The big jump...

King St., Alice Town, Bimini

Oh, it has been a while since I last wrote in this blog, it’s a good thing I also keep a diary or I wouldn’t know where to start. 

Christmas decorations along the ICW

We popped in and out of marinas on our way to Ft Lauderdale some were close to the ocean, which of course we took full advantage walking the beaches and digging our toes into the sand and water.  One day soon we will stop early enough in a day to get a swim in.   We enjoyed our dinner on the dock on the edge of the ICW one night and saw another launch from Cape Canaveral.   I think we saw one of the rocket boosters being ejected.  There was a long bright tail behind it as it went along the same trajectory as the one we had seen in Virginia. 

As we travelled further south there were more and more restricted bridge openings which means we have to time our travel so that we don’t sit and wait between bridges.  The bad part is that some of these timings are based on boats that go faster than ours, mostly power boats travelling along the ICW to the next inlet.  Fair enough as there are far more power boats than sail, but it got frustrating when we would miss an opening by minutes, so would have to wait a half hour or longer until the next one.  Luckily, we didn’t have a long journey today and got into Las Olas City Marina in good time. 

Ad for the Beach Volleyball tourney

Atlantic Ave., Ft Lauderdale

Where we were, in Ft Lauderdale, was close to the ocean and a lovely beach, a whole two blocks away.  It’s a very busy section because of the beach front.  Along one side of the street is the beach and ocean with a lovely sidewalk that weaves its way along the beach around the palm trees that are set in the middle of the sidewalk. The other side of the streis packed with shops, restaurants, bars that literally come alive as the sun is going down, more so from Thursday through Sunday nights.  While we were there, they were setting up at one end of the beach for an international beach volleyball tournament, complete with a statue of hands over a volleyball net.  We hope to be gone by the time it happens, but it would have been neat to go to, especially as it was a free event.

Cruise ship heading out

We finally swam, the water was glorious, the waves fun to play in.  We spent a lot of time along this area, walking every night, sitting on the edge of the beach listening to great live music from the various restaurants.  One restaurant in particular had a great latin guitar player Alex Fox, most nights that we really enjoyed listening to.  We watched cruise ship after cruise ship, including the largest one out there, leave from Port Everglades just up the beach.  During the day we did get to outfitting our cute little boat, stocking up on supplies and planning for a crossing to the Bahamas.

We were here for most of two weeks before we felt we were ready for further journeys, so we moved on to just south of Miami in Biscayne Bay.  Sailing through this huge city was interesting, thankfully all the cruise ships were tied up and we didn’t have to worry about them.  There were fewer bascule bridges enroute from Ft Lauderdale to Miami until finally we were done with bridge openings.  That felt like an accomplishment. 

We tied up in Dinner Key just south of Miami on a mooring ball for a few days.  Time to try out our new solar system, tie down the new life raft, and find homes for all the supplies we purchased.  It is suggested that you stock up as much as you can fit on your boat for as long as you are in the Bahamas.  Everything is at least twice the price as it would be in the States, if you can get it, so that is what we did too.

Life Guard stn at Miami Beach

Miami Beach waiter

The mooring ball tie up was great, we could use our dinghy or use the shuttle service that was included in the price of the mooring, to get back and forth to shore.  We were in the area called Coconut Grove, nice spot.  We used the hop on hop off tour bus to go and see around a small bit of Miami.  It’s Al’s birthday this day, so we hop on and after going through Coconut Grove and learning its history, seeing the Biltmore Hotel where Al Capone apparently spent quite a bit of time, passed by the Venitian Springs, where the original Tarzan actor used to hang out.  We move on through Little Havana, with shops and restaurants of all sorts.  We are in a double decker bus, so get good views along the way, and have to duck to miss getting smacked by palm branches.  At the bus central terminal we hopped onto the Blue loop which took us out to Miami beach.  It’s lovely out there, passing the cruise ship terminal where Jenna and Braden would have left from on their honeymoon. 

The Carlyle Hotel

We got off the bus and wandered over a couple blocks to Miami beach, which is very wide and today has quite a few people there as it is a Saturday, before we headed back up to the streets.  The area has maintained its art deco feel from earlier years and is beautiful.  There are heaps of smaller hotels, nothing over 3 stories and each floor has eyebrows (art deco style).  We stopped for lunch at The Carlyle Hotel where Robin Williams movie Bird Cage was filmed.   We sat out on the deck enjoying the views of the ocean and people wandering the streets like us.  There was a valet (master) in front of the Carlyle encouraging folks driving by to stop in, he was in the middle of the street.  He was obviously well know, as many tooted their horns or waved to him as they went by.  It must have been his straw fedora, but he really played the part.

We had a fabulous view of Miami from the back of our boat.  Its night time skyline is very colourful, very pretty.  A couple nights we saw fireworks being set off from various places to add to the ambience.  It never really gets dark there because of all the lights.

We had dinner at a cute little café on the water beside our marina and watched sailboat after sailboat come in.  This area is the training centre for Olympic sailors during the winter so we saw boats from Canada and Great Britain as well as the States coming back in.  This whole Biscayne Bay is a sailing mecca, as its wide, deep enough and gets enough wind so there were boats under sail out there all the time. We have had to pinch ourselves many times to make sure this is all real and we're really here.

We finally got our weather window to sail over to Alice Town on North  Binimi  of Bahamas.  Its not a long journey, 50 nautical miles, something our little boat is quite capable of doing in a day.  There is also the extra lift from the Gulf Stream that flows north, in some sections as fast as 3 knots.  The plan generally is to either start farther south in the Florida Keys or make a heading by a few degrees south of our intended destination to be able to use that 3 knots to get us across a bit faster.  We had intended on leaving at 5:30 am to make sure we got over there in daylight, unfortunately,… the button on the alarm wasn’t pulled out far enough and a 6:30 we woke up thinking it was too light for 5:30……

We got under way in about 20 minutes and still managed to use the outgoing tide to help us out of the channel around Cape Florida on the Biscayne Key and away we went. The second option for crossing the Florida Straight is what we chose and it worked well as we were going at speeds up to 8 knots in our 6 knot boat.  We had left our mooring at 6:50 and got into our slip in Alice Town by 3 pm.  The wind and waves picked up as we were closing in on the islands, but not too much that it caused us any issue getting into the narrow channel.  JR the dock master, at Bluewater Marina welcomed us and helped us into the slip.  Very nice and capable fellow, no new bruises on our cute little boat. 

To check into a new country by boat, you should raise a small yellow (quarantine) flag to indicate that you have not yet been cleared by their customs.  Al, as the captain has to take the incoming border documents (like you get on airplanes going to another country), passports and even a copy of our boat registration to their office to get processed.  The Bahamas has an entrance fee for boats which gives you entry into their country, two fishing permits and a neat stamp in our passports.  There are several pages of documents to fill out, including a health questionnaire asking if anyone died on the way here or had any infectious diseases.  Al has a cold, but they still let him in thankfully. Their dollar is on par with the US greenback and both are interchangeable.

So, while Al was getting us cleared I had been chatting up a few people on the dock getting the scoop on things around the marina and the town. Found out a few interesting things, where the beach is, where the best bread is made, important stuff.  When Al got back we ceremoniously raised our Bahamian courtesy flag to replace the yellow flag.  Next, straight into the pool, as its cooking out, and finally cheered our safe crossing with a nice cold beer while sitting by the pool.  The remainder of the day was spent sitting by the pool, which turned into a gathering place for fellow sailors (sundowner time) and gleaned as much as we could about the Bahamas from those who have been before. 

Next day we went off exploring from one end of North Bimini to the other; which consists of one main street, King Street that runs right down the middle of the island and another, Queen St.  that parallels the main one but closer to the islands western shore and only in places does this one run.  Further to the northern end is a large resort which also caters to cruise ships that drop in.  We haven’t seen one yet, but we do recall that the main departure for cruise ships out of Ft Lauderdale is Saturdays, so we’ll have to see if one shows up then. 

The islands aren’t real fancy by any means, quite simple, there are cars and golf carts that people run up and down the main street in.  This main street isn’t very wide, in fact two vehicles really have to be careful passing in opposite directions, and pedestrians don’t have much more room to keep out of the way.  There aren’t sidewalks, the businesses and houses yards run almost right up to the roads paved edge.  We are the visitors so always get off the road and out of the way, but the locals don’t usually, many just keep walking along the pavement and expect the vehicles to miss them.  We aren’t so brave.  The speed limit is only 15 mph, but still.  They drive on the British side of the road here, left over from when Britain did rule here, they gained independence from Great Britain in the 70’s I think.  I think that their licence plates are given in numberical order.  Any number between 1 through 1034 are numbers on plates that I saw.

Conch Gate post

The ocean side is simply stunning, the colours you just can’t believe until you actually see them.  Those pictures in magazines don’t do it justice.  We can clearly see down many feet, and under our boat it’s like there is no water at all.   With this clarity, you get to see all kinds of fish, a few bull sharks that come in with the fishermen.  The sharks like to clean up the guts and stuff that the fishermen toss.  One such shark comes by around 4 pm every day.  We saw him when we arrived yesterday.   He can’t hide in these waters, nothing can.  This clarity has its own issues, in that we will have to learn to ‘read’ the water to understand what depth is under our keel and whether that dark patch is grass or a coral head.

We are just across the harbour from a very lively Tiki bar of sorts that plays very loud rap music, and it comes over the water and right into all of our boats.  The first night it was hard to get used to, but last night it didn’t take long at all to fall asleep.  I guess sleeping next to a train track at home helped get used to the loud noise.  The music tended to be less as the week went along, which I wouldn't have thought would happen.

Today, we were on a mission to find the famous Bimini coconut bread, got to Charley’s bakery just in time for a warm out of the oven loaf of bread.  Oh man is it good!!.

That night the whole lot of sailors in the marina decided we should go over to the beach side of Alice Town for a sundowner.  What a lovely night for it too, a bit cool as a front went by the other night, but glorious.  Watched the sun set, chatted with all like-minded sailors, just totally enjoyable.  We grabbed a snack from the food truck later, conch fritters and a wrap.  Those fritters just melt in your mouth.  I thought the ones we had on the mainland were good….oh no, no comparison.

Today we are all comparing notes on where to go next, and when to go further. The weather is looking like tomorrow is the time, as we will be anchoring out on the Bahama bank in about 10 feet of water in the middle of nowhere.  There is nothing between here and the Berry Islands, so it’s what you have to do to get there.  One experienced couple left today, we gleaned a bunch of information from them before they left.  There is yet another low pressure due to come through on Wednesday night, so we will plan on being snug in a marina in the Berry islands by then.

Tough afternoon on the beach

So all for now.... from warm and sunny Bahamas sitting under the full moon by the pool.  Ya Mon...

The internet is very sloooooowwwwww over here, so not sure how much of a blog will come through.

I'll send more pictures when I have a few hours.... these 10 took over 1/2 hour to upload...