Back in the USA!
- sondrawinter
- 6 days ago
- 5 min read
Great Sale Cay, Commonwealth of The Bahamas
to
Brunswick, Georgia, United States of America
Saturday, April 12 through Friday, April 18, 2025
Great Sale Cay, Bahamas
When we arrived at Great Sale Cay there were only three boats at anchor. Twenty-four hours later there were about 20 boats there! After spending Friday night pitching fore and aft, it appeared that a majority of cruisers here also decided to remain on board their vessels all day Saturday as we only saw one dinghy moving around the anchorage. We spent this day doing safety checks and preparing Utopia for the long passage to Brunswick, GA.
Passage across the Gulf Stream
337.9 nm / 388.38 miles
52 hours:
Anchor up 8:00 a.m. Sunday, April 13
In marina slip 12:00 p.m. Tuesday, April 15
Sunday, 4/13
Anchor was weighed Sunday morning, and we spent nearly two hours rounding north around the cay and nearby reefs before turning west and traveling for nine hours across the Little Bahama Bank in windless conditions on glassy seas. It was nice to cross the bank in the sunlight so that we could enjoy the beautiful color of the Bahama waters one last day. This part of the trip was rather uneventful, except for the chartplotter freezing up requiring Jimmy to dive into the engine compartment within the lazarette to reset the fuse. Little did we know that this was to be the theme of this passage.
Around 7 p.m. we crossed from the bank into the deep waters of the Atlantic. By 9 p.m. the seas had grown to 3-4’ and currents gave us a 2-knot speed increase, although we still had light and fluky wind.
Monday, 4/14
By the time we reached the 24-hour mark of this trip, the chartplotter had frozen several times, and the electronics started to flicker off and on. The winds were light, but the Gulf Stream had a fair amount of swale. When the electronics were working, we could see that the Gulf Stream current was often giving us an additional four knots of speed and at one time Utopia surfed down a wave at 9.6 knots!
A little after 2 p.m. on Monday we exited the Gulf Stream and pointed Utopia northwest. By this time the wind and seas had both increased and we were able to sail a little while with the engine off.
The joy of sailing without the loud engine was interrupted by a complete loss of instruments and it appeared that we would have to finish the trip without autopilot. Jimmy climbed back into the lazarette for the millionth time on this trip to try to figure out how to get the system up and running again. As I helmed in the big seas and moderate winds with no instrumentation or autopilot, I thought to myself that it was going to be a very long and tiring night if we had to hand steer in these conditions which were predicted to get stronger. So, I was very relieved when he found some loose wiring and was able to cobble it back together. For the most part the cobbling worked, with at least one other loss of power occurring when I turned on the instrument lights at sunset, requiring yet another trip into the lazarette.
As predicted, the winds and seas continued to build into the evening, making us thankful for reefing the mainsail prior to sunset. We were also thankful for only one chartplotter incident where it decided to reboot for no reason. At least this did not require climbing into the lazarette in bumpy seas.
Tuesday, 4/15
As the sun came up Tuesday morning, we could see the seas in a “washing machine” state with waves coming from all directions. Conditions were still salty (as Chris Parker may describe it) when we reached the Saint Simons Channel entrance at 8:30 a.m., staying salty even after entering Saint Simons Sound two hours later. By the time we passed two cargo ships (one incoming and one outgoing) and reached the Sidney Lanier Bridge at 11:30 a.m., we were still seeing gusts up to 20 knots.
During the trek from the Atlantic and through the Sound, we used the CBP ROAM app to check into the U.S. Customs and Border Protection. We had all of our documentation and information uploaded to the app several days prior to making the passage, so the check in process was very easy to do underway and we were approved for entry within an hour.
Brunswick, GA, USA
Thankfully the winds gave us a break as we turned into the East River, and two dockhands plus a friend met us at a slip that did not have an adjacent boat. Even as fatigued as we were, the docking went very well. Utopia came to a stop right at noon, completing our 52-hour trip and the furthest passage to date for us.
It was so nice to be greeted by our friend Denise as we stepped off the boat for the first time since Friday morning. Then soon after she returned to her boat, a former Caliber owner, Vee whom we met last November stopped by to say hello. Having the two friends coming by right after returning Brunswick Landing Marina sure made it feel like a homecoming.
Jimmy and I really like this marina and its strong sense of community. When we left in January I prepared a review of Brunswick and the marina. We originally did not plan on returning, but we sent some needed boat parts to Denise and her husband Cam, so we stopped by here on our way north to pick them up. After spending nearly four months exploring new locations, there is a certain level of comfort returning to a familiar port.
Wednesday morning, we woke up after a great sleep, to a 55-degree morning! Our time at the marina has been spent taking full advantage of the marina’s free laundry and water while working on boat chores.
Two of the larger chores were to go up the mast to remove the radar, and the very gross job of installing a new pump for the head. Jimmy has also been coordinating larger projects with contractors in the Charleston area to upgrade our electronics and to possibly replace our rusty air conditioner
We’ll be leaving this lovely marina on Saturday to take on another overnight trip up to beautiful Beaufort, South Carolina.
Blog Post # 25-16
See link below to read last week's post.
Sounds like you timed your crossing perfectly! Welcome back.