Crossing the Florida Straits &
Riviera Beach Florida.
We now had to cross Little Bahama Bank
to reach our jump off point from the Bahamas across the Florida
Straits & the Gulf Stream to mainland USA. Just before we left I
found these names on the charts in The Abacos – Centre of the World
Rock, Cooling Temper Bay, & Don't Rock - there are hundreds of
weird names & there are thousands of bays, rocks & cays so
the pickings start to get a bit thin I suppose. As it was I found at
least 3 Mangrove Cays, 2 Sandy Cays, 2 Hogs Cays & many
repetitions.
Crossing the Little Bahama Bank started
very sloppy after the previous night's storm. We ran in between
rainstorms on either side of us & then for the next 18 miles we
had calm, glassy, clear water over the shallow 10ft banks. It was
like snorkelling on a grand scale from the top of the fly bridge - we
could see everything although the fish were very scarce. We passed a
sponge fishing boat similar to a prawn boat with wide outrigger poles
& nets at the side.
We headed to Memory Rock which in this
calm water would make an easy take off point early in the morning
with no shoals or rocks in our way & close to the edge of the
deep Florida Straits deep blue water. Wrong! The wind began to blow
up with a swell of up to 4 ft. Memory Rock really is only a rock
sticking up out of the ocean with no protection & we remembered
the tropical storms that had been increasing in the last few days –
this would not be a good place to spend the night.
We trekked back to Sandy Cay –
another jumping off point not as close to the deep water but with
more protection & 2 other boats for company. This added another 8
miles to our already long day of 87 nm. We 'took the tourist route'
as Bob from “Knot So Easy” would say.
We got hit by a storm at 2.00am &
another at 5.00am. We stayed up running the engines & left as
soon as it was light passing through a narrow channel over shoals &
shallow water to enter into a better than hoped for crossing over the
Florida Straits. It wasn't until a couple of hours out of Lake Worth
Inlet that the sea chopped up with a strong cross current & gusty
winds & the afternoon thunder storms surrounded us. We made it to
Riviera Beach Marina without a shower hitting us & enjoyed a long
& settled night of sleep only after Colin had called Customs to
declare our arrival & make arrangements to report in personally
the next day.
Next day after misdirections of where
to report (by customs) we took a taxi not to the international
airport but to the General Aviation area because the normal reporting
office at the overseas cruise ship terminal next to the marina was
closed for the weekend. We met at least 4 other couples who also had
to report so there was a case for the office to be open. It cost $120
cab ride to fill in 2 small forms with information that Colin had
given the day before – but we had to be ID personally with our
passports. We had to redo our small cards because we entered a date
as 27 Feb 2015 (which was on our passports) as 27/02/15. This customs
guy along with many others in the same dept. is slowly rising to the
top of his profession by being pedantic &/or giving out incorrect
information. Ho Hum – as one American said to us “anything to do
with the government expect complications”. All of our American
contacts outside these have been friendly & courteous. Tomorrow
we head out on the return trip to St Petersburg.
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