The Crossing, Day One

Heading out to sea at first light

Fort Lauderdale to West End, Bahamas
7:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m., speed 6-8 knots.

We cast off our lines at 7:00 a.m. just before sunrise.  The city was just coming to life as we putt-putt-putted through Fort Lauderdale headed to the inlet.  Fort Lauderdale is a huge port with cruise ships and freighter coming and going.  The inlet was wide open and we, two little Canadian trawlers, made our way out into the Atlantic as the sun was rising.

B-bye U.S. of A.

As we made our way out of the inlet, the choppy shore waves soon gave way to long, slow rollers, giving us a very different ride from what we're used to on the Great Lakes.  Eventually the depth sounder went black, indicating we were in far deeper water that it was capable of reading. And while those rollers were long and spaced apart by about seven seconds, some of them were getting pretty darn big.  The two trawlers bounced and bobbed along like a couple of corks.  The occasional wake from passing fishing boats or ferries had us rolling enough to almost bury a gunnel a couple of times.  Safe, but not the most comfortable ride.

After an hour or two of that it settled down enough that feet widely planted on the floor weren't required.  The winds lightened and the air warmed.

Flying Fish

Crossing paths with a freighter.
We played chicken.  He won.

The water turned an absolutely beautiful shade of almost a milky dark blue.  So vibrant!  I had never seen water that colour before.  We didn't see much life out there except for the occasional entertainment of flying fish.  Yes, fish with wings.  They looked like little tinkerbells.  We couldn't catch a pic but I borrowed one from google.

We arrived at West End right about 5:00 p.m. just as the customs office was scheduled to close.  We grabbed our documentation papers and all the required forms we had printed off and filled in on the way across and dashed into the office, just in the nic of time.  We easily checked into the Bahamas and got our cruising permit.  YAY!!  WE'RE LEGAL!!!!

Ahhh.  The end of a long day.

 As our departure location, Fort Lauderdale, was quite a bit South of our destination, our theory was that we would catch a boost from the gulf stream to make our trip faster.  We did see some speeds of up to eight knots, but in retrospect, we don't think we gained much of an advantage.  The trip took ten hours.

We anchored off the Beach at West End, put our feet up and enjoyed the sunset over a glass of wine and a cold beer, with MV Mary Rose in the background, likely doing the very same thing.