll toss him my spring line instead. Success!

Wish we had gotten that on video. (Another reason we miss you, Mike and Marc.)

We'd made it to Bimini, Bahamas and had to wait almost a week for a good weather window to cross the Gulf Stream. The Gulf Stream flows north, and sometimes very fast. If you have winds coming from anywhere north of East or West, you can get giant and super choppy waves. This does not make for a good day. So, we waited. And waited. But we made good friends, ate lots of conch salad, and totally enjoyed the locals.

Crossing the stream was uneventful, and we pulled into the chaos of Port Everglades. It's good to be back in the US.