[Rhodes22-list] Bahamas offshore cruising class

[Bill Effros]

Roger,

This one?  Or was there another?

Bill

-----------

Last January, I crewed aboard  the "Lazy Bench", a 36 foot ketch, on a
cruise from LaBelle, FL to Nassau, Bahama Islands.  The 1st two days of this
cruise were up the Okeechobee Waterway (OCW) & then south down the
Intracoastal Waterway (ICW) to W. Palm Beach, FL.  LaBelle, FL is about
halfway between Fort Myers, FL & Lake Okeechobee.  I don't know what the OCW
is like to the west of LaBelle, FL.  I recommend you get copies of charts
11427 & 11428 if you are planning to go on this cruise.

Last January, we were attempting to catch a favorable weather window for a
Gulf Stream crossing.  So, we didn't linger or make many stops in the OCW or
the ICW & my observations are based upon what you can see from a boat
passing by at about 5 knots.  Along the stretch of the OCW we traveled,
there are about 14 bridges & 3 locks.  Most of the bridges were of the
drawbridge or bascule type.  Figure on about a 20 minute wait at each
bridge.  The locks are of the old fashioned type & don't have any floating
bollards to tie up to.  Bring an old wooden board along to fend off the lock
walls & wear old work gloves as the lock walls are very rough & dirty.
Depending upon where the lockmaster puts your vessel in the lock, it can be
difficult to hold it steady if you are singlehanding.  It's helpful to have
a partner.  Locking thru requires about an hour.

Most of the OCW can best be described as a ditch.  This ditch passes thru
huge areas of farmland & equally huge areas of mossy swampy wilderness.
Because of the levees &/or the moss covered trees alongside the ditch, you
can't see very far inland from the the boat.  After a few miles, it all
starts to look the same.  You actually start to look forward to the next
drawbridge or lock just for the change of scenery & something to do other
than keeping the boat headed down the ditch.  If you are into bird watching,
you might enjoy this trip.  The locks have several little docks to tie up to
& modest camping facilities, but there appears to be little else to do
shoreside if you did not have a car.  Other than Lake Okeechobee, you will
be motoring all the way.  I would not recommend this trip to anyone with
children because they will be bored to death.  We tried to do some fishing
off the back of the boat, but had no luck anywhere on the OCW or the ICW.
I'm told you sometimes see alligators & manitees on this stretch of the OCW
& ICW.  We kept a close watch, but didn't see any.

Lake Okeechobee is another matter.  It's plenty big enough to sail on, with
interesting places to stop.  Someday, I'd like to go back there with Dynamic
Equilibrium & spend about a week.

You start hitting civilization just west of Stuart, FL.  From there all the
way down to W. Palm Beach, the homes (estates?) along the waterway get more
& more opulent.  There are more towns & marinas to stop at.  You also start
encountering more industry & commercial boat traffic.  If you are into this
sort of thing, this leg of the trip is much more suitable than inland.

Roger Pihlaja
S/V Dynamic Equilibrium


----- Original Message ----- 
From: Roger Pihlaja 
To: The Rhodes 22 mail list 
Sent: Tuesday, May 20, 2003 8:15 AM
Subject: Re: [Rhodes22-list] Bahamas offshore cruising class 


Mark,

My last Bahamas cruise was aboard the Lazy Bench, a 36' LOA, full keel,
center cockpit, ketch in January, 2000.  I was helping a friend move his
boat from LaBelle, FL to the Bahama Islands for the winter.  I posted a
lengthy story about this cruise on the SailNet Rhodes List soon after
returning.  However, I lost my only copy of this story in a hard disk crash
about 6 months ago & the SailNet archieves don't go back that far.  Perhaps
someone else saved a copy of the story.

Roger Pihlaja
S/V Dynamic Equilibrium

----- Original Message -----
From: "Mark Kaynor" <mark at kaynor.org>
To: "The Rhodes 22 mail list" <rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org>
Sent: Sunday, May 18, 2003 9:58 AM
Subject: Re: [Rhodes22-list] Bahamas offshore cruising class


> Roger,
>
> Thanks. We wished we had had more wind and waves, too. One of the reasons
we
> selected this course was to get some open ocean experience. The roughest
it
> got was 3-5ft with an occasional 6 footer thrown in. The seas mostly
ranged
> from calm to 2-3 ft. It was pretty cool to look around the horizon and see
> nothing but water, though. And every once in a while a cluster of flying
> fish would burst through the surface and take off in all directions...
>
> When was your last Gulf Stream crossing? Seems like I remember reading
about
> it a year or so ago?
>
> Mark
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Roger Pihlaja" <cen09402 at centurytel.net>
> To: "The Rhodes 22 mail list" <rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org>
> Sent: Sunday, May 18, 2003 8:25 AM
> Subject: Re: [Rhodes22-list] Bahamas offshore cruising class
>
>
> > Mark,
> >
> > I enjoyed your story.  It reminded me of my own trips down the ICW,
> > anchoring overnight in Lake Worth, & leaving in the wee small hours of
the
> > morning to get across the Gulf Stream to Port Lucaya in daylight while
the
> > Immigration & Customs Agent was still on duty.  I had a lot more wind &
> > waves on my last Gulf Stream crossing!
> >
> > Roger Pihlaja
> > S/V Dynamic Equilibrium
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "Mark Kaynor" <mark at kaynor.org>
> > To: <rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org>
> > Sent: Saturday, May 17, 2003 5:38 PM
> > Subject: [Rhodes22-list] Bahamas offshore cruising class
> >
> >
> > > Julie and I are just back from our offshore cruising class that went
> from
> > Stuart., FL to Grand Bahama Island and back.We took and passed ASA 101
> > (basic keelboat), 103 (basic coastal cruising) and 104 (bare boat
> > chartering) at the Chapman School of Seamanship.
> > >
> > > Both our flights down (US scAir)were late and we didn't get in until
> > almost 11:00 pm the night before classes started. With no time to get to
> the
> > store for food for our dorm room, we walked over to a nearby marina for
> > breakfast and were almost late for the first of two days of our 101
class.
> > >
> > > In retrospect, we probably could have challenged and passed the 101
> tests
> > fairly easily, given our experience w/ sailing Raven. We spent the first
> > morning in class and the afternoon practicing docking, tacking, jibing,
> etc.
> > in a 27' full keel Morgan with an inboard diesel and tiller steering. I
> was
> > particularly surprised by how the incoming tide and prop walk combined
to
> > make the thing just about unmanageable in reverse at the slip.
> > >
> > > Before we left home, I had dropped an email to Bob Quinn ("NoKaOi")
> > letting him know we'd be in Stuart. Bob called Thursday and invited us
out
> > for dinner. He picked us up on his way home from work, dropped us at a
> nice
> > "local knowledge" restaurant (at the marina where NoKaOi is berthed),
and
> > headed home to pick up Kathy. Julie and I had a great time walking
around
> > the docks looking at the boats, then sat on the deck and had a beer
until
> > Bob and Kathy arrived. We had a great dinner on the deck, watching the
> > sunset. On the way back to the school, Bob was gracious enough to stop
by
> a
> > grocery so we could pick up a few things <important stuff like
breakfast,
> > lunch, beer, etc>. He also showed us some of the local sights and proved
> to
> > be an excellent host. Bob and Kathy are great people and we're really
glad
> > to have made their acquaintance. Thanks, guys!
> > >
> > > The second day included an hour or so of classroom time during which
we
> > took the written test, and the remainder of the day was the practical.
We
> > headed out to an open, protected bay and did our figure eight MOB
drills,
> > sailing to a mark, trimming the sails, etc. The most interesting part of
> the
> > day for me was heading back. The tide was coming in and the boat was so
> > underpowered we sat still w/ the engine at full throttle. We couldn't
run
> it
> > at that speed for very long w/o overheating, so had to motor sail back
> into
> > the wind. Every so often, we'd tack back across the channel, losing
> ground,
> > and, as closely hauled as possible, claw our way a bit further up. It
was
> > actually pretty much fun, although it did take us a bit longer to get
back
> > than planned.
> > >
> > > As soon as we got back, our offshore instructor grabbed us up and
hauled
> > us out to the Publix supermarket to provision the 44' CSY center cockpit
> > cutter we'd be taking for our offshore trip. We got back to the dorm at
> > around 9:00pm w/ just enough time to shower and get to bed in
preparation
> > for a planned 8:00 am departure - the boat drew 6' and if we delayed
much
> > past 8:00am, we wouldn't be able to get out until the tide came back in.
> The
> > fourth member of our crew arrived right at 8:00 am and we rushed him
> aboard
> > and headed out. As it was, we bumped 3 or 4 times on our way out.
> > >
> > > We motored south on the Intracoastal Waterway to Lake Worth / Palm
Beach
> > and took a berth for the night at the Sailfish Marina. We left at about
> > midnight and began our sail across the Gulf stream against a 3.5 knot
> > current. The night watches were made even more interesting by all the
> > commercial traffic (cruise ships, freighters, etc) that ply the shipping
> > lanes between FL and the Bahamas. Those things are huge! We got to put
our
> > radio and running light identification skills to the test. Tom, the
fourth
> > member of our crew, was taking 105 (coastal navigation) and 106
(advanced
> > coastal cruising) and the instructor had him plot a course that "crab
> > walked" us across the stream (Julie and I also picked up a lot from
> > listening in during his "class time"). The wind was pretty light, so we
> had
> > to motor sail or we would have been carried way north of our planned
> course.
> > We did duty shifts of 6 hours on, six hours off and got to Port Lucaya
on
> > Grand Bahama Island and cleared in at around 3 in the afternoon.
> > >
> > > We spent three nights at the Port Lucaya Marina, going out during the
> day
> > to practice docking, MOB drills, anchoring, towing a dinghy, etc. All
the
> > stuff we thought we had pretty well down until we tried it w/ a 44'
boat.
> > Then all bets were off. Maneuvering that boat was a challenge! I had
> > particular trouble backing into a berth. The tide was running abeam of
us
> > and the effect of the current on the keel was maddening. Great
experience,
> > though, and I finally nailed it using the current and wind to
advantage -
> > great feeling of accomplishment.
> > >
> > > As part of our final practical, Julie and I got to plot the course
back
> > home, including planning and navigating into the Lake Worth inlet
> ("piloting
> > into an unfamiliar harbor"). The instructor took himself off duty for
the
> > trip back, leaving the 3 students to find our way back. We did duty
shifts
> > of 8 hours on and 4 hours off w/ the instructor on call only as
necessary.
> > To our credit, we never needed him and managed to get ourselves (and the
> > boat) back w/o mishap. Unfortunately, there was nearly no wind the
entire
> > trip back, necessitating motor sailing again. The sea was actually
glassy
> > until we hit the gulf stream. There was a tiny breeze from the north,
and
> we
> > were really surprised at the  size of the waves such a small breeze
kicked
> > up as we turned north to ride the current. We were all pretty well worn
> out
> > by the time we dropped anchor in Lake Worth. We had a 3:00 pm
appointment
> > for customs and immigration, so we napped and relaxed until it was time
to
> > clear in.
> > >
> > > We decided that, since we hadn't done as much sailing as we would have
> > liked, we'd get up early (at 4:30 am), head back out, catch the morning
> > breeze, and sail up to the St. Lucie inlet. Once again, no wind. We did
> have
> > a beautiful motor (we would have had to motor if we'd gone up the ICW,
> > anyway) and saw loggerhead turtles mating, porpoises, and flying fish.
> > >
> > > All in all, it was a great experience, and we really learned a lot. I
> wish
> > we'd had more wind so we could have gotten away w/ less motor sailing,
> but,
> > nonetheless, we both got quite a lot out of it and are glad we did it.
Now
> > we just need to find some vacation time and enough spare change so we
can
> go
> > do a bare boat charter in the BVI next winter <g>.
> > >
> > > Mark Kaynor
> > > __________________________________________________
> > > Use Rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org, Help? www.rhodes22.org/list
> > >
> > >
> > >
> >
> >
> > __________________________________________________
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>
> __________________________________________________
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