En route - Stuart to Bahamas by way of Miami

25 42.076n 79 56.447w 

Departed Stuart around 10 am yesterday (Sunday, Dec 5). Before leaving, ran another quick errand to replace the brand new GoPro camera that was lost overboard the other day, ca 3 minutes after using it for the first time. “The Sea takes what it wants” - we now know that all too well. Assorted items have already been offered up to the Sea, this one the most expensive to date.

After leaving Stuart behind we steered away from the coast in search of the wind that the weather models were promising further out at sea. And yes, we found good wind and could test out that the mainsail furling brake is now fixed. However, we also found the Gulf Stream. We were making a respectable 6.6 knots through the water, but were in fact only moving 0.6 knots over ground. The strength of the current was a whopping 6 knots. At that speed, Miami seemed really far away, so back in towards the coast we went. (By the way, another clue that we were in ‘da shit at that point was that the water temperature had climbed 4 degrees from 74F to nearly 80F. What an impressive natural phenomenon the Gulf Stream is.)

We sailed through the night and hit the busy entrance to the port of Miami around 8 am early this morning (Monday, Dec 6). We’ve been here before several times while training with Captain Mark so we felt like old hats at it. But no room for complacency; lots of boat traffic and narrow channels through shallow waters.

The reason for the Miami stop was to get antigen tests taken plus a vet visit for Lucy, both required for Bahamas entry. We also wanted to get Lucy a personal Man Overboard AIS device that we can clip onto her life vest (we have the same in our life vests). This will allow us to track where she is on our chart plotter if she goes overboard plus the device also has a strobe light. Both features are helpful since it’s apparently exceedingly hard to find someone in the water even under good conditions, but especially an ink black dog.

So, we anchored outside Dinner Key Marina in Coral Gables, Miami, took the dinghy to shore and then Ubered to our appointments. Still nervous about leaving the boat while on anchor only. But we got back a few hours later and all was well.

Then, around 7 pm - no rest for the weary - anchor up and off towards the Bahamas. The weather forecast was perfect for a crossing; calm seas, little wind and most importantly, no wind from anywhere North. The latter would mean wind against the Gulf Stream which is a mix even the hardiest of sailors are advised against.

So in the dark of the December night we made our way out from Miami. The lights from the city brightened the exit in a both helpful and gorgeous way. A nighttime departure is both exciting and challenging, but we could follow the GPS track we had laid on our way in + we’ve actually exited Miami at night once before, again with Captain Mark, so we felt reasonably confident that we could pull it off.

And now we are steaming towards the island group of Bimini in the Bahamas. The lights from Miami have faded and the sky is very dark except for patches of clear sky with ribbons of stars. The night is wonderfully mild and calm. We should make landfall sometime mid-morning tomorrow (Tuesday, Dec 7).

So far, all so very good.