For the past three years, since we began cruising OLOH between the northeast and the…
The Return: Compass Cay to Fort Lauderdale
FROM: The Captain –
After weeks of wind in the Exumas the forecast finally shifted and a pattern of settled weather was arriving allowing us to start making our way back to the states. We needed three good travel days in The Bahamas and one to cross to Florida and things were lining up perfectly. Here’s a recap of our return travels…
Compass Cay to Highbourne Cay
Conditions: Mostly cloudy. Winds from the north/northeast 10 mph. 2 foot following sea.
Distance traveled: 31.4 nautical miles
Time underway: 3 hours 20 minutes
Average Speed: 10 knots
Max Speed: 15 knots
Fuel Used: 48 Gallons
After an amazing final evening at Compass Cay we had our morning departure planned down to the minute. Because of where OLOH was located within the marina we wanted to leave as close to high tide as possible, but also when the tide was slack as the current can move quite swiftly around the docks and the southeast wind was still blowing at around 15 knots. And then as departure time was upon us we looked to the west and saw a line of ominous storm clouds that were not showing up on our internet weather sources. We snapped on OLOH’s radar and saw the very organized cell which stretched for six miles to the southeast and moving north – a storm we would have piloted right into. At around that time, Bart from Dusty Sea and our new friend Jamal from Compass Cay both said – “I would wait.” Two voices we trust implicitly so wait we did. Of course that threw off my whole departure plan but sometimes you’ve just gotta roll with it.
So an hour later as a few other boats that had been waiting started to leave we said our quick goodbyes, pivoted OLOH around in its own length using the wind, a stern line, our engines and thrusters and after a three night stay that turned into fifteen, navigated out of one of our new favorite places without issue.
With the south/southeast wind still blowing at 10 – 15 knots we had a 1 1/2 to 2-foot swell following us and putting our stabilizers to the test. Fortunately, we were able to flush our stabilizer’s heat exchanger with some barnacle buster courtesy of Salt Wind while at Compass and that seemed to help them operate more within their normal parameters. As we traveled we stayed just a couple of miles away from some more storm cells that seemed to be chasing us and arrived at Highbourne Cay Marina’s fuel dock to top off the tanks around four hours later.
Jasper enjoyed being back in familiar territory and while we already missed our friends and the vibe at Compass, Highbourne was the other top highlight of this trip when it was just beginning and it was very nice to be back – and get a big welcome back from the folks there. Our friends from Wet Dreams who we met at Compass were now also at Highbourne and Tim, overhearing someone mentioning that they had a hankering for Mac & Cheese, whipped up a dish of his gourmet truffle and smoked salt Mac & Cheese and delivered it to a wildly enthusiastic crew.
Highbourne Cay to Chub Cay
Conditions: Sun & clouds. Winds from the south/southeast 15 mph. 2 1/2 foot following sea.
Distance traveled: 76.3 nautical miles
Time underway: 7 hours 38 minutes
Average Speed: 10 knots
Max Speed: 16 knots
Fuel Used: 103 Gallons
We were off the docks just shy of 8:00 am for the first of two big travel days. On our way to Highbourne from Chub Cay, we broke up the trip by stopping in Nassau. While the conditions weren’t expected to be perfect, they were reasonable enough for us to do the entire haul in one run. We always knew that if things were too sloppy we could stop in Nassau again. The wind was still blowing behind us solidly and the ride to Nassau was definitely squirrelly but manageable with a 2 1/2 foot following sea. We had no problem navigating the Yellow Bank (see our original post about it here) and arrived at the eastern end of Nassau Harbor at 11:15 am. It is possible to skip the harbor and go around the island of New Providence but it doesn’t make the trip shorter and we had a feeling we would need a break from the swells before continuing on to Chub. And we were right. When we cleared into Nassau Harbor (watch how we do that here) and proclaimed that we were just passing through, we asked the Harbor Control official we spoke with if we needed to clear out as well since we weren’t stopping. His reply, we kid you not, was, “you can do whatever you want to do.” Alrighty then.
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We departed the western side of the harbor forty-five minutes later, pointed OLOH across the Tongue of the Ocean (where depths rise to nearly 10,000 feet) towards Chub Cay and held our course for the next 36 nautical miles before making our approach. It wasn’t a terrible ride but it wasn’t completely comfortable and by the time we were safely tied we were exhausted. When we were first at Chub Cay Marina on our way to the Exumas it was intended to be for a one-night stopover and turned into a one week stay because of the weather. Perhaps that’s why we were so recognizable to everyone who worked there and welcomed us back. It was more likely Jasper. After eight hours aboard he was eager to get off the boat and so were we. The winds were finally starting to calm down and it was stunning out. We walked to the beautiful beach and Jasper, now a seasoned beach dog, was happy to get in the water and just soak with us for a while.
As there was a fishing tournament basing out of Chub over the weekend a lot of sportfish boats were showing up and the docks were much more populated than they were during our last stay. And our friends from Wet Dreams were also now at Chub. They had a very successful day of fishing and wanted to thank us for their Mac & Cheese surprise at Highbourne the night before by gifting us with pounds of cleaned and filleted Mahi and Tuna that they had caught that afternoon. What a huge treat!
Chub Cay to Bimini
Conditions: Sun & clouds. Light to no wind. 1 foot easy swell to flat seas.
Distance traveled: 86.7 nautical miles
Time underway: 8 hours 37 minutes
Average Speed: 10 knots
Max Speed: 15 knots
Fuel Used: 121 Gallons
When we awoke for our next big travel day we almost couldn’t believe it – there was barely a breeze blowing. The last time we had a day without wind was when we arrived at Chub Cay more than a month earlier. We place these days under the category of “boating karma.” For every day on the water where you get beat up by the conditions, you should be rewarded with a day like this.
That, of course, doesn’t mean there won’t be challenges. Chub Cay Marina has a very manageable but somewhat tricky entrance. It is narrow and really not suitable for two big boats passing in opposite directions and there’s really not enough space for many boats to comfortably turn around once you’ve committed to the cut between the marina’s basin and the open water. So before entering the cut, I place a “sécurité” call where I announce our intentions on the VHF and ask for any concerned traffic to contact us. With nothing heard we proceeded ahead and once we were a little more than half way through we were met by a guy in a small boat screaming towards us and someone on shore waving us down. A fuel barge at the island for a delivery was tied up at the end of the cut and their line was in the water. The man on the small boat was able to retrieve the line and we were waved on by a relieved crew member on the barge. Had the wind been blowing or current running it would have been a much more tense situation as there’s not a lot of room for error in this relatively tight space. But all’s well that ends well and once we were clear the dockmaster announced on the radio that all traffic should hold off on departing the marina until notified. We were sure glad we made it out before they closed the channel and are sure there were a lot of unhappy, impatient sport-fisher people that were planning to leave after us (that’s also a form of boating karma to be discussed in a later entry).
Watch how it all went down…
After twelve easy miles, we passed “the stick” that marks the beginning of the bank and we were once again in very calm, much shallower water (read more about the transit from Bimini to Chub Cay here). For some very long stretches, we saw no boats and you have no land in sight (and no cell service) for hours. It was our first truly calm day on the water since we did this very leg in the opposite direction which was a huge relief. And that calm enabled Tim to work in the galley while underway to take advantage of the amazing fresh fish we had just received.
We left the bank and rounded Memorial Rock at the north side of Bimini at around 3:10 pm and were eager to be done for the day. While we had a terrific stay at Bimini Big Game Club our last time through we were eager to try something different. Brown’s Marina looked good to us when we walked by last time so we arranged for a slip here.
The docks are very well-kept, the power pedestals seem to be new since some storm damage last year so we were surprised to see only two small boats tied up here when we arrived. Dockmaster Cecil welcomed us warmly and we were just happy to put another long day in the books. We were looking at this as more of a utility stop as we were pretty tapped and expected to be off the docks relatively early the next morning to make our crossing back to Florida.
The Crossing: Bimini to Fort Lauderdale
Conditions: Mostly sunny. Light winds from the southeast 10 mph. Mostly flat, calm seas.
Distance traveled: 53.2 nautical miles
Time underway: 5 hours 12 minutes
Average Speed: 10 knots
Max Speed: 18 knots
Fuel Used: 64 Gallons
Boating Karma. We now are sure it’s real. After an easy departure from Bimini we were out in the Atlantic for our 48 nautical mile crossing of the gulf stream with the Port Everglades sea buoy of the Fort Lauderdale coast our only waypoint. The water was dead calm. Glass. As smooth as it could be. And the visibility was so clear we were able to see the Miami skyline come into view when we were still 32 nautical miles from the coast of Florida. It was nice to get the “lift” from the Gulf Stream and average around a mile per gallon, even with our occasional run-up of the engines to 18 knots.
After a perfect crossing, we entered Port Everglades inlet at noon on a beautiful Saturday – which makes it like rush hour in Manhattan on a Friday afternoon. Boats of all kinds were everywhere piloted by captains of all levels of experience and courtesy. Cruise ships lined the harbor and law enforcement was out doing what they could. So there was a bit of heightened stress as we maneuvered from the inlet to the Bahia Mar Yachting Center but it’s familiar territory to us now and we arrived at our slip without issue.
When you return from the Bahamas you have to clear customs just the same as returning from any foreign land. There is a system in place for pre-registering your boat so when you return you can check in by phone and avoid reporting to a customs office – which is what we were expecting to have to do. But in the last couple of days, I was able to learn about the ROAM app which somehow had previously eluded me. It’s a government app which allows you to register your vessel and everybody on board with all of their information including pictures of their passports. Then when you are back in the states you register your trip by answering pertinent questions and submitting it at which point someone reviews everything, usually within a few minutes, and sets up a video conference to interview you and clear you in. Everything worked seamlessly for us and once our trip was processed we received a message that we were cleared in and no video conference was necessary as we are members of a trusted traveler program (Global Entry in our case). Wow. That was easy!
And then we celebrated with a strong arrival cocktail and some self-congratulations. This was a big deal. It was exciting, stressful, an immense amount of fun and, for us, a long time to be away. We saw so much, we learned so much and definitely had the adventure of a lifetime. But it was good to be “home.”
Check out this time-lapse video and travel with us from Compass Cay to Fort Lauderdale in two minutes…
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