OPEN THE WINDOW!

Coconut Grove, Miami, FL 25º43.532N | 80º14.193W

ANOTHER provisioning run?

don't ignore conventional wisdom: it's formulated by people who didn't drown. — Cap'n Fatty Goodlander

I now dream about tiny arrows, all pointing south. That's what I look at every day, the wind prediction for the Gulf Stream.

When we left North Carolina, I knew almost nothing about crossing the Gulf Stream, but the ICW serves as a university of sorts. We've learned from cruisers we've met along the way, and all of them will tell you:

"No north component." 

The Gulf Stream is a big, warm river running from the Gulf of Mexico, around Florida and passing, rather quickly, between Florida and the Bahamas -- heading north.  If there is any wind from the north, going against the swift running current, then various levels of hell are reached. Wind against current is always bad, and in the Gulf Stream it kicks up extra-large waves. No thanks.

The passage from Florida to Bimini is only 50 miles, 8+ hours on our boat, so there's no reason to suffer. It is possible with modern technology to know what you're heading into (mostly), so if you're smart you wait for the right conditions.

And so we wait. Two nice windows passed while we were having a happy reunion with our family and then while we were busy doing the chores we should have done while we were having a happy reunion.

Now, we stand almost ready to go, still shopping, still provisioning, still marking things off our TO DO list.

And watching the weather. And dreaming of south-pointing arrows, waiting for them to point some other direction.

Coconut Grove, Miami, FL 25º43.532N | 80º14.193W

Chip's Miami Splice.