Bob and Marilyns Cruising Blog: Goodbye Bahamas

Although we've been having a really great time, it's time to say goodbye to the Bahamas and all the new friends we made at the Jib Room in Marsh Harbor. The first thing I want to say is thank you to Christelle Beer-Donavan. Much of the following narrative was written by Christelle, but she did such a nice job, I couldn't help but post some of it. After leaving Marsh Harbor the first thing on the agenda was to negotiate a safe passage back through the Whale Cay Channel. When we came through it the first time it was a lovely calm day and we had no problems at all.

After waiting for a good weather window we set off with MV Teaghlach and MV Time and Tide but instead of navigating around the treacherous Whale Cay passage we were opting to do the inside route through aptly named,“ Don’t Rock". Don’t Rock passage is a little more sheltered from the Atlantic but comes with its own problems, being that it is very shallow. We were fortunate to follow MV Teaghlach through and although they never saw less than 5 feet of water on the depth sounder, we did see one spot of 4.5 feet.

On Easter Sunday we set off from Green Turtle Cay for Great Sale Cay. We were going to anchor out for the night and get an early start to West End. Great Sale is about 60 miles from Green Turtle and the trip was easy, but long. The anchorage was not very comfortable. The winds were from the ESE but the rollers that came in to the bay were straight from the South, It made for a rocky night on the hook and none of us slept very well.

The next morning (April 1, April fool’s day) we set off again with our boating buddies and headed to West End. This was supposed to be one of the easiest parts of our trip, the banks are shallow and the waters are a gorgeous clear blue/green. It was supposed to be a walk in the park. But the forecasts were a little off and instead of SSE winds at 10-15 knots we got blown around and knocked about in a confused sea state with waves on the beam and winds up to 25-30 Knots. It made for an uncomfortable ride but it wasn’t the end of the world.

Now, to get to West end you have to go from the “banks” out through a cut (Indian Rock, which is basically an inlet through a reef) and turn to the left to get into the harbour. As I said, the waves were pretty nasty out on the banks and we knew going through the natural narrowed area of the cut those waves would be amplified. We expected that and were prepared to hit a few big waves as we got through. Little did we know? Live and learn. The two trawlers we were traveling with were about an hour ahead of us. As they entered the narrower area of the cut they were met head-on by waves of about 15 feet. The wind was blowing straight from the Atlantic into the cut and gathered up waves and threw them at the trawlers. The waves were so big, they would ride up them one side and down the other.

Fortunately, Time and Tide called us and recommended that we consider other alternatives rather than going through the cut. The only real alternative was to anchor out on the shallow bank even though there is no real protection. There is a small place called Goodwill Channel, which is not very protected and has poor holding, so we decided we would work our way there and spend the night. Unfortunately as we approached the turn for the channel, our engine died. Because the water is so shallow and the cut pretty narrow, we quickly dropped the anchor, which set immediately. That took a lot of the pressure off. Even though it was a little rocky and rolly at least we knew we weren't going anyplace and we could address the engine problem. We found a dirty fuel filter and after changing the filter the engine fired back up. Even though we had the engine back on line, we decided to stay put, spend the night and see how the weather was in the morning. The next morning the winds had died and we were able to get through the cut and work our way to the marina.

On Wednesday morning, April 3rd we left West End at 3:00am and headed for the Lake Worth Inlet in Florida. The trip was pretty uneventful compared to our trip from Great Sale to West End. The wind was from behind us and not blowing very hard at all. The only people that we had to keep us company were those on the 4 cruise ships that we saw on our way. About 10 miles from Lake Worth, the winds did start to pick up and the seas became pretty messy in and near the Gulf Stream, but it was still nothing that was unmanageable. We arrive about 1:30pm and went into the Lake Park Harbor Marina. Needless to say, we went to bed at about 8:00pm that night. From here we'll work our way north to Titusville, FL on the intracoastal waterway, so thing (should?) be much better. We've decided to leave the boat in Titusville this year rather than Key Largo. Boating is not for everyone, but the good things have far outweighed the bad and we've met some wonderful, wonderful people.