Square Between The Eyes

     The crossing from Nassau to Miami went as planned.  We did leave Nassau on Monday about 1.5 hours earlier than planned, we figured if we got to Goverment Cut in Miami to early we could always throttle back to delay our entry back into the States.  As we crossed the Tongue of the Ocean from Nassau to Northwest Channel Light waypoint the seas started to laydown as the winds let up.  The journey across the Great Bahama Bank is always a pleasure even though most of that was done in the dark.  Around 1 a.m. Tuesday, we approached the last Bahama waypoint, Triangle Rocks.  By taking this route from south of Bimini back to Florida, we were hoping to set a heading south of our rhumbline to compensate for the push north by the gulf stream currents.  According to our last update on Monday from NOAA, the western wall of the gulf stream was 10 miles east of the Florida coast as reported at Fowey Rocks.  The crossing of the Florida Straits went smoothly with only a few extra large ships to avoid.  The seas were still a little confused from the winds as we had following seas with rollers attacking from both the port and starboard quarter.  It's strange how waves can intercept each other and not cancel each other out.  Another one of the "mysteries" of the oceans.  Finally, around 7 a.m. we were able to start to see civilization, the coastal skyscrapers.  Also, we were approaching the western wall of the gulf stream.  At this point, any push from the gulf stream should have pushed us north to our rhumbline, but we were still 1.5 miles south of the rhumbline as we had planned.  Then, once inside of the "reported western wall" of the gulf stream where there should not have been a current it grabbed us and took us for a ride.  Long story short, 1 hour later we were 1 mile north of our rhumbline as we tried to buck the current and head SW to Government Cut.  So we changed course to a westerly heading, drifted north with the current and then when the current released its grip we headed SW to Government Cut.  By 10 a.m. the anchor was dropped at the  Belle Isle anchorage in South Beach.  Another successful crossing.  

     Our plans were to recuperate from the crossing the rest of the day on Tuesday, drop the dinghy on Wednesday and visit a grocery store, where the shelves are filled to the max.  No waiting in line to get fresh produce.  And that one day on Tuesday would allow us to adjust to the "cultural shock" of being  back in the States.  All the noise, congestion, people and the madness of civilization, that isn't found in the Exumas Cays, is overwhelming and will hit you square between the eyes.