The Bahamas

Yes, the water really looks like this

We arrived in Bimini yesterday and after I heaved one final time into my trusty bucket I told Hans this will be the last time I cross to the Bahamas.

We woke up at 4 AM, left Rodriguez Key at 5 AM, and I was puking by 8 AM.

Oddly, even though we left our anchorage in the dark which is creepy, that turned out to be a piece of cake. The seas were just ripples for about the first hour but when the sky started to lighten, the waves continued to build and then the wind, which had been forecast to be under 10 knots and going SE, kicked up to 20 knots E and showed no inclination of heading S. We started chop-chop-chopping along with roooooooolling from side to side and my stomach said the hell with this nonsense and, after losing my coffee and orange juice, I had nothing to eat or drink until we docked.

I did manage to help Hans get the jib out (which would hopefully steady the boat and help push us a little faster) before my stomach took over.

Wilbur was a champ though. He spent the entire day in the cockpit and when he wasn't circling the helm pod and passing under Hans' legs like a cat, he licked Hans' face, arms, and legs while sitting tightly against him. I couldn't stand being in the cockpit and went below to the salon with my bucket and every time I would start to throw up Wilbur would rush to the companion way door and stare down at me. This was something he'd never witnessed before and with his head tilted to the side and ears pointed up, he watched with amazement like maybe I'd turned Pentecostal and was speaking to him in tongues. I begged him to come down and keep me company but he must have decided his captain was the lesser of two evils and remained staunchly by Hans' side.

I never did see the sun rise although Hans assured me it was beautiful, I didn't get to witness the phenomenon of watching the gulf's water turn from brown to navy blue as we entered the stream, and I didn't come above when Hans shouted 'Land Ho!' upon spotting Bimini. I did manage to set my bucket aside in order to help furl the jib which unfortunately put me far too close to the proximity of Wilbur's potty patch (which stinks no matter how often we rinse it), and I was off and heaving again.

And then we were in calmer water that suddenly went from navy blue to emerald green, which I did get to see since I'd come above to get our dock lines ready. The channel into Bimini has been re-dredged since our last time here and getting in was easy. And just like that our salt encrusted boat, stinky selves, and an exhausted pit bull, were docked at Blue Water Marina.

The water here is crystal clear and last night as we walked around the docks Hans commented that you don't even need to snorkel to see all the fish below the surface, just look down and they're there. I was looking at little striped fish zipping about, glass bottles lying on the bottom, pieces of old anchor chain covered with sea growth... when all of a sudden a giant ray accompanied by a baby ray glided just under the surface right in front of us. Even Wilbur saw it.

Our day did end on a really high note though. Right after we arrived some kids on the fishing boat next to us needed a drill and some drill bits to fix something on their boat. We lent them ours and after they'd returned them I was down below putting stuff in order while Hans went to check us in at Customs and Immigration. I heard someone call me and when I came out into the cockpit one the kids was standing on the dock. I thought he needed the drill again and then I saw that he had a bag in his hand which he presented to me. It contained two huge Mahi fillets! Wow, fresh Mahi for dinner on our first night here in Bimini almost made that crappy crossing worth it.

Mahi!!

Today, after a good night's sleep (I was in bed by 8:30), the sun is shining, I'm walking around barefoot in a sundress while Wilbur snoozes in the cockpit, and Hans is attempting to put new connectors on our solar panels.

It's beautiful but I still say it's the last time I'll sail here.

 

I'm having a hard time downloading pictures from my phone to my iPad and I have to admit that I took these pictures 4 years ago. But that's okay because nothing here has really changed anyway.

 

 

 

Posted with Blogsy

Holy Mackerel!!!!

Or Holy King Fish, but whatever the hell it's called, we caught it!!
Yes, much to my surprise, Hans and I snagged a fish!

Hans and our two foot catch.

After spending two nights at the Blue Water Marina in Bimini we finally decided to move on. The family we met the night before told us they were going to go to the Berry Islands and that we were welcome to follow along. However since the winds were completely wrong for a sail it would mean motoring the whole way and Hans said he was tired of imitating a trawler. They were really nice and I was sorry to pass up their offer.

So we decided that we'd mosey around for a couple of days and then sail to West End so we could get moving into the Abacos where all the snorkeling etc... is supposed to be. On our first venture out of the Bimini Harbor I was amazed at how different things look when you're not in a hellish storm or fighting six foot seas. The water was calm and the colors stunning. Looking out over the ocean was like viewing a layered jello salad; aqua on the bottom, sky blue in the middle, and the deep inky blue of the gulf stream lying top.

My camera just doesn't do this place justice.

We anchored in thirteen feet of water off of South Cat Cay and when Hans dove in to see how the anchor looked he found it just lying on top of some very hard sand. He went down a couple of times to see if he could dig it in but it went nowhere. So we spent the night with the combined weight of the chain and anchor holding us in place.

The next morning we back tracked and anchored in Honeymoon Harbor. There were two big power cruisers rafted together (on one anchor) with tons of people and they spent the day dinghying back and forth to the island. We were fine with just sitting on the boat and once again Hans dove down to check on the anchor. This time we were in six feet of water and the anchor was wedged into a grassy area. The only concern was the huge amount of tiny jellyfish that bounced off of Hans while he was in the water. He didn't get stung so we're not sure what that was all about.

While still waiting for favorable winds we decided to go on back into the Bimini Harbor and anchor on up past the marina. It was when we were headed back that we snagged our fish. We were in about nine feet of water and let out around forty feet of one hundred pound test line with a small spoon lure attached and it wasn't long before Hans was yelling that we had a fish.

Honestly, we were so excited we didn't know what to do. So we started wrapping the line around our winch and when our fish was fully in sight I was pretty sure we had a Barracuda which I didn't want at all as you can't eat them. Then we decided it was a very small Wahoo. When we finally got it up and it was lying across the back of our dinghy, I gave it a welcome aboard shot of vodka and it promptly stopped moving.

After shutting Wilbur up down below we got out our fish guides and of course could not identify our catch. However our book on the Abacos had a very good likeness of our guy and it was either a mackerel or king fish. First we put him in a cooler with ice, then I thought it over and decided we'd better clean it now and get the fillets into the fridge. I got to use the handy dandy fillet knife that my mother gave me for Christmas and I proceeded to cut up our catch while trying not to look into its dead yet very accusing eye!

So for dinner last night we feasted on tons of grilled mackerel coated in Northwest seasoning from Penzey Spices. I then spent the remainder of the evening worrying that we were going to die of poisoning!

We didn't and I'm still doing a little happy dance!

All ready for the grill.

A huge dinner complete with rice.

And remember when I said we were waiting for the right winds so we could sail away? We are now on our way to West End and we are going to have to motor the whole way because the winds we had been promised earlier are now not going to show up.

I'm so surprised.

Life here in Bimini

This was taken in Nixon's Harbour after we rode through the big blow and I was still pretty soaked. During the height of the storm, while I was on the radio, I would have to open the companionway door in order to yell information up to Hans, and the rain would hit me in the face full force. This happened too many times.

What a greedy bunch! These pelicans fought like the dickens over the fish entrails that were being tossed to them. A couple of brothers and their teenage sons came over from Miami to do some fishing (actually, they got caught in the same storm as we did and heard us on the radio!) and today, after a trip 'outside' they came back with a wahoo, a mahi, and some yellow tails.

Here is the wahoo and to get a good look at it's size, double click and you'll see someones foot at the bottom right.

I asked if I could watch the fish get cleaned as it's been years since I've filleted a fish. We took Wilbur with us and he was thrilled when a piece of fish liver got tossed to him. I had no idea that fish had livers!

Today I did a bit of sewing in the cockpit and Hans changed the oil on both engines and changed the fuel filters on the port engine (he'll do the starboard engine after we decide the port side was a success). For the fuel filter change, poor Hans had his notes from our diesel mechanic, his own notes from the diesel course he took in Annapolis, Nigel Calder's book on diesel maintenance, and the manual from Island Packet. After all was said and done I couldn't help but notice that our spare filters are 2 microns and our filters are 30!! WTF? Luckily we shouldn't have to perform this task until we're back in the states.

We took Wilbur for a tour of Bimini and while he received a lot of attention, it was not the same as it was in South Beach. The focus here was pure 'Pit Bull' and I was asked "How much you want for that Pit?" "What kinda Pit is that, he looks like a fight'n dog to me." "Is that a Reddie (red nose)?", and "That dog got all his shots?" All of these comments were delivered with narrowed eyes and calculated nonchalance. Today my baby boy ventured no further than the marina and I sincerely hoped that the interested parties didn't know where we were.

During our little tour we hit the ocean and Wilbur had many zoomie sessions (all the while on his leash) and here he is taking a rest. When Hans spotted two unleashed dogs down aways from us we beat a hasty retreat. I know these dogs eat scraps and garbage from the locals but I wasn't taking any chances that they didn't want to beat up my baby.

The water here is crystal clear and I'd entertained the thoughts of snorkeling and/or letting Wilbur hop in for a swim. But when I found out that the big dark shape we saw gliding around the marina was a Bull Shark I said No Way!! I didn't think a shark would want to venture into such shallow waters but apparently this one feeds on the remains from all the fisherman.

Wilbur may not have been allowed to leave the marina but he had fun eating crab leavings (from the gulls), trying to eat chicken and rib bones (dropped by those damn gulls), and rolling in wonderfully juicy, aromatic droppings from, guess who??? Those stinking gulls!!!

I guarantee you someone cleaned fish on the top of this cooler.

Right after we watched the fish cleaning session a family from Florida arrived on their sailboat. Their girls were adorable and wanted to pet Wilbur (who of course went nuts), and told us all about their dog; they were so nice and I got a huge kick out of them. After the husband set off for customs a man rowed up to the marina with a bunch of Conch for sale. He would only sell a dozen at a time so we asked the newly arrived wife if she wanted to split a batch, and she did. So tomorrow we will be grilling Conch while at anchor as we intend to head on out in the morning.

A very tired piggy pitty after a day of socializing.

We're in the Bahamas!!! And I have to wonder; why the hype?!

I didn't mind having to wake up at 3:30 AM in order to traverse the channel out of Dinner Key Marina.


I didn't mind getting sea spray in my face as I knelt on the bow of the boat while using a rapidly dying (yet new) spot light in order to find day markers and those bizarre houses in Stiltsville (homes just outside of the channel, and really truly built on stilts, and I have to wonder how they feel about spotlights in their houses as many a sailor heads to the Bahamas).


I was okay with the 2 to 3 foot seas that NOAA had predicted, and was quite proud of myself when I waited until we were nine nautical miles from Bimini to puke.


I wasn't overly thrilled with the wind as it remained E SE for most of the day (even though we'd been promised S winds) which meant we had to motor the whole way and never had a chance to sail. Our time in the water went from 8 hours to possibly 12.


I was dismayed when right behind us I saw huge blue black clouds marching across the sky like Nazi soldiers when we were only 7 miles away from Bimini's shore line.


I was more than a bit frightened when the skies opened up and winds hit us clocking up to 51 knots (that's nearly 60 MPH folks!) and visibility went to nearly zero.


I would've liked to puke (but my stomach was empty) when Hans told me to get on the radio NOW and ask for information about entering the Bimini channel.


Thank God some good citizen (as all officials ignored us) answered me, plotted our location, and told us that our best bet was to head into Nixon's Harbour in South Bimini and anchor for the night. I felt a huge sense of relief when he said, "Get yourselves settled and enjoy the evening." Gee, maybe we wouldn't die after all.


Forty five minutes later we rode the wind and waves into Nixon's Harbour and after two attempts at dropping the hook, it stuck. And then we got to spend the rest of the night hoping we wouldn't drag into the ocean.

But when my French Press broke this morning, that was the straw that broke the camel's back.
" I'm. Not. Happy!!!!!" I stated. "Period!"






Welcome to Bimini!





Who would have thought we'd arrive wearing foul weather gear, life jackets, and jack lines!













This morning we navigated the channel into Bimini with 20+ knot winds and hellish waves. I'm not exaggerating! There are boaters here who refused to go out today.







The quarantine flag goes up.

















And thank God for miracles, we got through customs and immigration with no problems.





Wilbur our poor little Salty Dog (who hid in our bunk shaking with fear), poses with the Bahamian flag.
























Wilbur takes a much deserved rest atop Hans' safety harness.








Of course Internet is expensive and iffy but I'll try to update whenever possible.