The Circle is Closed

On 21 April, the winds had calmed down enough to for us to back out of our slip at slack water (no current) using a trick with the lines called a spring line to hold the bow at the correct angle and a bow line off the front of the boat for additional control.  It worked like a champ and we backed perfectly into the channel between New Providence Island and Paradise Island.  Elena called Port Control for permission to transit and we were on our way to West End, Grand Bahama Island, for our staging for the crossing and checkout with immigration. 

Our initial plan was to sail west-north-west through Northwest Channel, crossing the Tongue of the Ocean, and then north-west to use more shallow waters of the Great Bahamas Bank. But the wind did not want to cooperate. We were bouncing hard and going nowhere. We realized we couldn’t sail where we had intended. So instead we went to Great Stirrup which is more to the north. We entered the Northwest Providence Channel with a southeast wind which sailed us along northward at 6 knots, a good speed for us and sometimes getting up to 7 knots. The winds were over 15 knots and the seas were about 4-5, but going downwind was OK.

It was an overnight transit on a moonless night, so as usual I had most of the watch in the late evening and early morning hours.  The Northwest Passage is a major shipping channel and we did not see any ships all day which had me a little perplexed.  As we approached out turn to the west at Great Stirrup Cay, out of nowhere four cruise ships appeared, one after another, plus several tankers, and a little later, two Disney cruise ships.  I called it the “Great Great Stirrup Traffic Jam”.

 Thinking about it, the cruise ships were all heading to the ports in Florida to discharge their current passengers and they were all about 8 hours from Florida.  Hence, they were all clustered at this particular point.  Same about the ships that left Florida in the late afternoon…they would be at that point at about midnight. 

The midwatch is a great time to philosophize and fix all the world’s problems.  This particular midwatch had me thinking of the juxtaposition of all the thousands of people on these gigantic cruise ships, all pursuing hedonistic pleasures like drinking to excess, partaking in great feasts, and other pleasures of the flesh.  Here I am, alone (almost), on my little boat trying to survive, worrying about the basics (water, food, and electricity)  and making it to my next stop before the weather makes life miserable.  Interesting contrast.

As we continued west, the wind increased and backed toward the north.  By noon, when we turned north again, we had to go 10 miles further west than planned to get enough angle to get to West End.  It became a bit “bouncy” as the seas continued to build.  We pulled into the Old Bahama Bay Marina at West End about 4pm on the 22^nd of April.

Our arrival at West End marks the closing of our Bahamas Circle (West End-Abacos-Eleuthera-Exumas-Nassau-West End) as this is where we started back in late January.   It has been a good first cruise.