Bahamas Bound on our 1982 Hunter 36

[RTB]

Hi all. I haven't posted so much here, but have learned and enjoyed from many of the posters.

We sold our home and everything inside, no storage bldg. The last thing we sold was my wife's Mini Cooper. We left our marina in Kemah on November 15th, and have been working our way toward Florida, and on to the Bahamas soon.

We joined the GIWW at Galveston, at mile marker 350 WHL. After 9 days of motoring, we cleared the Harvey Lock, and arrived here at Pontratrain Landing Marina a week ago. We have been hanging out here in New Orleans, Louisana enjoying ourselves and resting up from the trip here.

Tomorrow, we head out again. If anyone is interested, or has any questions about doing the ditch from Texas to Florida that I can help with, let me know. Our blog - http://www.sailblogs.com/member/brogdon/

The '82 Cherubini Hunter 36 is a great boat, at least so far. Some long offshore passages coming up, so we'll see how that goes. Like Captain Ron said, "if it's gonna happen, it's gonna happen out there!"

So long for now,
Ralph

 

[justsomeguy]

You're getting close to living my dream! Have fun.

 

[RTB]

Thanks! Our dream too!

Ralph

 

[Jim Legere]

Great stuff. Keep us posted when you get the chance. Please tell us wnat worked and what didn't - can't imagine that !

 

[Benny17441]

Good old sturdy boats, but breakage of components becomes a real threat by virtue of their age. Take it easy on the boat, take care of it and it should take care of you. Watch the weather not only for safety and comfort but for anticipated wear and tear on the boat. Keep undue pressure off the rig and choose a forgiving course whenever possible. Trade time and distance and sit on doubtful weather windows for the sake of easier passages. Conduct a thorough inspection before heading out in the Atlantic. Having taken all precautions and having chosen an ample weather window, go out and have fun. For some unknown reason I had read Bermuda instead of the Bahamas but prepare as if for Bermuda less the amount of provisioning and you should fair well. This time of the year crossing the Gulfstream can be dicey as Florida starts to get cold fronts it seems like on a three day schedule. A North wind against the stream results in very unsettled waters and no sooner the waters start to settle down after a front the next one seems to come through. It may not be unusual to have to wait for a couple of weeks for the proper window.

 

[jonlittle]

hey, my wife nd imet you at watergate laundry. enjoyed your post. i made that trip in 88, but it sounds like the icw has changed a little.

 

[rardiH36]

As an owner of your Cherubini Hunter 36 model, I also will be interested to hear about your blue water passages. My boat does very well on the windy and choppy San Francisco Bay, but I haven't done any big sea sailing. Probably never will ... can only imagine the experience.

Good for you and your adventurous companion to actually do it!

 

[ggrizzard]

A friend and I are planning to cross from Fl to the Bahamas in March. Let me know when you think you'll be in S. Fla. by private message.
G.

 

[Sail123]

Good for you! !!

Wish my 76 CM 32 was following close behind. Some of us wakeup too late.

 

[Pilotocopilot]

Get really familiar with Passageweather.com and use it religiously, it hasn't let me down in over 6k ocean miles. Take care with that Gulf Stream any North component of wind above 10 knots is a bitch,setting up steep waves that have a short interval usually 4 seconds. Best crossing I've found and I've crossed more than a dozen times, is from Fort Lauderdale on a due west course giving you a short exposure to the stream. You end up just south of Isaacs light with an easy sail to Lucaya or West end for check in. Sailing the crossing should be secondary to getting across as quickly as possible. If the conditions near shore are bad but tolerable than they will be intolerable when you hit mid gulf stream. There's also a lot of traffic especially on either side of the stream as both Ft. lauderdale and Freeport are major commercial harbors, so if you have AIS it's a god send. Just some of the things to consider, be safe and fair winds.

 

[RTB]

Thanks for the post guys. Yes, she's an old boat. I'll baby her best I can. We did spend a heck of alot of money on the boat before we left Kemah. I had a rigger inspect everything. It all passed his inspection, not saying there is any guarantee. I am very carefull with weather, so unless we get some surprises we should be fine. We'll be doing some outside runs, once we get to Pensacola, a few days away. I've done some offshore sailing with a friend, Jacksonville to Cartagena, Colombia, on his 46' catamaran two years ago. My wife however, has no offshore time, so this will be new for her. Sound challenging enough?

Anyway, here is an update -

We got away yesterday morning, as planned. After 1 1/2 hours, we could still see the marina we had just left. The first bridge (Danziger) had workers on it, so a long delay there. Just as we eventually passed that one, within spitting distance is the Almonaster RR bascule bridge. There had been trains on it while we waited for the Danziger to open. It took quite awhile for the train to clear, as it kept stopping and starting. Oh well, no more bridges for us anytime soon. Puts a smile on our faces.

We got to our anchorage early afternoon, dropped the hook, and relaxed with a cold adult beverage. I had been thinking how great it was, when my wife said "I love being anchored out". We watched as a pelican fished the area, flying along just skimming the water, climbing a bit, then diving in for his meal. A mostly restful night, with no wind. Unfortunately, trains do pass by there from time to time.

This morning, I opened up the boat around 6:30 to find nothing but fog to be seen. That's a first for us, and it's really a strange feeling. I turned on the vhf radio and listened to weather to find that we were under a dense fog advisory until 9:00am. DUH! About 8:30, I decided it was good enough to leave. I fired up the engine, and pulled up the anchor and we were underway. All was going well for awhile, but we ran into more fog on Borgne Lake. I had the wife on the computer giving me course changes as we motored along at about 4 1/2 knots in very limited visability, about 3 boat lengths at times. No Radar or AIS. I kept imagining a barge suddenly appearing from the fog, bearing down on us. What a relief as visability improved after about an hour.

After that, things were going ok except that once again, wind on the nose. We were in Mississippi Sound, so had a pretty good chop all day long. This was our first day back in open waters, since leaving Galveston Bay back on the 15th.

We got into Gulfport, Mississippi around 4:30. We went to the fuel dock, and topped off the diesel. 19.32 gallons since we left Shell Morgan. We are at Gulport Small Craft Harbor, and took a slip for tonight ($1.00/ft). Nice place, but fixed docks. I tied us up, drank a beer, and hooked up our power cord. Then, off to the showers. Our friend Bob 778903 told us about a place close by for a good burger. We actually both had seafood, which was outstanding! Ellen, at Big Mike's Speakeasy says thanks for sending business her way, Bob. She even sat us at your table!

We have a pretty good day ahead of us tomorrow. Hopefully, the fog that is once again forecast won't keep us here too late. With any luck, we'll be in Alabama tomorrow evening.

Time for a rum, then off to bed.

Ralph

 

[jorgefife]

Bahamas bound

Thanks for the post guys. Yes, she's an old boat. I'll baby her best I can. We did spend a heck of alot of money on the boat before we left Kemah. I had a rigger inspect everything. It all passed his inspection, not saying there is any guarantee. I am very carefull with weather, so unless we get some surprises we should be fine. We'll be doing some outside runs, once we get to Pensacola, a few days away. I've done some offshore sailing with a friend, Jacksonville to Cartagena, Colombia, on his 46' catamaran two years ago. My wife however, has no offshore time, so this will be new for her. Sound challenging enough?

Anyway, here is an update -

We got away yesterday morning, as planned. After 1 1/2 hours, we could still see the marina we had just left. The first bridge (Danziger) had workers on it, so a long delay there. Just as we eventually passed that one, within spitting distance is the Almonaster RR bascule bridge. There had been trains on it while we waited for the Danziger to open. It took quite awhile for the train to clear, as it kept stopping and starting. Oh well, no more bridges for us anytime soon. Puts a smile on our faces.

We got to our anchorage early afternoon, dropped the hook, and relaxed with a cold adult beverage. I had been thinking how great it was, when my wife said "I love being anchored out". We watched as a pelican fished the area, flying along just skimming the water, climbing a bit, then diving in for his meal. A mostly restful night, with no wind. Unfortunately, trains do pass by there from time to time.

This morning, I opened up the boat around 6:30 to find nothing but fog to be seen. That's a first for us, and it's really a strange feeling. I turned on the vhf radio and listened to weather to find that we were under a dense fog advisory until 9:00am. DUH! About 8:30, I decided it was good enough to leave. I fired up the engine, and pulled up the anchor and we were underway. All was going well for awhile, but we ran into more fog on Borgne Lake. I had the wife on the computer giving me course changes as we motored along at about 4 1/2 knots in very limited visability, about 3 boat lengths at times. No Radar or AIS. I kept imagining a barge suddenly appearing from the fog, bearing down on us. What a relief as visability improved after about an hour.

After that, things were going ok except that once again, wind on the nose. We were in Mississippi Sound, so had a pretty good chop all day long. This was our first day back in open waters, since leaving Galveston Bay back on the 15th.

We got into Gulfport, Mississippi around 4:30. We went to the fuel dock, and topped off the diesel. 19.32 gallons since we left Shell Morgan. We are at Gulport Small Craft Harbor, and took a slip for tonight ($1.00/ft). Nice place, but fixed docks. I tied us up, drank a beer, and hooked up our power cord. Then, off to the showers. Our friend Bob 778903 told us about a place close by for a good burger. We actually both had seafood, which was outstanding! Ellen, at Big Mike's Speakeasy says thanks for sending business her way, Bob. She even sat us at your table!

We have a pretty good day ahead of us tomorrow. Hopefully, the fog that is once again forecast won't keep us here too late. With any luck, we'll be in Alabama tomorrow evening.

Time for a rum, then off to bed.

Ralph

RTB,

From a fellow sailor at Seabrooke , may you have a great and safe time
I have a 82 Hunter 33, but will be looking (as we all are) for news from you

 

[Paul F]

RTB, we are enjoying your writings about the trip, thanks. Don't know if you have a smart phone. If you do, there is an app that displays AIS. It may be a little help in the fog. We had such heavy fog last New Year's Eve that the GPS was out. Many boats were aground that night in the inter-coastal including a large party boat with hundreds of passengers. The problem was that many rescue boats also went aground trying to get to them. After about three hours the fog lifted and everyone was alright. Including our boat which was pulled off by Boat US, lol. Sometimes in fog you are better waiting for it to lift instead of making a few troublesome miles.

Don't know if you will make it to Clearwater/St. Petersburg, but if you do there is a good Cruising Sailor's Breakfast that we have the second Saturday of each month. You might enjoy it.

 

[Jim Legere]

...We had such heavy fog last New Year's Eve that the GPS was out. Many boats were aground that night in the inter-coastal including a large party boat with hundreds of passengers.

Wow! That is the first time I have ever heard of fog 'blocking' GPS signals. And we get some some real pea soup fog up here in Nova Scotia. On my previous boat I used to rely entirely on GPS, depth sounder and DR plotting when navigating in the fog. Then when I got the H37C I invested in radar. I like the fact that with radar I can see 99% of the vessels on the water (I'm sure I miss the sailboards and rowboats but with AIS you are only going to see the commercial vessels and not even all the fishing boats. And even with radar, you gotta SLOW DOWN in the fog

 

[Pilotocopilot]

But the ones you do see on AIS will respond because you can call them by name. I've yet to get a response from a vessel that I tried hailing using their GPS coordinates. Most traffic in the gulf stream will be commercial. Sunday last I sailed to Ft. lauderdale, a parade of cruise ships past us as it's their usual start day or end day. Six where heading down island and 5 where heading back 3 to Miami 2 to port Everglades. We're pretty good for no Fog on the east coast of Florida and Bahamas so if there's an AIS app and you've got a smart phone use it, but watch your radar for the small fishing boats you sometimes encounter on both sides.There's currently a promotion by Batelco which is the Bahamas cell phone company and they have extensive coverage throughout the islands. So for 30 dollars a month they can modify by cutting a sim card to work with your 3G or 4G iPad/iPhone allowing you unlimited data while on the water. It can be a very useful tool to be able to receive weather anywhere through the Abacos, Eleuthera, Exumas and pretty much anywhere but off shore. You can also download an Navionics app making it a backup chart plotter for around 20 dollars as well.

 

[Joe23455]

Enjoying your posts, to rid your land ties and sail, I am jealous !
Wishing you safe passage and and a graet life experiance !

Joe
s/v trinity

 

[RTB]

Thanks for the comments everyone. I'll check out the AIS apps for our phone. That could be useful.

It was a long, tough day, today. But we made it, and it sure as heck beats working!

My AP works great, but she did get pissed once today and said..."I'm done, you're on your own!", and went below. That seriously happened. Cruising does have it's challenges, doesn't it? Honestly, I need to chill a bit at times, so I blame myself. All was well in an hour or so. Problems come up out here, when the communications break down. I want certain information, and she gives me what she thinks I want, which isn't what I really want (need) to deal with an immediate situation. Oh, well. We have a ways to go before we are a well-oiled machine, but we have done really well so far.

Last night went well, and mostly slept well. Although, just before bed, I heard an engine approaching. I opened up, and rushed into the cockpit, just in time to get hit by a bright spotlight from the oncoming vessel. My anchor light was on of course, and he turned and made his way around us.

This morning was a a good workout getting the anchor up. We were back in our proper position, wind and current on the bow. Still working on hand signals for help from the first mate during this morning workout. We did buy some walki talkies, but haven't bothered with them yet.

Once underway, we had a lot of current against us. We had been making about 3.7 knots up to the Dauphin Island Bridge. It was taking forever! Once past, we got back up to the high 5's. The wind built as the morning run progressed. Another long slog through Mississippi Sound, Mobile Bay, and fresh wind on Bon Secuer Bay. Honestly, motoring in these waters has been really unpleasant. Especially with no sails up, you get the rolling side to side, plus the hobby horsing.

Anyway, we came up about 5 miles short of our planned anchorage tonight. We are tied up at Perdido Key Oyster Bar and Marina (about mile 172.5 EHL). An expensive 5 mile shortage. $58.05 (incl. tax) marina tie up on an outside wall. $97.81 (incl tip) for dinner and a bottle of wine. Great food and service, and it is a nice stop if you want a delicious meal - Perdido Key Oyster Bar Restaurant and Marina Ask for Kristen, our sweet waitress!

For the record, we just barely made it into Florida, by maybe 2 miles. But this is another goal for us. Another high-five for us. Actually we did high-five after our first day since we were so excited, and pleased with ourselves. We have continued with that tradition each travel day, just one of our ways of congratulating each other.

Our first offshore hop to Destin Tomorrow. It doesn't look great for sailing, but maybe we'll get lucky.

Ralph

 

[justsomeguy]

Thanks for the comments everyone. I'll check out the AIS apps for our phone. That could be useful.

It was a long, tough day, today. But we made it, and it sure as heck beats working!

My AP works great, but she did get pissed once today and said..."I'm done, you're on your own!", and went below. That seriously happened. Cruising does have it's challenges, doesn't it? Honestly, I need to chill a bit at times, so I blame myself. All was well in an hour or so. Problems come up out here, when the communications break down. I want certain information, and she gives me what she thinks I want, which isn't what I really want (need) to deal with an immediate situation. Oh, well. We have a ways to go before we are a well-oiled machine, but we have done really well so far.

snip-

Ralph

I take it your "autopilot" is human? Saves batteries, I guess!

 

[Roland5048]

RTB, Hope you are having a safe and pleasant journey. A friend and I are taking a '09 h36 from here in Tarpon Springs to Daytona Beach. Made it to Marathon, Fl. when strong winds out of the east delayed us. Due to other obligations we were forced to leave the boat there until the situation improves. Anyway, after you make the crossing from the panhandle, you might want to think about stopping off here in Tarpon Springs. The marina where I keep my boat, Anclote Isles Marina, is a nice, safe harborage close to all facilities. The Anclote River is also dredged to about nine feet so we never have a tide problem. It's also a good jumping off point as you continue south. If you do decide to do that, have the dockmaster, Rich, get in touch with me and I'll help you get around, ( if I've not left yet to go back to Marathon ). Happy sailing.
Capt. Roland
s/v Fraulein II
'77 h30

 

[RTB]

Thank you for your offer, Roland. We are slowly making our way south (east actually).

We made our first run offshore on tuesday, Pensacola to Destin. It was a bit bumpy for my wife, plus we ran out of daylight before we got here. A white knuckles entry into the cut here around 7:00pm. All is well though, and we've been hanging out here in Destin. Tomorrow, we should be on our way to Panama City. Apalachicola maybe the next day, but that is unsure for now. Weather turning bad on monday, so will be staying put somewhere.

After we get another window, the plan was to do the run to Clearwater. Tarpon Springs would be a possibility too, so I'll check with you before we leave, Roland.

Thanks,
Ralph