Ready to go to Bahamas -Waiting for Weather

Sailboat Sandpiper and her people- Loy, Linda and Susan Tonon-are provisioned and waiting in the Florida Keys for a weather window to go in and across the Gulf Stream to the Bahamas. The Gulf Stream flows South to North around Florida and past the Western edge of the Bahamas at about 2.9 knots in April. The winds are now blowing from the North to the South which would produce big waves and a dangerous ride. We are watching for winds from the South, SW, or SE which will produce lower waves and smoother water. When we have the right weather we will leave at about 6 PM from Boot Key (near Marathon, FL) and travel Northeast for 118 nautical miles to Riding Rocks in the Bahamas around noon where we can anchor for some sleep and then on toward Chub Cay to clear customs into the Bahamas.

Mark Allen of Geneva, IL contributed this note: "The Gulf Stream is the most powerful energy fields on earth. Don’t compare it to a Nuclear weapon, no match.... It spews volumes of heat to the northern latitudes. It controls North America and Europe’s ecosystems, Paris and London fog and sends cold water to the equator."

Imagine the Gulf Stream as a mighty Mississippi River 45 miles across flowing North.