Voyage 2009: Chapter 4

23 Mar 2010, Re provisioning in Nassau, 25 04.5 N/ 077 18.774 W

We were one of the last boats to leave Rock Sound as most of the other boats were heading for Spanish Wells. We wanted to arrive at Highbourne Cut at slack water around 1700 so we took it slow and easy. Had our first dolphin sighting for a while. Actually, we haven't seen much wildlife during this voyage. Ann perched herself on the bow and called 'Dolphie, dolphie, dolphie' and sure enough one came by to say 'hi'. We went though the cut as planned and passed through it without a bump. It was low tide. We anchored in the lee of the Cay with about a dozen other boats.

We were one of the first to leave the anchorage with a fair but rather light wind. Of course we motor sailed. We layed a course to cut between the Yellow and Middle banks. Both banks are noted for their shallow rocks and coral heads. We saw many black and evil looking rocks as we traversed the area. Later the wind picked up and we had a favorable current as we approached Nassau. The wind continued to freshen and as we dropped sails it was gusting past 25 kts. To make things worse, we were heading for a leeward slip and there was no one to direct us to our assigned position. At the last second, Clark came to point us to the slip but by this time we were parallel to the dock and barely two boat lengths away from the forward pilings. Sound like a T-bone. Fortunately, we were able to straighten Jule and get her into the slip with only a scratch.

A weather window for a Stream crossing was only two days away so we had to hustle. Our dock was full of cruisers both coming and going. SV Talisman, SV Chautaue, and SV Kumbaya were heading West while recently arrived Fantasy Island was heading East. A bunch of us checked out the local Chinese restuarant at East Villa. Not bad.

24 Mar 2010, Crossing the Stream to Vero, 26 01.65 N/ 079 06.696 W

About 30 boats left Nassau yesterday. We were in the middle of the pack with jib,jigger, and motor with winds out of the NE at 10-15 kts. We had to average nearly 7 kts or arrive in Fort Pierce in the dark. We actually passed most of the fleet. However, SV Talisman left us in their wake as they also wanted to make it to Vero. Kumbaya and Chautaue were near us most of the trip across the Banks but they both decided for a more westerly exit. We had a great boast from the Stream where we were often exceeding 10.5 kts. In fact, we kept the Stream until we were about 3 miles out; had a favorable current through the inlet; and a quick trek up the ICW to Vero Beach We tied up with SV Sirius Endeavor and they had a little puppy called Bela. A good end to a good passage!