Based on advice provided by the weather router, we departed West Palm Beach around 11 am on Thursday and sailed south along the Florida coast until we reached Fort Lauderdale by about 6 pm. At that point, the wind became unhelpful, so we put away the sails, started the engines, and turned east.
Getting from Florida to the Bahamas requires crossing the Gulf Stream. The Gulf Stream is about 35 miles wide where we crossed and moves north at more than 3.5 knots in the center. If there is any substantial wind against the current, large waves can rapidly develop. Fortunately, the weather router had given us good advice, so the waters were fairly calm and we crossed the Gulf Stream without incident.
Although our bow was pointed slightly south of east, the current pushed us north as we crossed it, which can be seen on the track we took. Once out of the Gulf Stream, it was easy to turn a little south and make our way to Great Harbour Cay, arriving at about 2 pm on Friday.
Once we anchored, we had to clear in with the Bahamian authorities. Because we did not take Tilia directly into the main marina, we took Jim to shore with the ship’s papers and all the passports. Once ashore, Jim walked about 1/2 mile to the main marina and got both the boat and the crew officially cleared into the Bahamas: we officially made it!
