Deep (really deep) Thoughts

Deliberations along the Thorny Path

The Thorny Path is a popular term given to the trek made from the US to the Caribbean, usually by Snowbirds* heading south into the tropics.  It is made mostly over winter months, across a few nasty passages and always bashing into those relentless trade winds.  Hence the title “thorny”.  I’ve read that many a cruising dream has crashed along this challenging route.

This was our reward at the end of a passage

The Caribbean has some dark deep waters.  We had already crossed the Anegada Passage.  Now we faced both the Puerto Rican trench, the second deepest in the world, and its nearby cousin, the Mona Passage.  The Mona strikes fear into the hearts of many cruisers.  A 60 mile passage between Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic, its unpredictable currents, deep waters (16,000 ft) and rough shoals equal brutal waters.  In both these areas, huge volumes of water tumble into deep trenches, creating massive, underwater waterfalls.  Not far away, the Gulf Stream, perhaps the world’s largest maritime river at 45 miles wide, is flowing northwards at a rapid 2.5 knots.  In the middle of the Bahamas Banks lies the Tongue of the Ocean.  This crevasse drops to a mere 8km deep.  Don’t think we’ll be snorkelling that one!

Mixing it up (and keeping us on our toes) were some amazing evening thunderstorms that raced out from Puerto Rico to about 30 miles off the coast.  Each evening, a line of dramatic thunderstorms and lightening spears are released by a mix of land heat and the setting sun.  Sometimes these storms dissipate to squalls or showers. Other times they can grow into monsters; intense storms that some say are fiercer than those in the North Sea.  Again we were lucky as we watched threatening rain-filled clouds and lightening crack the skies around us. We could have seen worse.

May & June are months when the otherwise constant NE Trades quieten down and are replaced by south-easterlies; a precursor to the hurricane season when winds become tropical revolving storms.  Off we went lickity-split, taking advantage of fair winds and following current.

Well we do need a holiday too!

 

*Snowbirds is the term given to North Americans (& Canadians too, I guess) who travel south to winter six months in the balmy waters of the Bahamas or Caribbean.  I wonder what they’d call Aussies going north to the Whitsundays – Pelicans?  Penguins?