Oct 182024
scott
Feb 222024
Cold front after cold front. Rain, wind, clouds, sun. It’s a mash of weather this year as we try to move on from Bimini to the interior of the islands. We make the best of it while we hold up on the first stop here in Bimini. Heather and Joe go for water. In The Bahamas not all water is potable. Here we go to a filter station while taking our own bottles to fill at $1.00 a gallon. Riding the bikes with our wagon in tow Heather and Joe head off to the station while Scott and I go through some stock items in our closet. It’s a lazy day with pool time and bike rides to the old Sunshine Inn that was damaged by a hurricane a while ago. Built in 2003 and now left in ruin but fun to explore. We also went to the airport where a plane was taking passengers back to the mainland.
Watching weather Scott determines we can leave on the 22nd to head to Chub Cay in the Berry Islands. Super excited to be moving on. We set up for some laundry and last checks on February 21st. Scott plots our route across the Bahama bank toward the private island. We will be leaving at daybreak and travel for about 100 miles or 170 km. Remember we travel at around 8 knots or 10 mph so it’s a long day. We will be staying 3 nights before moving onto Nassau, Bahamas. I book our space for both areas.
Feb 202024
Rain and a cold front have caught up to us. A high of 15 C today with rain and clouds hanging around all day. The morning is coffee, breakfast and vacuuming with a bit of a wLk to see the ocean waves pounding the beach. The Daytona 500 and the Infinity Nascar races are on today after a rain out yesterday. We spend the day coming g around and watching TV.
Feb 20 – the rain stopped late yesterday and the winds are not gale force anymore. With that in mind we jump in Otter, the dingy, to head to the low tide shoal in the basin between the 2 Islands of North and South Bimini. We find a large queen conch, some shells and critters running around. A small island is here so we make our way over and see the damage done by hurricanes to the beachside of the island. Conch shells lay everywhere from past decades of disposal of shells from harvesting. A sight seen along most shores here in Bimini by the hundreds of thousands. The sun is out but the temps are still cool. We head over to Stuart’s Conch Shack for a re commended rum drink to find he is closed on Tuesdays. Apparently Tuesday is the slowest day for tourists so a lot of places close for the day. He is there and sells us his home brew rum punch. Yes I highly recommend.
Feb 182024
Always a great day in The Bahamas even with forecasted heavy rains and high winds. Heather and Joe take the bikes for a quick tour of South Bimini before the weather changes. They did get caught in some rain but the worst is still to come. Scott tries to get Daytona 500 set up on the TV and update our accounting, and I catch up on laundry, tidying, and this blog. I have fallen into island time.
The rains and winds are holding off til dinner where they will pack a punch with at least 1 inch of rain in an hour with high winds and a cold front to follow. Heather and Joe head off to see the rest of North Bimini and hopefully make it back before it gets too bad out.
Timing is everything. Heather and Joe made it back with minutes to spare before the big drops started. We were filled in on their adventures of rum punches, Kalik beers, and making it to World’s Resort on the north end. About half way they stopped at Stuart’s Conch Shack which had sting rays and conch cleaning right at the seaside bar area. Several spotted rays about 5 feet plus the barb were eating the remnants of the cleaned conch that they threw in the water. They enjoyed the shark passing by for it’s rounds of thrown conch. After a bevy they continued the short trek to the cruiseline area where no ships were in port so it was very quiet. That and also being a Sunday a lot was closed.
Although they walked the 5 km or so from the ferry to the World Resort they decided to take a taxi back. Hailing a local on a golf cart they jump on and tour the way back to the ferry. At the ferry the golf cart quits and the guy can’t get it restarted. His girl jumps off, climbs in a friend’s car and heads out. Heather and Joe get a giggle as they walk away. On the way from the ferry goes is a small bar called the Thirsty Turtle. Off they go for a look inside the only bar/restaurant on South Bimini. Snagging a rum drink and a Kalik beer they sit in the snug bar watching the storm get closer. It’s only a 5 minute walk to the marina and make it back minutes before the downpour.
Feb 172024
With half a day of getting to know the resort we decide we to go to North Bimini for the day. Leaving the resort we head about 1 km to the ferry dock where we will be picked up by the pontoon boat, which is the ferry. The crossing is about a 3 minute ride to North Bimini. If you travel by air you will have to take this ferry to the only major American style resort on the north side of North Bimini called World Resorts. The north side has 2 major roads. One is called King’s Hwy and the other is Queens Hwy, also known as lower and upper road, respectively. The roads are barely wide enough for 2 cars to pass, with no sidewalks. King’s Hwy, or Lower Road, is the main road. Island style buildings showing years of weathering and lack of repair line both sides of the streets. The local folks are very courteous and friendly. Heather and I slip into a few local shops with mainly tourist wears and tourist prices. We are on our way to “the” electronic store to buy our Sim cards. Aliv is the provider here in The Bahamas. The day is sunny and warm at 25C. The Lower Rad is about 5 km long to the cruise port and the Big Resort of Bimini. We walk about half way to the electronic store, spend 45 minutes here, and then lunch is calling. We decide a beach front restaurant is in order so we head on Queen’s Hwy, or the Upper Road, to Radio Beach. A touristy spot but eats and drinks available with beachside dining. The Upper Road is a car width wide, no sidewalks, and lots of locals. Along with the golf carts rented by the cruiseline passengers it is still quieter than the Lower Road. There are the same weathered buildings but the view between them can’t be beat. We grab a loaf of the infamous coconut bread from Nate’s Bakery and continue toward Radio Beach. Lots of various local vendors with reasonable prices for food are available as we grab a table by the sea. Drinks out of coconuts are $25.00 USD so we pass on those. The beer of The Bahamas is Kalik, pronounced click. Three of these at $5.00 each and a good stiff rum drink at $10.00 was ordered along with fresh burgers and fries.
After lunch we dip our toes in the sand and continue along the beach toward the ferry. We stop and take some pics at the barge that has settled south of Radio Beach. Finding our way to the channel that closes between North and South Bimini we gaze at the amazing blueness of the waterway. With the ferry just ahead we make our way there and back to our mothership.
A dip in the pool, dinner, making friends with the resort feral cats and a breezy night on the deck, we call it a great day.
Feb 162024
One more check of weather, breakfast, pull the anchor and we’re off. A beautiful sunrise with forecasted 2-3 foot rollers with 8 seconds intervals. A bit of a rock but nothing severe. We see lots of boats crossing with sailors and trawlers having left overnight. We pass them with our speedy 8 knots or 10 mph. It should take us about 6 hours to Bimini Cove Marina where we will stay for a week due to weather. A hardy blow is coming in on Sunday to Thursday. We’ll have time to explore both north and south islands of Bimini. Scott and I were here in 2021 and know the islands very well. Heather and Joe will have their first time enjoying Bimini.
It is an easy crossing with blue skies and water. The royal blue of the ocean is so deep in colour. No dolphins or whale sightings on this crossing. Although passing sailors and trawlers in abundance knowing they have still a journey ahead of them after so many hours spent already makes us happy to have the opportunity to cruise at 8 knots. We can do over 30 mph but it’s just blowing dollars out the exhaust to save a few hours so we use our consumption sweet spot for most travel. Pulling in closer to the island we can see the crystal blue waters that are associated with The Bahamas. 🇧🇸
Bimini Cove Marina and Resort is a quaint spot to rest. Bimini is considered the gateway to the Bahamas because of the proximity to Florida only 100 km away. Go fast boats can be here in a couple hours. The busy season is summer with Americans looking for a quick getaway. The resort boats a ouple restaurant s, poolside bar and entertainment, an infinity pool, new docks, condos for rent or owned, and a ferry to North Bimini for a cost of $3.00/per. The airport is on South Bimini Island along with this resort. Not much else on the south side since a hurricane wiped out half the island many years ago.
After settling in our slip we wander around the resort and head to the beach. It’s about 23 degrees so a bit chilly. The sun is shining and a warm breeze is cooling. We pick up garbage along our beach walk and check out the many shells. Spending the remainder of the afternoon on the beach our bellies tell us it’s dinnertime. We will spend the warm evening on the deck with the feral cats who live here and the crazy amount of noseeums while toasting our Atlantic crossing and arrival in the Bahamas.
Feb 152024
With some skinny waters behind us now we have just a couple more to get through. Traveling at low tide we begin the last of the trek north to wait for the crossing to The Bahamas. The day is sunny and warm with temps hovering around 24C. Scott is baking in the catains chair as the sun rises in the east. No complaints though. We are enjoying the nice temps after the crazy winds, rain and the low temps in Marathon, The Keys. We are happy to be leaving them behind.
Passing Key Largo and multiple lobster pots we push on at 8 knots. We have a 5 hour run to Biscayne Bay, just south of Miami. The green waters of the Keys follows us as we travel. Lunch of quick sandwiches in fairly calm waters of the Intracoastal Waterway make for a great travel day. Some dolphins decided to join us and jump in our wake.
Heather and joe braved the 20C water with quick splash in the bay. We watched the sunset on the back deck with warm temps. Scott checked again on the weather for crossing the Atlantic to Bimini, Bahamas. We are a go for travel. Last check for boat engines and systems and they’re a go as well. We are ready for an early sunrise leave time. All are excited for a new adventure. See you on “the other side”.
Feb 142024
Heather and Joe joined us for provisioning and prepping for The Bahamas on the 11th. Scott has been preparing so many upgrades to our elecrical and battery systems hat he didn’t get everything complete. Joe helped Scott get all those little things buttoned up and ready. Heather and I kept them fed, and did the prepping for a month’s stay over in the islands.
Watching weather and dodging fronts seems like a full time job. We have reservations to stay in Marlin Bay in Marathon til the 15th but the weather is promising for a leave the USA on Friday the 16th. With 2 day travel north in Florida to the crossing point mens we will leave on the 14th with 2 nights Anchorage.
We timed the tides to travel the ICW on the gulf side to Butternut Anchorage, just south of Key Largo for our 1st night. Heather and I headed out to pick up a filter at West Marine, grab a key lime pie for Valentines Day, and take back their rental car. The boys rinsed the boat off of salt, fueled up the mothership, and prepped last minute items. We were off at 9:45 heading north. Passing by countless crab and lobster pots, skinny waters, beautiful seas, and a few dolphins we anchored by 4:30. Catching the sunset and enjoying 1 of the few days of 80 degrees Joe and Heather, brave they are, jumped in the 70 degree waters for a swim.
Easy dinner and hopefully getting a stream to wat h a Nascar race tonight we settle in for a gorgeous night and exciting new adventure.
Jun 232022
Jun 052022
We go…….PLATINUM…………..
May 292022
The weather is cooperating, finally. There seems to be some stable air to keep the winds down as we travel the Chesapeake Bay. Heading on the west side of the Bay our nest stop will be at Solomons. It is a very popular stop for boaters with all amenities available.
The Chesapeake is so calm today and running 50 some miles at 8 knts is comforable. Solomon’s is up a river that feeds the Bay. It has a wide mouth leading into the many marinas available. We are staying at Calvert’s Marina where loopers pay $1.00/foot. That is a heck of a deal. The docks are in great shape. The transient docks are floating and the best in the marina. There are restrooms and showers that need a good scrub but they work. The property itself is a potential beauty. The overgrown gardens and foliage need a haircut. The pool is in great shape and very clean but it was way too cold to swim. We were in sweats with this cold north wind. The marina is well protected too.
There isn’t much to do other than head out for a walk however the other side of the river offers the cute town which we had seen already. For some reason we are really tired today. We know we have to push for the next few days with the weather window we now have. It looks like we may make it on all these open waters to New York City.
May 152022
Osprey is so secluded and quiet place on this east side of the USA. Fresh water clear with rich tanins make up a portion of our journey today. The quiet tranquil area of the area quickly becomes a space with large homes along the banks of the narrows and no wake zones. There are several along this path as we make our way to Southport, NC. The homes and boat traffic increase throughout the morning. Instead of solitude we are surrounded by large and small boaters enjoying this beautiful spring day. We are lucky to have the tides with us most of the way but with no wake zones we do step it down. At least the scenery is fun to watch and keeps the Captain on his toes while he boat and people watches. It makes his day more entertaining.
We were originally going to go to Deep Creek Marina but Scott noticed that once we “turned the corner” into Cape Fear there would be a 4 knt push against us. So I attempt for a marina prior to that “turn”. Southport Marina could accommodate us which turned out to be the best decision. There were so many Loopers here. Off Leash, Orion, Make it So, Ryker, and so many more. The local harbourhost invited us all over to his place for porchtails. That’s a BYOB and a snack if you wish and enjoy each others tails. As it turns out there were 23 of us Loopers. We were one short of tying the largest porchtail record.
The marina has everything you need with well kept docks. Water, power, showers, laundry, a nice boat lounge. They were wiped out last year with Hurricane Isaias so docks and amenities are only a year old. We didn’t wander around Southport as we came in late in the day and then set up for the Looper party.
Scott plans out our route for the next day. I managed to get all our marinas booked to Norfolk, VI where we will get our windlass manual part. It came into our friend’s place and he has resent it to Tidewater in Portsmouth, VI directly across from Norfolk.
We did chat with a few of the Loopers on the dock once we got back but as everyone knows Loopers midnight is 9:00. It is always nice to meet new friends along the way. We come and go and always seem to cross paths again at some point. We still meet up with friends from the loop we completed in 2017.
May 132022
We leave Charleston in breezy but stable conditions. The winds have been following us this entire journey. Since Scott did not find an issue with the windless we don’t want to be stuck out on anchor and not have it come up. He did note that the windless had no manual backup so he did order the part and had it shipped. We were told it could be 2 weeks before coming in so we sent it to a friend. If it comes in we will ask to have it reshipped to a nearby marina. At least once we have the manual lift we can anchor again. This marina living is not for us.
We must pass through some more skinny waters but saw nothing under 8 ft. Although nerve wracking so far the depths have been really good. We have heard that South Carolina dredges and tries to keep ahead of the shoaling that continuously occurs.
Although not a long day we will stop at a local oil company where there is a dock available and reserved for us. The town is really small but it is a good stop for a 50 mile day. Lots more grasslands and lowlands. The scenery really doesn’t change other than the colour of the water from inlet to inland waterways. Although all part of the marine highway of the ICW.
Upon arriving at LeLand we find well kept docks. The cleats are not really secure but it is very protected here so winds should not be a problem. We decide to take a walk which did not disappoint. The trees are thousands of years old, from what we are told. The spanish moss hangs on the massive branches like Christmas lights. Along with the century old homes this place is a really nice find. The scenery and beauty of untouched trees and bush is so beautiful. We even found a well redone old Ford truck. Someone will have to tell me the year and model.
We wander over to the fish shack to see what is on today’s catch. We find salmon and flounder for an amazing price. We grab a few pounds of each for the freezer. Another great reason to stop here.
Back at the boat it is flounder for dinner, a good night’s sleep and a good push on in the morning.
Apr 082022
The wreck of the Sapona is about 5 miles off the west coast of Bimini. The winds this morning are not favourable for a visit but are to lie down a bit by this afternoon.
Assessing the winds are favourable we jump in Heliopause with Patti and Todd from Alcyone and venture out to see the famous cement ship.
She was purchased and moved to Bimini, using it as a warehouse for alcohol during the era of Prohibition The owner also intended to use the ship as a floating nightclub, although this plan never came to fruition. In 1926 the ship ran aground in a hurricane and broke apart during a rum run.
During WWII the wreck was used for target practice by the US Army and Navy. Flight 19 vanished while returning from a bombing run to the Sapona.
The wreck lies in about 15 feet (4.6 m) of water, the stern broken off and partially submerged by hurricanes that struck in 2004. Little concrete is left on the hull because of the effects of bombing and weathering.
It is a great space for snorkeling and fishing as well. Scott quickly jumps in the water and checks the anchor hold. He snorkels around the wreck where people are swimming in the crevasses and jumping from what is left of the deck. As the engineer scans the wreck he quickly realizes that no one should be anywhere on or under the remains. It is barely being held together and will fall at moments notice. He only swims at a safe distance from what is left of the hull.
Coming back to the boat he notices the grasses move and determines there are conch living here. We are allowed 6 conch per day per boat. He only takes 4 and the larger ones of the lot. Conch in The Bahamas is a staple for the locals. We foreigners have restrictions but it seems the locals do not based on the amount of thrown out shells we see.
Heading back before the winds pick up yet again Patti and I contemplate how to cook this delicacy. Scott researches the internet to learn how to shuk the conch properly. He does figure that part out but the cleaning of the conch is more difficult. A local watches him struggle and comes to the rescue. He shows Scott how to do it properly but I think those skilled hands won’t be happening any time soon.
Apr 022022
The winds were calm for the night for a good night’s sleep here at Pumpkin Key. In the morning 5 boats head out Angelfish Cut on route to Bimini. The cut is a narrow well marked channel to the Atlantic. We did not see less than 7 feet at high tide. As One Eye Dog and another Catarmaran, Queen of Virginia, make their way across at 15 knts, Alcyone, Santosha and ourselves take the slow rate of 9 knots across. The crossing was amazing with only 1-2 foot seas with rollers just off our beam. Winds were calm out of the south. The amazing royal blue colour of the Atlantic Ocean is fascinating. The colour is such a deep royal it mesmerizes you as you cross into the Gulf stream and have an extra couple knots of push. Scott takes advantage of the push and sets a heading so the boat will follow the heading but not have to compensate very often for the extra push on the beam.
Getting into The Bahamian waters we put up our yellow quarantine flag. Not for covid, but a custom of going into another country by boat, until you clear customs and immigration. The Captains hop in the jelopy, where Scott pulls the door closed and the entire door skin and handle fall off, and there they go to customs at the airport in South Bimini. Bahama style. The fellas get through all the government regulations and we are now legal in The Bahamas. They are chauffeured back to the boat and we replace our yellow flag with the flag of this new to us country.
We are slipped in South Bimini at the Bimini Cove Resort Marina. Water is metered as is power. There is an infinity pool that is the same colour as the ocean. Beach and snorkeling on premises and the ability to fish in the marina. Our fishing licenses come with the Custom fee paid online and our cruising permit. There is lots to see but our first priority will be SIM cards for our phone. Too late in the day to get that now so we head off to the pool where we meet our You Tube Channel Canadian influencers, C-Shels. We have been watching their videos for years. We spend about an hour with them at the pool and head back to the boat for dinner as the noseeums begin to appear.
