Mission Impossible

  It's been a genuine test of our will to get to the Bahamas this year. We almost elected to visit the Florida Keys instead. There were a few glitches with the boat but mainly it was the weather affecting the Gulf Stream that contributed to a rough start of the season. Many of us regularly looked over the weather forecast, shared our opinions, and decided it was not worth the risk to venture across the Gulf Stream on a regular basis. It seemed like every week the winds would build out of the North East and roil up the Gulf Stream to make passage impossible for all but the largest yachts.

 I know I've mentioned before that small craft warnings are meant for all boats shorter than 60 feet but there had to be times the mega yachts would not go out. It would be too rough on the equipment.
 When we decided to leave Fort Lauderdale on 12/23/11 the forecast was for 2-3 feet waves spaced at 8 or 9 seconds. That is the same forecast we had a week earlier when we attempted to cross the stream but the wind and waves were out of the North East on the first attempt. Back then, they were steep and just far enough apart that the bow pulpit was in the water every three waves or so. Our concerns for the freezer and free standing furniture we have aboard Freedom grew. If it started falling over or moving about it would make our ability to focus on handling the boat impossible. That day we looked out at the stream and saw that the horizon appeared to be closing in, and it was not smooth. These are not good signs and given the pounding started within 3 miles of the Florida coast we turned back. And it's a very good thing we did. Shortly after getting back inside we heard the forecast had deteriorated from underneath us and any cushion we had in our assessment of our abilities evaporated.  
 But on 12/23/11 the waves were out of the South East which meant we could quarter the seas making for a much smoother ride. It wasn't exactly a comfortable ride and one crew member thought this was probably number two on the all time worst ride list because yet again, once in a while Freedom took a sudden dive off the back end of a swell into the next wave stuffing the bow pulpit into the water. The forecast may predict 2-3 footers but we all know there are better than that out there and we found them. Deb would say we found them all.
 Initially for this crossing I took a more Northerly course that lined us up with Memory Rock more than it did with West End. This allowed for a smoother ride until we found ourselves in calmer water that facilitated a more direct course to West End. If that didn't work out we had an alternative of going back into the Lake Worth inlet of the Florida coast. It wasn't a desirable alternative but it works if things get bad. As it turned out we eventually had a decent ride that enabled us both to carefully move around on the boat to take care of things like nature calls. Fortunately this wasn't the worst ride so I was able to leave the helm once. On other occasions morning coffee was my worst enemy.
 And then we saw the coast line of Grand Bahama and left the Gulf Stream. With the change in current and a few course corrections we wound up in West End along with a squall that removed a small amount of the salt Freedom was sporting.
 In summary the crossing was good because we made it! It was also summed up by another as "you wouldn't have to wait long for help if you broke down there was so much traffic out there" which is indicative of the number of boats that had piled up in Florida patiently waiting for this opportunity.
 Once at the customs dock at Old Bahama Bay I fueled up Freedom while Deb filled in paperwork. The officials here were terrific moving through all the forms and documents quickly and professionally. All said and done we had our six month hallway permission slip and we cleaned up and met up with others for a burger and brew at the restaurant Old Bahama Bay has. Without question it's a great place to break up the trip, check in, and blow off the stress of crossing the Gulf Stream.
 Early in the morning we spun up the Detroits and made our way past Indian Rock and over the shallow water that leads North East past Church Bank towards Barracuda Shoal. The procession of boats moving on all backed off a bit here due to the shallow water and fog. Thick fog. Enough that we could not see the boat in front of us a mile away. But with radar and common sense we all lined up at a common speed around 7.5 knots and had a safe trip to clear skies by the time we passed Barracuda Shoal.
 Fortunately it stayed that way and we enjoyed a very pleasant ride across the Bahama bank to Spanish Cay. To our pleasant surprise we were welcomed onto the bank by a pod of dolphins that shot under us as we moved. It is always alarming because we are concerned for them but so far by leaving the boat at a constant speed they travel under us and pop up behind us in the wake where they play for a while. Once at Spanish Cay marina we stayed for the night enjoying their house specialty grouper. After dinner Don the owner of the island hooked up the Karaoke mics and music and started belting out songs. He came over to the table and handed me a mic at which point Deb's face took on a horrified expression. No. Not that.
 And it happened. Notice the pictures stop here.
 I got up and started singing. It was about this time Deb cut me off and for good reason. Regardless we all had a good time, although I could not have known otherwise, which resulted in a couple of rocks in the aft cabin that didn't budge until we were an hour late to move on in the morning. Fortunately getting back aboard Freedom went well because I left the transom lights on. This brought in a large number of snapper as well as some sharks. Falling into the water with all the sharks around was not an option.
 In the morning we discussed the evening over breakfast and Deb reflected on a couple of songs I did. She said I could actually have a future as an Elvis impersonator. I laughed and she went on to say there was one song I did that sounded really good! At that point I realized I should have cut Deb off as well. Anyway,
 I have this thing about traveling through Whale Cay Channel when the tide is running since that passageway is known to be a dangerous segment of the trip to the Abacos via boat. It has led people to try Don't Rock passage instead of going outside around Whale Cay and one year we saw many bent propeller shafts outside one of the local marinas testifying to the nature of that course. It's not impossible to pass Don't Rock and many do. I'd rather ride with someone else before I take that leap.
 The trip out Whale Cay channel was effortless thanks to relatively slack tide, light East wind and a calm Atlantic. We had a good feeling about going out directly from Spanish Cay because as we made our way South passing a number of cuts to the Atlantic, we saw no white caps or elephants on the horizon and there was no swell from the Atlantic making its way into the Sea of Abaco. All we had going out the cut and heading to Loggerhead Channel was 2-3 feet of chop that was closely spaced and worked really well at 10 knots. I think we dipped the bow pulpit a few times as we traveled over the reef into the Atlantic. No big deal at all. And in a few hours more time we were tied up at the Hope Town Marina which is one of our favorite Winter hangs. The sun is shinning, the winds are light, and our spirits are up because the journey over here has FINALLY been completed. Mission Accomplished!
 By the way that was a great movie but catch it in an IMAX theater if you can.