Government Cut to Bimini / Gun Cay

[rourkeh]

My wife is in Ft Lauderdale loading our boat to come back to Grand Bahama and as soon as she is done she is leaving so I have been looking at the weather and it looks pretty good from now until monday. If you guys are waiting for it to get any better than this you may be waiting a long time. Here is the NOAA marine forcast for the rest of the week
Coastal Waters Forecast for Waters from Deerfield Beach to Ocean Reef FL from 20 to 60 NM excluding the territorial waters of Bahamas (AMZ671)

This time of year 4'-6' seas is the low end of the scale. Half the time the wind is blowing out of the NE or NW and it is big. I used to live in Lauderdale and fish almost every week in the winter. The weather right now is great. If you want flat calm you need to hang around until about june

[night0wl]

Duncan - I'm sorry to say it, but you may be waiting a while for a PERFECT crossing window. There is just front after front coming through and the spans in between just aren't giving enough time for the gulfstream to settle down. We have a bit of a respite this weekend, but then another front is ripping through here on Sunday.

But dont give credence to my advice...please. I've done the crossing only 3-4 times. I just am repeating the "sound advice" given to me about waiting for an extended period of East to Southeast wind flow to settle the stream....the waiting for an advancing cold front and shooting across ahead of it when the wind shifts to South.

So far, in my calculation since Nov1, there has been 2 windows to make the crossing...and the second window was a short one.

[s/vfootloose]

head out of no name stay within 100' or so of shore to the sw corner of Key Biscayne head for flashing red(think its #6 but don't have charts at house) Then follow Biscayne channel out. 5' draft is no problem.

[duncan_ellison]

Thanks Footloose,

Thought so, but charts show it as patchy, so I thought I would ask.

Planning to go Sunday am.

Duncan

[AnchorageGuy]

Duncan, We generally anchor off the seawall outside No Name Harbor, you don't have to pay there, follow the seawall to the point and then head directly for the red on the tripod piling into the channel. We leave before sunrise to get across to the banks early enough but with the sun behind us. Never any problem getting out and that is with a 6 foot draft. I would not go with the forecast as of today, too much of a chance the front will arrive ahead of time and catch you out there, besides, it is probably pretty rough anyway, now. We have sat behind Key Biscayne for ten days waiting to cross. You won't like the alternative. Chuck

[duncan_ellison]

Thanks all, great advice as usual from this forum.

Cancelled plans to go Sunday, looks like another opening coming up end of next week.

Besides, a mooring at Coconut Grove sailing Club is a pretty good place to hang out for a few days.

Just been for a dive on the bottom instead of making passage plans, all 3 zinc completely gone :-0, at least I'm making use of the time replacing them.

Duncan

[nknowland]

Originally Posted by night0wl

Just a heads up, this is Fowey Rocks (which as of today is 9 nautical miles west/northwest of the Gulfstream itself) wind readings...as it stands, you shouldn't go out there making a passage right now. With ~15-25 knots+ out of the North for over 24 hours...its just asking for pain.

I wish to make my earlier statements *MUCH STRONGER* about waiting it out for the SE flow to return to calm things down and leaving in advance of an approaching front. Right now...not the time.

where did you get this forecast?

[velero]

Its not a forecast but actual data from NOAA stations. I use the one at Thomas Point Lighthouse you can scroll up/down to find the area you are interested. Not all stations report all the data. Enjoy..........

NDBC - Station TPLM2

[duncan_ellison]

Probably time to put this thread to bed now .... we are now sitting in glorious sunshine in Warderick Wells, Exuma having made a great crossing to Bimini then waited out nearly a week there to cross the banks.

Thanks to everyone for the great advice above it all panned out great especially the info on No Name harbor.

Duncan
S/V TALISA