Mo Bettah

Stars & Stripes - St Martin


Topped off fuel and water at Ft Myers. 

3-6 knot winds and smooth water when departing the bay. 
Turned North and winds held around 6-8 knots with 1-2’ seas. 
Late afternoon became 14 knot winds and 3-4’ seas on the nose. Tacked a few times until it got dark. Expecting winds to die down, we dropped sails and motored   Winds were 0 by midnight and the sea went flat. 

19th Monday 
Flat seas and 2-3 knot “winds”
Continued motoring 
Passed Tampa and started heading Westward.
Got something BIG on the fishing pole but the line eventually snapped because there was too much tension set on the line. 
25 miles West of Tampa we spotted a big pod of dolphins! Probably 20, so we came around and floated with them. Amy was all over the bow watching them!
Sunset- Still 3-4 knot winds with smooth water and gentle 1’ swells coming in from the South. Still on the motor. 


20th Tuesday 
1-2’ seas and 8-10 knot winds 
Beam Reaching (60 degrees Portside)
By 10am winds held steady at 12 knots and we turned 10 degrees into the wind. Boat speed increased to 7 knots (6 SOG)(14 knots AWS).

Nighttime winds increased to 14-15 knots with 2-3’ seas. Reefed the Genoa sail and still 6.5-7 knots of speed. Generally lost 0.5 to 1 knot to the Gulfstream current. 

21st Wednesday 
Before sun rise 
17-20 knots AWS (15 TWS). Seas - Big enough to be slamming the hull. Speed 6-7 knots. 
By 8:30 the wind dropped to 7-8 and from the direction we want to go:-( So we powered up the Iorn Sail. 

22nd Thursday 
Played Frogger getting through the Mississippi delta and turned Northwest to Grand Isle. Ran into big rain storm with water spouts. Turned out to be not too bad. Filled up with fuel and started West. Ran straight through large oil well fields and shrimp boats!
 Light winds (8-12) from the Southeast helped big time! Currents were a great help too. 
Got past the shoal areas of Louisiana and made a bee line to Galveston. 

23rd Friday 
1-2’ seas, 7 knot winds
Everything picked up in the afternoon! Made good time but arrived at the entrance well after dark! Wiggled through all the traffic, staying out of the way of the BIG boys! Sailed around the harbor to kill some time and came into the docks a little before sunup Saturday. 


Motoring Time
Sunday - 4 hours 
Monday - 24 hours.  +10 gal
Tuesday - 10 hours 
Wednesday - 15.5 hours +10 gal
Thursday - 9.5 hours 
Tank Fill
63 hours motoring used 50 gallons 

Thursday - 14.5 hours 
Friday - + 20 gal into tank

Gulf Crossing to Houston 

Started with 12 knots and 2-3’ seas. Dropped to light winds and 1’ seas. Used spinnaker until winds died and sea went flat about sunset. Motored in glassy seas. 

Saw AMAZING bioluminescence coming off the prop wash and sugar scoop!!!! Then there was the BURSTS/ explosions of light that came off the prop also!🤯

Pulled in Ft. Myers for gas and water. Wes and Sandy hopped off to start their trip back home. 

Drop Off Wes & Sandy

Winds 8-18 knots 
Seas 1-4’
Some motoring. 

Great sailing trip with Wes and Sandy to Dry Tortuga!

Dry Tortuga Arrival‼️ 

Dinghy back to boat 

Tender

Overnight trip started out with light winds and being pushed North by the Gulf Stream. Shortly before dawn the wind picked up to 15-19 knots and 4’ swells. For a short while we were going North in the stream and showed 10+ knots SOG!
 Ended up heave-to waiting an hour for the Sun to come up before entering the port. 
 Met big ship as we entered!
 Lake Silvia was full so we went to the city mooring field. 

To Ft. Lauderdale 

Overnight trip started calm light winds and finished the next day with good wind!

Berry to Bimini

Exit Great Harbour 

8-11 knots of wind
0-4’ seas depending on location around the island. Mostly 3’
Awesome day of sailing! Must have had 30 power boats pass us in the first 5 miles on their way to a beach! Passed the cruise ship locations at the North end. 

Move to Great Harbour 

Rain 🌧️ moved in just as we were departing and made the winds light and variable. 
0-11 knot winds 
As we left the cut swells were 5’ on the beam so we did some zigzags to get angle to the swells. 
New anchorage turned out to be VERY rolley. 


Relocate to Soldier Cay

17-19 knot winds
Waves small close to shore
Founds plenty of turtles, bright orange starfish and some fish in the channel! Very fun trip😃

Stephen Hammonds