As alluded to in the last post, we made it to the Bahamas! We had a beautiful Gulf stream crossing – an easy day (we played cribbage because there was nothing to do), no waves, some wind to sail and on-time in Bimini to clear Customs the same day. That, however, was our full allotment of good luck for the next few days. The Gulf crossing is one hurdle, there are three more “open water” crossings to get onto the Great Bahama Bank and execute the itinerary we had planned. Unfortunately, the prevailing wind comes from exactly the direction we need to travel across that open water… no more cribbage in route.
The Atlantic Gulf Stream
“Clearing in” in Bimini. First the yellow quarantine flag and, if all paperwork and fees are correct, you get to hoist the guest flag.
Bimini
Bimini blues… enchanting.The remnants of the wreck of the Sapona, a rum running ship from Bimini’s heydays during Prohibition.The remnants from Stuart’s kitchen; his speciality is conch salad (sort of like ceviche).Stuart’s other speciality… One of these and you will think it is a great idea to walk 3 miles to the end of North Bimini, in the blazing mid-afternoon sun, with no sunscreen, hat or sun shirt, in flip flops and then have to walk back again.🙃The Bimini Nature WalkA Poisonwood tree. We gave them wide berth…The nature walk looped along the coast before heading back into the jungle.The flats of Bimini. The water is inches deep at low tide…
We left Bimini and ventured into the NW Providence Channel, headed for the Berry Islands. This was a two day voyage for us so we spent the night on Mackie Shoal, literally in the middle of the ocean. As I mentioned, our wind and wave luck ran out and these two days & nights were unpleasant to say the least. We called “uncle” and went into the marina at Chub Cay.
Chub Cay
Chub Cay is known as the “Bill Fish Capital of the World” because of its location. We were lucky enough to be there during the Chub Cay Invitational, a fishing contest that costs $20-30K to enter (after you are invited, of course), with a purse of $120K! This is one of 3 docks chock full with these fishing machines…PS Look up how much one of these bad boys costs… Most are 62ft Vikings.This is one of the “Bill Fish”, a Blue Marlin. The tournament prizes were for sail fish and blue & white marlins. We didn’t fish (don’t know how) so we walked the island…
Went to Turtle Creek and tried to take pictures of the turtles (the blurry guy on the right)…
Hung out at the pool and tried the swim-up bar…Swam at a secluded white sand beach…And, in general, erased the bad memories of the angry NW Providence Channel passage. While recuperating, we decided to go where the wind will allow us so I can’t promise what’s ahead but stay tuned…
