Crossing Gulf Stream Florida to Cancun

Feb. 16, 2010
We flew into Fort Lauderdale to join the 57’ Nordhavn “No Plans,” which was lying at Harbour Towne Marina in Dania, only a hop, skip and jump from the airport. Mary and Larry Mason, our hosts, had her in the Med for 3 years during which time we had cruised with them a couple of times through Italy, Malta, Croatia and Greece. In July 09 they had shipped her back to Newport, R.I. on the Dock Wise Yacht Transport and had spent the summer and fall cruising the NE and down the ICW to Florida. Here she had quite of bit of work done, stuff that had been deferred due to the difficulties of doing work on an American boat in the Med. Now she had AIS installed and was now in top form.
We were headed down the Yucatan Channel toward the Panama Canal and to the Pacific side of Costa Rica to do research for the 7th edition of “Cruising Ports.” We planned a leisurely cruise of daylight runs down the Keys, anchoring for the night and then jumping off across the Gulf Stream to Cancun where our research would begin in earnest. Florida had been having a brutal winter with a lot of wind, rain and cold in this El Niño year, and we began tracking the weather for several days before we got on the plane for Florida. A very strong cold front had just passed through South Florida, and the wind was blowing strong from the NW on our arrival. But the forecast was for the wind to drop, and a weather window was opening for us to jump off for Cancun non-stop. This leg involves crossing the Gulf Stream twice, once in the Florida Straits and again in the Yucatan Channel, so it can be dangerous. Thus weather conditions overrode our desire for leisurely stops in the Keys.
We arrived in Ft. Lauderdale one evening and spent the next day shopping and doing last minute errands. We departed Lauderdale just before sunset. As we exited the breakwater we engaged the Trac stabilizers and bingo, the computer control head went blank and we were wallowing around in a heavy sea way with no stabilizers. After trying to fix the problem for ah hour, we realized there was nothing to do but replace the control head, so we turned around and re-entered the harbor at “zero dark thirty.”
We tied up for the night at Lauderdale Marina fuel dock. The next day we were very lucky to track down the part and someone to install it by early afternoon. Two years ago this would have been impossible at the height of cruising season, but the yacht business has fallen on hard times, and marinas have many empty slips and marine businesses are crying for work. The weather window was still open, at least to Key West, so we departed again at 1500.
The run down the Keys was uneventful; we skirted the reef about 3 miles off. This was a sweet spot between the offshore freighters and the small-boat traffic working along the reef and avoiding the worst of the head currents of the Gulf Stream. By mid morning we were near Key West, and a week cold front passed us, with rain and the wind shifting to the NW and gusting up to near 30 knots. This was an offshore wind so the seas weren’t bad and after about an hour it subsided to 20 knots northwest, which is what it was predicted to be crossing down to Cancun. It was a borderline forecast; it shouldn’t be dangerous, but certainly uncomfortable and almost normal conditions for this time of year. So we decided to press on. After all, it was a well founded boat.
We had only moved offshore a couple of miles when the seas picked up, and the boat started rolling violently. Every once and a while it would get thrown down on her port beam with a bang. It looked like we had made a terrible misjudgment of the weather. Then it occurred to us to check the setting on the stabilizers. Sure enough the technician had left them in a mode called “zero heel” with the boat speed set at 20 knots - and we were travelling at 8 knots. Running along in the lee of the reef of the Keys, this hadn’t been a problem. We put it in “max mode” and lowered the speed setting to 8 - and instantly the boat started acting normally for the conditions. Whew. We could continue to press on.
Our rhumb line was a straight shot from the Key West sea buoy to the south end of Isla Mujeres and would take us 7 miles off the coast of Cuba. As we closed with the island of Cuba, we were down to 6 knots for hours: obviously the main current of the Gulf Stream. The wind stayed about 12-15 knots steady out of the northwest, and when our speed was slowest the boat rolled the worst. Toward the west end of the island we picked up a counter current and speeded up to 9.5 knots and the ride was smoother.
Just as we were starting across the Yucatan Channel, we encountered two ships engaged in cable laying on the approaches to the Vessel Traffic Separation scheme at Cabo San Antonio, a dense shipping lane. They requested 5 mile clearance, and the maneuvers with dosens of ships got interesting. Our newly installed AIS helped greatly. Not only does it give a CPA and time to CPA for other vessels with the same equipment, it also gives the name of the ship. So you can call the other vessel on VHF without the old routine of “ship at lat and long of such and such, on a course of and speed of such and such.” It eliminated a lot of confusion in tight corners.
About 0300 we pulled back our speed in order to make a daylight entrance to the Cancun area. We were headed to the new marina La Amada and chose the entrance south of Isla Mujeres rather than the north, because it’s deeper. In the pre-dawn hours it was disconcerting to see the number of strobe lights not marked on any charts. When they first appear you wonder if it’s some fishing gear in the water, so you maneuver to avoid - only to find out later they are on a tower or building ashore. Just outside the sea buoy we saw two large unlit ship moorings. Scary. Inside we favored the side toward Isla Mujeres. A coral reef sticks out from the south end of the island. It’s a national park called “Garrafon,” the edge of which is marked by a series of yellow buoys - easily seen now that the sun was up. Past this we turned northwest to the first buoy of the marina at 21 14.831N, 86 47.215W, a position we got off their internet site. Bingo, there they were right off the bow. We entered their long, well marked channel maintained at 17’ depth.
We’d covered 500 miles in 3 nights and 2 days, crossed the Gulf Stream twice. We were ready for some rest and recuperation. Stay tuned for our description of Cancun/Isla Mujeres.