Sailing Luna Part 3. Crossing the Gulfstream: Bimini and Nassau

On to Bimini

12/30/13 No Name Harbor, Key Biscayne, FL to Bimini, Bahamas 54nm

Swim, eat, drink, work, read, talk, read, fish, fish, swim, drink, sleep. That's Bimini

Just then, from one of the boats tied up at Brown's dock, a rocket rose with as whoosh high into the sky and burst with a pop to light up the channel.    Ernest Hemingway, Islands in the Stream

 

Yesterday, before we left Key Biscayne, we decided to take a walk around Bill Baggs State Park that surrounds the small harbor. The historic Cape Florida light house is there. We climbed the stairs to the top and looked out over the Atlantic where we will be tomorrow. There is a plaque which commemorates Cape Florida as a jumping off point for slaves and black Seminole Indians escaping to the Bahamas. The lighthouse effectively shut that route down, but the descendants of these travelers will be our neighbors and hosts for the next two months.

There is a pavilion next to the harbor, and people are having a meeting there. This is a group of Canadian boat people who, beside us, comprise nearly everyone else anchored in the harbor. They are discussing leaving for the Bahamas tomorrow when the weather window opens up. Thus, we joined a flotilla of 8 boats heading east. When we got to Brown's Marina in Bimini, I called ahead and said, "This is the sailing vessel, Luna, We are part of the Royal Canadian Navy fleet of eight vessels."

The crossing was uneventful. The weather window opened so wide that the wind died, and we motored over fairly calm seas across the Gulf Stream. About halfway across, we raised our sails and motor sailed into a light northeast wind. The further east we sailed, the deeper blue the water became.

By agreement, the group stayed more or less together and checked in on the VHF radio every hour. Bruce on Amarone II lives in Toronto, and is the leader. He calls each boat in the “B to B (Biscayne to Bimini) Fleet” by name and waits for a response that all is well. The group also includes Jack and Kathy from Quebec City in Millevasions, Gary and Crystelle on the only power boat, Time and Tides, Allen and Linda on Haven, Phil, Krista, and Lisa on Harmonium, and Bob and Monique on the sailing catamaran, Last Waltz. Mar a Lago and Luna made up the rest of the flotilla. 

During the crossing, people call in with all sorts of information. "Water temperature is up to 87.9 degrees. We must be in the gulf stream." "A boat ahead reports showers, but going south of Bimini." From a boat a couple miles in front of us, "The wind just veered suddenly to the east, right on our nose." "From Haven, who arrived in Bimini first, "We called the marina, and they can fit all of us in."