Miami - Bimini Next Weekend

[JacoLTD]

Originally Posted by westsailwill

You'll have fun with that..

This is a forum...am I supposed to catch any sarcasm in that?

[kenni]

I also am planning a trip to Bimini on the 11th of March in a 45 Bayliner. I have allowed a few days on both sides of my date hoping for a weather window. Please keep us advised on your trip. I will be staying at the Sands resort

[Kettlewell]

So, are you going tomorrow? Looks like the winds would be favorable--not too strong from the north and west.

[AnchorageGuy]

I guess not too strong is in the mind of the beholder. NW 13 to 18 with seas 6 feet at 6 seconds. And we all know the NWS never gets it wrong. This will be after it's been blowing all night at least to 20. The forecast for today says NNW 20 today but standing here on the beach in Bimini looking toward Miami it has been sustained 25 with gusts to 30 all day and I can see the seas. I doubt very seriously whether ANY charter company will allow one of their boats to make that crossing. Chuck

[kenni]

I agree with Chuck there is no way I would go this weekend. Hopefully everything will settle a little by next wekend. fortunately I am not on a shedule. I will leave from Ft Lauderdale
Kenni

[Kettlewell]

Good grief--there are six foot seas in the middle of Buzzards Bay half the weekend days in the summer. This is why some people sit in places like No Name or North Lake Worth for weeks at a time, sometimes months, and never get across the stream.

[AnchorageGuy]

A South African cat larger than the one the OP is chartering left Bimini late this morning with a SA crew and headed out into those 6 footers that John says are on Buzzard Bay every weekend. Well, we watched them for about an hour or so and I can say with an amount of certainly that if Buzzard bay was anything like this, no one would be on the water. They were hammered for about an hour and a half going absolutely nowhere before they turned back and are now re-anchored just in front of our slip. We stood on the beach and watched them until they came about. That was a bit unnerving to watch, let alone be on the boat. It's very easy to tell someone to just go for it when you won't be there to suffer the discomfort or have to deal with it when the stuff hits the fan. If the OP goes for it, it won't be because I advised him that it will be no problem. As a former manager of a charter fleet, we would never ever allow a boat into those conditions no matter what the experience of the crew or how many are aboard. I suspect this is going to be the case. Chuck

[Kettlewell]

Today is not the day to go--they were reporting even larger seas, and those guys had to be heading right into the wind. That is just silly, but it is supposed to begin to lay down tonight, with only "occasional" seas to 6 feet and the wind would be on the stern or the quarter coming the other way. Sure, it will be rough, but not dangerous in that size boat and it will be over with quick with that wind angle. But, each person has to make their own decision on this, and I expect the charter companies would rather have people motoring across in a flat calm so as not to upset anyone or cause stuff to fly around the boat. I've gone across quite a few times in much worse.