Well here we are in Bimini at Blue Water Marina. The crossing went well from Fowey Rock/ Lighthouse (south side) to Bimini. I had made several changes in our float plans after gathering more information. Last time we did the crossing we left from Rodriquez Key, however we were now moving from Dinner Key Miami where we had waited for the right weather window. Dinner Key being much farther north I was unsure how far south we would have to go and still get a good angle on the Gulfstream crossing to make Bimini. I decided that crossing from Angelfish Cut would give us a good angle however that would be moving four (4) hours south before turning east. Then listening to Chris Parker weather, he mentioned that Fowey Rock crossing would be much calmer earlier on Tuesday. I had heard others talking about crossing from Fowey Rock and I looked at the charts.
I made a decision to work off the charts and make a crossing just south of Fowey Rock Lighthouse on Tuesday. We started out of Dinner Key Mooring at 7:45 am. It took us until 10:00am to get just south of the lighthouse. The Gulfstream was not bad at the start, but after an hour the waves and swells were about 5-6 feet and the wind gusting to 18 knots. The conditions were going to improve as projected, however, at this time I needed to quarter the swells and that was pushing us a bit farther north than I wanted. Our plan at this point was as the wind diminished we would be able to head a bit more south to correct our current course.
By 3pm the white caps and waves started to flatten, which allowed us to change course a bit farther south. However, changing the course more south would mean that we would be going against the Gulfstream and that would slow us down a bit. The course correction and winds did work out well and we were now heading directly to Bimini.
The last 2 hours were calmer winds and calmer water. By 5:30pm we were pulling into Blue Water Marina and the weather was flat and calm.
All tied up at Blue Water Marina, we started to relax. In looking back on the experience, I might have moved a bit more south in Hawks channel as I had originally planned. The power boats moving much faster can easily cross from Fowey Rock, however us moving only at 6 to 7 knots is pushing it a bit.
Well our first evening in Bimini and we needed to see the sunset from this side of the Gulfstream. The sunset was wonderful and the blue sea and white sand made it perfect. Of course, Linda needed to start her shell/sea glass quest. Yes, she had planned well and had a bag in her pocket, that was filled before sunset.
The marina was empty and we were told that several boats had left this morning as the weather had improved, as had we. I didn’t know if they had moved south or north, but they moved on. Our plan was to stay here for several days and wait for the next weather window. The weather windows had been running about five days apart and only holding for a few days. The next window looks like Monday and it may hold for about five days. That will be a good time for us to move on south.
I went to customs and immigration and it was a breeze. I had printed out the forms and Linda and I filled them in ahead of time. No problem Mon.
It is now our first full day in Bimini and a few more boats have arrived. We decided to make another trip to the beach as Linda is having shell withdrawal. Linda did make wonderful French toast this morning and coffee.
But before we could go to the beach we needed to go and get our Bahamian phone chip. We walked up to Betelco and got a new chip and phone/data minutes. I will email out to the crowd our contact information. We should now be able to continue checking our weather and Gmail. Remember Gmail is the best way to reach us while we are here in the Bahamas.
That done we were off to the beach. Linda filled both hands with more sea glass/shells and we came back to the boat. I decided to go up to the local bread store and pick up lunch. Lunch special was roasted chicken, rice and beans, and carrot slaw. I also picked up an orange soda and two sugar cookies for a whopping cost of $8.00. The food was great and we ate it all, then took a nap.
At sunset, we again took a walk on the beach. The no-see-ums were bad and we ran from the beach after the sun had set. We went back to the pool and soaked our feet and legs to make sure we had no sand flees or bugs to bring back to the boat.
It was perfect on the boat and we made dinner from items we had picked up at the Coconut Grove farmers market. (Nisha’s vegetable samosas and pesto dip – delicious)
Another calm night and we are now up and done with breakfast and coffee. Not sure what is on plan for today, but I am sure it involves the beach.
I am uploading more pictures on the blog and the spot link will not move for a few days.
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http://tinyurl.com/Upliftingtracks