Splashing And Sailing To The Bahamas!! S2: E24
1/8
Today is THE DAY!!! We had finished all of our projects in the yard and had perfect winds to cross over the Gulf Stream. Still after a week out of the water it didn’t feel like we were quite ready yet, but oh well we were going to splash. Nothing else we could do came to any of our minds, so we were hopeful that nothing would go wrong or happen after leaving the 3D yard. Even though thats the definition of boating, “there is always something that goes wrong whether you like it or not.”
Boat is ready to splash!!
While the yard prepared the travel lift for us to splash and sascha and I ran around trying to squeeze some last minute preparations. We had to paint the spots of the boat that the stands were sitting on and we had to paint some of the keel where it was sitting on wooden planks. So while I sanded the spots and the bottom of the keel, Sascha followed behind and slapped on some bottom paint, thick and toxic the way we like it! (So nothing grows on it and we have to clean it less often).
After that we stood back as the lift brought the Far Side a couple of feet off the ground and made its way to the water. As they were lowering her into the water all I thought about was how much we had done and accomplished to get to where we were that day. A little bit behind schedule, but sailing isn’t sailing without delays (from weather or from unexpected situations). I can only guess that the same was going through Sascha’s head as the keel of The Far Side broke the water in the take out well.
Before she was lowered all of the way Sascha jumped aboard to make sure that our rudder shaft was not leaking at all, and that all her hard work had payed off. It had! There was a slight drip but nothing that the bilge pump couldn’t handle. They lowered her all the way and she began to float, all good signs right! (haha)
There she goes!!
After the lift backed up, we pulled forward and tied off. Sascha and I had to go and get our fresh provisions! We had no time before and what better time than right before take off. Then it is super fresh and lasts longer. We made our way to Publix and walked around grabbing what we thought was necessary for the trip across and possibly the next week or so. I also decided it was a good idea to grab some pub subs for the trip. We finished up right before 1, which was the time the yard told us to be back, as they had a boat to haul out.
Rushing back we unloaded the car and put away all the perishables. Tatiana, our younger sister had also showed up to say goodbye! After lots of hugs and good lucks, it was time to take off for the Bahamas! Well first Indian Key anchorage where we would anchor for the night and then cross in the morning. We left Key West around 2:00 PM and began our trek up the Keys to where we would begin our crossing. The trip took about 9 hrs, was around 70 knotical miles, and we had a 15-20 knot northeast wind for most of it. My watch was most of the last leg. Papa was not on watch for this trip, it was going to be mostly Sascha and I. It was a slow trip for sure, the current was not working with us that day, but we made it and dropped anchor. Our new Mantus Marine anchor to be exact! She hooked and we knew that it would be a restful night before our long day tomorrow.
1/9
Rise and Shine! The crew of The Far Side, Sascha, Nathalie (me), and Papa (John) woke up around 7:30 AM with coffee on our minds. Well I think I can speak for all of us that coffee was what was going to get us moving that morning. We made some breakfast and began plotting our course for our crossing. Around 9:30 AM we were ready to raise the anchor and set the heading for Cat Cay. With a northeast wind that was blowing about 15-20 knots, we were hoping it was going to be an okay trip, not too rough.
Well, our hopes weren’t totally crushed. We had some pretty big rollers (9-12 footers) for most of the trip, but not big enough to make the people onboard uncomfortable, just the pups. We had to give them a dose of CBD in order to relax, and Luca had to be wrapped up like a burrito before he closed his eyes. We had all sails up, the main sail (which goes directly up the mast), the stay or storm sail (which is the smaller sail on the bow of the boat) and our head sail (our biggest sail at the very bow), but the head sail was furled in a bit. Even with the head sail furled in, we were going around 8-9 knots before reaching the gulf stream. Then when we caught the gulf stream current our top speed was 12.7 knots! Crazy because our hull speed (top speed) is around 8.5 knots.
Our crossing last year was pretty similar, but the rollers were more close together making for a more unpleasant trip, and we were traveling at night. This time we took a day sail, and we had AIS (Basically a beacon to all other boats with AIS that tells they we are around and most details of the boat). This put our minds at ease because all of the tankers and cruise ships around us, saw us. Unlike last time where we were almost run down by a tanker, what a time!
We tried fishing and had no luck with that, and I really thought we would get lucky this time. UGH. It’s like we are cursed, I am pretty sure we are cursed. We see all these sailors catching fish all the time. Maybe we will learn a thing or two this trip, or maybe someone can teach us! Anyway, we also installed the radio, which we meant to do during our time in the yard but thought it would be a good crossing project, and it was an incentive so that we could listen to music when we were done!
By then it was about 5 pm and the sun was starting to go down so I thought it would be a good time to start editing. I had tried to edit earlier in the day but it was pretty rough and as I staring at the screen, I was beginning to feel queasy. It had gotten calmer so I sat down at the computer, just as Sascha decided it was time for a nap. After an hour or so Papa decided he wanted a snack and made his famous sailboat grilled cheese. Something about making grilled cheese while sailing makes it taste that much better.
After that Sascha had awoken and it was my turn for a trip nap, but as I layed down Sascha brought me some mac and cheese which I couldn’t say no to. It seems like my body said no to a nap as well, my eyes just weren’t closing like I thought they would. Totally okay though, because we were about an hour from Cat Cay and almost done with our 86 nm trip. Around 9:45PM we dropped anchor and decided it was time for our tradition (which we began last year) of a celebratory rum and pineapple. Only one did it for Sascha and I, and it was time for bed. Tomorrow we would make our way to Bimini, where we would clear in and hang out for a bit. This would be our first time in Bimini and we are super excited because it is hammerhead season BABBYYYYY! That means that somehow, someway we would dive with hammerheads :)
1/10
Guess what day it isss!?!?! Well okay it’s Sascha’s birthday! The big 25, the quarter of a century birthday, and what better day to sail into port than on her birthday. To prepare I made a big birthday breakfast of eggs and potatoes and some beans, that really hit the spot. We decided to wait a little bit before taking off, which gave me the perfect opportunity to make my first jump of the year into Bahamian waters! Which was a lot colder than I remembered, but no matter I still swam around. The only fish I saw was a tiny little guy that was hanging around our prop, but that was fine I knew that we would make our way to some reefs soon.
Around noon we raised the anchor and started making our way to Bimini. As we were sailing the salon had started to fill with exhaust which was definitely not a good sign, so we decided it would be best to go straight to a dock instead of anchor off and dingy in. As we approached the dock Sascha was behind the helm, I prepared the lines for docking, and papa was standing back. What we weren’t prepared for was the current that seemed to be invisible to us. I had seen it, but I guess my warning was not heard by either of them, and we had a pretty unsuccessful Captain Ron docking moment. We should have docked parallel to the current but we made our way in horizontal to it, which caused the stern (back) of the boat to be pulled in and the bow out. The dingy davits (The hoist for the dingy) hit the dock and the back davit broke off the dingy just as I got a rope onto a cleat. I tried to pull the bow in but needed help from the engine. Also as I was pulling the boat into the dock, I guess I was leaning against one of our railings on top of the pilot house and it snapped backwards. Great another thing to fix.
By then some guys from the marina were helping us secure the lines and we were able to take a breath. Now I make it seem like it was a crazy docking, but Sascha definitely had it under control. It was almost 3 PM and we really needed to clear in, so I rushed to the office to print out our covid forms and health visas while Sascha and Papa filled out paperwork. I think I was sent to do this job because my handwriting sucks, but thats fine with me:) We got everything we needed together and began the short walk to the immigration office. Here we turned in all of our paperwork and they made sure that our health visas were right, and we had all of our covid tests done. Not very eventful, we were the only ones clearing in at the moment. After immigration we had to go to the customs office to declare anything we had on the boat. Funny thing is that they were more interested in our outboards than the guns we brought onboard.
All cleared in!! To Big Game Club Bimini:)
Our papers were stamped, the pups health certificates were validated and we were officially cleared in! Our cruising permit was for about 3 months, thats all we asked for, because the plan was to only be in the Bahamas for 2-3 months before heading farther south. We grabbed all of our papers and headed back to the boat to put everything away. It was time for a drink and dinner! The marina had a nice restaurant open on an upper deck that had all of our favorites on the menu, conch fritters, mahi fish fingers, and cracked conch, oh and of course dark rum! YUMMMMMM.
Sascha and I had to go slow on the rum because at some point in the next hour we would have to move the boat around to the other side of the dock we were on. The current was so strong at the moment that we would have to wait for slack tide. In the Bahamas the tide goes way up and way down and it was on its way up. After running back to check a couple of times, it was finally slack enough to untie The Far Side and move her. Earlier the crew form the boat docked next to us, “Daddy’s Lady” had said that they would help us out. It was getting dark but between the four of us we got her moved around without much difficulty.
Then we headed back to the restaurant to finish our drinks and our fish sticks. Papa didn’t stay long but Sascha and I decided to socialize a little bit. It was nice because it was all cruisers around us and we all knew that we didn’t have covid! We were talking about sailing and the trip with JP and Nick from “Daddy’s Lady” when across the bar a couple of guys on a fishing trip interrupted. They thought it was so cool that two girls (and their dad and dogs) made the trip. After talking for a bit they invited me fishing! I really couldn’t turn down the offer because it was wahoo season and I had never been deep sea fishing. Sascha decided that she would stay behind, she isn’t really a morning person anyway. After saying goodbye, Sascha and I made our way back to the boat. Had to rest up for fishing tomorrow!
