Morning came and we did our routine- coffee, cats and dog fed, shore visit for Frank, weather check, and we were ready to go.
We slipped our lines from the mooring around 8:30am. We planned on about an eight hour trip across. My calculations were to use the gulf stream to our advantage and let that help push us north. We kept hearing and reading horror stories about this trip- some people miss the island and have to turn back south to get there. Others come up short and have to island jump to get to their intended destination. The island is small, only about seven miles long and around seven hundred feet wide! I can see how it would be easy to miss, but with navigation we have I was feeling confident I could find and hit it. Our trip was going to be about seventy two miles,- a bit farther than we normally travel, but again I was hoping for a push in speed going with the stream. My research showed it flows north around two to three knots, so that would add the same to our speed, I hoped.
As we turned out into the ocean, we were met with some medium sized waves coming from the east. I throttled up and pushed through these and continued on. Lauren and I had made an agreement if either of us felt uncomfortable, we would immediately turn around. I was driving from the flybridge which gives me the advantage of good vision all around and I could see when the waves were coming. Lauren was hanging out inside the cabin. We continued on for a couple of hours and were soon out of sight of land. We were now in the stretch. The waves continued to pound us from two sides now- we were getting waves from the easterly wind, as well as waves from the northern current. These would cross at times making for some ‘confused seas’. Again from my vantage point I could see this happening and would do my best to turn into or with a wave, only to get another from another side. The boat was pitching and rolling, and I was holding on from my perch. Frank was hunkered down beside me, giving me glances from time to time, making sure all was well, but he was not enjoying this. I felt bad for Lauren and the cats, as I could just imagine what they were doing and feeling in the cabin. A couple of more hours into this Lauren came upstairs. She was telling me how the couch was sliding around the cabin- with her on it!- and she was doing her best to stop it from hitting the lower helm steering wheel, which could effectively cancel my steering from upstairs! We chatted for a bit and I told her we were getting closer- maybe a couple more hours and we should be able to see land. She returned to the cabin and I continued to try to steer a steady course toward Bimini.
Around 3:30pm we could see land! My charts were showing us on course, and I was expecting to hit land around 5pm. Every now and then I would think the waves were settling down, then we would get hit with another series from different angles- it was like the ocean was saying ‘hold my beer…’! We both were feeling a bit better now that we had land in sight. During the trip we only saw two other vessels, and they were commercial cargo ships passing by, but that made me feel good too- at least I knew someone else was out there and around if there was any catastrophes. Now we were getting closer and closer to land- the water was getting more and more blue and clear, and I was continuing to watch the charts. Another reason for concern around the Bahamas is the shallow depths and moving sandbars- the water is so clear sometimes it is hard to actually judge the depth! Their government does not keep up on dredging like our Army corp of Engineers does in the USA. Local knowledge is important information if you can get it; we had to rely on our charts for now, and we were getting closer. We were going from twenty five hundred feet of depth to around forty feet in a matter of a mile or so, then down to fifteen feet or less in the matter of a few hundred feet! One of the rules of entering foreign waters is to display a quarantine flag, so I called down and asked Lauren to come help while I hoist the flag. She took over driving and I got the yellow quarantine flag in order. Next we located the buoys we wanted which marks the channel into North Bimini and was heading straight for them. There was a small, very nice fishing boat I was watching also, wanting to see if we were going to cross paths or if I needed to take avoidance to them. They seemed to be stopped so I continued on. As we got close to the fishing boat it started to accelerate right in front of us! WTF! I turned a little to starboard and continued on, then heard them yelling at us. I am still not sure what I did/didn’t do or if I did something wrong, but it was not nice to have them yelling. We just continued on as we were close to getting to the channel. As we were approaching the channel, we saw a nice boat which had run aground and was sitting on a sandbar- the top half of the boat was dry and out of the water, but the bottom had clearly sunk a bit before resting on the sandbar. Hmmm…
We made our way into the harbor and called Browns Marina on the radio. We had called them yesterday to inquire about docking and rates, if they were dog friendly, etc. and they said “no problem, mon- plenty of space- call us when you get here.” They answered the radio call quickly and told me he would meet us at the dock and assist us into the space. We pulled in and saw there were about four other boats there. We got tied up and secured to the dock and the dockmaster took note of our electric and water meters. Here in the Bahamas, they charge per KW for electric, and per gallon for water. I was advised by another skipper to also note our meters as someone else had disputes with usage. It was now about 5:15pm, and as soon as we were tied up, I had to take our passports and head over to the Customs Office. Another rule: no one is allowed to leave the boat until Customs and Immigration has been completed; Only the Captain may leave to do this, bringing everyone’s passports with them to clear in to the country. I got directions from the dockmaster and ran off to clear in before the offices close at 6pm.
I made it to the Customs office and the officer gave me a stack of paperwork to fill out. I completed it rather quickly and he expressed disbelief I had done so that quick. “I have to be able to read this too” he told me as I was handing it to him. He looked it over and exclaimed “did you go to Catholic school? This writing is neat and you did it so quick!” I laughed and said yes. He completed his part and I had to pay the $300 fee for the boat and our personal paperwork. I then inquired about Immigration and he told me the directions of where to go, so off I hustled to try to get there before closing time. I walked into the building right at 6pm. I found the office and walked in. The officer there looked at me with surprise, and I apologized for not knocking. I explained we had just arrived and I was coming from Customs. He looked at his watch and back at me and said “We close at 6pm, but since you are here I will process you, however the fee is usually $75 for after hours, but again since you made it here I will only charge you $60”. The fees I knew were $50 normally, but he had a point about it being ‘after hours’ and what was I going to do? Argue? I said “deal” and we completed the paperwork. We got our passports stamped and our Visa for ninety days, and I returned to the boat officially checked in to the Bahamas. I also realized they never asked- I didn’t offer- if we had any pets. Frank, Alice and Lulu were now illegal aliens. Once back to the boat, Lauren took Frank for a potty break and I went about getting the ship more secure. A few of the other boaters there came over and invited us to join them for cocktails. I lowered our yellow quarantine flag, poured Lauren and myself a drink and we wandered over to meet the other boaters. Everyone was really friendly and it was a lively conversation, with everyone congratulating us on making it across, and us sharing our stories about the crossing. One captain asked if we had a courtesy Bahamian flag to fly? That is another rule in foreign water- you should always fly a courtesy flag of the country you are in, as well as the flag of your home country. We said we did not have a courtesy flag, and he went to his boat and gave us an old one he had from the previous year. It was a little tattered, but it would be better than nothing! I hoisted the Bahamian flag and we all enjoyed our cocktails and company for the evening as our dogs (two other boats also had dogs) got acquainted with each other too. I noticed a sign on the dock: “Just then, from one of the boats tied up at BROWN’S dock, a rocket rose with a whoosh high into the sky and burst with a pop to light up the channel.”– a quote from Ernest Hemingway ‘Islands in the Stream’- too cool! – Soon it was time for dinner and we were able to relax and enjoy our first night in the Bahamas, watching huge fish swim under and around our boat, as well as some rays and sharks. We will not be swimming here!
The next day we celebrated Lauren’s birthday! We spent some time riding around the island and exploring. We made a stop in a small store to see if they had cake mix- I forgot to plan. We visited a couple of stores looking for icing too! Cake mix was available but there was no frosting to be had and there are no large/chain grocery stores on the island, just small local convenience type stores with an interesting variety of foods in each one. Lauren and I had laughed at a ‘list’ someone on one of our forums had of items needed to travel to the Bahamas, and cake frosting was a listed item! The joke was on us though as there was none to be had, BUT I was able to get some powdered sugar, we had vanilla and milk, so I made some homemade frosting. The cake turned out pretty good, even though the frosting/decorating left a lot to be desired and I had to use a couple of pieces of dry pasta as candles! Happy Birthday!
Since we were there for almost two weeks, I will not do a day by day recap, but I will relate some stories…
The winds that night were expected to pick up, so we were happy we were at a dock. I had many lines on both sides of the boat and bumpers all around. The tide would rise and fall, and the lines would need some adjusting on a regular basis….
The Island as mentioned earlier is not very big. We took our bikes and rode from one side to the other. We found a bakery not too far away that made fresh bread- WOW was this delicious. We made trips almost every other day to procure some of this goodness. Almost every time I went, I had to wait for it to come out of the oven, so I had to wait anywhere from ten to twenty minutes. The first day I had to wait, I took the bike up a hill to overlook the vast blue ocean. I hung out and smoked a cigarette, then headed back to the bakery. On the way down the steep hill I realized my bike brakes were not working. OH SHIT! I was heading down the hill, picking up speed, and trying to decide what to do?! The end of the street/hill crossed the main road through town- I was praying there was no cars coming, but couldn’t see around the corner building- my mind was flashing and I just said “F’ it” and went straight across the road and continued on straight; my heart and adrenaline was racing and I was lucky no one was coming! I eventually was able to slow down, turn around and get back to the bakery for the bread. What I won’t do for fresh bread! And now I know not to go down hills on the bike!
We explored as much as we could on a daily basis, and covered the whole island in a couple of days. There were many places not even open due to it not being ‘tourist season’ yet. There was a beach close to the marina at the tip of the island which we passed upon entering (Where the sunken/grounded boat was) which was great to walk Frank to. So many shells and conch shells around to be collected… We also found Stuarts Conch Stand which had an amazing conch and lobster ‘salad’, which was more like a ceviche, prepared at the counter in front of us with the freshest fish, lots of fresh lime and garlic powder. There were literally ‘islands’ of conch shells in the water just outside the ‘shack’, which was truly a shack on the water. They also had 2 for $5 bud lights, which is a deal on the island! We had gone to a liquor store to check out prices and a case of beer (24) was around $50! you could buy a six pack, but beers were $3 each, regardless if you bought one, two or six! We did not buy much beer during our stay (we came prepared with beer- just no cake icing!), but we did buy an inexpensive bottle of Bahamian Rum! (remember- almost everything is imported by boat.) We also got to experience a funeral too- The custom here is to have a parade and what would amount to a second line- The musicians, funeral directors, family, and friends of the dead make up what is called the first or main line, while the crowd marching behind is collectively known as the second line. As the procession moves from the funeral service to the burial site, the first and second lines march to the beat of a brass band- this shut down the main street through town and closed businesses so all could participate. This is truly a ‘celebration of one’s life’!
Over time we watched the sunken boat move closer to the marina- to a point where we all were trying to determine how soon it would crash into our docks and the boats docked there…eventually someone on the island brought a large dump truck and parked it on the grass along the channel, then ran a rope/line from the moving/sunken boat to the truck to ensure it wouldn’t float any farther with the tides/currents. Local ingenuity at its finest. We explored the other end of the island where there is a large fancy resort- A Hilton Resort- which has a marina, hotel, and beach. We hung out on that beach quite often, it was beautiful white sand and more blue, warm water. They had some (expensive) food and drink trucks, more shells to be collected and lounge chairs to sit on. We would park the bikes, procure some chairs at the end, and enjoy the warm sun and sand. Unfortunately every day was pretty windy- winds were around twenty to thirty miles an hour! The distinction was which direction they came from- the beach was on the northwest side of the island so if the wind was coming from the south or east, the island blocked the wind and the beach was pleasant. If the wind came from the west or north, the beach was super windy and the waves were much larger crashing into the beach. Either way, we could not leave the marina with the boat and continue on like we wanted to with winds that high. Our plan was to land in Bimini, then move over to Berry Island/ Chub Cay, which is about an eighty mile jump. From there we were going to go south about thirty five miles to New Providence Island (where Nassau is, but we were going to go to the south part of the island- not Nassau). From there it was around forty miles to the Exuma Islands. Every day we watched the weather and tried to determine if we could continue on. Every day the winds were 20+mph…
About a week in, we were getting frustrated we couldn’t leave for more Bahamas traveling, but we wanted to be safe above all else. The others at the marina were also itching to be on the way, but they couldn’t leave either. We all talked every day comparing weather notes and trying to determine when it would be safe to go. It seemed like every day the forecast was for more high winds, with some rain on occasion. We were all feeling stuck at Brown’s Marina (which isn’t a ‘bad’ place to be stuck). One day one of our neighbors came to me and asked if we went to “another place, after Customs? Immigration?” I replied ‘yes’ and was curious why they were asking me? Apparently they had not known about checking into Immigration and had skipped that. They were going to go (they had been in the country two week at this point) and try to rectify this. They came back a while later and somberly told us they were getting kicked out of the country. They had seen Lauren on the dock and told her first, which Lauren thought they were joking and laughed! They told the rest of us what had happened and Lauren felt really bad she had laughed! Apparently when they showed up to report in, the officer told them they could be arrested on the spot, but said they had to leave immediately or else they would be arrested! The wife told the officer it was not safe to travel (true- wind and storm were approaching-again!) so they could not leave right now in their boat due to the conditions. The officer explained that the ferry (there is a ferry from Ft. Lauderdale, FLA to Bimini, BAH) would be operating and they had to be on it. There was no issue with their boat (or their dog) but they had to leave and could come back and ‘check in’ when they returned! They made arrangements with our other neighbor to watch their dog while they were gone and boarded the ferry to head back to the USA for the night. Night fell and the wind and rain came.
The next morning I noticed a sailboat had docked at the end of the marina. I was amazed someone had crossed the ocean in the weather and made it to Bimini. It was not a good travel day/night to try that! Since I was awake fairly early I watched as the marina started to wake up. Eventually there was movement on the new sailboat and I watched them move from the end to a dock a few boats down from us. I went to assist with the lines and met the couple that had showed up overnight. Since I had Frank ready for his walk and they had to go to customs and Immigration, I offered to show them where to go. We chatted on the way and I found out the he and she was from Switzerland, he had duel citizenship in the US and they had chartered the sailboat so he could teach her advanced sailing. She was paying for the whole trip and he was getting paid to do it. They were young-ish and I thought he must know what he is doing! I waited around while the charter couple completed the Customs and Immigration check in and we all went back to the marina for a ‘Welcome to the Bahamas’ beer. As we were drinking the beer I expressed amazement that they came across the ocean in the conditions we had overnight; that’s when the stories got interesting! He was telling the few of us how he almost got run over by a cruise ship last night! It was raining hard and he couldn’t see in front of him. He was using autopilot and had ducked downstairs in the cabin for ‘a few minutes’ when he heard the loud deep blasts of a horn. Cruise ship horns are VERY loud. He said he ran up to the cockpit to see a massive ship towering over him! He said he was so close he couldn’t even tell which way it was going! He turned hard on the rudder and passed “within feet!” of the ship. His student was downstairs the whole time throwing up from the angry ocean and being pitched about, so she was no help to him on the long trip. It took them about fourteen hours to cross! this goes to reinforce to me the Captain must be alert and there is ALWAYS someone on watch, especially if you are running on autopilot. Another good lesson is weather- I couldn’t understand why they even left? He said he listened to the charter company and they said he would be fine (instead of checking for himself). This made me question if he was a very good teacher… Later in the day he had wandered over and was chatting with Lauren as I was walking Frank. I had told them our plans and how we have been stuck here for a week now. Now he was telling Lauren we were crazy for doing this in a one engine boat- what would you do, etc.. Lauren was already anxious about this trip and now he was making it worse. When I returned from the walk Lauren started to get worried about all the crap he was putting in her ear. I was a bit upset about this- How could a Captain that almost just got run over and paid no attention to weather tell us what we should be doing?! Lauren and I discussed our plans and we came to an understanding. The weather was still not looking good for a couple of days so it didn’t matter anyway at this point. During the day another sailboat had also arrived , with two guys who just wanted to come to the Bahamas for a bit before returning back to Florida. Of those two, only the captain/owner knew how to sail and the other guy was just along for the ride. Apparently the ‘ride’ was not fun for them either!
While we continued to watch the weather, there were a couple of days we thought might be doable to leave, but when we woke up and looked, the winds were just still too high. Still no one had left the marina and a couple more boats had arrived. In this whole time only one boat had left and that was a very big catamaran sailing boat that we met on our first night. They had told us they were on their first leg of a world circumnavigation, having left from Virginia a couple of weeks ago, so they weren’t very far in. The next day the wife had some medical issues so they departed on our second day there back to the US. We now had nine boats in the marina all itching to get out and on their way. A couple were planning on going straight back to the US, and a few were going to continue on roughly the same direction we were going but to different islands. One day we planned to leave with another sailboat, but again the weather was too bad to leave in our opinion. We were up at 5:30am so we could depart right at first light. I was going to check out and the dockmaster told me we shouldn’t go out in this. I didn’t need any more convincing than that so I told him ‘never mind- we’ll stay.’ Our friend in the sailboat however did depart, and I watched him through the binoculars going out into the rough ocean and turn north- We all wished him good luck and that was the last we have heard from him (I’m assuming he made it just fine).
At this point there looked to be a day coming up that could be good for travel and everyone was making their plans. Looking further into the forecast it looked like we might be able to make it to Nassau or even maybe the Exumas, but then more high winds for another week or more was right behind, so we could potentially get stuck on one of the islands. Unfortunately there are not a lot of marinas through the island chain either, so if we get stuck in a storm it will probably be at anchor. With all of this information and talking to Lauren, we mutually decided when we get a ‘good weather window’ we would head back to Florida. As much as we wanted to try to continue on, we had to be prudent and also wanted to be in Melbourne by the end of March for a planned family gathering. All of this together meant going back to the USA would be the wisest choice. The day before we left was an okay day to travel (for some) but since we got beat up on the way here, we wanted to get the best window for the way back. That being said the two sailboats that had come later in the week (Captain teacher and the two guys) were going to depart. We were out at the beach that day and came back to see the sailboat with the teacher laying up against the inside wall, not is a dock slip. I inquired to our neighbors and they said he pulled out but had trouble with the current, so he got pushed up against the wall where they tied him off to wait until the current died down. Hmmm…my confidence in this guy is now down even more. Later I watched as they were trying to get him off the wall and he came and asked me for some help which I of course obliged. He wanted me to use our dinghy to run a very long line from his boat to a dock where there would be more assistants to help pull him off the wall. It was quite a sight to see, with everyone having their own opinion on what to do. I just sat in the dinghy floating around until they gave me the line and told me where to take it. Eventually we were successful getting him off the inside wall and he docked at the end of the T so he would be able to leave straight from there in the morning. Next the two guys were going to position their boat on the outside with him so they could leave too. Teacher/Captain took over and was maneuvering the other guys’ boat out of the slip (why??) only to be caught in a small current again. Now this boat was sideways along two docks, precariously close to a boat that was docked between the poles. More dinghy assistance and more opinions- Eventually we got him off and clear of the other boat and positioned him on the T dock as well so they too could pull right out in the morning. Morning came and again the winds were higher than we would be comfortable leaving in, but the others took off. I was once more amazed that the ‘teacher’ had the student on the bow of the boat to undo the lines BUT WITH NO LIFE-JACKET! I suggested she should put one on, assisted with the lines and watched the two boats head out to sea with her still on the bow of the boat (still no life-jacket- WTF!?) …
I had tried fishing a few times from our dock, but had no success. To be clear- I had no success with catching anything we could eat, as the one or two I did catch were really small. There were plenty of fish in the sea (I couldn’t resist…) and we would see schools of them swimming around under our boats, as well as the mentioned Rays. I tried frozen bait and even cut up a small fish I caught as bait to no avail of the elusive ‘trophy’ fish or even something we could eat. One of our last days there I walked over to the fishing boat pier and purchased some fish from a fishing boat. I was sold ‘Jack’, but I am a little suspicious of what it actually was. To be honest- I couldn’t tell you one way or another. I probably should have researched before now, as I just found out: “Jack crevalle is one of the species considered by most as junk fish. They usually wind up being discarded or used for bait…” Now I had some Jack that I watched the guy filet for me. I was handed the fish in a plastic bag and walked back to the boat with. As I came through the marina gates, a neighbor boat said he was going to fire up the grill to cook some dinner, and if I wanted to use the hot coals when he was done- go for it! This was perfect timing. I took the fillets to Lauren and shower her my score. She was a little dubious about them, but told me to prepare them. I skinned the fillets then oiled and seasoned them up. When it was time, Lauren made some rice and I grilled the fish. They actually turned out pretty tasty except for the bones we had to work around. I had a bit left over too, which I gave to the marina security guards that were hanging out. This was the closest to ‘catching’ dinner we came…
**It is interesting to note we have been hearing a bit about the Coronavirus in the news and knew it was becoming something big. On our last day at the beach we were watching hundreds of kids take over the Hilton resort for spring break. I realized not only was it a quick beach destination they could reach by boat or plane, the drinking age there is eighteen, so the party is on! We stopped into the resort to look around and they told us they were expecting around six hundred kids in the next day or two! The beach was filling up each day with large groups and we watched from the outside. Lauren was keeping up on the news on her phone and would also predict an end/delay to the baseball season before it actually happened, as well as keeping up with the steps Ohio was taking, so we were not disappointed to be leaving the masses… **
The following day was forecast to be another ‘good’ crossing day. We were up and ready and it looked like this was going to be the departure day. We got everything in order and settled up at the dock office. Everyone else was doing the same, but we were the only ones heading back to Florida- everyone else was going to continue on deeper into the Bahamas. Now that we had checked out we boarded the boat and were ready to head to sea.
The crossing was going to take us to Ft. Lauderdale and we decided we were going to try to find a dock. We had to wait until we were in US waters to be able to make phone calls as our phones were not set up for International. We left the protected harbor, passing the sunken boat as a reminder to watch the charts and depths! Once we were clear of the shallow areas I set a course toward Florida and increased the throttle. The trip back we were heading slightly north, but more east, so the trip back will be shorter in nautical miles. Once again we were in an easterly wind with the Gulf stream making northern waves as well as the waves from the east. It didn’t seem any better on the trip ‘home’ than it was on the way there, and in fact Lauren thought it was a bit worse. I kept adjusting course trying to find the smoothest angle to the waves versus our destination, but once again the ocean said ‘hold my beer…’. The trip to Ft. Lauderdale took around seven hours with not much traffic out in the ocean. Once we got closer to Florida I started to see more commercial traffic due to the Port. It was a little frustrating to see land for so long but still get beaten up by the waves. The waves didn’t stop rolling us until we were well into the channel and finally turned north in a protected area. Whew- that was a long ride! We had called and secured a slip at Las Olas Marina, right downtown and only a couple of blocks from Ft. Lauderdale Beach.