Cuba to the Bahamas

Amanda and I had been fretting about this leg of our journey for months. It was only 200 miles to Bimini where we intended to check in, but with the prevailing winds from the NE this time of year we looked to be in for a long upwind slog. We had dallied so long with our visitors that our visas were due to expire and that put pressure on us to leave asap.

We were lucky, the day after Amanda said goodbye to Cheryl and family, the weather gods decided to send us a change. Light Sw winds were forecast for 2 days before turning light northerly. We rushed around, paid our bills, booked a 5am checkout with the coastguard and spent the last of our CUC (on rum and pizza!)

0430 we were up but the coastguard arrived late and took nearly 40 mins to complete the paperwork but by 0600 we had cleared the harbour entrance and set sail for Bimini. 

Sun rising as we leave Cuba

We motored for a few hours then hoisted sail and motor sailed for a bit before the wind filled in and we had a few hours spinacre sailing in sunshine and flat seas.  Lovely to be moving again.

Eventually the wind died and we motored along but we were now in the gulf stream so with reduced engine revs we were still making 7-8 knots as darkness fell. At midnight as Amanda came off watch the wind filled in and we again set sail and roared towards the Bahamas at 8+ knots.

The wind continued to build and we continued to reduce sail as our speed meant we would arrive in the dark unless we slowed down. As daylight broke we could start to spot the land but alas the increased wind (30 knts) was driving a large sea which made the entrance to Bimini very dangerous. With a sigh of disappointment we decided to continue around the top of Bimini and eastwards onto the Grand Bahama bank, to make use of the predicted drop in wind and the swing to the north.

All was going well, the wind dropped, it swung north and we made good progress.

As the wind was now <10knts we decided to anchor out on the bank for the night as we were both exhausted. We stopped made dinner and went to bed.

A couple of hours later Magnums motion indicated the wind had strengthened, so by midnight we upped anchor and were once again underway.

It was one of the darkest nights either of us could remember and with the wind now in the 20’s the short steep waves were not very pleasant. We put a scrap of sail up and kept progress deliberately slow to ensure we reached the narrow passage off the bank in daylight.

The weather gods reaped their vengeance for our easy passage from Cuba and sent 35knts winds, driving rain and zero visibility. It was a very tense 6 hours until daylight, it was darker than a miners armpit and 20 miles to leeward Andros and an area for very shallow sandbanks. We sailed along as slowly as possible trying to limit our slippage downwind just relying on our instruments alone, thank you US government for GPS.

Daylight dawned the wind disappeared and Mark left Amanda to pilot us through the NW channel and on to Frazer hog cay whilst he collapsed exhausted in the bunk.