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Jonathon and I moved the boat to the South end of the pond this morning.  We didn’t crank up the motors, we just let the jib pull us off anchor and coasted up into the new location in silence.  Our goal was a change of scenery.. and we wanted to explore southern Normans Cay today by kayak and dinghy, the new anchorage would provide a better platform for the days activity.

Its 12:30 and we just got back from our off boat tour.  We ranged as far as 3 miles from the boat, paddled many shallows and mangrove marshes.  I took the dinghy and floated along while Jono ranged out with the Hobie.  We found perfect shelling beaches and some beautiful shallows between picturesque mini islands inside the protected waters of Normans.  The little half day trek was lots of fun and completely validated the effort required to bringing a kayak along with us.

We brought a kayak before but just didn’t use it much.  This pedal powered Hobie is much more fun and with Jono along I knew it would be put to good use.  Normans is a great place to hang out off the boat, I haven’t taken much time here in past transits, normally we just stop off in the south anchoarage on the way to somewhere else.  If you have to wait on weather I highly recommend spending a few days here, Normans provided us with plenty to look at and explore even with the wind blowing 20-25.

Jono and I are developing a really bad habit here on SYL.  I guess it comes with being in the Bahamas but man, it’s hard to break it.  Today was worse than normal so I thought I’d log it in.  The past few days our after lunch our evening naps are getting longer and longer!  Not a bad habit I guess, but it is habit forming!

Today was exceptionally nice, we both slept over two hours.  Resting comfortably during the day has become a regular thing lately….  We both get up early (6:30 to listen to weather) and sometimes stay up late… you know nearly 9 so we get pretty tired….  With all the kayaking and exploring, a guy can get pretty worn out… lol.

Jono may be thwarting my weight loss program just by being on board, he does 99% of the work so my exercise volume is not what it used to be on SYL.  Mike and Ted (the other seawind owners) have all these nice features they added to their boats but I have something they don’t have…. I have a voice activated winch handle.  I tell Jono to tighten the sail and he does it!!!  Pretty sweet huh?  I can’t wait to brag on it with the guys…

Today’s lunch was Jono’s special – chili dogs.  He does variations on condiments but his main ingredients stays true to form, if we can’t think of something else we want… it’s always a chili dogs as a default.

We went fishing in the dinghy at 5PM, nothing was biting.. so we decided to check out how big the waves are offshore.  Once we cleared the entrance we could see it was not too bad for our 10’ boat.  We drove the dinghy to a small rocky island a quarter mile out to see if we could land on it and search the seldom walked eastern shore.  I let Jono off and backed the dink away hoping he could make it to the big side on foot but there was just no way to cross the island to the offshore side..  It was still a worthy adventure, going out was into the wind, coming back was downwind, it was a comfort to know coming home would be easier than going out.  We both got very wet, I guess that happens when a 5’ wave breaks right when you go by it.  It was a good adventure but alas mate’ no pirate booty collected.  We seem to be unwittingly accomplishing quite a lot of off boat adventure during these “down days” at Normans.

Laurie on “Forever Young” told me about a shelling beach here at Normans, I marked it on my charts during our last trip.  We found that spot today on our morning adventure.  The scenery was better than the shell hunting but we did bring home some Bahamas booty.  The spot was gorgeous, Jono got a picture of our landing site.  Small rocky mini islands dotted the inner coast line like easter eggs laid on a baby blue blanket.

There are caves in the side of the cliffs here at Normans Pond, we are parked between two of them… nice to look when you wake up in the morning and… the craggy rock cliffs provide great wind protection.  Tides in the pond are about 3 feet, moving in and out of the pond requires close attention to tides due to the shallow and intricate passage to sea.  We have traversed it several times by dinghy now, so I don’t expect a problem exiting tomorrow.

Last night Jono and I went on top of the boat to stargaze.  Light pollution is very low in this part of the world so it’s a great venue to watch the night sky.  As expected it was grand… we saw orbiting satellites and shooting stars moving among the blanket of other worldly / apparently stationary stars.  This morning Jono showed me some of his pictures from the previous day’s beach landing.  Yesterday was indeed extraordinary and the night sky gave us a sweet dessert.

This morning’s breakfast was hot coffee, scrambled eggs and cheese on corn tortillas.  Jono cooks much better than I do.  I just grab some ham, or make up a single dish dinner.  While Jono doesn’t rival Linda’s cooking he sure does a better job than I do with the pots and pans!

This morning we are listening to music letting the wind blow.  It’s supposed to be strong for two days then slip back to normal on Tuesday.  Jono brush cleaned a conch shell to a high luster this morning.  Other than that there’s not much happening, our daily plans are pretty fluid.

10:45 we just got back from “walkabout” on the eastern shore of Norman’s pond.  After a short dinghy ride to the boat ramp and dock nearby we walked up the road then took a left and made our way to the ocean side beach.  Collecting rope scraps and shells we walked north for probably a mile where the beach played out at someone’s summer camp by the name of “Breezeway”.  From the beach the wooden respite appeared to be deserted, but after walking up to the house it was evident there had been people there not that long ago.  The architecture was beach rustic… not much fit and finish but some neat areas and a gorgeous view of the ocean.  The driveway was a combination of local stones and cement, quite an impressive undertaking.  It was lined with short walls on both sides and a capstone the entire driveway’s length.  Walking down the driveway we found where all the beach bounty was hiding!

Taking the road back to the dinghy we passed some homes under construction and adjacent properties that are built with current building materials, they seemed well maintained with fresh paint and clean windows.  We did see a Ford truck drive by from a distance and heard a 4 wheeler pass when we got back to SYL so people do live here.  We made a nice trip of it, and will likely repeat the process on the western shore this evening.  The expected blow is keeping us cool, but it did not bring much overcast so the day is very pleasant here inside “the pond”.

3PM – After an early lunch of frito pie, we circumnavigated the inside of “the pond”.  Our first quest was to find an ocean side beach to hunt beach booty, but that didn’t work out.  We walked quite a ways on the NE corner of Normans checking the coast but there were no accessible beaches.  Most of the NE shoreline is steep rock with a 60’ drop off.  Walking back to the dink inside the north pond shallows Jono found another fish net float so that saved the long walk from being a total bust.  From there we dinghied up to the inside beaches on the western side of the pond, not much to explore there…. The entrance on the south end held some interest but not much booty, our way back down the eastern shore was pretty with a couple very small sandy spots and some shallow caves, so the ride back was nice but again not remarkable.

We just took a nap after the nice walk and boat ride, I think we can say we “did” Norman’s Pond today.  Looking at the charts there seems to be some kayak options just south of the pond.  We may bring the Hobie revolution kayak down there tomorrow, we may even change anchorages to facilitate an easier launch for the small boats.  I understand Shroud Cay is the kayak / small boat paradise.  We will have to do that one with Mike and Laurie.

I talked to Mike on the phone earlier, we are talking about meeting back up Tuesday at Allens Cay.  We are both locked in to our anchorages due to high winds today and tomorrow.  Conditions are due to moderate for several days after the current winter like blow.

I love beach combing.. there are always plastic trash and flip flops of every description, but sometimes you get lucky and find something cool.  I love anything with beach “wear” on it.  A common piece of wood can be beautiful if it is mistreated long enough by the sun and waves.

I always heave an eye out for that washed up pirate treasure…. Gold doubloons glistening in the sand… I can dream can’t I?  The float ball Jono found today was from Spain.  Much of what washes up here in the Bahamas comes from Europe, but more often points South.  Part of the allure of beach combing to me is that much of the fodder has traveled long distances.. crossed oceans.  It may have been afloat for years before washing up at my well-tanned feet.  My arm hair is white again, the tops of my feet have a nice base coat to match the rest of my sun dried parts.  I am actually drinking more water this trip and using sun tan lotion.  In the past I have let myself become dehydrated, over-tanned and grumpy… I’m taking better care this trip.

I can tell you one thing.. two guys on a boat use a third the water and when Linda and I sail.  Jono and I often take salt water baths then a quick rinse in the shower.  I probably use 2 quarts of fresh water for the final rinse.  We haven’t put on water since Islamorada and we are still over half full.  I may start running the water maker when we travel to top back off, but more than likely I’ll stop for gas at Staniel Cay and refill our water tank there.

6PM  Jono whooped up a great dinner… he thawed out two servings of Linda’s chicken spaghetti and added a side of corn and carrots infused with wickle juice and topped it off with a line of club crackers.

It is without a doubt the best meal we have had.  The best thing about it is, we only used half the chicken spaghetti Linda made so we can do it again!  On top of that I invented a new drink today…

A fellow I met in Louisiana makes his own muskedine wine…. and I have some on the boat.  It packs a punch but I can’t drink much of it.  It’s very sweet (and I like sweet wine) so I discovered a way to make a collage of flavor using the sweet home made elixir… I invented a new mixed drink I named the “Bellybuster”   Like the actual dive (it’s namesake).. it’s quite impressive but you don’t want to do it a lot.  First think semi sour key lime taste… I rolled a key lime on the table under my palm to juice it up, cut a hole in the side and squeeze a little juice in my mouth.. not much.  I just coat my tongue with it and let it set a while.  Then I introduce the mix of the sweet home made southern wine and Ricardo white rum.  2/3 wine to 1/3 rum.  With that lime flavor tingling your tongue, take a small sip.. not even a sip just enough to coat your tongue of “Bellybuster”…. Wow.. the flavor is like liquid sushi.. it goes all over the place and hits you hard at the same time!  It’s great because you only need small amounts to make the flavor happen!  You laugh….. but I’m pretty proud of not only the complex taste, but for coming up with the perfect name!  Unfortunately it’s hard for the general public to recreate.  To make it you have to first… know my friend, then you need Bahamian white rum, and to top it all off you need small silver dollar sized key limes….  Sorry it’s probably an SLY exclusive.  RCS

What a great sail today.  In short we left Nassau (awesome in itself) and sailed a sweet downwind reach in less than 2’ers.. we outran a big catamaran (horizoned him) we got so far ahead we couldn’t even see him.  Current was with us all day.. and – we didn’t break anything!  We got to Norman’s Pond early so we needed to wait on the tide to rise to enter so we beached SYL in the Southern bay behind the “whales tail”.  We found sand dollars around the boat then got our magic erasers out and cleaned around the water line of the boat…  Finally.. we are doing the SYL thing wading around the boat in shallow sandy waters in the Exumas!!!  We trolled a lot but didn’t catch anything, that was the only missing link in the otherwise perfect day.

Mike and Laurie opted to keep Jumanji in Nassau for the blow.  I know we surprised them this morning when we decided to pull out.  We had discussed us going ahead earlier but our decision to actually leave happened about 7AM and we left at 7:30 so there wasn’t much time to talk about it with Mike.  We topped off with fuel and floated by Jumanji to let them know we were heading out.

It’s less than 50 miles from Nassau to the best hurricane hole in the Bahamas.. Norman’s Pond.  Our track took us direct to Highborn Cay where we passed through the Exuma chain from the West side to the deep ocean East side that allowed us access to Norman’s Pond entry.  Sea Yawl Later did a great job today, I can’t say enough about how much Jono and I enjoyed the sailing and soaking in the beautiful blue beach just outside the entrance to Norman’s Pond.

If you watched “spot” our tracker… today we did some weird things.  Most of the wobbling around was us fishing in and out of the deep water east of the Exuma chain at the prime fishing spots around 120 foot deep.  With winds out of the West I put Jono ashore to hunt the normally unreachable eastern shore of Long Cay.  Prevailing winds are from the SE so these outside beaches almost never see calm water…. but they are today!  He came back with some fine treasures while I worked back offshore and did some fishing.  Jono found a fishing float, some nice netting and line to add to the dinghy brow, a vase sponge and some cool shells. Unfortunately no Ambergris yet…

We worked our way into Norman’s pond just as the flood tide began, we knew it was rising fast so if we got stuck in the sand anywhere.. and we did.  It wouldn’t be hard to back away, so after two or three slow easy groundings we made it in!  Spot should show our new location, we found a great protected hole from the north and east… so we are golden for the next frontal passage.  There are some dinghy-able beaches inside Norman’s.  Even if we hole up here a couple days we have something to go explore.

The sun is low but still up, we are tucked in nicely after the best day of the argosy so far…. Easily our best day.  SYL.. Rusty

We departed just before 7AM from our picturesque anchorage to brave the wild ocean again (hopefully tamer this time) toward Nassau.  It was….. we left in 10 knots of wind on the beam then it went behind us and blew no more than 15 true, so we only saw 8 or 9 knots on the boat.  Wed did see some large ocean swells but they were long and easily traversed being on our stern.  The biggest swells were over 6 feet so waves were not insignificant but certainly mountable… and the best part is they were coming from behind us now.

The trip took just over 5 hours, most of it was sailing but we did have to drop one motor the last few miles.  Entering Nassau is always nerve wracking….. big boats fast boats, little boats all over the place.  Big boats the size of buildings that were tied to the docks seconds ago are now moving across your path blowing their horn to get you to move and there’s no place to go… it’s a zoo.  Jumanji took a slip at Nassau Yacht Haven and we anchored out across the harbor next to the multimillion dollar homes on the Paradise Island side.  Mike is more secure tied to a dock, but we don’t have to listen to sirens and boat traffic in and out all night, I have two anchors out so I feel fairly secure.  Tomorrow I might move out to Rose Island and wait out the weekend blow rather than stay here in the zoo.  North protection is good both places.. we will see.

I got a Bahamas phone today so I am back in touch with the world.  Jono and I walked across to the whole foods market and made off with some goodies during the walkabout.  Catching fish we realized we needed more cooking oil so we got that.  I also picked up some fresh fruit and drinks.  We still don’t have wifi so all my blogging is still just here on my laptop.

The sun is setting now, not much else to report.  We grabbed a plate lunch at the Fresh Market so we didn’t cook much today.  Nassau is getting amazingly quiet at the moment.. such a contrast from the dollar driven madness of the day, dolphin cruises.. booze and cruise… harbor sailboat tours… it’s really a crazy place, but if you’re a vacationer…. you can fly in on a big jet and live it up, they have it all here!

Sea Yawl Later  Rusty and Jono

Thursday  the 7^{th  Chubs to the Berrys}

We left for Nassau at 10AM when the winds (as predicted) went South and moderated…. However, the seas had not moderated at all.  We were angling into 6 to 6 ½ footers out of Chubs, so we decided to go where the wind allowed – which was to make a left to look for calmer water somewhere up the Berry Islands rather than beat all the way to Nassau.  I knew about a nice anchorage at Bonds Cay, I had been here before so we agreed that would be our best option – that’s where we parked our Seawinds for the evening.  As we came in the cut he sun came out.. the waters went crystal clear over pure white sand and the waves went to nothing.  It was a blessing to get out of the leftover chop.. everyone was smiling.  After dropping the hook we explored the distant beaches by dinghy.  The scenery was great as we took separate directions from our beach landing point mid for the 2 hour beachcombing walk.  Jono and I enjoyed the low tide finds, and it gave Mike and Laurie some Bahamas alone time.

Mike and Laurie saw sea turtles, big star fish and even a fleet of 7’ sharks swimming by as they rode in the dinghy heading back from the beach.  Jono and I came back earlier than Jumanji’s two, Jono decided to do some fishing since we didn’t catch anything on the highly anticipated Chubs exit.  Chubs is sport fishing paradise and we had some pretty nice baits out but we didn’t do any good trolling, however…..  we cooked up 3 nice fish Jono caught at anchor, it was enough meat for all four of us.  I’m not sure what kind of fish they were but man they were good, fine little scales and with flaky white meat, each one over 2 feet long…. Nicely done Jono.   We brought them over to Jumanji right out of the pan and ate them while the batter was still sizzling.

Bonds is a great anchorage, lots of baby blue water, totally protected from the SE swell that was banging us on before we bailed out on the run to Nassau.  Winds outside – during our beating had died to 6 knots but the leftover seas were a true burden.  Hopefully they will have moderated in the morning to match the windspeed of the day.  Our plan is to sneak out at daylight and make another run for Nassau 32 miles away.  Going where the wind took us today was a great choice, we would not have found and experienced this fine day without the wavy persuasions of the morning.

It’s absolutely flat here in the anchorage tonight, very little wind of any kind – it’s like the boats are floating in the air…. It’s a magical place.  I see Jono back there fishing again…. I think he’s having a large time.  He caught our dinner on a small yellow white perch jig.

Sea Yawl Later !!  Rusty

It’s 8:30 in the morning now,  SUN!  the sun popped out here at Chubs.  Hopefully my solar panels will enjoy it; last night we used a lot of power so the batteries need a bump.  I didn’t expect to see much sun today so this is a treat.  Water color over the sandy white bottom absolutely lights up your eyes in full sun.  Jono is still sleeping, nothing to get up early for this morning, it’s nice to enjoy a lazy day.  I got up at 6:30 to listen to Chris so I could discuss the weather forecast with Mike.

Yesterday I declared war on rust spots.  Languishing in Louisiana SYL drooled a little…. sitting largely unattended while I worked so many hours she made a few rust spots.  I put in a couple hours yesterday and I may try to finish that clean up today.  It’s nice to work on improvements rather than necessary repairs.  I have some new lines I need to finish as well.  The ends of the lines fray unless you whip them with twine or manage some other finish.  I’m going to try Ted’s trick of using electrical shrink sleeves then cutting the line straight and clean.  I think I’ll like that result.

There goes a big yacht towing his 30’ dinghy.  He’s passing Chubs now heading for points South.  That boat is a Tiger Woods / rock star sized ship.  I often wonder how people do that.. who’s on that huge boat and how that all came about.  I’m quite happy with my little tub, but man…. there are so many big boats around I never imagined there were that many rich folks out there.  I guess it resets the bar to see that much fiberglass floating around.  OK, he’s coming back by the entrance the opposite direction; Chubs must have offered him a slip for under $1,000/day.  You can’t pass up a bargain like that, right?  Last night a ship almost that big anchored right in the entry channel, maybe that’s why he didn’t head right in.  Maybe I’ll get to meet Kenny Chesney after all… lol.  Nope, the flag on “Amarula Sun” is not American, it’s Jamaican.

9:00 and the sun is still out, what a bonus.  Jono took the dinghy into the harbor.  I think he’s dumping trash and getting the wifi passwords.

11:30 – With the wind change we swung out too close to the harbor channel so I anchored up further into the cove while Jono was away.  While on the foredeck hooking up the anchor bridle I found a whole patch of new rust!  When I cut the old crusty lock off yesterday, apparently some grind filings got away from me (thought I had them contained) so I just finished scrubbing that off.  One step forward and two steps back….

We are still getting some intermittent sun; we gained .3 volts in the batteries from our solar panels so far today.  I normally operate between 12 and 12.9 volts so adding .3 is a good bump.

I’m starting to feel my weight loss, I always lose weight being active here on the boat, but with Jono on board all the heavy lifting is done for me so I’m not as active as voyages past.  I suspect I’ll still lose weight but not as rapidly as before.  It would be nice to drop 20 or 30# this trip.  In the past I’ve dropped 45, but that was over 6 months.  I haven’t shaved since I left so I’m getting pretty wooly.

I think I see a little gray sneaking in there, oh yeah… a lot of gray….. I gotta go for that windswept captain look out here you know… Jono’s styling prowess has me thinking “boat theme”.  Linda gave me a close hair cut before leaving so I’m OK there, but I have this sea captain thing going on right now with nobody to please but myself.  Actually I dislike sleeping with a beard and won’t keep it… but a salty sailor needs to look the part.

Chubs has wifi, and we have the passwords but we must be out too far from the source to hook up so I still can’t publish.  When I finally get to wifi I’ll have weeks to upload.  I can’t even get google to come up much less upload text or photos.

4PM:  I took the dink in to plan tomorrow’s trip with Jumanji, as I was pulling out of the harbor I ran into “Forever Young” as they came in to dock.  Richard and Laurie have a 78 foot Hatteras that may be the best example of the brand on the water.  We met them at “Pirate Beach” at Big Majors a few years ago.  They will be at Big Majors when we go thru there, that’s a huge plus for the Seawind flotilla.  Hopefully we can all go aboard the awesome motor yacht “Forever Young”.  They took a slip opposite Jumanji, I helped them tie up.

Jono is baking some breaded fish fillets and corn for dinner.  It smells fantastic.  Tomorrow our plan is to run the 120 to 140’ depth profile around the berry islands and see if we can pick up some fresh meat!  This will be one of the best opportunies to catch fish on the trip.  Unfortunately we lost a great hookup as we entered the NW channel yesterday.  I wasn’t prepared to turn into the wind and reel in a fish when the reel started singing, I was focused on transit rather than dinner.  When the fish hit I didn’t round up so we lost what could have been our first big catch.

Winds are laying now.. it’s almost 5PM.  I have high hopes that tomorrow’s sail will be one of those 10% days… Laurie and Mike need one of those.  WOW  the dinner Jono put out is reminiscent of one of Linda’s meals.  It’s not a one dish dinner like I make, it has great flavor and smells as good as it taste. Fish, corn and buttered bread!

Jono has all the best lures tied on the fishing rods for tomorrow.  We are super hopeful we get something to fry up between SYL and Jumanji when we hit Nassau.  We checked our fish fry stock and we are all good.

Sea Yawl Later !!  Jono and Rusty

I just listened to Chris Parker’s 6:30AM weather on the SSB for Wednesday 4-6-16.  As predicted we will get a clocking of wind from North to East and up to a 30 mph blow today as a weak front passes and dissipates.  The event is short lived; winds will lay tonight and move around from East to SE making tomorrow’s 30 mile trip to Nassau a downwind cake walk.  Listening to Chris, we are still stuck in the winter weather patterns.  Normally these fronts have quit pushing this far south.  Spring weather patterns normally moderate the winter blows by April… hopefully the Bahamas will come into “spring” soon.

Reason said we could have made the trip to Nassau yesterday, but after the 100 mile spirited sail from Bimini, a layover was definitely in order.  If we hadn’t waited… we would have all missed the great beach we found yesterday.  More often than not… waiting is the right answer but when your time limited like all vacations are, it’s hard to slow down enough to do the trip right.  Luckily we did it right this time.  So far we haven’t rushed through any destination.  We did Bimini justice, the Berry islands got a quick look and tomorrow we will go to the zoo.  Not literally the zoo, but to Nassau.

I call Nassau a zoo because of all the tourist activity and boat traffic.  Nassau is almost always a stopover because of its geographical location; it’s on the way to the Exumas.  We might top off our fuel there, but we are only down 5 gallons since Bimini.  I probably will go to the grocer and to Batelco just across the parking lot to activate my Bahamian phone.  From the zoo, it’s South to paradise!  The Exumas…..  No more long trips for a while, I’ll try and slow down my mind to “Island Time” and enjoy every corner of each stop.  Unfortunately I already see the end of our trip approaching but choose not to dwell on it.  I don’t overstate it when I say this passage has been an intrepid endeavor.

There have been many difficult obstacles to overcome this year after leaving New Orleans on SYL.  Most would probably have called off the trip.  Some say I should have, but at this moment my eyes are filled with the amazing blue water colors of the Bahamas.  No it’s not sweeter for the trials; they have taken their toll on the volume of my happiness.  I guess “glad we persevered” is still to be determined.  The trips start gave us a lot to get over, hopefully the remainder of the trip will overcome the truly ugly start.

I have had special moments with Jonathon, and with the Jumanji crew.  It’s been very special sailing next to Mike on a sister ship.  I suspect when the full Seawind fleet of four assembles in the Exumas, I might be able to say “It was worth it”.  You know a woman’s home is her castle.. but for a man it’s his garage stuff.  I haven’t lost the lump in my throat when I think of the 15’ long dumpster full of my things I lost in the flood.  Linda falling and having to be operated on a second time for her knee was heart breaking, I went home for that and the flood but there was certainly no joy in it.. only love for Linda and duty of cleaning up after the flood.  We beat into weather for 2 weeks after making my way back to the boat trying to make Florida, the boat had issues… getting to where I sit was not an easy thing this year.  Linda is not with me so much of my joy is automatically missing in that, this trips joy may be more about getting to know my son, and training him to be a sailor.

Jonathon wants more than anything to buy a sailboat and cruise the Bahamas for an extended time.  I look at him and see his wheels rolling often.. thinking about what it would be like… writing down favorite places…. He’s processing the possibilities.  I’m glad I can pass along what I have learned about weather, navigation and the art of sailing.  He may choose not to do it, and that’s perfectly fine with me… but if he does he won’t start out at ground zero.

Tuesday April 4, 2016  Great Bahama Banks

SYL and Jumanji left Bimini at first light yesterday, Monday the 4^th.  We did not stop on the banks overnight for two reasons:  1. Waves were higher than expected so overnighting in the open water was not appealing.  2.  We made such good travel time it was possible to anchor in Chubs Cay – Berry Islands (another 15 miles or so) before dark.

This was a record setting Banks crossing.  With current against us the entire time we averaged almost 8 knots over water for this 100 mile sun up to sundown day.  We left at 7AM and planted our anchor at 7:30PM!  So far on this trip all weather reports should have been bumped by a factor of at least 1.5.  If they said winds were 10, they were 15 or better.  The sailing was great yesterday with waves off our port bow, we could roll them nicely but it was indeed another “man sailing” day ….. quite brisk.  I found a perfect sail set that made the boat drive through the waves sweetly.  I travelled down to put all the main sheet lift on the leeward hull.  That made the side to side motion less active.  Travelling down also opens the boom so the sail is powerful over the big waves all the way to the foot.

SYL.. Rusty

Crossing the gulfstream can be the most treacherous leg of our Bahamian argosy.  Often people never gather the courage to “cross the stream” due to its bermuda triangle / dangerous legacy.  Water currents flow North as fast as 3 knots along the East coast of the US, so if winds blow in any opposing direction to the relentless current waves can double in size and be very hard to traverse.  I have been lucky in years past, we crossed a dozen times, this traverse rates somewhere in the middle of the pack.

We left Islamorada for a night crossing with expectations of SE winds at 12 knots… going true South and up to 15 during the night.  That would have been perfect sailing conditions but true to crossing legacy we didn’t get that…. Winds were almost due East (in our face) for 80% of the trip luckily waves had some South direction in them so we weren’t pounding to weather; we were rolling them 45 degrees off the bow.  SYL and Jumanji were able to sail without engines the last 20 miles when we finally got some South component.

The crossing was fast, I haven’t done the math – but be saw almost 10 knots of ground speed late in the trip.  We planned for a 15 to 16 hour passage; our trip time was 13 hours so we made quick work of the 90+ miles from Snake Creek.  Unfortunately our early arrival put us here before the morning sun.  Entering the Bimini channel requires good light so we set our anchors in the sandy Bahamian beach just outside the cut and waited with great expectation as the sun filled in the colors of the beautiful baby blue watery canvas our boats were now a part of.

This crossing was “not for the faint of heart”.  Linda knows exactly what that means because we have made this type crossing before… doable but more to the liking of burly men than faint of heart.  I can’t say I liked it, but it was not a disaster either…. I would repeat rather than regret the endeavor.

Bimini customs has moved, so naturally we parked in the wrong place.  A bit weary after the all night voyage we moved our ships to “Bimini Big Game Club” to check in first at customs, then to immigrations.  The process was painless, $150 and 4 or 5 sheets of paperwork and we are in!  It does require two trips if you have crew, they can’t come with you to immigration but they have to sign their own entry papers.

Mike and I debated about dockage, if we wanted to plug and pay….. but we found a decent anchorage at the North end of North Bimini next to the big fancy resort.  After getting our hooks placed in the sand we all took a nap… when I say I napped.. I actually did what I call “slobber sleeping” I went unconscious for 3 hours.  Reconvening  as a group after noon, we discussed our options for the day.

Weather looked OK for a spirited run to the Exumas the next day (April 2^nd but there was a chance (if we didn’t hurry) we would be in open water for a northern blow.  We all wanted to see Bimini rather than just say “we went there” but were too wiped out to enjoy the day ashore.  We decided to move on…. Then we all took another nap.

I woke up and saw Mike and Laurie heading to the resort in their dink.  When my eyes cleared I drank a big glass of water and followed them ashore while Jono slept.  As it turned out the resort welcomes anyone to come spend their money, even trashy boat people that park at their doorstep for free… so we did.  After the first 15 dollar drink I found out why they were good with it… lol.  One drink, then I came back for Jono, we all ate pizza at the pizza joint.  So… with clearer minds (and a 15 dollar Bahama Mama) we revised our float schedule.

After finding a great off boat option we decided to do Bimini right and spend a few days here at our leisure.  We spent the extra hours getting here instead of blasting across the banks immediately so we might as well enjoy it.  This morning (April 2^nd) we slept in.  I can see people stirring on Jumanji as I write.  The wind has picked up, I feel happy we aren’t out in it.  Today winds start our high but are forecast to lay during the day so our trip would have started briskly putting everyone on edge right off… glad we stayed.  The rigging sings at 12 knots and it’s singing to me now.  Without looking at instruments I generally know conditions by the sounds of the boat.  I guess 50,000 miles of sailing gives you that.. at least.

We rented a golf cart for $85/day for the trek to Alice Town (old Bimini) today… we bought some bimini bread and shopped the wares around the small circular tourist heart of North Bimini.  I bought Jono a chartreuse green long sleeve Bimini shirt for his birthday.  Two roads run most of the islands length.  The main road has businesses along both sides but the second road is primarily local housing.  We were driving down the residential coast road on the golf cart and smelled some great cooking as we passed a little take away shop about 1:30 so we turned around and discovered some true Bahamian food on the “locals” side of the island.  Fried fish, potato salad with peas and rice.  The four of us took our local fare to a shady spot overlooking the water and had a mini feast just above the beach.  Earlier we found loads of descent sea glass on the North end of the islands sand bar, our lunch spot beach had the same allotment, so we did very good on sea glass here at Bimini.  Check that one off the list!

Mike and Jono just brought our empty gas cans (two per boat) to town on the cart to be filled.  That will top us off for the next long run toward the Exumas.  Gas was $4.20 per gallon.. very good for the islands.

We normally see one or two sea planes landing somewhere every trip.  But parked here at the resort, they we are getting 5 or 6 turbopropped 16 seater sea planes per day.

They circle in right by our boat offloading 8 to 12 people per load.  RWB also has a couple signature red/orange ferries running from the commercial airport on South Bimini.  They seem to have a booming business here at “Resorts World Bimini”.  The anchorage is fine, holding seems good but there is not a lot of room, 5 or 6 boats fill it up.

8PM Saturday night:  We found so much sea glass on our earlier excursion we decided to make another run at it so we loaded back on the cart and went to the ocean side beach about the middle of Bimini Road.  The four of us probably picked up another quart of glass.. nice haul.  After beachcombing we went back to the resort and had our obligatory $15 dollar Bahama Mama rum drink overlooking the big expensive boats in the harbor – then turned in our golf cart for the day.  As I sit back on the boat I’m enjoying one of Jono’s famous chili dogs..

Today truly felt like the first day of our vacation.. not just a “get there day” like we have had so many of on our intrepid journey toward the Bahamas.  At times turning for home seemed to be the right answer.. and we did.  Somehow the allure of blue water was so strong with me.. and my plans to sail so ingrained we persevered…. thru all the turmoil and troubles we finally made it.. we are here.. finally enjoying the Bahamas.

It seems the front may come thru a day early so we may not have to wait out a blow on Monday, it may come tomorrow!  That puts us on the move again monday morning as the cool dry North winds clear out the skies and blow us East then South to our final destination in the Exumas.  It’s likely we will make a long 140 mile leg this next time.. all the way to Highborne Cay or Normans.  As always our plans are in sand and that washes off easily with a bit of water…. so long for now.

We have been expecting a front to come thru, it just did.  We are still comfortably anchored in Bimini to wait out the weather event.  It just began raining so SYL is getting a free bath….

Tomorrow we will check weather but conditions should be favorable to make a run to the Exumas.  It will be a long leg if we go all the way across the banks and down to Allen’s Cay.  Travelling South behind a weak cold front is a great option.  The weather clears, you get low humidity and sunny days with favorable winds for several days in a row.  This front is not only cleaning our boat, its setting us up for a nice run to our destination.

We got a bonus really, this front wasn’t due until tomorrow.  It’s great that it will come and go a day early so we can too!  We are filled with gas so all services on the boat are ready, We motored quite a bit on the crossing but only burned 8 gallons.

Not much else to report today.. we will nap and be lazy while it rains.  Jono put Rain X on the front windows and this morning you can certainly tell they are cleaner.  Water sheets on the unprotected windows but beads off the front.

I may play with my radar and watch the rain clouds go by….. All is good here, Sea Yawl Later !!

7:30PM  The rain has passed, it’s only partly cloudy now…  winds would have been good to travel on today.. but it wasn’t a given with all the clouds.   There could have been embedded gusts and squalls, but it didn’t happen in Bimini.   We played it safe and stayed one more day… that’s usually the best idea.  In the morning we are good to go…… our goal is to get out of here at 7AM, drive 60 miles and park on the banks overnight….  then make another 60 miles to Nassau Tuesday where we will pick up fuel and head South for Allen’s Cay.  At that point we will be in the Exumas and make short hops down toward Georgetown as weather allows.

Tonight we will leave Bimini resort wifi… our journey leads us to more and more remote locations so I’m not sure when we will post again.  It may be several days before we pick up the world wide web again.  Follow us on Spot….. we hope you have as much fun watching as we do sailing….

Sea Yawl Later !!  Rusty