We left our anchorage in Matecumbe around 5pm bound for Bimini. As we dodged lobster pots and made our way under the channel 5 bridge I began to wonder if we should have left a little earlier. Instead of taking the track I intended, I aimed for deep water to clear the lobster pots before dark. If you've never been sailing in the Florida Keys during lobster season it's hard for me to describe just how many of these styrofoam balls there are with long attached poly line that wraps in your prop and forces you to dive under the boat to free it. It's really a pain in the butt..
I made a beeline for the drop off as the sun began to set and replotted my course to Bimini. Making a crossing to Bimini, or any island in the Bahama chain involves crossing one of the worlds most powerful currents, the Gulf Stream. It's not as simple as just aiming the boat towards your destination and sailing away, you have to take into account the current to end up in the right place. I plotted a course about 30 degrees south of Bimini and set sail. About 8:45 our autopilot decided to make a righthand turn and just quit working. It wouldn't engage, it would click but not take control. At the advice of a friend I checked the fuses and as many connections as I could get to. We had some decisions to make..
By this time it was dark and turning back meant we would surely wrap the prop in a lobster pot because we wouldn't be able to see them. Our choices were to return to our anchorage from the previous night, call the entire thing off and head back to Boot Key (which would also involve blindly navigating through traps), make our way to Miami ( 60 miles ) or push on and have one long night of non stop hand steering through the entire night. At one point we almost diverted to an anchorage and were willing to risk the lobster pots, when we finally decided to stay the course and continue on to Bimini.
A couple hours later as we were sailing along we felt a drop in the temperature and the wind began to pick up. Before we left our anchorage that afternoon Jessica suggested we put a reef in the mainsail, a move that the day before had saved us some grief. This time I was wishing we had put 2 reefs in as the wind whipped up and I decided to tether in to drop the headsail. As I went forward and dropped the sail I found myself ankle deep in green water as the seas began to rise up. I quickly stuffed the sail down the hatch and retreated to the cockpit. The wind howled and continued to build along with the seas, as Jessica took the helm and I tended to the sheets. I let out the main and the staysail a bit to spill some of the wind. About 20 minutes later the winds began to subside and we had a few moments of peaceful sailing, though sloppy it felt great after what we just came out of. As we entered the Gulf stream the boat rocketed along and the stars came out like the sky was a jeweler displaying his gems.
The rest was short lived as we felt that familiar cool air and the sky began to light up with electricity. The wind began to build but we still had our reefed main and the staysail in the same configuration as the last squall, however this one was stronger.. The decision was made to drop the main and I reached for the tether as I watched water breaking over the bow. The boat rolled from rail to rail and as I was about to click in I took a glance at the wind indicator which read 30 something. Right before going forward I figured we would have a little huddle and go over how this was going to go down. The goal was to turn into the wind, drop the main and fall back off while I secured it, all while trying not to fall into the ocean. Colby was in the side well and his job was to relay to Jessica what I was saying (screaming). I took a deep breath, trying not to get a mouth full of Atlantic and yelled "Head up!", Colby repeated my command and Jessica responded quickly and with just enough helm for me to get it down. With a pocket full of sail ties I then rolled around while trying to secure the big main sail. I had also put about 25 feet of line in my pocket and I wound it around to help further secure it. I made my way back to the cockpit, unclipped my tether and felt great. It's hard to describe the rush of working on the foredeck while pounding into waves, just a bit of fear mixed with excitement and a great since of being alive.
"They come on ya fast and they leave you fast" to quote the movie Captain Ron.. As the storm subsided we enjoyed the fast paced sailing the Gulf Stream provided. Now the next challenge of the night was to stay awake steering by compass, staring at that little globe makes you go cross eyed after hours. Without an autopilot and with the stream pushing me making the GPS compass unreliable it was the only way to go. We took shifts and had some hard fast rules and two teams to help keep each other awake, after all we had 12+ hours to go.
The rules were,
The rules were,
1. Nobody goes forward without waking the other crew up
2. No using the bathroom in the cockpit (mostly applied to the boys)
3. Wake other crew if anything seems out of the ordinary.
I left Jessica and Colby at the helm and went to lay down. Peyton disappeared into our cabin and that is where she stayed until the morning (some partner!) I awoke to Jessica's concern for a large vessel that seemed to be getting closer. After determining our courses were to close for comfort, I picked up the radio and hailed the large cruise ship. The ship was the Majesty Of The Seas and the captain responded very professionally. We lit up the sails with a spotlight to assist him in seeing our vessel and he responded via VHF agreeing to change course and wishing us a good trip. The night continued without incident and we switched back and forth until dawn.
We spotted land and made our way to the anchorage I had picked out. The plan was to drop anchor, raise up our quarantine flag and pass out for several hours before launching the dink and going to shore to clear in. We turned into the wind, dropped the anchor and watched it fall into the white sand. I signaled Jessica to back down to really set it and watched the 55lb Rocna disappear as she throttled up. I let the boat fall back, let out some more rode and once again had Jessica back down hard on the throttle, the bow dipped hard and I applied the snubber. We were there!
For about 15 minutes......
After rolling violently Jessica didn't ask, she demanded we raise anchor and head in for the night. We hadn't had any sleep in the past 24 hours and it was time for some relief. I pulled the anchor and we made our way to Browns marina right inside the inlet. Pulling into a slip with the current ripping wouldn't be a big deal with a power boat, pulling in with a sailboat that's another story. I slid in and tied off, ready to just pass out, however first I had to clear in. When you arrive by private boat in another country only the captain is allowed to leave the boat to clear in. No other crew can set foot on land until this is done, needless to say they were itching to get off the boat.. The trip to immigration was uneventful and the people here are very friendly. After I returned Jessica and I took the kids for a little island exploration. We ended up back at the marina after walking almost all of north Bimini and the entire family passed out in beach chairs.
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