Return

We left Green Turtle Cay on Easter Sunday with a plan to be anchored at Great Sale Cay on Monday afternoon before the next front arrived with strong northeast winds. It was a light drizzle all day, but we were well protected in our enclosure. We spent Sunday night at Allan-Pensacola Cay and continued on at first light Monday morning. Monday was cloudy, but a mostly dry day, and we were in our anchorage well before the winds began to build. Some boats were already there, and more arrived after that, so by nightfall, there were about 20 boats at this unpopulated cay. It was dead calm at dinner time, but shortly after dark, the winds built quickly to a sustained 25 knots, gusting to 35 knots. Two boats dragged anchor, one of which hit the anchor chain from a boat downwind. That boat let its anchor and chain go, averting potential disaster. It was a very bouncy night, but we managed well and held firm. It remained quite windy all day Tuesday, finally settling down on Wednesday. With calmer conditions on Wednesday, they were able to retrieve the anchor and chain that had been let go. A gale in the Atlantic northwest of us had generated a very large northeast swell. Throughout Wednesday, additional boats arrived to stage for the crossing. By the time we left on Wednesday night, we counted at least 45. Three of us decided to leave on Wednesday, the rest were waiting one more day for the swell to diminish somewhat. Tarwathie left at about 4pm. Wind Chaser and Ariel left together at 9pm as we had planned. We sailed about ½ mile off and parallel with Wind Chaser throughout the night. It was comforting to see their running lights in an otherwise empty Little Bahama Bank. We could still see the lights from our anchorage a few miles out. It looked like a small village had settled on Great Sale Cay. We cleared the bank at about 6:30am, and then we each set our separate course, each setting up the best conditions for each particular boat. The swell was still quite substantial, but with a 10-second interval, very manageable. We steered a constant heading of 274 degrees, which is almost due west. We counted on the current to carry us 20 miles to the north. Our plan worked perfectly with only a minor correction at the end. Our arrival time could not have been worse. We faced a 2 ½ knot ebb current at the Fort Pierce inlet, which was met with the remainder of the northeast swell and pretty good northeast winds. The water in the inlet was boiling, but luckily, it was only a short stretch. After getting the anchor down, we called Customs and Immigration to clear in with our Local Boater Option card. We were cleared very quickly. Wind Chaser arrived at Fort Pierce about one hour behind us. They continued on to Vero Beach, which is about another 15 miles north on the ICW. They did not have the Local Boater Option cards, so they were directed to appear in person at either Fort Pierce and Cape Canaveral. They rented a car to return to Fort Pierce and clear in at the airport. The next day, we proceeded to Cocoa. On Saturday, before leaving Cocoa, we made a trip to the grocery store. We then were quickly on our way to Titusville, where we did laundry as soon as we arrived. Sunday, we were on our way for the home stretch after topping off the diesel fuel. It was a nice weekend day, so the waterway was packed with local boaters. We arrived at Daytona at 4:30, having battled winds on the nose all afternoon. The whole point of this fast-paced return was to meet up with our son Daniel, his wife Lesli, and their three-year-old son Thomas. They are vacationing in the area this coming week. We made arrangements to meet Daniel, Lesli, and Thomas for dinner. As we were getting ready to head in, we saw Wind Chaser going by. We hailed them on the radio, and they had just spotted us and were making a U-turn to come into our anchorage. Today, Monday, we are just trying to catch our breath. Daniel and family are at Disney World. Wind Chaser stayed here today waiting on the wind to ease or change direction. We are looking forward to a great week with Daniel and Lesli and a chance to work on spoiling Thomas.