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March 24, 2006
N26.3 W 78.4 Port Lucaya, Bahamas
Two cold fronts, within 24 hours of each other, opened a very short window on Thursday evening. The winds would clock quickly from the north after the first front passed, and become north again by late Friday afternoon. Port Lucaya, about 10 miles from Freeport, is about the only place in the Bahamas we have not been. It is on our route for the Virgin Islands, so we decided to stop in. The channel is very shallow, and the marina recommended entering at high tide, about 3pm yesterday. The weather and the tides suggested a late departure from Fort Lauderdale to arrive just before high tide (better to run aground on a rising tide than a falling one).
We left Fort Lauderdale at 7:30pm. The wind was light but building from the north. The first front had just passed. North winds and a northbound Gulf Stream are a bad combination. The Gulf Stream runs about 4 knots – that’s a lot – we alter our course by almost 40 degrees to correct for its impact. North winds against the current kick up horrible big lumpy mashed-potato seas.
We decided to head out far enough to see how bad it would be. It wasn’t too bad, so we carried on. The wind finally started to clock around, and by 2:30am, we were sailing under full sail, rather than motoring into a head wind. Finally out of the Gulf Stream by day-break, we entered the Northwest Providence Channel. The wind picked up. The seas picked up. We were flying along, going way too fast for high tide. We shortened sail to slow the boat down, and started going in circles to kill time.
The channel into the marina was not that bad. We think the lowest water we saw was 0.5 metres under the keel. Not something to be done at low tide, but we probably could have done it mid-tide.
We cleared into Customs & Immigration and by 4pm we enjoyed the awards of overnight passages – a cold cold beer. The boat was caked in salt, so I quickly rinsed down the boat before the sleep deprivation set in. A lovely barbeque of filet mignon, a big salad, and some garlicky potatoes. I was out like a light at about 9pm.
It was an invigorating sail, full of rough seas and too much wind. Something we would normally have waited out. But the front we road out on was a strong one, and the wind would have blown from the north for 3 or 4 days in Fort Lauderdale. In hindsight, we should have taken this front all the way to the Virgin Islands, but we were just not quite ready.
We will hang out here and wait for the next cold front.
Posted by dave at March 24, 2006 08:26 AM