Bimini Bound

The "Tree of Knowledge" in Marathon. Each day all the "old salts" gather here to solve the world's problems or just complain about them.

Boats at rest in Marathon Harbor---actually Boot Key Harbor.

One of two huge and crowded dinghy docks at the marina in Marathon. This was taken early in the morning before it began to fill up. The 12 shower/rest rooms and the laudry facility are here as well as the parking lot and the "Tree". The other dinghy dock, twice as large and just as crowded is at the other end of the building, closer to the office , day room, TV theaters and library.

We are sitting in a slip at the Bimini Bluewater Marina. Whodathunk???

After spending almost an entire week in Marathon watching the weather and looking for a weather window that would allow us to cross the Gulf Stream comfortably, we are finally here.

We had a good time in Marathon--rented a car and took a road trip to Key Largo and another one to spend last Sunday in Key West, but we were anxious to get on with the journey. Monday we subscribed to a weather service run by Chris Parker. He is the recognized weather guru for Gulf Stream passages and Bahama weather. He and his wife run this weather service where you can get their reports by FAX, cell phone, internet or email, and by single sideband (shortwave) radio.

He'll also accept your phone call, fax or email for a personalized report. Diane, my weather officer and navigator, called him on Monday and he gave us a green light to cross over to Bimini, Tues night and Wednesday, further indicating that the farther north we started from, the more benign the conditions.

Thus, we left Marathon Tuesday morning at around 10 and motor sailed to Rodriguez Key, which is just off of Key Largo. We arrived there and dropped the anchor around 7 PM, had supper and took a brief nap. At 1AM we weighed anchor and took off across the Hawk Channel, through the reef and out into the Atlantic. We encountered exactly the conditions predicted by Chris Parker (making us true believers in his skills). It started out fairly calm as we motored into the wind almost directly on our nose--no sailing today--. Conditions built a bit and the wind was still on our nose but blowing about 15 as we entered the Atlantic with 2 to 3 foot waves but built to 4 to 5 foot waves for several hours as we entered into the stream. Still, not too uncomfortable. As predicted by Chris the wind and waves subsided during the day and we spent our last several hours motoring over fairly calm and flat seas with very little wind--over the bluest water I have ever seen---a deep, dark blue---we were in 900 feet of water depth. WE arrived in Bimini at around 2:30 PM and were comfortably tied up at our slip with the air conditioning on by 4 PM. After clearing customs and immigration--a not too unpleasant ordeal--the customs house was a very short walk up the street---I returned for boat drinks and a hot shower--MAN!! That felt good!! WE had dinner that night at the Big Game Club (excellent Mahi, O-rings,conch fritters), and hit the sack, exhausted, at around 9:30. What a day!!!

Diane is the on top of the world, with a huge sense of accomplishment--not just for the journey, but for having overcome her fears. We are truly excited to be here and ready to continue on around and down the islands.

(I must note here that we had a bit of a problem as we set out for Bimini. Our auto-pilot started working erratically. It has a built in electronic compass (the fluxgate compass) that sends signals to the auto-pilot as well as the GPS chartplotter. It bounces around all over the place giving false readings. It effects the chart plotter in the same way---you can tell exactly where you are, but you can't tell where you're headed. The auto-pilot steers an erratic course as a result, so it was unusable on the way over, not to say a bit unnerving to not have this fabulous navigational tool to rely upon. Still we had our regular magnetic compass on the binnacle and a hand held one as well as the satellite based Seaclear navigation software as back-up. I also have a hand-held GPS that I really haven't had to try out yet. So, we hand steered in 1 hour shifts all the way over. I've spoken with the manufacturer and I may not be able to fix the problem until we're back in the states. I have one more possible cure to try but if that doesn't work we'll just continue on with the tools we have--after all--they got us safe and sound and accurately to Bimini across 100 miles of ocean. It will just mean we will have to hand steer most of the way----annoying and tiring, but doable.

We have come to the conclusion that we will not have enough time to see all the places that we wanted to see or go all the places we wanted to go to. We probably will not get to the Exumas, as we need to be back home by the first of May. That means planning for at least 2 weeks to get back to Punta Gorda, counting weather delays and rest stops, and that's from here. We do plan on heading farther west and hopefully south to see some of the other islands and so we have to factor in returning from as far as we are able to get. We'll just take it a day at a time. While we won't be able to join the Texas Navy in the Exumas maybe we'll run into them on their way back. What this really means is--we'll be back, with a whole lot more time on our hands, experience and confidence, ready to explore farther destinations. No disappointment here.

Chuck took the ferry over to the airport to see about a flight back to Miami or Ft Myers tomorrow. He has been a huge help and we will truly miss him and hope that this experience has given him the knowledge and confidence so that he and Nancy would buddy-boat with us next winter. We'll probably relax here the next couple of days before moving on. I won't have internet access for the next several days so keep following us on the SPOT link at the left hand side of these pages. Life is very good!!!

Diane here. Yes, life is good. I still can't believe we have made it this far and as I look back on all

that we have seen and done, I have a tremendous sense of accomplishment. I was telling Kristin that I don't think I will fully appreciate this experience until I get home and "process" it. As with most of our travels, I wonder "Where did the time go" I am anxious to explore the Bahamas but this will be the condensed version. Then it's back the way we came. Very excited to be leaving the boat in Florida and as Dave alluded to, we will be doing this again!

So I finally allowed Diane to post on the blog---What a guy!