No-Go to the Bahamas

We tried……Our plan to get to the Bahamas was foiled due to seas that were too rough for safe and comfortable cruising. We met our friends Eric and Ellen Provost on their boat, “Kentucky Wildcats” on Monday afternoon, 5 March, at Sailfish Marina in Lake Worth, FL, which is just a bit north of Ft. Lauderdale. They were traveling with their friend Don and his daughter and sister on Don’s boat, "Miss Priss.”

We hung around Sailfish Marina until Wednesday before attempting to cross the Gulf Stream to the Bahamas. All weather information that we obtained beforehand indicated the seas were to be calmer on Wednesday, and at a predicted two to four feet, the voyage would have been tolerable, but as is often the case with marine weather forecasts, the information was incorrect, as we soon found out.

While hanging out at the marina, we watched fishermen clean their catches of the day and pelicans waiting patiently for the remains of the fish. They were not shy about coming in close for the wait.

We left the marina at 0900 Wednesday on Kentucky Wildcats and headed out into Lake Worth Inlet bound for West End in the Bahamas, which is only about 60 miles. The difficulty in this trip is the Gulf Stream, which is similar to a river that runs through the Atlantic Ocean from South America all the way north and across the Atlantic to Europe. The “Stream” is a warm water river-like body of water that is much warmer – as much as 5 degrees or more, than Atlantic waters, and can be 20-50 miles wide in the Atlantic. That difference in water temperatures creates havoc in the sea, and can cause very troubled waters, depending on which direction the wind is coming from. The seas can be 2-3 foot high in the coastal Atlantic, and 5-7 feet in the Gulf Stream, which is dangerous for small boats like ours.

Everyone was excited that we were finally going to make the crossing. However, as we moved further along across the Inlet, it was apparent the seas were rougher than we had anticipated--more like five to seven feet, which made for a very uncomfortable trip. About an hour and a half into the crossing, everyone on Kentucky Wildcats agreed we should turn around and head back to Sailfish Marina. The Captain and crew of Miss Priss turned around after about 20 minutes into the trip—wise decision. They had an engine problem soon after entering the Atlantic from Lake Worth Inlet, and wisely turned back. The Bahamas trip has now been delayed until next spring, 2008.

We should be leaving Ft. Lauderdale on Sunday, 18 March, headed for Cocoa Beach for a couple of days before we move on north to St. Augustine, FL. Stay tuned.

Fort Lauderdale

In case you are wondering where we are and why we haven’t updated our Blog in a couple of weeks, well, we are still in Fort Lauderdale at Marina Bay. The work we are having done on the boat hasn’t gone as fast as we had hoped, so our planned departure date of today, March 1st, isn’t going to happen. Seems as if every time we think it’s all getting wrapped up, something else falls through or breaks. Take today for example. We have an inverter on the boat, and if you don’t know what that is I’ll just say that it is a complicated electronic box that turns 12 volt electricity from batteries (like you have in your car) to 120 volt electricity like you have in your house. It decided to die today. Thankfully, we are in the “Yachting Center of the World” and can get just about anything done, for a price. Anyway, we are still here getting our old boat looking and running great.

We have enjoyed our time here, and it looks like we will be here until 21 March at which time we will begin heading north. We look forward to moving on and seeing new places and experiencing new adventures, which is why we are on this trip in the first place.

While here we have had new canvas made for the boat, fiberglass work and deck painting done, cushions recovered, windows repaired, and our inverter repaired. All but the inverter were planned to be completed while staying here for the month of February. There is always something on a boat that needs attention at one time or another. Fortunately, we are dockside and don’t need the inverter right now, and the Captain has found a place to get it fixed in a few days.

We have spent our time here taking advantage of the pool here at the marina, visiting friends who live nearby, doing boat projects (which are never ending), and enjoying the Fort Lauderdale area. We also went to the Miami Boat Show in February. Ted Jones introduced Mike to Dick Lazzara who designed our boat some 20 years ago. The story as to how this boat came to be is interesting and funny. The highlight of the show was being able to tour the 75 foot and110 foot Lazzara yachts—WOW. Our favorite was the 110 foot, and a smaller version has been added to our wish list should we ever win a HUGE lottery!

We hope to leave next Monday (5 March) with Eric and Ellen Provost on their boat headed to the Bahamas. We will hang out at SailFish Marina in Lake Worth, FL, waiting for a weather window to cross the Gulf Stream. It will be a quick trip there and back, but we look forward to making the trip and seeing what the Bahamas look like from a boat rather than from land.

Pat’s mother is flying in to Fort Lauderdale on 16 March to visit for a few days and will then drive our truck back to Alabama and keep it for us until we decide we want or need it again. However, once we leave here we don’t think we will be staying long enough in any one location to warrant getting the truck again for quite some time. More Later.