Since our only other entry, we have made some great progress. The remainder of our time in Coconut Grove was spent freshening up the boat and taking some yoga at Yoga Grove. With a good forecast for crossing the gulf stream, we finally escaped Coconut Grove on Thanksgiving Day. We sailed off the anchor, made a couple tacks out of the anchorage, and headed across Biscayne Bay toward No Name Harbor at the southern tip of Key Biscayne. It was a beautiful, sunny day with light northerly wind. We were in no hurry since it was only four miles to our destination, and we really lavished in the good weather. Our first bit of Thanksgiving abundance came with a small Spanish Mackeral. Ali cooked him up perfectly in a wrap.
We arrived outside No Name Harbor around 2:00. No Name Harbor is completely protected inside Braggs State Park. It is a very popular stopover point for cruisers waiting for a weather window to cross the gulfstream, and when we arrived it was pretty much full (and they charge 15$ to anchor there) so we stayed outside with four other boats. After going to shore for a run, we uncorked some wine and Ali’s galley was in full action, Thanksgiving style. It was a great meal, with all the fixin’s. The next day, we went to shore for a run and yoga, finally feeling like we had arrived in warm weather and clear water. We readied the boat for the crossing, and raised our anchor at 10:00 pm.
The crossing was ok, close reaching in 10-15 knots SE with the motor on the whole way. It wasn’t perfect, but everything went great and we were very excited to see the trees on N Bimini. Cleared in, we saw a Manatee off the dock. The locals were having a fit at seeing one. We anchored up and crashed for the night. The next two days brought crappy weather with rain and wind gusting to 45! No fun being cooped up on the boat for two days. We did make friends with some old time cruisers named Fred and Monika.
On 12/1 we left Bimini to catch a narrow weather window around noon. We headed south out of the harbor in N winds into the gulfstream, hugging shore. It was a rough few hours as we headed to the southern point of Gun Cay. The wind eased a little as we threaded our way between Gun and Cat Cay. Now eastward bound on the Bahama Banks, the seas calmed down. Our passage along the banks kept us in 8-15 ft. deep water, so the waves were small and the water was beautiful turquoise. We kept the 12-15 knot N wind for a beam reach overnight all the way to the Northwest Passage light. After all the work to make the trip happen, the trip across the banks was a delightful reward. Our little autopilot, Constantine, kept us on course all night, 60 miles, as Satori cruised smooth at 5 knots. Dawn found us at Chub Cay in the Berry Islands. Listening to the weather, we decided to keep chugging to Nassau. The wind backed till we were sailing downwind. The Northwest Passage is deep water, 2000 feet deep, so we had the fishing lines out and our fingers crossed. Ali made this great chickpea pomegranate salad, and right when we dug into it she says, ‘There’s a mahi about to hit our line!’ and sure enough he did! So our light lunch turned into a feast and it was amazing. We gorged ourselves and it felt GOOD. Two hours later, 10 miles out of Nassau, a cold front that had been chasing us all day finally caught us. Under double reefed main we sailed, briskly, into Nassau. We found a nice little nook to anchor outside Sivananda Ashram. 130 miles, and we motored only 25!
The past three days we have been in Nassau, taking yoga classes at the ashram, walking through town and the local markets (quote of the day from Ali, ‘It‘s hard to understand people with no teeth‘), as well as maintaining Satori. Yesterday was a bit gruesome as Chris re-mounted the leaky head (a real crappy job!) and re-plumbed the front anchor locker and water tank which come to find out was the source of our daily wet v-berth! Currently we are sitting in a plush Starbucks obtaining our free wi-fi. The continuous Christmas music is unnecessary and a little out of place as we are cruising tropical islands although it does have a familiarity which reminds of home.
The past three days we have been in Nassau, taking yoga classes at the ashram, walking through town and the local markets (quote of the day from Ali, ‘It‘s hard to understand people with no teeth‘), as well as maintaining Satori. Yesterday was a bit gruesome as Chris re-mounted the leaky head (a real crappy job!) and re-plumbed the front anchor locker and water tank which come to find out was the source of our daily wet v-berth! Currently we are sitting in a plush Starbucks obtaining our free wi-fi. The continuous Christmas music is unnecessary and a little out of place as we are cruising tropical islands although it does have a familiarity which reminds of home.
This weekend the weather looks good for continuing south. We are eagerly awaiting our cruise in the Exuma Island chain. We plan to live it up with lots of sun-bathing, spearfishing, and lobstering. We can only upload the first half of our recent pics, the rest will come next time. Hope this finds you all well and we will continue to be in touch as we can! LOVE
.JPG)
