Upon returning from our bareboat cruise to the Bahamas with Pat & Joan Allen in October 2010 a great number of PYC members expressed interest in doing a bareboat cruise “next time we go”. It seemed like a perfect opportunity to organize an unofficial PYC cruise.

The long process of gathering names of people who were interested in going began at the winter membership meeting last February. Then I began trimming the list down to those who had more of a passing interest, and could get the time off work. When it was all said and done we had a list of 29 PYC members plus their friends for a total of 40 people on the trip. To accommodate that many people we chartered 5 catamarans, and were fortunate enough to have 5 willing and able club members to skipper the boats. The skippers were Tom Noll, Ricardo Oben, Neal Barkley, Matt Gatewood, and myself.

Our charter began in Ft. Lauderdale Florida on November 11th. Most people arrived on Friday but a few came earlier. By Friday afternoon we were all at the marina and got busy provisioning the boats. By dark all the boats were full of groceries, kayaks were loaded, and fishing gear ready to go. The skippers were all encouraged to get a nap after dinner.

Shortly before midnight the final preparations were done and the dock lines came off.  One crew had a bit of trouble with their dock lines being tied to a piling well out of reach and under the dock lines of another boat. Once that was sorted out we were under way. The ICW is very easy to navigate, and we had two bridges to open along the way. Once in the “turning basin” by the Port Everglades main docks, we raised the sails and headed for open water.

It was a beautiful night for sailing. The forecast was for 18 knot winds with 5-7 foot seas out of the northeast and a nearly full moon. While we would have preferred that the wind was out of the south as the waves tend to be less steep, the boats can handle those waves with no trouble at all. Unfortunately some of the crew were not yet as seaworthy as the boats. Most of us got across unscathed, and a few were just briefly ill,  but one boat had 5 out of 8 people down for the majority of the gulf stream crossing. By sunrise we were a little more than half way across the gulf stream and the wind and waves started picking up more than what had been on the forecast. A couple hours out of Bimini and we were seeing gusts over 30 knots with waves in the 12 foot range. For most of us the ride got a little wet.

The high wind and waves didn’t last very long as we made the Bimini entrance at about 9:30. The boats were all docked at 2 different marinas and the check in process began. Once checked in, the skippers and some of the crew took a well deserved nap while others explored the island. The next day everyone went their separate ways. Most of my time was spent sailing from dive site to dive site, while others sailed well south or north finding snorkeling spots along the way. In the evenings we would either anchor out or go back to one of the marinas. A couple of nights I found myself anchored at North Cat Cay with Ricardo and crew rafted on one side and Tom Noll and crew on the other. Another night I rafted up with Matt at the same location.

We made the crossing back to Florida on Thursday, a day earlier than planned. The weather forecast for Friday looked pretty nasty but Thursday the winds were very light. Most people had enough of the wind and waves on the way over and were willing to give up a day in Bimini to avoid it. Four of the boats started across pretty early in the day, while I stayed behind to get in a couple more dives. The forecast didn’t show the wind coming up until about 3am and the waves wouldn’t get bad until 6:00. I dropped the mooring at the dive site at about 4:30 and motored across the gulf stream. I could hear the other boats chatting about being boarded by the Coast Guard, and by the time I was 12 miles out of the Port Everglades entrance I could make out the black silhouette of an unlit Coast Guard cutter against the city lights of Miami. We were hit by a powerful but tightly focused spotlight and the Coast Guard hailed us. A quick session of 20 questions over the VHF and we bid them a good night. Some of the ladies were disappointed that we didn’t get a visit from a bunch of good looking young Coasties, but you can’t win them all.

Three hours later and we were tied up back at the marina with Ricardo and Tom. Matt and Neal had decided to spend the night south of Miami at No Name harbor. Friday afternoon Matt and Neal arrived in Ft Lauderdale and the long process of packing up the boats had begun. Saturday at noon was the official end of our charter. The boats had been cleaned out, dive and snorkel gear returned, and luggage packed.

In all it was a great trip. It was said by several people that if you didn’t have fun on this trip, you just can’t have fun.  My favorite though was from Ricardo; “My face hurts.” Why?  “From laughing and smiling for a solid week.”

John Anderson

john@andersonautomotive.net