St Lucie inlet or Ft Pierce?

[cardude01]

For those who have ever cruised into Stuart, I noticed two weird areas on my Garmin chart. My Garmin plotter shows the "magenta line" on the ICW and offshoot channels, but in the channel coming into Stuart (St Lucie River/Okeechobee waterway) there were two places where the line was on the wrong side of two green markers coming in. I saw several skippers cut the corner and follow the line but also saw some go on the correct side of the marker. I have never encountered that before. I've read that the magenta line is not really supposed to be followed anymore because it's no longer very accurate, but I think that was the first time I've seen it on the complete opposite side of a marker.

 

[Blissboat]

Yep, beware the magenta line, or better yet, mostly disregard it.

 

[BandB]

I've read that the magenta line is not really supposed to be followed anymore because it's no longer very accurate, but I think that was the first time I've seen it on the complete opposite side of a marker.

It was never intended as a line to be followed, just a line designating a general path, so never accurate in that regard. On the ICW, you'll see what you saw there often, especially where there are sharp bends.

Now, there was a thought of removing it and that met strong objection. So, instead there is now thought of improving it.

The Office of Coast Survey announced that future editions of nautical charts of the Intracoastal Waterway will be updated to include an improved “magenta line” that has historically aided navigation down the East Coast and around the Gulf Coast. Additionally, Coast Survey will change the magenta line’s function, from the perceived "recommended route" established more than a hundred years ago, to an advisory directional guide that helps prevent boaters from going astray in the maze of channels that comprise the route.​

Here is a link to the update.

https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/news/jan14/magenta-line.html

 

[cardude01]

WifeyB

Overall my trip to the Bahamas was good. Had a few milestones.

1. Crossed the Gulf Stream, twice.

This was a bucket list item for me. The first crossing was easy, except for my angst leaving the Lake Worth inlet at night. Had some wind chop we were basically heading into, but it was fairly small. Nice and cool at night. Not being able to see anything didn't seem to matter. The adrenaline was pumping so that made it extra cool. The wind was just off the bow enough (maybe 10k) so we close hauled and that kept the boat steady. The crossing back was another story. I can't tell if I was just tired and could not figure it out, or if the waves were really that bad. I left Mangrove Cay at 4:30 am and was at the helm the entire time until FT Pierce at 6:30pm because my son was feeling bad, so I was tired. The forecast (Chris Parker) called for 2-4' wind chop from the SE, with winds from 6-12k. He thought it would be a good day to cross. I don't know how big the waves actually were, but the wind was blowing up to 18-19k in the middle of the stream where (to me) it got a little uncomfortable when the swell and the wind waves made things confusing. The wind waves were breaking, so we were sliding down these waves that were on the stern quarter, and the AP was having hell trying to keep us straight. The AP would always overcorrect when the stern lifted up and turn us sideways (to port) on the wave, then overcorrect the opposite way and turn us back. I finally gave up and hand steered, and that was much better. I was disappointed I couldn't get the sails to stop the roll. I finally turned into the wind/waves to reef the sails by about 1/2, and that seemed to settle things down a little. That turn into the wind with the waves breaking was kind of scary however. I'm sure I was doing all the sailing incorrectly.

2. Anchored out in a storm.

We got caught in a big band of thunderstorms a couple of times. The first time I had full sails out and just wasn't paying attention and it was too late to reef imo. We finally turned into the wind some (25k) and pulled the jib in, but the mainsail is harder to reef quickly for me. Later on in the trip we got caught AGAIN by an even bigger thunderstorm (leftovers from that TS from FL). This time I saw it coming and didn't have any sail up, and was trying to get into White Sound to have some protection. We didn't make it into the sound (I was too chicken to try to negotiate that channel in a storm), so I dropped anchor outside White Sound and rode it out. It didn't last long, but it was intense for me. It took letting out ALL the chain I had 250' for the Rocna to finally catch. Winds got up to 30k that time. We drug for maybe 50 yards before grabbing. I was a little tense. My son thought it was "cool".

Other than those two things I thought the trip went well. We did all the fun Abaco things. Anchored out about half the time and used marinas when the crew was getting antsy.

I spent lots of money eating out and drinking, but that's what the crew wanted to do instead of cook on the boat. Our boat is pretty small with four aboard for extended periods. Wife wants a catamaran now. [emoji23]

 

[BandB]

Wifey B: YAY!

Overall sounds like a good, although not perfect, first trip. Lot's of learning.

Couple of things that might help. Don't go solely on Chris Parker or any other single source. Double check with a couple of others. Also, not unusual for Gulf Stream to be a bit rougher than the rest of the trip.

As to Autopilot. Most have some sensitivity settings. Find the manual and see. When you're in conditions where it's overreacting you can often just lower the sensitivity.

Tell son to toughen up and/or perhaps take some seasick meds. Way too much work for you to do it all with no help. What about wife? Why couldn't she take the helm a bit?

Well, one victory. Wife didn't come back saying "never again", instead thinking of another boat.

It's really a positive you had some rougher seas and some strong winds. That's how you better learn your capabilities. Now, you'll aim for better conditions but you know you can handle less than ideal. We don't learn much in 1' seas and 5 knot winds.

Perhaps no drinking the night before return trip.

Just sounds like a cool family trip. Tell me anything else in the world that could ever rival it as a family time. My opinion that boating is still the best family recreation there is.

 

[Bigsfish]

Dude

Every trip shou,d be a learning experience and anything done the first time will have some angst. Those of us who live in south Florida and enjoy the Bahamas don't think about the crossing (weather dependent), after a few hundred trips it becomes a walk in the park.

Glad you enjoyed it.

 

[BandB]

Dude

Every trip shou,d be a learning experience and anything done the first time will have some angst. Those of us who live in south Florida and enjoy the Bahamas don't think about the crossing (weather dependent), after a few hundred trips it becomes a walk in the park.

Glad you enjoyed it.

I was talking to a chief stew recently about the time she was interviewing a potential new stew. The girl was from South Florida and had never left the state, true for a very large percentage of South Floridians. So the Chief Stew asked her if she had a passport. The young girl said no, that she didn't know they were going to leave the country. The chief stew said, "We're going to the Bahamas". The young girl replied, "I thought the Bahamas were part of Florida."

 

[Bigsfish]

I read once that 40% of Amiricans have never left the county they were born in. Amazing.

 

[cardude01]

I read once that 40% of Amiricans have never left the county they were born in. Amazing.

Yeah we Americans generally don't travel well. We expect everyone to speak English and to serve hamburgers. [emoji30]

 

[BandB]

Yeah we generally don't travel well. We expect everyone to speak English and to serve hamburgers. [emoji30]

That's not a problem, McDonalds and Burger King everywhere and they have menus with pictures and with English available.

 

[BandB]

There are two reasons, people in the US don't travel more.

1. Money
2. Time

That's what it's all about. Most can't afford or don't have the time to take family vacations to other continents.

 

[psneeld]

And many accept that they will never have the time or money to see all the great things right here.

And there are 2 exotic places people dream about and hipe to get to after quite a bit of travelling. Hawaii and Alaska....... and heck seeing jyst part of Alaska takes people 2 or 3 trips depending if the trips are in weeks or months.

 

[BandB]

And many accept that they will never have the time or money to see all the great things right here.

And there are 2 exotic places people dream about and hipe to get to after quite a bit of travelling. Hawaii and Alaska....... and heck seeing jyst part of Alaska takes people 2 or 3 trips depending if the trips are in weeks or months.

There is a world to see without leaving the country. Sadly, most haven't seen much of it and a good percentage haven't seen beyond their state and bordering states.

You just see the number of people here exploring Alaska and talking about the Loop.

We never traveled much prior to retirement and moving to FLL. The vast majority of places we've been to since the move are places we'd never seen, new adventures daily. I think that's the beauty of the loop, the exposure to new areas. Even just cruising the East coast. Every town has something different, unique, special.

We've cruised some through Central America and the Caribbean and we could have an incredible life never going to any other continent. Now, we do intend to go to Europe at some point and to the South Pacific, but it's definitely not essential. Every time we cruise the East Coast we experience something new. This trip it was running 126 nm down the St. Johns River from Jacksonville and back in a RIB. I had no idea what all was on the river. Now, one day we need to return and spend time on it. Then there's the part beyond where we went. We might not have done this but we removed Fernandina from our plans based on conditions there. There are states like Florida and NC as great examples, that we've spent time in, but we still haven't gotten to each port, each town along the way. People cruise the Chesapeake but most don't go up the Potomac.

You definitely don't have to leave the country to meet a lot of very different people either. Their culture, their history, their ways of speaking, very different. It's like visiting different countries.

Yes, we spent 2 months seeing Alaska and a little of BC. One could do that annually for years and still not see it all. Most cruising from the PNW still only see the lower part of Alaska. Just the PNW, we didn't get to all the islands.

So much to see and the beauty of it is that it doesn't matter how many years we do this, there will always be things remaining that we want to see. You can't really see all the US in a lifetime.

 

[jacquesm]

There are two reasons, people in the US don't travel more.

1. Money
2. Time

That's what it's all about. Most can't afford or don't have the time to take family vacations to other continents.

One more reason: there is much to see and to do in the USA. I am born in Belgium and came to live in the US quite late in life but I was surprised by the variety of landscapes, people, climates and even cultural differences in the US. After 30 years as a citizen, I am still impressed by what there is to discover every year. Ours is a beautiful country.

BandB posted the same idea just above me.

 

[BandB]

Europeans are often shocked by the number of states and the sizes as well as the sizes of the provinces of Canada. Now to Australians our states are incredibly tiny.