Sunrise at sea

I’ve been teased about putting so many pictures of sunrises and sunsets on my posts over the years.  Perhaps, with the exception of mentioning Brenda’s name in posts, I have written about sunrises and sunsets and included more shots of the sun in all her glory more than anything else.

Just in case you think that it’s been too long without a sunrise fix, and you probably don’t, here you go.   Last night’s sunset was spectacular as well but I was up on the bridge and to run three levels down to my cabin and get the camera and head back up three levels was too far, or so I thought.   By the time I realized that it was going to be one that was not to be missed, it was too late.  With no photo to prove it, you will just have to trust me on this. It was a great burning sunset.

All is not lost as this morning, as the eastern sky began to brighten, I dashed to my cabin and brought up the camera.   Not missing this one.  9-11-16a-008As I headed out of the bridge, I was struck by how humid it was and I am pretty confident that the camera felt the same way as the lens steamed up immediately. In the cabin I have taken to wearing a jacket as it’s fairly cold most of the time.    “Poor downtrodden Bob, he has to wear a little sweater.”

Never mind…  We are traveling south along the western wall of the Gulf Stream to avoid the north flowing current.  At times we catch a small counter-current of about one knot so generally our speed over the bottom is between 11.5 and 13.5 knots.

I had mentioned in one of my posts that the boat burns 1,000 gallons a day at about 12kts and that raises to nearly 2,000 per day if we push it to 14kts through the water.  That’s a lot of fuel.   It seems that I was wrong.  She burns about 1,500 per day when at cruising speed.  That’s 60 gallons per hour.  The first winter Brenda and I were in the Bahamas I think that we burned less than that one hours worth in four months.

They are scheduled to have her hauled out in a few weeks for some bottom painting and their gross weight is a consideration for even the largest lift.   In order to keep her weight down, they will drop out their anchors and chain before they head to the yard which will reduce their weight by about 10 tons.   They will also have some fuel taken off as well or run extra hard as we get closer to burn more than normal.   Fully loaded, they carry nearly 125,000 lbs of fuel.   Imagine that, between the anchor gear and fuel, that’s something like 80,000 tons.   And that doesn’t even include the boat itself or all the water that she carry.   Big girl.

If they arrive at the yard with too much fuel they are required to have it pumped out by the yard and when they leave, the yard will “sell” it back to them. Otherwise, they would have to pay storage for the fuel in the tanker truck while the are on the hard.  What a racket for the yard.

Anyway, great sunrise today.  As the sun rose higher in the sky the view was spectacular with towering white clouds on the horizon. 9-11-16a-005Interestingly, the sky was clear of clouds in every direction except to the east over the Gulf Stream.  Because of the massive amount of warm water pushing north, the GS creates it’s own weather with thunderheads popping up without much warning.

A short while later we were visited by a pair of dolphins that swam in the bow wave.  I had to lean way over the bow to get a shot.    Notice the fogging of the lens on the lower right hand of the frame.  9-11-16a-027Today is going to be a beautiful day and we will be blessed with another easy smooth day powering our way down the Florida coast.

We anticipate entering Lauderdale inlet sometime around dawn Monday.   After our arrival, time to clean up the boat and remove all of the salt that has accumulated over the last few days.

What a great way to begin the day.  A beautiful sunrise and dolphins frolicking off of the bow.

Onward we go…

3 responses to “Sunrise at sea

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *