Sailing In The Dark With Awesome Cookies | Bahamas Crossing

On our way back down the Okeechobee Waterway and heading to the Bahamas

“Come on, my little porcupine, it’s time to wake up,” Scott said. “Today’s the big day. We’re headed to the Bahamas!”

I rubbed my eyes and glared at him. I think it’s perfectly acceptable to glare at someone when you haven’t had any coffee yet. Especially when it’s only 3:30 AM. After a cup of coffee, I’m much more pleasant to be around. Fortunately, Scott knows how these things work and had a cup of coffee at the ready.

“Time to check the weather,” he said as he fired up the computer.

“The weather can wait,” I said after taking a sip of coffee. “First things first. If we’re going to head out across the Gulf Stream in the dark, we need cookies for the passage. Lots and lots of cookies. Now, where did I put them?”

Scott ignored me as he pulled up the weather files. “Hmm. The different weather forecasts contradict each other. This one says the wind is going to come from the northeast today. These others say it’s going to be all easterly.”

“Winds from the north?! We could die!” I said. “You’re never supposed to cross the Gulf Stream when there’s any north winds!” I gulped down some more coffee, burning my tongue in the process. I hate it when that happens.

“Whoa, calm down there, my little lump of sugar. We’re not going to die. At least not today. You look like you could use a cookie. They’re stashed in the microwave.”

I grabbed out one of my oatmeal cranberry cookies from Aldi’s. “Aren’t these the best cookies ever?”
“They are good,” Scott said. “But you know what would make them even better? If you were eating them while we’re sailing to the Bahamas.”

“Yeah, you’re right. Let’s fire up the engine and get out of here,” I said as I grabbed another cookie out of the bag.

****

Yeah, that’s not exactly how it went. First of all, I don’t glare at Scott in the morning. Okay, maybe he’d tell you a different story, but who are you going to believe – him or me? Second, I knew exactly where the cookies were. Honestly, do you think I’d ever lose track of where I stored the cookies? Third, we spent a lot more time reviewing the weather forecasts and making a decision about whether to cross or not that day.

What is true is that crossing the Gulf Stream isn’t something to take lightly. It can be a very dangerous stretch of water if the conditions aren’t right. We did decide to cross that day and the conditions were very benign.

{For those of you into the whole sailing thing, we looked at the National Weather Service forecast (which predicted light northeast winds, turning easterly at night) and at the GFS and NAM GRIB files on Passage Weather (no winds from the north predicted). We had our best passage ever. Light winds from the east, waves two to three feet, ten seconds apart. Sunny skies. Very smooth sailing. Well, not so much sailing as motoring. And we saw a whale!}

The other thing that’s true is that having cookies on hand for night sailing is a must have for me. I kind of get freaked out sailing in the dark. Eating lots of cookies helps. So does closing my eyes and pretending it’s all a bad dream. Unfortunately, closing your eyes when you’re in charge of steering the boat is kind of frowned upon. Go figure. {You can read more about my other experiences sailing in the dark with cookies here, here and here.}

We left at 5:00 AM and it was a new moon, so no help there. There were a number of fishing boats outside of the inlet. Of course, you don’t really know that they’re fishing boats because all you see are a bunch of lights (it’s dark remember) but you hope their fishing boats and not giant flashlights that horrible sea monsters are shining in front of them in search of sailboats with Aldi cookies on them. They’ve been known to smash sailboats to smithereens to get at the cookies.

After a couple of scary hours, clutching my cookies closely and keeping an eye out for sea monsters, the sun came up, we motored slowly across the Gulf Stream and crossed into the beautiful, clear blue Bahamian waters that afternoon.

So, so nice to have finally made it across, especially after we called off our last crossing. And even nicer to have made it across and still have some cookies leftover. I wonder how long they’ll last?

Our slip at Indiantown Marina. Look closely at the end - do you see something on the shore?

Yep, that's a gator sunning himself on the bank right across from our slip. Just a little reminder of why we needed to get out of Florida. There aren't any alligators in the Bahamas, are there?

Horses frolicking in the St. Lucie Canal as we motored past them. I wonder what they think of the alligators?

A sea monster that we saw on our Gulf Stream crossing. Could it be a whale? I think if an alligator saw this sea monster coming, it'd get out of the way fast.

****

Cruising Log – Saturday, 25 March – Tuesday, 28 March 2017

25 MARCH
Did laundry, bit of cleaning and topped up water tanks. Left Indiantown Maria at 11:55 AM. Anchor down St Lucie Lock at 2:30 PM. Nautical Miles = 12.2. Engine = 2 hrs 35 mins. Spending = $37 (slip & ebook)

26 MARCH
Anchor up at 7:10 AM. In lock at 7:15 AM. Anchor down at Peck Lake at 11:35 AM. Took three times before happy with anchor. Dragged first time, didn’t like how situated second time. Got very crowded. Wonder if all these boats are heading south for weather window to Bahamas. Nautical Miles = 16.7. Engine = 4 hrs 20 mins. Spending = Nil.

27 MARCH
Anchor up 8:00 AM. Tried to get diesel before anchored, but fuel dock full. Crazy boat traffic in Lake Worth. Probably boats heading out after Palm Beach boat show. Anchor down in Lake Worth 2:00 PM. Anchor up again at 3:10 PM. Got diesel at Riviera Beach Marina. Dock hand funny – thought we were going to kidnap him and take him with us to the Bahamas. Anchor back down at 4:55 PM. Got boat ready to head to the Bahamas. Nautical Miles = 29.7. Engine = 7 hrs 45 mins. Spending = $58.12 (21.3 gallons diesel).

28 MARCH
Anchor up 5:00 AM. Reached Memory Rock at 4:30 PM. Anchor down 5:45 PM on the Little Bahama Bank. The passage cookies were delicious. The other passage food I made, not so much. I need to up my passage cooking game. Other boats anchored on the bank. Think they’re staging to head over to Florida the next day. Our autohelm performed admirably on the crossing. So much nicer not to have to hand steer. Had a quick dip in the water – not exactly warm. Nautical Miles = 60.4. Engine = 12 hrs 45 mins. Spending = Nil.

When you're nervous about something, what do you turn to for comfort? Cookies or something else? 

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