The Crossing

Last year we waited out the weather in Lake Worth Lagoon and finally found a brief weather window to let us cross from Florida to West End, on the western tip of Grand Bahama. We crossed with four other boats. We left at four in the morning so that we'd have all day to see what was going on out in the Gulf Stream (not much, really, although the start of the trip was interesting). This time we thought we might be able to leave but we weren't sure how conditions were in the Gulf Stream. We talked with a boat that left at a civilized hour of the morning and decided that we ought to go for it, too. Our plan had been to move the five miles from the lagoon to near Peanut Island, right at the mouth of the inlet. But after talking with C-Gull Seeker on the radio, we said "time to go!" and dropped the hook at lunch time. By mid-afternoon we were out of the inlet and headed to the Bahamas.

The conditions were rolly although not really difficult, just rolly. So we just kept motoring along, hoping for some sort of breeze that would let us at least use the sails to steady boat a little. We had a little help on that score, but not much.

By the time we left Lake Worth Inlet, C-Gull Seeker was well out in front of us and out of radio range. Nobody else was headed east with us, we were on our own. Last year we had company crossing east, and crossing west, but this time we were on our own. It was a funny feeling to not have anyone to talk with.

We did see some shipping during the night. Freighters and tankers and several cruise ships crossed our path as we made our way to the Bahamas. We talked briefly with most of the ships, conducting the business of safely meeting at sea - literally ships passing in the night.

Unlike last year, we planned to go non-stop all the way to Abaco, rather than stop at West End. And we did just that, as you'll see.