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Authors: Renee Petrillo
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luffing front sail, tightened the mainsail, and relied on the engines to keep us moving.
Upon our arrival, we looked like a bunch of idiots as we tried to lower the mainsail in the wind and choppy seas, but down it came eventually.
Captain Tim didnât want to deal with anchoring a âstrangeâ boat with two amateurs in the dark, so he took us into Old Bahama Bay, West End marina. This was rather unnerving with Michael and me on the bow (front of the boat) shining a spotlight to direct Captain Tim around the reefs (in waters that were thankfully clear, even in the dark) as we maneuvered our way inside the narrow entrance. In this case, I think anchoring would have been easier, but hindsight and all that ⦠We got tied off to the main dock and high-fived one another. Yay! We did it! Our first motorsail and we were still alive and the boat was still afloat! Not much beats that feeling. We would discover that every time we completed a crossing successfully, we would feel so good to be anchored/moored/slipped and secure in a new (to us) spot.
Turns out we were lucky we left Florida when we did. Waves were building up in the Gulf Stream, and small-craft advisories (thatâs us!) went into effect. (Small-craft advisories [SCAs] are issued by NOAA to warn of sea and wave conditions that could potentially put small boats in jeopardy.) It couldnât have been calmer where we were.
My favorite part of the crossing was using the chartplotter (the computer geek in me). I started understanding what I was looking atâafter changing the map viewâand began adjusting other settings and comparing the electronic maps to our paper charts. Once the chartplotter was just the way we (well, I) liked it, I just watched our little boat marker move across the screen heading along the blue line, aiming for the small anchor symbol by West End, Grand Bahama Island. Of course, there was always the danger that something could happen to the chartplotter, which could be catastrophic because of our lack of paper-chart reading and current-calculating abilities, but thatâs why we had three backups (our laptop and two handheld GPS units). Did this method take away from the sailing experience? Well, maybe a little bit, but when you donât have a clue what youâre doing, itâs a godsend to be able to understand somethingâanything at all.
Exploring the Islands
8
Welcome to the Bahamas!
O
ur maiden voyage was now complete. Boy, did we sleep well. Next up? Customs. Oooh, another first. The customs office opened at 9 a.m. and we were hoping to be sailing by 10. We didnât want another nightfall arrival.
The customs officials were nowhere to be found. 10 a.m. Nobody. 10:30. Sigh. We were learning the meaning of âisland time.â We also needed to get moving. At 10:45 we could wait no longer, threw off the dock lines, headed out the cove entrance, and just happened to notice the customsâ vehicle pull into the parking lot. Wave to the agents, everybody! We figured weâd just check in at the next island. Whoâd know?
Great Sale Cay
We had a fantastic sail. Not a motorsail but an outright both sails up and out sail. We even had a dolphin swim in our wake, just like in the movies.
We lost our mojo though when the winds died about three-quarters of the way there. We turned on the engines and were a bit alarmed when one immediately started spewing black smoke. Abandon ship! Just kidding. We did shut down the engine before the flames made much of an appearance. Since we didnât have time to troubleshoot the problem, we just kept the engine off and limped along on one.
During the sail/motorsail, a couple of times I could see via the chartplotter that we were getting off course and went to ask our napping captain if we were on the right track. Remember, he didnât care about the plotter and was confident in his calculations, so he blew me off. That is, until I more forcefully asked him
Upon our arrival, we looked like a bunch of idiots as we tried to lower the mainsail in the wind and choppy seas, but down it came eventually.
Captain Tim didnât want to deal with anchoring a âstrangeâ boat with two amateurs in the dark, so he took us into Old Bahama Bay, West End marina. This was rather unnerving with Michael and me on the bow (front of the boat) shining a spotlight to direct Captain Tim around the reefs (in waters that were thankfully clear, even in the dark) as we maneuvered our way inside the narrow entrance. In this case, I think anchoring would have been easier, but hindsight and all that ⦠We got tied off to the main dock and high-fived one another. Yay! We did it! Our first motorsail and we were still alive and the boat was still afloat! Not much beats that feeling. We would discover that every time we completed a crossing successfully, we would feel so good to be anchored/moored/slipped and secure in a new (to us) spot.
Turns out we were lucky we left Florida when we did. Waves were building up in the Gulf Stream, and small-craft advisories (thatâs us!) went into effect. (Small-craft advisories [SCAs] are issued by NOAA to warn of sea and wave conditions that could potentially put small boats in jeopardy.) It couldnât have been calmer where we were.
My favorite part of the crossing was using the chartplotter (the computer geek in me). I started understanding what I was looking atâafter changing the map viewâand began adjusting other settings and comparing the electronic maps to our paper charts. Once the chartplotter was just the way we (well, I) liked it, I just watched our little boat marker move across the screen heading along the blue line, aiming for the small anchor symbol by West End, Grand Bahama Island. Of course, there was always the danger that something could happen to the chartplotter, which could be catastrophic because of our lack of paper-chart reading and current-calculating abilities, but thatâs why we had three backups (our laptop and two handheld GPS units). Did this method take away from the sailing experience? Well, maybe a little bit, but when you donât have a clue what youâre doing, itâs a godsend to be able to understand somethingâanything at all.
Exploring the Islands
8
Welcome to the Bahamas!
O
ur maiden voyage was now complete. Boy, did we sleep well. Next up? Customs. Oooh, another first. The customs office opened at 9 a.m. and we were hoping to be sailing by 10. We didnât want another nightfall arrival.
The customs officials were nowhere to be found. 10 a.m. Nobody. 10:30. Sigh. We were learning the meaning of âisland time.â We also needed to get moving. At 10:45 we could wait no longer, threw off the dock lines, headed out the cove entrance, and just happened to notice the customsâ vehicle pull into the parking lot. Wave to the agents, everybody! We figured weâd just check in at the next island. Whoâd know?
Great Sale Cay
We had a fantastic sail. Not a motorsail but an outright both sails up and out sail. We even had a dolphin swim in our wake, just like in the movies.
We lost our mojo though when the winds died about three-quarters of the way there. We turned on the engines and were a bit alarmed when one immediately started spewing black smoke. Abandon ship! Just kidding. We did shut down the engine before the flames made much of an appearance. Since we didnât have time to troubleshoot the problem, we just kept the engine off and limped along on one.
During the sail/motorsail, a couple of times I could see via the chartplotter that we were getting off course and went to ask our napping captain if we were on the right track. Remember, he didnât care about the plotter and was confident in his calculations, so he blew me off. That is, until I more forcefully asked him
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