PREPARING FOR THE JOURNEY
We left Connecticut by car on Sunday, October 23, and were at the ACY Boatyard, where Duetto stays in Florida at 9 a.m. Tuesday, October 25. This was our fastest trip south, with a little help from a fire alarm that went off in our hotel at 3:30 a.m., so we decided to check out and continue driving.
We immediately started the many tasks involved in getting ready for six months in the Bahamas. Our first priority was to remove the props and shafts and take them to the machine shop to be cleaned, polished and checked for alignment. We then emptied out some of the outside stuff that is stored inside the boat to give us room to maneuver. Around 4 p.m. we checked into the Tortora Bed and Breakfast, which is owned by our good friend’s Dan and Lenora. They very graciously gave us the run of their house.
The next day, it was on to the other tasks required to get splashed (launched). In addition, there are always those unexpected things that need to be replaced; this year it was our fly bridge auto helm.
We also had to chase the frogs off the boat who decided to spend the summer and destroy a couple of wasp nests. The wasps were a nonaggressive type that simply carried on with business as normal, flying around and past us with no interest in us whatsoever, other then as a slightly inconvenient flight path impediment.
Our days consisted of leaving the house around 8 a.m., returning around 5 p.m., showering, having dinner and spending some time with Dan, Lenora, and Mom Josephine, then falling into bed by 8 p.m.
In between boat tasks, we were getting our six months of provisions. This includes those items that are just too expensive to purchase in the Bahamas, for example, toiletries, paper products, cleaning products, cereals, crackers, snacks, non-perishable foods. Diane is in charge of provisions, which she has documented in excel spreadsheets. After five years, we sort of have it down to a science, but it gets mind boggling. You have to do the provisioning in stages and be extremely organized, otherwise you go crazy in the middle of Wal-Mart! By the time we are finished provisioning, we don’t want to see Wal-Mart for another six months!
The task of storing these provisions is always very challenging! Where do you put 86 rolls of paper towels, 1,000 napkins, 60 rolls of toilet paper, etc., etc. and still have room to live aboard?
Duetto was finally splashed on Monday, November 7. John was now able to finish testing those systems that required sea water to operate. The rear air conditioner would not work. After much diagnosis, John figured out there was some kind of a nest in the exhaust hose where the water comes out. The lesson learned is that all holes need to be plugged when we leave in the spring.
We stayed at the boat yard for a couple of days to do final preparations. On Thursday, November 10, we left Stuart for a shakedown cruise to Ft. Lauderdale. On Friday, we arrived at Las Olas Marina in Ft. Lauderdale exhausted, but glad Duetto was running well and that the long, nonstop days were behind us!
THE JOURNEY
Now it was time to start the mentally exhausting phase, looking for a weather-window to go across the Gulf Stream. The anticipation seems to be more exhausting than the crossing. A weather-window is all about looking at wave height and direction along with wind speed and direction. We also need a two-day window to be able to travel the 200+ miles to either Green Turtle Cay (GTC) or Marsh Harbour. Most of the low lying Islands in the Northern Abacos don’t provide protection if the weather kicks up. There are three well protected places to stop along the way. First, West End on Grand Bahama Island, which is 80 miles from Ft. Lauderdale, just across the Gulf Stream. The next stop is an uninhabited Cay, Great Sale, which is another 50 miles, then GTC, another 50 miles. Marsh Harbour is 30 miles from GTC, however, you need to get around Whale Cay, which is impassible when strong easterly winds have been blowing for a long period of time.
A short weather window was looking promising for the upcoming week, Wed. November 16 thru Fri. , the 18th mid-day, with the wind picking up again to 20+ knots Friday afternoon. The sea conditions for Thurs. were better for Duetto, so our plan was to leave Thurs, get as far as we could before dark then going to GTC Friday morning.
We kept in touch with a group of fellow RMHYC members who were looking to cross as well. They were planning to leave on Wednesday; most don’t travel as fast as Duetto and needed the additional day.
We made our plan for what needed to be done before leaving e.g. topping off fuel, getting water in tank, doing last minute perishable shopping, laundry, get bikes back on boat and Diane was going to get a much needed pedicure and haircut. Well, all got done except laundry and shopping because we checked the weather before going to bed on Tuesday and the heavy wind was going to start on Friday morning instead of afternoon. So, we made a decision to leave on Wednesday morning.
We left on Wednesday at 9 a.m. for West End, knowing we could get there in about six hours, then get to GTC on Thursday. All of the other boats left from West Palm between 4 and 6 a.m. The seas were higher than predicted (4-6 feet) and the waves were on the side of the boat so we were getting rocked sideways for the first half of the trip, causing both of us to feel lethargic, but at least we didn’t get sick! The second half, thankfully, the seas calmed way down and it was much more pleasant. It was nice to be at a dock for the night so we could get a good night sleep. We were exhausted and knew that the next day was going to be at least a 10-hour travel day. We cleared customs and immigration and were happy to launch the Bahamian courtesy flag.
Thursday was a fantastic travel day; we left at the crack of dawn.
We started to catch up to the boats that left from West Palm. One of the boats is a sailing catamaran whose owners spend the summer in Pt. Jefferson, NY. We took pictures of each other.
We were able to travel the 140 miles to our dock in Marsh Harbour, arriving at 4 p.m. Even though we didn’t travel in tandem with the other boats, we all arrived within an hour of each other and very glad to have arrived! All shared crossing stories, many of which were worse than ours because they were heading more into the waves and the earlier you left, the worse it was. Captain John’s decision to cross from Ft. Lauderdale was an excellent one!
Diane has already gotten involved in activities, one of which is planting the vegetable/herb garden. She will also be anchoring the RMHYC morning meetings beginning Monday, November 21.
There are about 20 RMHYC boats already in Boat Harbour, some of which are stored in Marsh Harbour during the summer. We know of about 10 others that are waiting for the next crossing window. A few are waiting in GTC for the wind to calm down. This is our earliest arrival and our first Thanksgiving in Marsh Harbour. Many people go back to the states for Christmas holiday; we already booked our flights for December 14.
