2-14
Arrived in Bimini - it was a great sail from Rodriguez Cay. We left a 3 in the morning and were tagging along with a 37 ft cat. The cat has 2 engines and 1 died when it threw a belt due to misalignment of the alternator. They repaired the problem and it happened again but they continued across the ocean at reduced speed on one engine. I was surprised that we didn't see any wildlife since a lot of people report seeing Dolphin and rays following them. The light south wind we had been waiting for the past 2.5 weeks never materialized and at 4:30 in the morning the forecast changed to light wing out of the N which was exactly what we wanted to avoid with the gulf stream heading s to n. This can result in 20-40 ft waves. Luckily, the waves never materialized since the flow of the Gulf Stream was concentrated in a narrow stream and the waves hadn't had a chance to build. It was interesting seeing the depth meter max out on the depth sounder at 600 feet knowing we were passing over water the was 5200 feet deep. We took position readings ever ½ hour, just out of curiosity, to see the effect of the Gulf Stream had on our course. Initially, we used our high school vector addition to determine the course we wanted to steer, but adjusted this with the data we were getting as the traverse occurred. The most difficult part was seeing the entrance into Bimini Sands Marina since the channel markers were wiped out by last year's hurricane. Fortunately, a Bahamian fishing boat waved us to follow them and we navigated out way through the reef into the marina basin. Once inside the current and wind was calm and out docking was masterfully done. The only other activity was the trip to customs , which was smooth and uneventful. We put up the Quarantine Flag on entering Bahamian water and on clearing customs and immigration replaced it with the Bahamian flag. The custom officials were very courteous and our check in was at the Bimini south airport. Time for a Kalik.