25 Nov [Ep 15] Hard Decisions…Do We Turn Around?

We face a hard decision after we worked so hard to get to paradise. Do we turn around and sail back to the USA? We find there are some surprises in store for us.

0:00 Intro

0:36 Bahamas Sailing

We raise our anchor at the deserted island in North Eleuthera Bahamas and head west. We sail through the crystal clear but shallow water of the Bahama Banks to Chub Cay, Whale Key, Bimini, and then on to Miami.

3:49 Gulf Stream Crossing

We crossed the gulf stream with a northeast wind, perfect for some downwind spinnaker sailing on the way to Miami and Biscayne Bay. We hit 10.9 knots of boat speed during some great and fun sailing conditions.

7:00 Stiltsville

We entered Biscayne National Park through the Stiltsville Cut. It was pretty cool to sail between the old houses and buildings on stilts, which have been long since abandoned. This is a tricky entrance and we must be careful as we draw over six feet.

7:25 Coconut Grove Sailing Club

We got the last open mooring ball at CGSG, which thankfully was the only one that would fit our 46 foot sailboat. We were very thankful for the clubs hospitality. What an amazing place with excellent staff and friendly members. It helped that they were a racing club and we had visited there before while racing Melges 24’s.

7:41 Sail Loft

One of the main reasons for coming to Miami was to get our staysail fixed up. When it was originally re-cut down from a #4 jib in Annapolis the sail loft there made a mistake and made the sail longer than the hoist. So we were able to have the sail re-recut and fixed in under a week. We were super thankful to get this done.

8:39 Melges 20 and Bacardi Winter Series in Miami

It just so happened that the Melges 20 Winter Series and Bacardi Miami Winter Series was going on. Was this planned? Well, it certainly was a good enough reason to sail back to the USA and see all of our racing friends. On top of that, the race committee boat broke down, so we volunteered to be the RC boat for the day. It was lots of fun, but there were a few close calls. Luckily no boats were harmed in the filming of this video and SV Sweet Ruca came away without a scratch in her Awlgrip!

12:52 Coconut Grove

We ended our time in Miami with a stroll through Coconut Grove. It is a lovely little suburb on the south side. We took advantage of this time to get our last meals out in the USA for what we be a long time. We were also invited to go to the CGSC staff Christmas party, so we celebrated the holiday in style with our new friends before we sail away again to the Bahamas.

#sailing #boatlife #bahamas #sail #sea #boat #yacht #sailboat #yachting #travel #ocean #sailor #yachtlife #boating #boats #sailingboat #sailingyacht #adventure #yachts #vlogger #youtubesailing #vlog #rescuedog #sailingdog #boatdog #snorkeling #paddleboarding #desertedisland #jboats #saltydog #saltlife #sailingvlog #liveaboardlifestyle #rocna #anchoring #cruising #sailaway