VAMOS - The Journey Continues - 2025 Part II

July 4 – 7, 2025

Man, the six weeks flew by! We had plenty of visitors starting with Julia’s sister Marguerite

and brother-in-law Brian, followed by Barb and Tim Talty. We had 28 off-island guests come

for my big 60th Birthday and another 20 or so from on-island. What a birthday week and

party. Friends came from Bermuda, the Northeast US, Florida and California. It was

humbling to have so many friends make an effort to celebrate. A good time was had by one

and all! We used the boat quite a bit but the weather was windy and so there were fewer

fishing trips that I had expected. I also had a couple of hiccups with the boat, but I was

able to get them straight well before it was time to leave. Mostly I kept the boat in Crystal

Harbour at a friend’s house, but I was able to bring it around to a mooring in front of the

condo for a couple of nights. It felt like old times – which was sort of the point, I guess.

Bart and Julia at Rum Point.

VAMOS on the mooring in front of WaterColours.

The entire time I was in Cayman I was watching the weather to see if there were windows

when I could have theoretically moved the boat back to Florida. There were none. It was

always too windy to comfortably and safely make the trip. As the date of departure neared,

I was getting concerned that I might have to leave the boat, fly home and wait for a better

weather window. Fortunately, that was not the case. A beautiful window presented itself at

just about the perfect time. Going home we would be traveling the same path but in

reverse. This means that the predominant wind and current that we fought from Mexico to

Cayman would now be in our favor. Before departure we fueled up, got some jerk chicken

for the ride and re-acquainted ourselves with the safety gear. Tony was unable to make the

return trip so it was just Pat and me.

2am departure from Crystal Harbour. Julia and Tortilla were there to document!

We shoved off the dock at 2:00 a.m., Friday July 4. We cleared the Sting Ray City Channel

30 mins or so later and headed west for Mexico at about 10-11 kts. It was calm and there was no moon so the stars were brilliant. Pat drove and I got a couple more hours of sleep

and we changed as the sun came up. The sea conditions remained good and they actually

improved throughout the trip. We arrived in Isla by 4:00 p.m. and headed to the fuel dock.

We covered 330 nm in 14 hours and burned 356 gallons of fuel. We didn’t even need to

transfer fuel from the reserves. The excellent sea conditions, a little more direct route plus

the helping current meant we burned 34 gallons fewer than on the trip to Cayman.

Southern tip of Isla Mujeres.

Since the weather window was good for an extended period of time, we decided to take a

day of and enjoy Isla. Pat arranged for a golf cart and to have the boat cleaned and

detailed while we screwed around. We cleared in/out Saturday morning and Vampy got to

work on cleaning the boat. We jumped in the cart and toured the island stopping for a

frozen mojito at the Joint and some other refreshments at a local dive bar. We also did

some shopping at the local grocery which was really impressive. We had a big lunch and

Pat bought sandwiches for us to eat on Sunday during out next leg to Key West.

Bart & Pat touring and enjoying mudslides and mojitos.

In order to arrive in Key West in time to refuel, we decided to leave at midnight, so we hit the

sack very early and met at 11:30 p.m. to start the next leg of our journey. I slept pretty well

for four hours but Pat did not sleep. We departed right on time and cleared the main

channel by midnight. We chugged along at 12 kts for six hours while Pat got some sleep

and by the time the sun came up we had already covered 75 nm. We switched turns at the

helm and the seas were pretty calm, so we got moving at 27 kts and the conditions kept

improving again. Before we knew it, we were going 30 kts and the current was pushing us

along. We were getting more than one nautical mile to the gallon which is fantastic! We

arrived in Key West by 4 p.m. local and went directly to the fuel dock. Again, the fuel burn

was excellent so we hadn’t transferred fuel from the jugs, but as we refueled, we also

transferred the fuel out of the jugs. Pat cleared us into the US using the ROAM app and we

were officially back in the USofA! We had an SAB, hit the shower and headed to the bar for

drinks and an early dinner.

We passed several ships, but this one was 'Icon of the Seas', probably headed to Grand Cayman!

Things were going so well and we were anxious to get home so we departed at 6:30 a.m. as

the sun was starting to rise. Pat was not feeling well so I did most of the driving while he

was resting on a bean bag getting sun burned. It turned out he had food poisoning from the

night before. Luckily, I didn’t get it! The trip up the coast was flat calm and uneventful, but

it was exhilarating all the same. As we came in the St. Lucie inlet and then passed the

railway bridge close to our house, we were both elated – maybe for different reasons… The

boat performed flawlessly again. 225 nautical miles in seven and a half hours and burned 229 gallons. In total on the way home we burned 80 gallons less fuel, mostly because of

sea conditions and helping current.

As I said before, this was a major bucket list item for me. I had wanted to do this trip in the

big boat, but it didn’t work out. Getting it done in the new VAMOS was awesome!

We made it!

Where to next?....