Hello from North Port, FL! I found your channel by accident because I was researching how to navigate to a GPS coordinate on the Garmin 1243xsv. Your trip to Bimini looks like a great idea. It has kind of been a pipe dream of mine (living on the Gulf coast...) but I would still like to try it. We have a 27' Rinker Fiesta Vee that my wife and I fixed up over the last year. Lots of work! I added the 1243xsv, a 18XHD Radar, 3D Sonar, NMEA 2000 network, etc. Looking at maybe autopilot but we stay mostly in the ICW near Venice to Gasparilla and Boca Grande. We have been talking about how to cross, when to cross, who to travel with, etc. I am going to start checking out all of your other videos now. Smooth sailing! -Mike
Welcome to the family! Sounds like you have done a lot of work on your boat. Maybe you can show it to us sometime. I would recommend the autopilot. We travel mostly in the ICW on the east coast and use it constantly. Not having to steer frees you up to enjoy the cruise. Our Garmin autopilot has a remote which makes it even better! A trip to Bimini is a good thing for your bucket list. It’s a great experience!
Congrats on the crossing! Looks like you picked a nice weather window. Regarding the autopilot, does Garmin have a "go to waypoint" feature? On Raymarine systems, if you have the autopilot go to a waypoint it will automatically compensate for current drift so that you will hit the waypoint exactly. If you set it to a heading, like you did, then it behaves like yours and requires manual adjustments.
Thanks ! It was a great day to cross. I honestly don’t know if there is a “go to waypoint “ function on Garmin. I guess I need to look into that. It does have a “Follow Route” where I could tell it to go to a specific spot regardless of what the wind and current is doing. This is the primary mode I use in the ICW. But I didn’t use that function when I crossed because when I researched it everything said not to. As I understood it, as the Gulf Stream pushes you north, the bow turns south to counteract. But the stream continues to push you north so the bow continues to point further south. Eventually, you are heading into the stream and moving east at a very slow rate. I don’t know how much of that is true because as you saw, I chickened out and didn’t try using my follow route.
We were astounded by the beautiful colors of the waters throughout the Bahamas! Unfortunately, I’m ashamed to say that I did not film the check-in process. Guess I will have to get better at that.
Very glad to see you guys doing this. Looks like it was a pretty smooth crossing. All the work you guys have done is paying off. The chartplotter, autopilot, and radar sure came in handy. I am looking forward to watching more of this trip. Thanks for posting. How long was the trip to Bimini for you guys?
It was very smooth crossing. Almost anticlimactic after years of wondering and worrying about it. The trip took about 8 hours. Some of that was the Gulf Stream pushing us.
We left from Angelfish Creek in Key Largo. I said the location in the previous video, episode 194. But you are correct. I should have said it in this video as well. Marie is working on me. She regularly reminds me that not everyone watched the previous video so I should treat each video as a stand alone episode rather than a continuing story. I am trying to get better but I appreciate you pointing out the mistake. It reinforces what she has been telling me.
Hello from North Port, FL! I found your channel by accident because I was researching how to navigate to a GPS coordinate on the Garmin 1243xsv. Your trip to Bimini looks like a great idea. It has kind of been a pipe dream of mine (living on the Gulf coast...) but I would still like to try it. We have a 27' Rinker Fiesta Vee that my wife and I fixed up over the last year. Lots of work! I added the 1243xsv, a 18XHD Radar, 3D Sonar, NMEA 2000 network, etc. Looking at maybe autopilot but we stay mostly in the ICW near Venice to Gasparilla and Boca Grande. We have been talking about how to cross, when to cross, who to travel with, etc. I am going to start checking out all of your other videos now. Smooth sailing! -Mike
Welcome to the family! Sounds like you have done a lot of work on your boat. Maybe you can show it to us sometime. I would recommend the autopilot. We travel mostly in the ICW on the east coast and use it constantly. Not having to steer frees you up to enjoy the cruise. Our Garmin autopilot has a remote which makes it even better! A trip to Bimini is a good thing for your bucket list. It’s a great experience!
Congrats on the crossing! Looks like you picked a nice weather window. Regarding the autopilot, does Garmin have a "go to waypoint" feature? On Raymarine systems, if you have the autopilot go to a waypoint it will automatically compensate for current drift so that you will hit the waypoint exactly. If you set it to a heading, like you did, then it behaves like yours and requires manual adjustments.
Thanks ! It was a great day to cross. I honestly don’t know if there is a “go to waypoint “ function on Garmin. I guess I need to look into that. It does have a “Follow Route” where I could tell it to go to a specific spot regardless of what the wind and current is doing. This is the primary mode I use in the ICW. But I didn’t use that function when I crossed because when I researched it everything said not to. As I understood it, as the Gulf Stream pushes you north, the bow turns south to counteract. But the stream continues to push you north so the bow continues to point further south. Eventually, you are heading into the stream and moving east at a very slow rate. I don’t know how much of that is true because as you saw, I chickened out and didn’t try using my follow route.
Great video. Beautiful color of Blue. hope you will show us where and how you check in for our future reference in the next video. Thanks
We were astounded by the beautiful colors of the waters throughout the Bahamas! Unfortunately, I’m ashamed to say that I did not film the check-in process. Guess I will have to get better at that.
@@CruisingThisOldBoat No Worries. It was just an after thought on my part. Thank
Very glad to see you guys doing this. Looks like it was a pretty smooth crossing. All the work you guys have done is paying off. The chartplotter, autopilot, and radar sure came in handy. I am looking forward to watching more of this trip. Thanks for posting. How long was the trip to Bimini for you guys?
It was very smooth crossing. Almost anticlimactic after years of wondering and worrying about it. The trip took about 8 hours. Some of that was the Gulf Stream pushing us.
❤❤❤👍👍👍👍🤙🤙🤙
Cool - thanks !!
In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue........
😁
Would have been helpful. To let us know where you left from
We left from Angelfish Creek in Key Largo. I said the location in the previous video, episode 194. But you are correct. I should have said it in this video as well. Marie is working on me. She regularly reminds me that not everyone watched the previous video so I should treat each video as a stand alone episode rather than a continuing story. I am trying to get better but I appreciate you pointing out the mistake. It reinforces what she has been telling me.
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