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!