Sailing out into the Gulf Stream

Our friend, Chris Toye, invited us to take a day sail with him on his 42' catch Fermosa. Little bit of a different set up than our yawl; it has an third boom sail called the mizzen. Dave and Chris worked the sails and I took the helm. It felt like moving a tank around. We went straight out into the Gulf Stream, which is about 10 miles off the coast of the Keys. We started the sail out in 10 feet of green, calm water. We progressed into light blue water, depth 25 feet. Moved into deeper blue water, with a bit of a heavier chop, depth approximately 60 feet. Finally, after several hours, we made it into deep water, dark blue, depth of 600 feet. As soon as we cleared the ridge, the seas reared up. Intense wave action, heavy winds, powerful and swift currents. It was a completely different way of sailing.

 

Once we made it out to the Gulf Stream we were joined by a large pod (about 30 or so) of porpoises.  They cruised with us for awhile, jumping around the boat. We also saw dozens of flying fish, we tried to catch some photos of them but they're quick little suckers! And of course, we spotted the usual elusive turtle a few times.