The Calm before the...Calm

I marveled at the flat, calm sea as I stood on the bow. Looking down, what I first mistook for clouds reflected in the almost mirror like surface, was in fact the seabed passing 50 feet below! Every detail of the ocean bottom revealed itself as we moved easily about several NM off the Eleuthera coast. No wind, of course, meant motoring, but with no seas, it was almost pleasant. Making 5 knots we would be able to make Lake Worth (Palm Beach) in about 24 hours. The only metaphorical 'clouds' on the horizon, were the real clouds on the horizon. Scattered all around, the tall cumulus clouds warned of more squall activity. The forecast called for a slight chance of squalls and thunderstorms with the probability diminishing over the next few days.

We soon rounded the north end of Eleuthera and motored into the calm, windless NW Providence Channel. A few white fishing boats dotted the deep indigo seascape and an occasional tropic bird posed against the deep blue sky. Terns checked us out, hoping for a free meal. Hoping for the same, I trailed a line astern using a trolling cedar plug lure and waited for dinner. In the meantime we generally relaxed: reading and performing odd boat chores, keeping an eye out for freighters and cruise ships. In less than an hour, the faint (to our age challenged ears) sound of the reel's clicker finally penetrated our somnolent state and the sight of the bent rod roused us to action. Soon we landed a nice, 10 lb Lesser Amber-jack; enough to feed me for a week. I say 'me' because Pat doesn't eat fish. I don't have to share. She also doesn't swim, hates the water, sunburns easily, prefers sweaters to swimsuits and is prone to seasickness. Otherwise, she's pretty well adapted to the cruising life and seems to enjoy it as much or more than I. Twenty minutes after pulling in my catch, it's cleaned, filleted and marinating in preparation for the grill. Towering clouds formed and dissipated. Eight miles to our north, an isolated rain shower appeared and moved over the Cay 'formerly known as Gorda' (now Disney's Castaway Cay). An easy day faded into a quiet night as we settled into our overnight passage routine of alternating watches.

A hazy sunrise greeted us and a briefly brisk wind prompted the setting of all sail. The decent wind lasted less time than it takes to set sail then dwindled to just a whisper. Sailing remained possible but would mean slow, slow going and another night out on the water. True sailors, of course, would play the wind, coping with the calms and the offsetting gulf stream current, letting conditions determine the time and means of our arrival. We turned on the engine and headed for home. A big push from a favorable current gave us a speed over the ground of 7 knots.

A few cargo ships occasionally broke the otherwise uniform view. Suddenly, Pat cried out, “Whales!” She pointed to starboard and I turned in time to see a wispy water spout and a dark smudge in the water about a mile away. Two humpbacked whales surfaced and dove several times over the next ½ hour as we watched from the quarterdeck. This was our first whale sighting and we were thrilled. Finally, they disappeared and we continued our journey.

Late that afternoon, with the sun directly in our face we entered the Lake Worth Inlet, easing our way past a large outbound freighter. Turning south we anchored in nearly the same spot we had left last February; dropping the hook in time for another grilled fish dinner.