We Made it to the Bahamas!

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February 25th 2011

Published: February 25th 2011

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s v Tsamaya

Tsamaya going through Miami

This is quite a way to travel through the city of Miami - much easier than the traffic on Rt 95

We made it!
Well, it is hard to believe but we finally left the US and are now writing you from the Bahamas! We definitely picked the right weather window as we had a perfect crossing of the gulf stream. We had enough wind to put up the sails but not enough to have rough seas. We left with 2 other boats (Wind Dust and Goosebumps) at 6:30AM on Tuesday, February 22nd. As this was a great weather window there were quite a few other boats in sight as well for the crossing. One of the boats was Trumpetr who are friends of our friends on S/V Heather that we had met when in Annapolis. We actually met them in the Laundromat in Miami so they were another boat that we touched base with a few times during the crossing. They have done this a number of times so we got quite a few great tips from them as well. We are always so appreciative of everyone sharing their knowledge with others. The cruising community has been definitely great in that way. Well, we had always heard that you would know the gulf stream when you got into it and it

Nassau lighthouse

Cindy - hopefully this is a new lighthouse that you haven't seen yet. This one you see as you enter Nassau harbor

is definitely true. Due to the current of the stream you have to compensate for it and actually start to travel south in order to go north! If you didn’t travel south first, when you hit the gulf stream it would actually take you farther north than your actual destination. We were able to work this out well and were on the mark for our target of Bimini. It was a great feeling to see land where you thought it should be! There are a few characteristics of the stream that are notable – the speed of the current, the color of the water and the temperature. We found that the water temperature changed from 72 degrees outside of the stream to 79 degrees in the stream – that may not sound like much but when you realize the amount of water that we are talking about it is quite a change. When you leave the stream on the east side, the color change of the water was dramatic. It was almost hard to believe that you could see such a definite line between the dark blue of the stream with the amazing blue water of the Caribbean. When we

Atlantis resort

You really can't miss Atlantis when you enter the Nassau harbor

got to the Bahamas at 3PM we decided to anchor for a few hours near Bimini in order to get some rest but also in order to time the rest of the trip so that we would arrive in Nassau at a reasonable time during daylight. As soon as the anchor was dropped Bob got his mask and fins on so he could jump in the water. He said it was great, however, a few minutes after being in he saw numerous jellyfish so he got out as soon as possible. Never saw him climb a ladder with fins on so fast in my life! After resting and having dinner we left the anchorage at 6:50PM on Tuesday and arrived in Nassau at 3PM on Wednesday afternoon. Needless to say it was a long trip, but a great one. We worked on a 2 hour on and 2 hour off shift which gave us both a chance to sleep. This seemed to work out well on Tsamaya and it was great to have 2 other boats to talk to when on duty. Sailor managed the trip as well. While sailing she took her normal spot on top of Bob’s shoes

Loaded with conch

Went to the market in Nassau where boats were loaded with conch

in the closet. She was very happy when we stopped for a few hours in Bimini, but was definitely surprised that we were leaving again. She didn’t know that this time is was for a much longer time. She finally got comfortable on the seats in the salon and managed OK. She typically doesn’t move around much when we are underway, but she even got to the point where she took a nap with Janice on one of her two hours off!
We were traveling on the Great Bahama Banks which is a very large area with shallow water during the night – this made it a little more stressful as distances are always deceiving in the dark. There was more traffic on the banks than we thought - everything from sailboats with no lights on to barges and ferries. Luckily with 3 sets of eyes to spot lights and the technology of radar and AIS (allows us to see ships and gives us information on where they are going, what their name is and best of all whether or not we are on a collision course, all useful information) we made it safely through this area. It sure was

Stingray

One of the many stingray we saw at Atlantis

great to travel in a group – thanks go out to Jesse and Ginny on Wind Dust and Mike and Barbara on Goosebumps – it definitely made the trip a much more pleasant and safe one.

With no other lights around and before the moon came up the evening sky was spectacular. We haven’t seen stars like that since we were in Botswana. We did appreciate the moon rise not only for its beauty but also its help in lighting the night sky. Now we just need to study the stars more – we know some of the night sky, but definitely would like to learn it better.

We had always heard about flying fish, but seeing the number of them and how far they “fly” was quite a sight. We have been in the Caribbean before on numerous dive trips but seeing the various shades of blue from your own boat was really special. It also takes on more significance as it is important to know the difference in the colors as that helps you determine the depth of water. This skill will be even more important as we get further into the islands and on our

Lobster tank

Lobsters sure grow big here!

own for navigating through the area.

Once we were through the shallow waters of the Great Bahama Banks we crossed the Northwest Providence Channel which is very deep. The weather was so calm that it was as smooth as a mill pond. As a result we were not able to sail, but figured we would not complain as it was better than the alternative of heavy seas. We did have an unusual sighting of a shark in this area – we first saw the dorsal fin and then actual were able to see the movement out of the water of the tail as he was so close to the surface. We were so fascinated by this that unfortunately neither of us thought to take the camera out so you’ll just have to believe us on this one! We made it to Nassau about 3PM and checked into a marina. We needed to check into the country here and they actually have the customs officer come to the marina for this process. Bob was the only one allowed off the boat until we received clearance which occurred about 6PM. Once this happened we then took down our quarantine flag and

Shark

Don't worry as there is glass between him and us when viewing them at Atlantis

ran up the Bahama flag which we will fly until we move on to the next country. We were definitely both happy to get off the boat and have a hot shower and dinner. We met up with our buddy boats for dinner for our celebration of making a great crossing. Barbara from Goosebumps had made a black eye pea salsa before we left for good luck. Found out that it is a southern custom to have black eyed peas at the New Year for good luck so she decided to try it for the crossing – decided we are all getting her recipe for it in case we need luck again in the future!

On this trip many times we stated that we both felt like little kids in a candy store with the excitement of all the “new” experiences and sightings. We are sure this feeling with continue with many more “new” events to come.

We thought that we had worked everything out with AT&T before we left the US in order to have access to email and text messages on our phone. When we tried to get either of them when we got to Nassau

The tunnel

It is something to see fish swimming all around you while staying dry

nothing worked. Today we made contact with them and have worked it out that we should be able to receive text messages free of charge and we will have a minimal charge of 50 cents for any that we send out. As a result looks like you can keep us informed of things at “home” but we may not respond to every text message that you send. We would greatly appreciate it if people that do send us email do not send attachments as we will be getting our email at various wi-fi locations and they may not be the best so do not want to cause problems with getting the messages. We are still working on getting email through our radio – we are getting closer to figuring it out, but still not 100 per cent there yet. As a result our regular email address is still the one to use or continue to send messages and/or comments through the blog. We will try to get blog postings up as often as we can but we do know that the portion of the Bahamas that we will be going to now is not as populated so it may be

lots of these

You see lots of these when you walk through the predator tunnel

some time before we will have the ability to post anything new. We will continue to think of you often and remember the saying, no news is good news!

From the weather reports it appears we will stay in Nassau until Saturday, February 26th when we will then continue south into the Exumas. Yesterday we played tourist and wandered into town to see the City Market, the fish and produce market under the bridge and even explored the other extreme of the Atlantis resort. As Bob describes this place it is a hotel/resort on steroids. They even have a tunnel under water where you can watch fish swimming all around you. As a result were able to get some great photos without even getting wet. Today we got back to the regular tasks of grocery shopping and laundry before we leave again. These tasks always bring us back to reality.

Last night we had a chance to buy very fresh fish right off the boat (and they cleaned and filleted it) as well as a lobster tail that was amazingly large (even though this was the smallest one he had). Hopefully we will be able to start catching

It says it all

some of our own, but if we find that we can buy fish this easy we just may never put a rod out. Time will tell on this one as we are definitely not experienced at fishing ourselves.

We are still pinching ourselves that we are actually here on our own boat. The hard part is thinking that this journey is still just beginning. Take care of yourselves and do keep in touch.

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