Day 262
March 29, 2016
NM Today: 62
NM Total: 3957
Well today we got to see the sunrise for a change. Our alarm went off
at 7:00 at precisely the same time we got a phone call from Lila Blue saying they were pulling up
anchor and heading on their way to Bimini. Clark told them we would be leaving
in about a half hour, and we got busy preparing for our day of travel. At 7:30, as predicted, we had our anchor
up and were on our way as well.
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| Sunrise at Pumpkin Key Anchorage |
Once I verified that Clark had all the paraphernalia that he needed to
navigate and be self-sufficient up top, I set to making breakfast for both of
us to eat while underway. Last night before closing up the upper helm for the
night we worked together to enter our waypoints and route for today’s travel.
That certainly saved time this morning. When Clark activated the route, the
navigation system calculated the travel time to be about 8 hours.
We watched the depth as we journeyed further and further out into the Atlantic
Ocean. In Florida we saw max depths of 8 feet or so. That number rapidly and continuously increased. Shortly after the depth got to just over 1000 feet our depth finder gave
up reporting. It was just too deep for our system to get a reading of the depth.
Several freighters passed by us as we made way to Bimini. At one point
I asked Clark what it was that I could see off in the distance. We both decided
it looked like trees, so it must be an island. Not too long later Clark said, “Your
island is heading straight for you.” I looked over and there was a big, old freighter
passing by. I thought it was too early to find an island, but it looked nothing like
a freighter in the distance, I swear!
Even though they started out before us, we passed Lila Blue rather early on because we traveled at a higher speed
than they did. After we passed them, we could see them getting smaller and
smaller on the horizon. With the hazy horizon, it eventually became too difficult to see
them with the naked eye, yet Clark could still find them with the binoculars.
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| Lila Blue on hazy horizon (see the little white dot?) |
The next thing I knew Clark was telling me that we only had one hour to
go to get to the marina. As we got closer and closer, the water became bluer
and bluer. Eventually Clark said, “Laaaand
Hoooo!” and this time it was for real.
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| "Land Ho!" ... first site of Bimini |
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| Oh my .. such blue water |
At the
entrance to Alice Town, a 75-to-100 foot or so boat
passed us entering the harbor. Clark pulled in behind him and followed him in
knowing that our water draft is certainly less than his.
In fact Clark did such
a good job following him that he took us right past the marina we planned to
stay at for the night and kept on going. Actually I think he was too busy admiring the water. At one point he
exclaimed, “The water is so clear blue it is like boating in a swimming pool.”
We could see the bottom very clearly.
I noticed by looking on the chart that we had passed a marina that was east of the one we
needed and pointed it out to Clark. He spun the boat in 180 degrees and headed
back the short distance we had overshot. He said, “Now you have had the grand
tour.” I thanked him as when we leave here we will travel in the opposite
direction, so I got to see some parts of Bimini from the water I would not have
seen otherwise.
Having changed his mind twice about where to stay, Clark finally ended up with a
reservation at Blue Water Marina in Bimini. Coming into the Bahamas, as with
any country, we had to pass through Customs and Immigration. We put up our
yellow quarantine flag that says the boat has not yet checked in. We must fly
that flag upon entering any non-U.S. country including Canada. Once we have
cleared customs, we take down the quarantine flag, continue to fly our U.S. flag, but add a small “courtesy”
flag of the country we are visiting.
Only the captain can leave the boat to visit customs and immigration,
so Clark took all the paperwork, e.g. passports, and headed off to walk to
first one then the other of these two offices to get us all squared away for
our stay here. He did not even take the time to check in at the marina before
running off to take care of government business. Meanwhile I sat on the boat awaiting his
return.
I planned on reading while he was gone, but when I looked over the side
of the boat, it was like I was floating in an aquarium. At first I only saw
some little yellow and black striped fish swimming under the docks. They were
pretty, but what really surprised me was when a stingray swam on by like no one’s
business. Too cool for words!
When Clark got back to the boat from customs and immigration, he
immediately went up top to the VHF radio to try to contact Lila Blue. I was sitting on the ‘grand staircase’ on our boat when
a man came up to me and asked, “Did you just buy this boat?” What an odd
question I thought! “No”, I said, “we’ve owned it for sixteen years.” “Oh, well”,
he says, “I know this boat. I kept my boat on Rumson Creek for years.” It
turned out that he has known Clark for the past 20-something years, and they
have talked frequently being “almost” neighbors. He kept his boat on the dock almost directly
across the creek from us! Small world!
I yelled up to Clark that he had a visitor and as soon as he leaned
over the railing to see who it was, he recognized Bob from the sailboat Aftermath. After that it was hard to
keep Clark focused on the business of settling in. He plugged in the power cord
for the boat but forgot to flip the circuit breaker, so I had no power. I asked
about WiFi and he didn’t have the information. I asked where I could find a
restroom, and he didn’t know that either.
What I found truly annoying was that instead of taking care of
business, even checking in at the marina, all Clark seemed to want to do was
converse with Bob. Bob has been coming to the Bahamas for years and is an expert on boating here, so they did discuss important things like the weather and places
to visit in the Bahamas, etc. I would just have liked to be settled in first.
I found the lack of electricity surprising and annoying since I had pulled
out my cook pot to make dinner but found I had no electric to start it cooking. Looking
over onto the dock, I could see the boat cord plugged into the power source, so
now what. I had to go find Clark – he was on Bob’s boat talking about the
weather. I dragged him back so I could get power.
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| Aftermath at dock in Bimini: Blue Water Marina |
Perhaps it was fortuitous that I had no power with which to cook because
when Clark came on board he told me that Bob and his wife, Mary Ann, were going to a local
marina to get hamburgers for dinner. “Good”, I said, “Let’s join them.” That
took Clark a little by surprise since he said they had not invited us to join
them. Still I figured it would be fine, and of course it was.
We had dinner at the Big Game Marina. The 8 ounce burgers cost $15 each
with 18% gratuity automatically added to the bill and a 7.5% Value Added Tax
thrown on top. At $37 for two burgers I was glad that my burger came prepared
the way I asked and was very tasty to boot. Since the menu did not mention
them, it came as an unexpected bonus that the burgers came with fries.
Walking to and back from the restaurant I felt like I was taking my life in my hands. We stepped off marina property right onto the road. We had to wait for traffic to pass and then we walked practically in the street to get there. The road was barely wide enough for two cars to pass. Thank goodness the cars are small here and many folks seem to drive golf carts instead of cars. There were no sidewalks. "Is this Main Street in Alice Town?" I asked myself.
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| Golf Cart driving on the Main Street. Note the side of the road being used ... like Britain! |
Getting and keeping an internet connection has been painful and time-consuming tonight. As mentioned in last night's post, blogging will be sporadic based on what I can manage to find in connectivity and bandwidth.
Such a great adventure. :) So lovely to read.
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