Catching Up on Blog; in Exumas Land and Sea Park, Bahamas

I posted five days here to catch up after no Internet for a while. Will have it until this time tomorrow night, then won't be able to sign on for a few days or more.

Friday, Feb. 26:


We woke up at 6 a.m. with the anchor dragging again because the current was greater than the wind. The boat circled the anchor. We reanchored and had breakfast. Wayne swung by on the dinghy to let us know we were leaving around 9 a.m. We had a short, but beautiful day on the water. There was a problem with some of our radio transmissions, so we used the hand-held until we straighten it out.

We arrived at Exuma Land and Sea Park in Warderick Wells Cay and are on a mooring ball for a few nights. We’re open to the Exuma Banks and hoping to move closer to the park tomorrow. We’re on the waiting list.

We’re contemplating going to Georgetown. Wayne doesn’t want to go there, but Chuck doesn’t want to come all this way and not make it there. So, we’ll see.

We did a little exploring on two of the beaches near our mooring. Dogs are allowed on the beaches, but not the trails, so tomorrow we’ll take Jazzy to shore for some exercise and leave her on the boat while we explore.

Tonight, Patti cooked shrimp and spaghetti with a salad. Delicious! We rented Close Encounters and took it over and watched it during dinner. They had never seen it and we got into a conversation a few weeks ago in Bimini with George on Passages about climbing Devil’s Tower in his college days.

Internet here is $10 a day, so I’ll probably not have it for the rest of the week. Don’t worry about us. We’re fine!

Thursday, Feb. 25:

Last night was a bad night. Winds were 25-30 knots all night long. Chuck went to bed at 7:30 p.m. and I settled in with a Danielle Steel novel to keep me awake. Chuck got up at 10:30 p.m. when the winds started to kick up and shifted us around 180 degrees. Other boaters were having trouble too. You could see people scrambling on their decks. It was pouring rain and bad thunder and lightning, so Chuck wanted me to stay below deck. I tried to finish my book, but gave up at 1:30 a.m.

I only lasted 30 minutes in bed. The boat was rocking so much from the winds that I was getting seasick! I took a Dramamine and laid down in the salon. Those cushions are so damn hard! At 6:30 a.m. I awoke to Chuck hollering for me to come up and start the motor. I put it in reverse as he pulled up the anchor line that had gone under us. He had unwrapped the line from the keel by walking around the boat and gathering it up. We were afraid he was going to have to cut it, but luckily he was able to get it.

By 9 a.m. the sun was up, but winds were still whipping at 22-25 knots. We got two or more gallons of water from the overnight rain, so we called Wayne to come get it in his dinghy. We stayed on the boat all day because of the high winds. I read a novel. Chuck fooled with the lines.

I cooked a flank steak that I marinated Wednesday with roasted rosemary potatoes and grilled zucchini and called Wayne to pick up dinner. Since the winds were still kicking up, he didn’t want to leave the boat.

Chuck went to bed early and I was on anchor watch until midnight, when he got up. I’m usually ready for bed by 9 p.m. when we’re anchored out, so it’s all I can do to stay awake. I don’t know how Chuck does it.

Wednesday, Feb. 24

The anchor dragged during the night. I had anchor watch until 1:30 a.m. I read a book. Chuck woke up around 1 a.m. and was up until 5:30 a.m. It got up briefly when I heard him holler for me, but there was nothing I could do, so I went back to bed in case I could help later. The current and tide change spun us around and pulled the anchor.

I woke up at 7:30 a.m. and it appeared that we were dragging again, but the second anchor caught us. We turned on the generator at 8 a.m., I made breakfast and charged the computer, boat batteries and video camera battery. There was a storm front coming in 12 hours then another in 36 hours, so we were staying put. We put three anchors out in preparation for the winds, two Fortress Danforth anchors and a plow.

Chuck reset the anchors and we rode in the dinghy to check and make sure they were digging in. It was really neat to be able to see them so clearly. Jazzy slept in the salon and didn’t miss us.

I spent most of the day reading another novel. I read four novels in four days. Not a lot to do when it’s windy and you’re anchored.

We tried the rain catcher that Jay gave us and it worked beautifully. We got six gallons of water in about 45 minutes after a heavy downpour. We bottled it up for showers and washing dishes. Wayne called to say they weren’t coming over for dinner because of the high winds. We didn’t blame him! So we just ate hot dogs and beans.

Tuesday, Feb. 23

We left Highbourne Cay Marina at 10:30 a.m., traveling with Blown Away (Norm and Barbara) and Bum’s Rest. We arrived at Norman’s Cay anchorage at 1:10 p.m. It was beautiful! The water was crystal clear and we could see our anchor in more than 6 feet of water. It was sandy and grassy. There were 3 catamarans and 15 sailboats in the anchorage.

We took the dinghy to a little island with a single palm tree and walked on the beach. There were hundreds, if not thousands, of baby conch in the water. We took Jazzy back to the boat after a little walk on the beach and went over to the sunken airplane by dinghy. It was Carlos Leder’s plane that helped fly drugs to the U.S. We expected to see a little plane. It was huge! We could touch one of the wings with an oar from the dinghy. It was only two feet under water. Part of the aircraft was sticking out of the water.

We saw two starfish that were about a foot in diameter. We rode over toward the ocean where it got really deep and rough, so we turned back.

Monday, Feb. 22:

It was a day of light showers off and on. After breakfast, I went up and checked out the little store at Highbourne Cay Marina. They had some frozen meats, fresh produce, marine supplies and Bahamas souvenirs. I took Jazzy for a short walk. Then we left her on Sheet Music and Chuck and I took a dinghy ride in the ocean to Leaf Cay. Patti and Wayne didn’t want to go because it was raining and it would be a rough, wet ride in the dinghy.

We went to Iguana Beach on Leaf Cay. It was pretty neat walking all around the beach and up through the vegetation. We saw eight or nine iguanas of various sizes. One was bigger than Sailor, not as big as Jazzy, but much longer with its tail.

I loved walking around and seeing them in their natural habitat. There was a small beach where we anchored the dinghy. We walk up the hill through a small trail and over to the beach on the other side of the island.

The ride was a very wet one. We had to stop and pump out the dinghy four times because so much water was splashing in. At one point, we were in three foot swells! It was exhilarating. I’m sure people thought we were crazy! We saw six sailboats and a little powerboat in the anchorage there and a few big boats anchored out near our marina. Winds were supposed to kick up, so when we got back, lots of boats that were anchored out moved into the marina for coverage.

We took some photos, but I had to keep putting the camera away because it was raining off and on. We had a boat hook to check for depth. The water is so clear here that it is deceiving. When we weren’t sure, we would extend the boat hook and stick it in the water to see if it would touch. At one point, we were in three feet of water over a reef, so we turned around and headed for deeper water.

We laughed out loud as we were bouncing in the waves. We came back soaked and took quick showers on the boat. We’re trying to conserve water at 50 cents a gallon, but we were full of salt.

It was my turn to cook dinner and the chicken I defrosted the other day went bad, so I made a Caesar salad, linguine with fresh shrimp and canned chicken in a garlic butter sauce and biscuits. We had chocolate layer cake for dessert that I bought for Wayne’s birthday the other day.

In Highborne Cay, Exumas

We left Nassau at 7:45 a.m. heading for Highborne Cay,about 30 miles. It was sunny and warm. We motored 5.5 knots SOG at 2800 rpms. Winds were 14 knots. Temp was 68. Seas were 2-3 ft.

At 8:15 a.m., we pulled the main sail and at 8:40 a.m. we pulled the jib to the second reef. SOG increased to 6.3 and we cut rpms down to 22. Winds were from the NE.

We could see Bum's Rest in the distance. We took a route which looped around some coral heads and rock in yellow bank.From time to time, they would get closer and I'd take a few pictures.

We heard another Passages on the radio, but they are from NH.

The water is crystal clear and a pretty green/blue. It looks like a big swimming pool, the color is so beautiful.

At noon, Chuck caught a few winks and I took the helm. Winds were 13-14 knots, SOG was 5.5 and we were in 20 feet of water.

We arrived in Highborne Cay, Exumas, around 2:40 p.m. It's beautiful here. From what I've seen in the short time we've been here, it looks totally different than anything we've seen. There's a very tropical, beautiful beach. I'll take lots of pictures.

Internet is $10 a day here, so not sure if I'll be online tomorrow. I would rather spend the time exploring and taking photos to post the next time we have Internet. We may stay here a second day, but may look into anchoring out. The marina is $2.10 a foot, pllus $10 for electric if you don't use your a/c, plus $10 for Internet, plus $4 for a shower. Everything is per day and it quickly adds up. We topped off our fuel. It took 8.4 gallons.

I'm posting some photo albums for my facebook friends. It's too time consuming to post them to blogger.

Happy Birthday, Wayne Bumm! We're in Nassau

Happy Birthday, Wayne Bumm! We arrived in Nassau, Bahamas, yesterday afternoon. There are no bathrooms or Internet at our dock, so we walked to Starbucks to post this.

We left Berry Islands Club at 6:30 a.m. yesterday for Nassau. Bum’s Rest, Passages and Dot’s Way were traveling with us. We raised the main sail. SOG was 6.5 knots. Winds were 10 knots. We were motor sailing with 2800 rpms. At one point we were in 9,949 feet of water! Yes, nearly 10,000 feet deep. It was that deep, dark navy blue. So pretty. This was taken as we were leaving Berry Islands Club.

The temperature was only 64, so we were in our peacoats. I had a blanket around my legs. With the wind chill, it was below 60 and cold. Cold if you're moving on the water. As we got closer to the harbor, we saw two cruise ships in the distance heading for Nassau. We were hoping they wouldn’t hold us up from entering the harbor.

At 12:10 p.m., we called Nassau Harbor Patrol to ask permission to enter the harbor. We had to provide the name of our vessel, last port of call, destination and documentation number. We received permission to enter the harbor when we were 1.6 miles out.

As we entered the harbor, we saw five cruise ships, including Ocean of the Seas (a megaship) and the Disney ship. We took video and photos.
There is not a No Wake law here, and boats gun it to get out into the harbor. We’ve never seen anything like it. Our boat is rocking and rolling all over the place. We had to turn Sheet Music around in our slip last night between tides. The current was really moving when we first arrived, so we waited until the tide change. The wakes were splashing water into the cockpit and pushing the dinghy up onto the cooler that’s on the back. We pulled the dinghy up onto the deck using the spinnaker line and a block and fall pulley system that Chuck put together so he can do it himself.

I ran around looking for a phone to no avail. Around 2 p.m., Mo, from S/V Passages, rescued me with her global phone and I called Phillips Sailmakers. After a few calls back and forth, Larry came and picked it up, had it repaired, and returned it about an hour later. We were thrilled with the service. They were closing at 3:30 p.m. for the weekend, so if he didn’t do it right away, we wouldn’t have had it back until at least Monday. Thanks, Larry, for such great service!

After the sail was returned, Patti and I went to City Market and stocked up on produce. Most prices were very reasonable, except for the water. I bought a case of Aquafina 20 oz. bottles. It was $23.76 for the case! Water is 99 cents a bottle here. They don’t sell it by the case because of the high price. They opened the case, scanned one bottle and entered 24 bottles. Wow! I expected it to be expensive, but not that much! Their grocery stores don’t have prices posted, so you don’t know how much anything is. I picked up a small bag of leftover Valentine’s candy, peanut butter hearts, marked 50 percent off. But it rang up $9.99, marked down to $5 so I told them to take it off. That was no bargain!

Passages left us this morning. We had a good time with George, Mo and Carly. Their daughter, Katie, joined them yesterday. We hope to meet up with them in the Exumas.

We are at Texaco Harbour View Marina. We’re right behind a fuel dock that is closed. The gas station at the end of the pier is under renovation, so there are no bathrooms to speak of. We shower on our boat anyway, so we don’t mind. The dock is only $1.50 a foot and includes electric and water. Free water is unusual in the Bahamas, where you usually have metered water and pay by the gallon. It was 60 cents a gallon at Berry Islands Club. Glad we didn’t top off there! We filled all our jerry jugs and our gallon AZ iced tea jugs and added a little bleach to each. They bring water in on an oil tanker barge from Andros. We’ll top off our water tank in the morning before we leave for the Exumas.

We are spending the day in Nassau for Wayne’s birthday and going to dinner tonight, probably to the Poop Deck, a famous restaurant here on the water. I’m hoping to get over to Atlantis to see the walk-through aquarium. We’ll see what the day brings. Chuck and Wayne are putting the jib sail back up this morning before we walk around.

Tomorrow, we’re heading to the Exumas. Not sure if I’ll have Internet, so don’t worry if you don’t hear from us for a few days.

Berry Islands; Tomorrow: Nassau

Two huge diving sailboats, Morning Star and Pirate’s Lady pulled up at our dock Tuesday night around 5 p.m. One was dockside, the other moored to it. Each boat had 22 divers.

The guys met Christine, a young deckhand from Texas. She has a marine sciences degree. Her grandfather works at WCMC in Cape May! She brought us marinated steaks left from their barbecue that night and we had just finished dinner. It was my turn to cook last night, so I cooked them up.

They pulled away 7:30 a.m. yesterday and went around the bend to help Elliott Emery pull his 37 ft. Wauquiez “Chance” off the rocks. It’s a French boat, built in 1972. He’s been sailing for 30 years. His boat was beached while anchoring in 6 ft. seas and 25 knot winds. Herbie, the marina owner, has graciously given him a room and Elliott was helping around here.

We woke up yesterday morning and quickly put the motor on the dinghy to go watch them try to pull it off and they were successful!

Elliott is formerly from New York and Annapolis and now lives in New Smyrna Beach, FL. He went to Eleuthera to help a friend build a deck on a house. The materials were stolen from the job site, so he went to Nassau for a few days and stopped in Frazier Hog Cay, Berry Islands, because of the storm, on his way back to FL. It was the same storm that ripped our jib sail. It sure wasn’t his week!

There was lots of cheering as it was pulled off. I took some pictures and videos for Elliott. One of the other dinghies got a line wrapped around his prop. We went over to help him, but he got it off as we reached him.

Chuck went out on the dinghy to explore for a few hours yesterday. He came back soaked, but had a good time exploring Chub Cay. He said it's where the mega boats are. No wonder that dockage starts out at $5 a foot! He was searching for a little store to buy eggs and bread, but was told "No, mon, store closed today. But it will be opened tomorrow." LOL. So we had pancakes this morning. Jazzy and I stayed behind, but the Internet was down the entire day. It’s very frustrating to not be able to get online. There’s nothing to do here, nowhere to walk to or shop, so it’s frustrating when you can’t get online.

We've been online all day today, so we're catching up on e-mails and our blogs.

Here's a photo Patti took the other day of Jazzy on my lap while I was updating my blog. She's been so good. It's boring for her here since I can't put her down. I can’t walk Jazzy anywhere. There are prickly “stickers” that get stuck in her paws and hair every time I put her down in the dirt and in the grass. So she can only walk on the dock.

I ordered a new jib sail this morning and we're hopefully having it shipped to Alan and Patti's house. I e-mailed Alan to make sure they'll be around when we get back to South Florida.

Meanwhile, we'll get the leech line sewn in tomorrow so we can use it until we get the new one.

We're thinking of dropping the sail off and heading to the Exumas for a few days. We'll see how the weather is.

Hanging Out at Berry Islands Club Until Friday

Looks like we'll be at Berry Islands Club for a couple more days. Next good weather window is Friday. I called the sail repair guy today on Skype and he can fix it in one or two days. Problem is, we won't get there until late in the day Friday and they are closed for the weekend, so they'll do it on Monday. We may drop it off, go down to the Exumas for a few days, then head back to Nassau to pick it up.

Here's how low the tide is right now. I have to sit on the dock and climb down.

Step down from here.

Chuck climbed the mast today to add a line for the radar ball. He also blocked off sections of the hull under the floor to try to figure out where the water is coming from.

The Internet service here is up and down like a yo-yo. Very frustrating.

Patti is cooking ziti tonight.

Docked Overnight at Berry Islands Club in Frazier Hog Cay; Nassau in a.m. for Jib Sail Repair

On Saturday, Feb. 13, we moved our boat behind the Bimini Sands condos to block the wind. Wayne ran around the U shape of the canal to help dock us so we could take down the jib. We moved back over to our dock and took the jib up on the grass to access the damage.

It turns out that when the sail was made, the sun cover was sewn at the same time as construction and they didn’t catch the seam that holds in the leech line. So when the sun cover ripped, there was nothing left to hold the leech line in the sail. Bad construction.

So, change of plans. We’re now in Frazier Hog Cay at the Berry Islands Club and tomorrow we’ll head to Nassau to get the sail repaired. Hopefully, Phillip’s Sails can do a quick repair. At this point, we’ll probably just have the leech line sewn in and forget the sun cover. Chuck has been itching to get a new jib sail anyway…this gives him the excuse to do so.

After we folded up the sail, I went up and paid for our stay. Water is metered in the Bahamas and we didn’t think to check the meter when we arrived, so we ended up paying for 125 gallons…no way we used that much, but what are you going to do? At 20 cents a gallon, the bill was $26. Note to self: check meter readings upon arrival.

We readied for dinner and stopped in the office for the shuttle to the Beach Club, the sister marina of Bimini Sands. What a trip! It was a miniature school bus with some wild painting on it. It was a very bumpy ride on a dirt road…and they drive on the opposite side of the road here…and no lighting. Lots of turns. A little scary.

The Beach Club was offering a Valentine’s special…any dinner on the menu for $25 per person, including appetizer, entrée and dessert. The menu was very upscale. We were greeted with roses for the ladies. After we ordered our drinks and dinner, they brought us chocolate-covered strawberries to enjoy while we were waiting for our appetizers.

I ordered prime rib. Chuck had rack of lamb. Patti ordered lobster and Wayne ordered a seafood pasta dish. Our appetizers included cracked lobster, cracked conch. Desserts were over the top too. Yum. I wished we had come earlier in the week so we could go back there!

The Beach Bar, attached to the restaurant, was a building with no floor, built on the beach sand. Pretty cool.

We asked for the shuttle back to Bimini Sands, but our driver went home sick, so we had to hop a ride with two guys that worked there in their SUV. They got us safely back to Bimini Sands. No sweat.

I still had laundry to do and Patti had to do her hair, a two hour project. The guys went to bed. We were up until after 1 a.m. Alarms went off at 4:30 a.m. Chuck was already up looking at the weather. We were ready to leave at 6 a.m., but were waiting for Passages and N’Joy. They called when they were on their way, about 7:20 a.m. We pulled out right behind them. The seas were rough in the harbor. Good thing I took a Dramamine! I snuggled in with Jazzy on my lap. She was under my blanket and pea coat. It was cold on the water!

Winds were 11-16 knots. SOG was 5.7 knots with the main reefed. By 10:30 a.m., winds were only 5-6 knots and seas were only about 1-2 feet. Very calm. It was a beautiful, sunny day on the water. Perfect. The water was only 7.5-11 ft. deep and the color was a pretty turquoise.

At 1:45 p.m. I took the helm so Chuck could sleep for a few hours. SOG was 6.2-6.6 with 11 knots of wind. By 3 p.m., the winds were down to 8.5-9.5 knots and SOG was 6.44. I bumped our speed up to 2900 rpms and SOG was 6.5-6.7 knots.

Chuck woke up around 5 p.m. We took lots of photos of the beautiful sunset. We anchored in the ocean at 25.27.758N, 78.15.155W. There were five boats. It was so dark you could see a gazillion stars in the sky.

When we woke up this morning, there were four more boats anchored near us. We woke up at 5 a.m. and were going to head to Nassau, but N’Joy was having alternator trouble and didn’t hear the radio call. Wayne wasn’t thrilled about another 55 mile day, and Sailor was still holding it and wouldn’t go on the boat. So Wayne tossed out the idea of going to Frazier Hog Cay overnight. There’s wi-fi in the little “beach house” here so I could e-mail about the sail repair. Sailor could get his walk. And we won’t get into Nassau at night.

Nine sailboats started out together. Two boats went on to Nassau. But five boats are here with us. Bum’s Rest and Sheet Music are at a dock. The rest are in the small mooring field that’s part of this marina.

It was cold on the water today. We wore our pea coats. By 8 a.m., we were in the Northwest Providence Channel. The water was over 2,000 ft. deep at some points, and a deep navy blue. So pretty. I took the helm for a little while to let Chuck catch a nap. He ended up trying to figure out where our water is coming from under the floor boards. He’s going to seal off the different compartments to help narrow it down.

We’re going up to the little beach house tonight for dinner. It’s a home-cooked meal. We placed our order and it will be ready at 7 p.m.

I e-mailed Phillip’s Sails to see if they could repair our jib. I’m hoping to hear back from them.

We got here early…about 11:30 a.m. It’s warm! I’m back in shorts, T-shirt and sandals. Sweet!

We saw a stingray and a shark while standing on our dock. The water in the Bahamas is crystal clear and you can see everything. It’s so beautiful.

They serve conch in the restaurant here. Here's all the shells from the conch they've served!

Tomorrow: Nassau!

High Winds Damaged our Jib Sail; Staying at Dock

We had a beautiful, sunny day here in South Bimini yesterday, the calm before the storm, but we didn't know the storm was coming.

Chuck and Wayne were trying to figure out why we always have water in the bilge. No success, but suspicion that it may be coming from the anchor locker. After they were done and we put the boat back together, I made shrimp fried rice for dinner and crustless apple pie over vanilla ice cream for dessert.

After dinner, we were getting ready to take the shuttle to the Beach Club, the sister marina to this property. Chuck hadn't turned the chartplotter off from looking at something earlier and the weather alarm went off.  He saw a severe storm was coming, so we decided not to go to the Beach Club and button down the hatches.

The winds came fast and furious with lightening, thunder and pouring rain. Before he even had a chance to secure the jib sail, the wind took it and ripped it. (When we came in the other day, the jib sail didn't wrap correctly and we didn't get a chance to rewrap it because of the winds.) He wrapped the spinnaker halyard around it to prevent more damage. At first we thought it was just the sun cover, but the leach line pulled out. The closest sail repair is in Nassau, New Providence (129 miles) and we didn't intend to go there. We may have to now. He always wanted to buy a different head sail. Now may be his chance.

During the night, winds were sustained in the mid-30s with gusts to 45 knots! I was getting seasick in the aft cabin and had to pull out my sleeping bag and sleep in the salon. Not too comfortable and a rather restless night.

This morning I made French toast for breakfast for a change. We're staying down below for the most part, although it's just windy now...20-25 knots with occasional gusts to 30. There are more thunderstorms predicted later today.

Took Water Taxi to North Bimini; Met Up with Friends

We had a fun day in North Bimini today. Our day started with breakfast at Petite Conch, the little restaurant at Bimini Sands Resort and Marina in South Bimini where we're docked. We ordered pancakes and eggs. When the plate arrived, I was surprised at the size of it. No wonder it was $9.95! Three large pancakes, two eggs, a pile of bacon, a bunch of grapes, and slices of pineapple, cantalope and honeydew. I couldn't eat it all, but Chuck had no problem polishing his off.

The restaurant is on the second floor, over the Ship Store. There's a beautiful view of the harbor where we entered yesterday. The waves were really breaking today and Chuck saw another sailboat trying to make their way through. Glad we weren't trying it today! You can see our two boats in the foreground.

Then the guys took a taxi ride ($4 each way per person) to customs. I sat down at the computer to check e-mail and was going to read the Bimini literature we got at check-in. They were back before I opened the booklet! It took no time at all. So I took down the yellow quarantine flag and raised the Bahamas flag to signify we cleared customs.

Chuck cleaned out the V-berth and I cooked some white rice to use for tomorrow night's shrimp fried rice dinner. Wayne knocked on the boat and said they were taking the water taxi to Alicetown and asked if we'd like to join them. When the rice was done, we all walked to the other side of the island (1/2 mile) to the water taxi and skipped across the water to North Bimini.

We saw the library, which is a small, one-room building with the door left open for locals to walk in and pick up or exchange a book.

We walked up to the beach (beautiful, by the way) and took lots of pictures, then down to the shipwreck. The beach was a combination of sand, rock and coral and waves were crashing everywhere. It looked like lava rock, but Chuck said it was coral. Jazzy walked on the rock, but I'm trying to avoid sand fleas again, so I carried her when we were on beach sand.

We walked down to Blue Water Resort and found Mo, George and Carly on Passages. We talked to them for a while on the dock and they invited us onboard for drinks and snacks. They made rum punch with local coconut rum. Yum! It was so good, Patti and I stopped at the liquor store down the street on the way back to the water taxi and each bought a bottle and a can of fruit punch. I also bought grenadine.

We took the water taxi back to South Bimini and walked back to our marina. I threw laundry ($3 wash, $3 dry) in while Patti made a salad and cooked steak and baked potatoes for dinner. We had chocolate pudding for dessert.

There's a beach club affiliated with the resort and they have a free shuttle. They had karaoke tonight, but I think we were all too tired to care.

Here are some photos of the beach and shipwreck:

Since Blogger isn't photo-friendly, I'm uploading an album of photos to my Facebook page. I haven't found an easy way to upload photos to the blog and it takes forever to upload them one at a time!

We're Finally in The Bahamas...South Bimini to be Exact!

The alarms went off at 4 a.m. and we readied the boat for 5 a.m. launch. It was dark and we put on the deck light so Chuck could see to pull the anchor. I was at the helm.

Here's Bum's Rest getting ready to pull anchor.

It was a little rough seeing in the dark for the first hour and fifteen minutes or so. As the sun came up, we could pick up a little speed. It was easy to follow Wayne out in the dark, but we lost him not long after the sun came out and didn't see him much for the rest of the day. We ran a slightly different course and he ended up a few miles ahead of us. So much for safety in numbers!

The sunrise was pretty!

The water was a deep navy blue. It was beautiful. In some spots it was more than 2,000 feet deep!

Jazzy and I both got seasick. I heaved twice overboard, then laid in the cockpit from 12:30 p.m. until our 5 p.m. arrival.

We are on a floating dock at Bimini Sands Resort and Marina. I'm exhausted, so I'll try to update more tomorrow. We're here for three days and there's free wi-fi, so I should have a connection.

No cell phones for two months, while in the Bahamas.

I cooked beef stew for dinner tonight. We're going to breakfast at a restaurant here in the morning. Sleeping in after a rough day on the water! Then the guys have to go into Customs. I filled out all the paperwork. There's a $150 feet for boats under 35 ft.

Hoping to Cross to Bimini Islands, Bahamas, 5 a.m. Tuesday

Hi, all! Sorry I haven't blogged. We've had a stressful few days and I haven't had a chance to get online. Chuck finished installing the transducer cable (what a project THAT was!) and lived to tell the story. It's no fun working in confined spaces, but when you're loaded down, it makes it even more stressful...for both of us!

All is well now. We walked into town this morning and bought two cases of water, mailed a few things off and took the dinghy back to the boat. Then we hooked the dinghy on the mooring ball and took Sheet Music to pump out and fill all the water tanks and jugs. We moved off the mooring ball this morning, back to No Name Harbor. We plan to leave 5 a.m. for Bimini Islands, Bahamas, unless the forecast changes between now and then.

Saturday, Patti and I did laundry. Then we took the shuttle back to our boats. Wayne and Patti picked me up in their dinghy 20 minutes later and we walked a few miles to a pet supermarket to buy a few supplies. Then Patti and I found a CVS and got a few things. We took the taxi shuttle boat back to our boats. It runs all day long.

Sunday, Patti and I treated ourselves to a pedicure with a free manicure at Salon and Spa Renova in Coconut Grove. Orlando, the owner, was wonderful and aimed to please. He served us ice water with lemon and gave us magazines to read. My massage chair was broken...someone had dropped the remote into the water!

At around 4:30 p.m., the guys met up with us at The Ivy in Coconut Grove, a high-end restaurant. The food was very gourmet and was over the top. George and Mo, and her daughter, Carly, came and joined us for dinner. The building looked like something out of New Orleans. Wrought iron balconies and staircases, old brick and stones with lots of stained glass. Photos were not allowed. It looked historic, but Chuck found out that it was built for $11 million in 2006 and then the loan went in default without a payment. Now it's The Ivy. Dinner was fabulous and we enjoyed hearing about Carly's gap year time working on a 188 ft. tall ship.

Chuck tried to strain to see the first half of the Super Bowl. Right after halftime we were finally done dinner and walked a half block to Mr. Moe's sports bar to watch the rest of the game. The others went back to their boats.

Anyway, please keep us in your prayers for a safe, uneventful crossing. I'll post as soon as I can find a "hot spot." No Internet or phone calls. This is going to be interesting!

Mooring Ball in Dinner Key, Coconut Grove, Miami

We're on a mooring ball in Dinner Key, Coconut Grove, Miami. We have to get to Verizon Wireless, the vet to get health certificates for the dogs and West Marine to pick up a cable we ordered the other day. Once we get all that done, we'll probably head back to No Name Harbor to anchor and be ready to cross to the Bahamas from there. It cuts about 5 miles off on the day we cross.

We pulled anchor this morning around 8:30 a.m. and moved to the sea wall at Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Park. We walked all along the water's edge and through trails in the park. Patti and Wayne decided to have breakfast on the top deck at a restaurant there. Chuck and I had already eaten on the boat.

At left, Chuck walking along the water.

We ended up at the Cape Florida lighthouse. Ponce de Leon named this area "Cape of Florida" when he led the first Spanish expedition to Florida in 1513. The original lighthouse was completed in 1825 but damaged in the Second Seminole War. It was repaired in 1846. It remains the oldest standing structure in Miami-Dade County. It is 95 ft. to the top of the light.

Chuck climbed the stairs to see the view from 84 ft. up. I stayed down with Jazzy and had a nice conversation with the park ranger about his positive experience with community college before transferring to Florida International University. I took photos of Chuck at the top. (See photo of Chuck waving, at left).

Meanwhile, Patti and Wayne caught up with us. Wayne climbed the lighthouse steps and Chuck came down and said the view was beautiful and worth the climb, so I trekked up. It was worth the climb!

Wayne and I took a bunch of photos.

One of the views from the lighthouse.

Below, Wayne at the top of the lighthouse.

We went back to the boats and made lunch. Up pulled Pete and Mary Ann Moxon from MicMac, Williamsburg, Va., in their dinghy. They are traveling on their Hunter 36. Chuck met them in Melbourne when I jumped ship to have hand surgery. So I got to meet them. Nice couple. We chatted for a while and exchanged blog information. They have a great blog: http://www.onboardmicmac.blogspot.com/.

Those who are following us and may want to follow our fellow cruisers, Wayne and Patti Bumm on Bum's Rest can follow their blog: http://www.bumsrest331.blogspot.com/. Patti posts lots of photos of us.

While we had the stability of the sea wall, I boiled lasagna noodles and prepared lasagna for dinner while we moved 5 miles to the Dinner Key Marina mooring field.

While we were on our way to the mooring field, Chuck called me

above to see a group of five guys on little Sunfish sailboats with

their instructor. I took a photo of some of them.

 

Here's a photo of our boats I took when coming back by dinghy from registration at the marina.

Wayne and Patti came over for dinner: salad, lasagna, bread and strawberry shortcake for dessert.

Tomorrow, we'll try to get our errands done. Tomorrow night is supposed to be windy with a cold front coming in. It's pretty windy now!

Patti spotted Ben's boat, Loon. He moved here too!

Anchored in No Name Harbor, Miami

Yesterday, Patti and I took a taxi to Publix a few miles away from Pennekamp and did some more provisioning for the crossing. Our boats are sitting low in the water now! Their friends Bill and Connie from the Trumpie, Windrush, drove from Islamorada to pick us up. We went to the Conch House for dinner. Chuck had Seafood Portofino and I had a spring garden salad with crabcake and shrimp with a cup of lobster bisque. We shared a blueberry cobbler with vanilla ice cream.

It was an exciting day on the water. We traveled 42 miles, mostly through the ocean today, to No Name Harbor, Miami. The day started very overcast and breezy. At least we didn't have bugs to deal with! Chuck filled the water tank, unhooked the electric, got the dinghy ready to cruise and readied the boat for launch.

We left John Pennekamp about 8:25 a.m. Winds were 19 knots with gusts to 22. Temp was 66. Water temp was 75 in Key Largo. In No Name Harbor, winds were 20 knots with gusts to 25 knots. We pulled the main sail nearly full around 9:30 a.m. and motor sailed. SOG was 5.1-5.4. Seas were 1-2 ft. and choppy. I settled in with a good book.

At 10:25 a.m., the sun came out.  Around 1 p.m. SOG was only 5 knots. Winds were 21 knots. Ryan called. It was great to hear his voice. We really miss our kids.

Chuck pulled out the jib sail and our speed kicked up to 6.1 knots. Winds were 23.5 knots. At one point, a gust of wind caught the sails and we heeled over 35 degrees for a few seconds. A large sheet of water washed over the dodger. At around 4 p.m., we could see Miami in the distance. 

Approaching the channel, the waves were really kicking up and coming across our beam so we were rocking side to side. We were heeling 18-25 degrees for a long run. As we came to the first marker, we pulled the sails in. I felt queasy for a while there, so I took the helm. We slowed down for Wayne to pass us.
(That's Bum's Rest behind us).

As we were approaching the harbor, a kayaker pulled up next to us. He said our dinghy was making the perfect wake for him and he followed us for a few minutes.

We pulled into No Name Harbor around 5:20 p.m. and who do we see? Ben on Loon from Annapolis, Md. Chuck had dinner with him while we were visiting Ron Pence. He's friends with Ben and introduced us.

(Here's Loon from Annapolis).

There are lots of boats in this little anchorage.

Chuck took the dinghy to shore to pay the $20 fee to the park to anchor here. Tomorrow morning, we'll visit the state park here, then move around the corner to Dinner Key. I need to get to a Verizon Wireless store. Chuck has to get to West Marine to pick up the cable they ordered for the transducer, which he installed while at Pennekamp. And we need to get the dogs to a vet to get health certificates to cross to the Bahamas. Then we wait for a weather window!