Leaving For Good_ The Plan & Our BIGGEST Passage (Sailing Curiosity)

I've been waiting for that noise. I think he brought us in like a champ. Just floated right into the dock. Got to fill her up. Get the heck out of here. Okay, thank you. I got to watch it like a hawk because the shutoff doesn't really work. Don't know why, I'm just told that's just the way it is. $2.297 for the gasoline diesel. And I gave her a $2 tip for running the lines. And we probably won't see gas that cheap in quite some time. Maybe gas is cheap in... Oh, maybe in Panama. I had this idea in my head at one point that it was cheaper to fill up at a gas station but actually the marina fuel is dyed red because it's not for on-road. So there's less taxes. So it's actually cheaper to fill up here than it is to fill up at the normal gas station. So drive your car up to the dock is what you're telling me. That's not legal. Engage. Pilot's working. We are cruising seven and a half knots. Woo, that's our wind. How much wind do we have? We have 12 of apparent and 13 of true. Nice. We've got a 90 degree angle so the wind's not coming right from there on our beam. It'll be a nice comfortable ride down to Miami. A little R&R. And then a lot of planning. The big one's coming. And I'm not talking babies or poops. What's that? We've been out to sea for half an hour. What does Nikki have to do? It's her. What are you eating? Yummy. It's heaven. And the crew? I think it's tradition. Really good. We're good this time I hope. Fort Lauderdale, Dania Beach back there. That's Hollywood there. And I don't know what this city is. They all kind of look the same to me. But we are cruising, baby. Justin, little fish. What's up? Haha, selfie mode. Okay, gimbal, there we go. How's it going over here? Good. To the GPS So that I can control the autopilot from the watch. We have made it to Miami. There it is. Bienvenido a Miami. We are going just past to... Where are we going again? Biscayne Bay. Biscayne Bay, yeah. We'll be there shortly. Do you like that, Cleo? Want to get a double-double? Or just a single-double? Alright, we made it to Miami. We're anchored. Chill and hang out. Made ourselves some lovely food. Enjoy the evening. And then first thing tomorrow morning. Get up to business. And plan our sail. Say the three times fast. Okay. I guess I'm recording this time. This is take two. And you know, it's only summertime in Florida. So we're sitting here. Shredding. The current's a little stronger than the wind. So there's like no breeze in here. But I'm sure it's only going to get worse the further we get south. So suck it up. But it hasn't stopped us from planning our route. Because, well, it's time to go. A month past time to go. And before we had... The whole dilemma is how to get to Panama. Which route do we take? And before we had this brand idea. We, you know, basically head straight to Mexico. Go to the Yucatan. Head to Belize. You know, all these stops along the way. But now that we are so far behind. Not behind. Just the service took longer than expected. It changes our plans. That's okay. That's the way it goes. So now we are going back to the drawing board. Because we're ready to go. And it's time to make a decision. Which way we're going. And I'll read you this little excerpt from the World Cruising Routes. From Jimmy Cornell. He says, Which is where we are. And the reason being is it's kind of... It's so similar either way. It's not like a clear cut choice. And we've asked so many different delivery captains and everything else. Sailors have done it many times. Through the Mono Passage. Around the east and the west of Cuba. Or the Windward Passage. Which is all the way out to the islands. Exactly. Trying to get an opinion on if there is a preferred route. And everybody essentially responds with the same thing that that book says. Which is, you can go either way. It's really tough to decide. And it is kind of weather dependent. And how fast and how much of a beating you want to take. Which is where we stand right now. Nikki and I still aren't 100% positive where we're going. Or which way we're going. But it's no longer just an us decision. Now we've got two crew members on board. So we need to take their opinions into account too. And make sure that everybody is good with the route that we choose. So we'll invite them in. We'll show you exactly what we're using to plan our route. And hopefully it will give you a little insight into why we're doing what we're doing. Why we choose the route we do. And hopefully it's the right route. Doesn't mean it's the right choice. It's just a choice. Yeah. Alright crew. We have three cameras rolling to hopefully document. So you can see everything that we're seeing. That's why. Okay. Where are we starting? Well first maybe we should show our two route options. Okay. We could go. We're now on our route. Alright. If you're looking at the wind. We can go this way. Or this way here through the Bahamas. And if you're just looking at wind. It's basically the same. Like it doesn't seem like there's an advantage to going one way or the other. But when we take into account the currents. So this would be our route here. Coming around Cuba. You can see we're fighting this current. And these really long arrows are. I guess showing that it's really bad current. Like a lot of current. Because this is the Gulf Stream that comes up. Otherwise we come around this way. And you see little tiny arrows until we get here. Which will be sailing this way. So we won't be beating into them. And that's a huge consideration. Right. Because the Gulf Stream is a very strong current. Which could slow us down a lot if we're heading directly into it. So that is the dilemma of. Do we want to go against the stream? Or do we want to take the slightly longer route. With less resistance as far as the current goes. Yeah the shorter route would obviously be around the west coast of Cuba. But the longer route would be potentially more comfortable. So. We're using PredictWind to help us with departure planning. Plan our route. Give us an idea of how long the sail will take. Right. The first one that I've done is the weather routing. So weather routing takes into account everything. Like swell, current, wind. The whole shebang. And then just going from point A to point B. Says here are your route options based on the different wind predictions. And obviously it's also giving us both route options as well. So. Not extremely helpful. Yeah you can see here. There's the one route. And most of the models are saying we can go that way. But there's one saying we can go this way. Yeah. And when we flip over to the tables. Right. So we look at the summary. You can see that the time taken. There's not like a huge difference in time. We're talking like 12 to 24 hours. Is the difference between all the routes. With the. Which one was that? That was the blue route. Was the one that takes you through the Bahamas. So. It is the most time. And it is the longest passage. But not by like. A huge gigantic number. Yeah. And then the biggest thing is time upwind. Time reaching. Time downwind. Obviously downwind sailing is our most comfortable. Way to sail. And this one. Has the most. Downwind. Downwind sailing. Compared to the others. And the worst. And the least comfortable. Would be upwind. Right. So this one. Which is the red one. Which is one of those options. Which means we could end up. Beating. 50% of the time. And not only beating. But beating against. The Gulf Stream. Which would be quite. Uncomfortable. It would make for. A rocky ride. So that's what. That's what's really. Kind of nerve wracking for me. Is trying to beat across. The Gulf Stream. The stream. The whole way. And beat against it. I think the only. Thing that even. Puts that route. As an option. Is because we don't have. Any crazy wind. Or weather headed our way. Looking at. Wendy. There's really nothing. Coming off. That. Coast of Africa. Right now. That would send stuff. Up our direction. And into. Our zone. There's potential for it. To be just fine. And be the faster route. But there's also potential. For it to be. The like. Most uncomfortable. Ride. And is it worth. A day. Of sailing. Or do we just. Go for the most. Comfortable route. Yeah. And. Take a day longer. Which one will have more fish. Yeah. Excellent question. That's the other thing. We have to figure out. Is if we cruise through. The Bahamas. Then. We have protection. Here and there. To stop. If we need to. Duck out of a storm. And we'll probably have to. Buy a cruising permit. So it'll be 150 bucks. To cruise the Bahamas. For like. A month or something. Not that we'll actually. Stick around for that. The idea would be. We don't want to. Stop too much in the Bahamas. Because we need to get far south. So we can be safe. Out of the hurricane zone. Yeah. So I mean. At this point. We are. We need to just like. Get there. Yeah. So it's. Keep going. Not really any stopping. Probably a lesser comfortable route. Would be better fishing. But. It's going to be so uncomfortable. We might not be able. We might not feel safe. To catch the fish. Or bring them in. If we were on that beading route. And there was. Steep waves. Because of the gulf stream. Then it'd be. So much of this. That pulling in fish. Would be. Could be. A challenge. Could be. Right. It also could be. Totally fine. Alright. So taking into account. Those two routes. How many. Like. Votes are for going. The. Against the stream. Option. Get there a day faster. Catch more fish. Faster. And possibly catch more fish. How close to the coast. Do we get to come. If we go. The Bahamas. Jamaica route. Um. So looking at. The weather routing. It's showing. If I zoom into. The. Bahamas. Portion. You can kind of see. It has us going. Under Andros. Which is right here. Yeah. But. I also. Think. We might be able to go this way. That's what most people do. They come out over here. And they come down this way. Okay. So what I did. Was I also used. Um. I did departure planning. Just trying to figure out. Like. When would be the best time frame. For us to leave. Based on the weather. And. If we zoom into. Those options. Into the Bahamas. You can see. Um. It's. A lot of variables. But there are different route options. Based off of the weather. And they aren't drastically different. So we could really choose any one of these. And probably be pretty good. So. But you can still. Most people come this way. And then go down here. But it's not telling us to do that. Yeah. Because it adds too much time. Onto our route. So I don't think we want to go that way. But if anything. We're not really. Staying very close to the Bahamas. We're actually staying much closer to Cuba. So we'd be. Right off the coast of Cuba really. Yeah. One of the concerns that we had talked about. Was the shallow waters. For night cruising. Yeah. If we did go the Bahamas route. So would that come into play. And add on some time. If we didn't want to cruise at night. Potentially. Depending on the route that we choose. Yeah. So let's go in. And look at. The chart. Because we can see the depths. And that's a very good point. Because if it's going to. Prohibit us from sailing at night. Then it's going to add on a few extra days as well. Exactly. So if we kind of look at. The route. Hovering the coast of Cuba. We see that there is a shipping lane there. That was my concern. So we have to stay away from that shipping lane. Because we don't want to be in that traffic at all. Yeah. Which does put us. We could. What we could do. Is ride the edge. Of where that deep water. And that shallow water. Is though. And that could be very good fishing. And. Would keep us in deeper water. If we were right on the edge of that. Which means we don't have to worry about the shallows. Let's just make sure that goes the whole route. So if we just decided to. Cruise the coast of Cuba. Pretty much the whole way. It looks like mostly deeper water. I think though. One of the routes we looked at earlier. I think that was the one you were talking about over. Yeah. So whenever I'd looked at it before. It did route us that way. Because we had stronger winds coming through. At that point. And it routed us that way. And it was going through those shallows. And I was like. Man that's not. I don't want to navigate 10 feet of water at night. Yeah. In the Bahamas. So. I think if we hug the coast of Cuba. And that's what it's telling us to do right now. Based off of the weather. Then I think it's good. And it actually could be really good fishing. Yeah. Potentially. Dale's like. Yay. I love it. Okay. So then. Based off of that. But it looks like lighter winds. And we're going head to wind there. We're not beating against the current. But. Yeah. So. Needless to say. There's a lot of variables still. To take into consideration. And we really won't know until. We kind of get on route. And then. The predictions for the weather. Is 24, 48 hours. We can't really trust anything more. Yeah. It's just a. Just a guess. Yeah. I mean. It's a prediction. So. It is that. Word. Prediction. Not a guarantee. So. It could change. But. Either way. The good thing about going the Bahamas route. Is. Or hugging that coast of Cuba. Is the fact that. If we get any weather. And that weather does change. It gives us somewhere to go and hide. Yeah. To duck out. I know my vote. What is it? Whichever one includes the most fish. I like the. Hug the coast. Yeah. It would be cool. We can't get too close. We have to be like 15 miles off. Yeah. So. Otherwise you have to check in. Right? Then we're in their waters. Oh yeah. That's right. Yeah. And I don't think. Our government wants us in their waters. Unless we report it. Yeah. Your government's fine with it. We can go anywhere. Okay. So. Is. I guess that's our general consensus. Is. Hug the coast of Cuba. Okay. Everybody's. Yeah. Weather permitting. Everybody's. Dandy with that. I'm happy either way. I'm going to go back and look at the emails we got from the other captains. Just to make sure. See what they say. And take that into account too. But. Yeah. I mean. Pretty much everybody said. We have to trust our devices. And we have to trust the tools we have in our hands. So. Yeah. I mean. Based off of weather right now. Yeah. Even. It's rooting us that direction with one of them. Yeah. And either way. It's so close. Yeah. And percentage downwind is. Trumps everything. Not everything. Yeah. But yes. I agree. It would be. The most comfortable. And. It would make for. A fun sail. We could do lots of stuff. While we're underway. And light winds. It's predicting. So that means a lot of spinnaker. Yeah. None of the. None said max wind over 20. Yeah. So there. If it. Went exactly like that. It means. It showed our average. Let me go back to. The weather routing. Because that one showed. Peebles. Summary. So. It's saying that. Our average speed. Would be around five knots. Based off of. Everything. So. If we really did travel. At an average of five knots. Then. Yeah. That means we're moving along. We're not just like stuck. Coasting at two knots. So. That would be good. I could think of. Worst passages. Yeah. To have. Okay. All right. So. Everybody's good with that. Route. Yeah. Okay. And we leave tomorrow. Yeah. I did the departure planning. And. Based off of. The departure planning. When I look at the tables. I did it. Starting from. Tomorrow. Afternoon. Going. Forward. And it does show that. You know. Tomorrow evening. Would be. A decent time. To leave. It would give us good wind speeds. And everything. Headed for. The Bahamas. I should check my heart rate. Because I think it's going up. I don't remember how to do it. Do it old school. Okay. Just to confirm. When we leave tomorrow. It's not for the marina. Right? It's not. For the marina. We're not going to the marina. Oh. Okay. So. I'll rerun that. Again. Uh. The routing. For that time. Yeah. And for that route. And then we can plug that into our navigation. And. Um. I'll take screen captures. And I'll add that to our float plan. Yeah. So. Just to go over our float plan. Really quickly. Scratch that. Just kidding. We. Have changed our mind. Yet again. And. We are going to go. The Bahamas route. And. We're just up to me. I would already be on my way to Cuba. Because it is the next day now. But. Talking to everybody else. There is a current. We would be fighting there. And we are not going to have a lot of wind. So it's potential we could end up motoring the whole thing. And against a current. So. We have decided. To go this route instead. And that's the way it goes sometimes. You decide on something. And then you look at it all again. And you change your mind. And this morning the winds are even less than we thought they were going to be. So. This is the safest bet. And that is what we are going to do. Back to your regular recording. Back to your regular scheduled programming. Okay. So now that we know our route. And when we are going to leave. I will send our float plan. To all of our designated peeps. So I've got a good description of our vessel. Along with. Our registration number. Our MMSI number. Pole ID number. And a photo of the boat. I've got all of our dinghy information. Including registration. Pole number. ID number. And engine. I will include the details on the post. But still some people want to know what's on here. Just click through our website and you can see what's on there. It's just her reading it's not going to help. Oh no. Okay well the insurance for the boat and the dinghy. A list of our crew. Including passport. Photos. And emergency contact information. Insurance info. Our Iridium GO information. Our sail plan obviously. Including a screen capture of our route. Estimated departure date and arrival date. And first port of call. All of our safety equipment aboard. Which includes our life raft. Information and description. Eperbs. AIS MOB. And Garmin inReach. We tested it on our sail down from Miami. We plan to share our map with our patrons. Kind of as part one of the test. And then probably we'll go more public with it. If it works. This will drop little breadcrumbs. Every half hour or so. So then people can follow along our route. If they are part of our patron feed. That's the plan anyway if it works. And then if it works for that. Then we'll probably add it to our website. So everybody can follow along. Just in case it's not working. That way we don't have a bunch of people going like. What happened? They dropped off the face of the planet. Anyway. And of course all of our family and friends. Okay so am I missing anything? I don't think so. We have like. 20 hours or so before we depart. So we have to start making food. Like snacky stuff. Black bean dip. Texas caviar. Yogurt. Bread. We have to get busy. Okay. Anything else? Otherwise we are ready to go right? I think so. A month ago we were ready to go. So click over to our website. We'll put a lot more detail there. And thanks for everyone for joining us. Along for the adventure. If you liked this video make sure to give us a thumbs up. Leave us a comment. It helps us out tremendously. And yeah thanks for following along. We will try to make frequent. Tweets. We can tweeter. We can post to Twitter. And to Facebook I believe. Text only probably. So follow us along on those two channels. We'll give updates. Maybe in the future we can do like Instagram. That would be awesome. But the technology is just not there for our budget. That's it. See you guys. Bye. Oh yeah you are in the shot. Wait a minute. I don't think you're in the shot.