I didn’t plan on writing the title, Back in Ft. Lauderdale, until next Spring.   We came within 15 miles of Bimini yesterday but are now back in Florida!

Yesterday, we left No Name Harbor at 4:30 am, headed out to sea in the dark and found four other sailboats doing the same thing.  We stayed near them, motorsailing straight into the wind.  We were only making about 4 kts, but the seas were fairly calm and we were having to fight the Gulf Stream which wanted to take us north.  Therefore, we had to sail south to get east, which is where Bimini is related to Miami.  Even though we were moving slowly, we were on course to arrive in Bimini while it was still light.  When we were 15 miles from Bimini, around 1:30 pm, suddenly we started to slow down.  The wind was dropping from 15 kts to 4 kts, but it was more than that.  Our engine had quit!  More correctly, the genset which was keeping our electric engine going stopped.  It needs water running through it to keep it  running and the water stopped, causing the generator to automatically turn off.

Mark immediately thought he knew the problem, so we kept sailing with no motor on at about 2-3 kts in the general direction of Bimini while he changed an impeller in the genset.  That did not work.  He thought he knew what else it could be but didn’t have the necessary part.  Reluctantly, we called TowBoat US over our VHF radio.  (Ordinarily that radio only reaches other radios 5-10 miles away, but the Coast Guard and the tow boat companies have very strong receivers and they can hear us from the Bahamas back to the States.) 

For a little over $100 a year, we have unlimited towing with TowBoat US.  Therefore, we didn’t have to pay anything for this long tow.  It’s much like AAA, except on water.  We asked them if they could tow us to Bimini but they aren’t allowed to do that.  However, if we could limp into a marina or anchorage there, they could come to get us if we changed our mind and wanted to come back to the States.  We thought about it and decided we would be better off back in Ft. Lauderdale where we knew we could get help fixing it or at the least buy the parts we might need.  We had to wait almost four hours for the towboat to reach us.   Luckily, the sea was extremely calm, almost like glass, and we just set a course to go northwest with the flow of the Gulf Stream trying to lessen the miles the towboat had to travel to get to us.  Every half hour, someone from TowBoat US called us to confirm our new location and also to check that we were all right.   The depth of the ocean where we were is almost 2700 feet, but since we weren’t planning on getting into it, that wasn’t a problem.  We got to see a beautiful sunset (photo above) over the ocean.

The towboat reached us at 6 pm, tied a line to us and proceeded to tow us back to Florida.  We were going about 8 kts tied up behind them and it was a quick trip back.   When we got back to Ft. Lauderdale, they took us right to our old slip at New River Marina.  They probably would have taken us to Miami, but we felt more comfortable coming back to Ft. Lauderdale as we knew there was a marina that would have room for us.  It was essential to get to shore power or we were going to lose all of the food in our freezer and refrigerators.  In order for them to work, the generator must be run to charge the house batteries.

So here we are today back in Ft. Lauderdale.  Mark tried a variety of things to get the generator fixed but nothing worked.  We had multiple suggestions from other owners of the Lagoon 420 on our online owner’s forum where we asked for help last night.  Mark just talked with Scott, the technician who knows this boat best and he offered another suggestion.  While it was nothing that Mark hadn’t tried, he did what Scott said and the generator started again.   We left the marina at New River and traveled the short distance to the free anchorage in Lake Sylvia.

There are storms headed towards south Florida, so we aren’t sure when we can get back to Miami to wait for the next weather window. It might be a week or more away.

If this showed us anything, it confirmed that we are always within reach of help both here in the States and in the Bahamas.  The US Coast Guard and the towing companies have the power to hear our VHF radio for more than 100 miles.  We even heard someone in Bimini calling the US Coast Guard, back in the States.   The wife had a fishing hook lodged in her arm.  The Coast Guard arranged to have a cab meet them and drive them to a clinic as soon as they got ashore in Bimini. 

Overall, while this delay was very disappointing after being so ready to leave and then being so close to the Bahamas, we feel fortunate to be safe.   The only real loss for us is the cost of fuel for the trip yesterday to Bimini, and the cost of fuel to get us back to Miami when we leave here, i.e about 15 hours of fuel.   As with everything we do on the boat, this was another learning experience.