Waiting on Weather

Our new breadbasket !!!

OK, we made it to the Bahamas, but the weather hasn’t cooperated from that point. So far, this is the wettest we’ve ever seen for December. It’s rained almost every day. It might just be a very small light shower, but there are times… Oh well, at least we’re sitting around in bathing suits. And the wind (have I mentioned the wind yet?)…it’s been over 20 kts. just about every day, all day. That makes getting south difficult. The seas on the outside (deep water in the sound) are running 6’+. Doable, but not pleasant.

So we’re hanging around the Staniel and Black Point area. Moving around as the wind changes to get a calmer anchorage. There is a sizable bunch of boats in the same situation…so what do you do?? Have beach parties! They are frequent and fun. We’ve met a few new people this year so that’s a plus. The weather has been rough all over. Evidently, there are tons of boats in S. FL waiting for a window to cross to the Bahamas.

When we’re in the Bahamas, the weather is critical. It’s the first thing we do in the AM – get the weather forecast. It determines if you need to move, or that you can’t move. There are times that you just have to suck it up and be very uncomfortable for a day or so. Now, I should define “uncomfortable”. It could be 3-4 seas and winds 25+ in the anchorage for 6-12 hours. Sleeping is a challenge for sure. You’re flopping around on the bed all night. It’s nice that this isn’t the “norm”. for example, we are right behind Bitter Guana Cay in 25 kts of wind right now, but we’re about 50 yards from the beach and there are no waves. The wind is blowing, but there’s not enough room (this is called “fetch”) for waves to build. Ahhh….smooth.

We use Ocens.net for our weather source. We’ve used it for about 8 years and it’s great. We can get it via the internet or via Sat Phone. Everyone has a source for weather and you end up comparing your various forecasts. That’s always a big topic at beach parties. This is what our forecast looks like:

BUOYWEATHER.COM/OCENS Meteo Forecast Location : 24.0N 76.4W
GFS Model Cycle: 2011-12-12-0Z
UTC Time
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                    AIR    DEW         WIND       WIND                                    PREC
DATE HR TEMP TEMP RH% SPD(KTS) DIR    SLP     LI CP CLD% PREC TYPE T-STORMS
---- --- --- --- --- -------- ------ ---- ---- -- ---- ---- ----- --------
12/12 06Z   76   70      79     17 - 23 ENE63      1016    -0.5 3   2         0.01 RAIN POSSIBLE
12/12 12Z   76   70    79      16 - 22 ENE67      1016   -1.0 4 15        0.00 RAIN POSSIBLE
12/12 18Z   76   70    79      14 - 20 ENE51     1017    -0.7 3   1        0.02 RAIN POSSIBLE

12/13 00Z   76   70     81      17 - 23 NE38        1017    0.3 4 16       0.01 RAIN POSSIBLE
12/13 06Z   76   70     81      16 - 22 NE38        1017    0.7 2   7         0.00 RAIN UNLIKELY
12/13 12Z   75   69    80      17 - 23 NE38        1017     1.0 2   0         0.01 RAIN UNLIKELY
12/13 18Z   76   67    75      18 - 25 NE34       1018    1.6 0   1        0.00 RAIN UNLIKELY

12/14 00Z   76   68   78      20 - 27 NE39         1018    1.1 0   6         0.01 RAIN UNLIKELY
12/14 06Z   75   67   75     18 - 25 NE47         1018    3.0 0   8          0.01 RAIN UNLIKELY
12/14 12Z   74   65   72     19 - 25 NE46         1019   4.5 0   6         0.01 RAIN UNLIKELY
12/14 18Z   75   65   70      17 - 24 ENE53      1018    4.9 0 19         0.00 RAIN UNLIKELY

12/15 00Z   74   65   71      19 - 25 ENE54      1019    5.6 0   8        0.01 RAIN UNLIKELY
12/15 06Z   74   63   68      17 - 23 ENE62      1019   6.4 0   4         0.01 RAIN UNLIKELY
12/15 12Z   74   62    65      15 - 21 ENE65       1019    6.5 0 88      0.01 RAIN UNLIKELY
12/15 18Z   75   65    69      16 - 22 ENE71      1018   4.5 0 41        0.01 RAIN UNLIKELY

12/16 00Z   75   66   72      16 - 21 ENE78      1018    4.2 0 11       0.01 RAIN UNLIKELY
12/16 06Z   75   66   74     15 - 21 ENE75      1018    3.7 0   6      0.02 RAIN UNLIKELY
12/16 12Z   75   65   70      15 - 20 ENE75      1019   4.0 0 52    0.02 RAIN UNLIKELY
12/16 18Z   75   64    68     16 - 21 ENE78      1018    4.6 0 76        0.00 RAIN UNLIKELY

12/17 00Z   75   65   69      14 - 19 ENE75      1019    4.0 0 78       0.01 RAIN UNLIKELY
12/17 06Z   75   65   70      13 - 18 ENE75       1019 3.2 0 97         0.02 RAIN UNLIKELY
12/17 12Z   76   65   69      14 - 19 ENE72       1020 2.8 0 86          0.01 RAIN UNLIKELY
12/17 18Z   76   66   71      13 - 17 ENE75       1019 2.4 0 99          0.01 RAIN UNLIKELY

12/18 00Z   76   66   72     14 - 18 ENE66      1020 2.0 0 97         0.01 RAIN UNLIKELY
12/18 06Z   75   66   73      16 - 21 ENE64       1019 2.1 0 99         0.01 RAIN UNLIKELY

12/18 12Z   75   66   74     14 - 19 ENE65      1020 2.2 0 97         0.00 RAIN UNLIKELY
12/18 18Z   75   67   76      17 - 23 ENE68      1020 1.0 0 69         0.02 RAIN UNLIKELY

12/19 00Z   75   66   73     17 - 23 ENE69      1021 1.9 0 85         0.01 RAIN UNLIKELY
12/19 06Z   75   66   72      17 - 23 E81            1020 2.2 0 81         0.00           UNLIKELY
12/19 12Z   75   67   78     20 - 27 ENE79       1021 1.1 0 40          0.02 RAIN UNLIKELY

This is also available in graphic form that lays over top of navigational charts on the laptop. I usually get it in this text form for quick reference. The graphic product shows a larger geographic area. The good news about getting all this rain is the boat is clean. Usually we’re looking for some rain clouds to rinse the salt off the boat. We’re squeaky clean at the moment.

While anchored off this Cay, we get to visit with the Iguanas. They are huge! These guys eat green veggies and are aggressive if you’ve got some for them. So here we sit, and Kim is making a bread basket for us. I’ll have to bake some bread to put in it. See…we really have very full days.

We’ll probably move back up to Staniel Cay (Big Majors Spot) tomorrow. See…we’re alone here and we’ll need to attend a beach party pretty soon or we’ll get out of practice.

So, signing off for now…

Steve and Kim