"2002 Trip Part 3 - Crossing the Gulf Stream" Bimini District Travelogue by grandmaR

Above is RosalieAnn flying Bahama courtesy flag on right spreader. Blue boat is PIRATE LADY a dive boat from FL checks in and gets fuel at Bimini Blue Water Resort docks.

Jan 16th.
We put up all the sails and turned off the motor. Wind up to 20 knots and cloudy. At 1100, the winds were about 16 knots from the NE and it was clear and sunny, but the wind was now against us, so we had to motor. Bob turned on the refrigeration, but the pump kicked off because it lost its prime. I couldn't hear anything on the SSB (single side band) to get weather from Herb. We were headed for Rodriguez Key, but we aren't going to make it all the way there, so we anchored off Tavenier after 42.4 nm (average speed 4.9 knots) at about 1740.

I spent some time calling people. Called Capn charting software people and fixed the Dell so the colors display properly. Called Maptech and they admitted that Bimini is 1 mile NW of where their charts have it. Called Photoworks and asked to be taken off the email list.

Windstar cruise ship off Bimini

Jan 17th. Got underway about 0900 and went up to anchor south of Rodriguez Key - another 6.9 nm.- to wait to cross. We had been 107 nm since leaving Boca Chica (Key West). Bob rebuilt the autoinflate PFDs that went off when we were leaving Marathon.

Talked to Herb of Southbound II,on the SSB after turning everything off. Found that the inverter used to run the computer was causing a lot of interference -replaced it with another one which is better but still causes some interference. Called all the children to tell them we were leaving from the Bahamas and called ATT to turn off the cell phone which doesn't work in the Bahamas.

We got underway about 1710 which was way earlier than we really needed to go, except that I wanted to go through the reef in daylight.

The wind was from the east, light at first and then a steady 15 knots. I tried to sleep off and on up to 2230, -not much success. Bob put up the main and staysail and dropped the motor back almost to idle, and we motor-sailed close into the wind. Bob went down to sleep @ 2230. I tried to tack because we were going north too quickly, and suddenly I was going backwards (relative to the course) at about 2 knots.

Range on Bimini beach south Bimini

Jan 18th Bob came up at 0130 - said he didn't sleep much. He tried to tack, -same result as I had had (surprise), so he pulled in the staysail and increased motor revs to get closer to the Bimini course line. Saw various boats going the opposite direction. I went down to sleep, and slept to about 0445. Then Bob went and actually slept some until 0700.

The sky just before dawn was like a Van Gogh, except that it was not circular lines, but like crushed velvet - sort of jagged around the stars. The sun rose. I started seeing the trees of Bimini.

When Bob came up I pointed out to him the cruise ship Wind Star (above) which has sails which was coming into Bimini (read an article in the Weds Miami paper about it). They are coming to Bimini every week - a tremendous increase in tourism. The ship anchored - we could hear their radio communications on the VHF. We turned off all the nav lights.

Got to Bimini at about 8 am Fri. morning and call Sea Crest Marina, and were advised to wait until 10 for high tide. Saw another boat who looked like he was going to go across the sandbar that sticks out from North Bimini and called him on the VHF and told him about the range which is very hard to see.(Photo of the range was taken leaving Bimini and the two stakes are widely separated. Can you see them?). You have to line up the two sticks, and come in along the range and then run just a couple of yards off the beach up past the shoal that sticks out from the South Bimini marina entrance He asked to follow us, so we led him in. Bob says the depth sounder didn't go below 6'9".

After we got into Bimini, we'd been 190 nm since Key West. This trip we did 84 nm in 17 hours (counting the 2 hours we waited to come into the harbor). Used about 14 gallons of fuel.

I went up and checked in and got 90 days cruising permit. Then we went and had BLTs at Captain Bob's restaurant like we did last year. Bob went to get some Bimini bread (which we normally buy at the market but they were out so he got some at a store) while I went back to the boat to send an email and discovered that I couldn't find the international access number for pocketmail. I tried several times to phone them, but their customer service numbers are screwed up and wouldn't let me talk to a person until I could tell them a person?s name. Finally had to call our daughter - got our son-in-law and he got the number from the internet for me.

Bob went and got fuel in jerry jugs from Blue Water at the next dock (19 gals in 2 trips), and then we walked up to the Anchorage for dinner. Was very good, but I couldn't eat it all because I was too tired. CJ's had no ice cream.

We decided to get the electricity here, even though it is more expensive than most places, so Bob turned on the refrigeration and we went to bed.

Bimini Straw and Crafts Market

Left is the "Straw Market", which mostly sells T-shirts, but also usually has Bimini bread. It is next to the customs and immigration building. You can see the municipal dock over the top of the market buildings

Marina prices - SeaCrest is 90 cents a foot (marina phone # is 242-347-3477 but you are more likely to get an answer from the hotel which is 242-347-3495) with $30.00/day minimum. Electricity is $12 for up to 40'-$18 for 41' to 50' . Water is $.30/gal for RO water. They have 2 showers, and are adding more hotel rooms. No pets according to the literature, but there were people there in the marina with dogs. Call on VHF 68 although they may not answer if there's no one in the office as usual.

Costs of alternate marina and hotel accommodations: The cheapest are South .Bimini Yacht Club-tie up on a canal for 50 cents/ft - no restrooms showers or fuel. Space for 12 boats shorter than 30 ft.

According to my book Weeches is 70 cents/ft ($20 minimum) and which includes washdown water and showers (VHF 18 although that may be a misprint and it is 68 like everyone else) but only 5 ft at the dock. Cash only.

The Bimini Big Bimini Blue Water is 75cent/ft (VHF 68) and they have a swimming pool which cruisers can use. We havent been there because it is farther away from customs. Iin addition to the marina it also has rooms and a restaurant which is closed Tuesday.

Bimini Big Game Club- $25/day up to 30 ft no water or electricity.

Bimini Sands $30day up to 30 ft., free water up to 50 gals. Dockage is reduced if renting rooms. (south Bimni).

We spent Saturday (Jan 19th) in Bimini. Bob walked down to the point at the south end of north Bimini twice through the graveyard to see whether he could see the ship but it was anchored too far off.
I walked down as far as Chalks. They have their own little customs building there.

Snorkeling off beach

And then the museum was open so we went to that. A lot of stuff about Hemingway, MLK, Adam Clayton Powell and Prohibition.

Unfortunately, no attendant was there so we couldn't see the films. Bought some coconut rolls at the straw market, which are too sweet for my taste. Also got some coconut candy which is delicious

I went for a swim off the beach after I tried unsuccessfully to log on with Herb. Bob sat and watched (too cold for him).

When I was showering at the marina, I thought the toilet tank would be a good place to dunk my new camera, but I checked the water, and it turned out to be salt or brackish and not fresh. So I had to rinse it off again. Apparently all the hotels and businesses have a reverse osmosis watermakers, while the private residences use cisterns and have a separate salt water line for toilet flushing.

When I went up to pay (even paying $18/day for electricity, it was cheaper than Marathon) I asked the Mike the dockmaster whether the toilets used salt water, he looked very startled, and he continued to look startled when I attempted to explain why I had tasted it.

I missed getting a picture of Chalk's seaplane as it took off as I was going up to pay.

Parliment and King St.

This is a photo taken from the museum of the main street (King Street) and one of the little side streets that lead to the other main street (Queen?s Highway).

I put a route into the computer, but since Maptech explained to me that the Bimini charts are off by a mile to the NW I had little confidence in it. So I put a route into the GPS which I have not done before. Then, I got up Sun am early and redid the route on the computer (going Bob's way through Turtle Rocks instead of Gun Cay Cut). Tomorrow (Sun) we start across the Great Bahama Banks to Chubb Cay. (Suggest getting a map of the Bahamas if you want to follow our progress or if you are geography impaired re: Bahamas.) Chubb Cay is in the Berry Islands. It will take us 2 days.

Mail boat from near municipal dock

Nov 20th

We had to wait for a rising tide to leave so that if we go aground the tide will be going up to float us off.

Saw PIRATE LADY, a scuba live-aboard boat come in and clear customs. Left about 1045, and only touched down once briefly in the trough of a wave. I took pictures of the harbor as we left.

The GPS route works fine. Little or no wind - can clearly see the starfish on the sand in 18 ft of water.

Sunken WWII boat

We pass the WWII ferro cement ship which is sunk south of Bimini. Fisherman and divers like to go here.

After we anchored, I went for a swim.

1/21 - We anchored on the Banks for the 2nd night about 4 miles from the NW Channel light at about 1430 after a trip of 31 nm. Past the light it is too deep to anchor (depth sounder goes crazy) at about 500 or more ft, and it was another 25 miles or so past that to a harbor. I could see the current trails on the anchor chain and snubber, so decided not to swim (don't want to be carried away from the boat!). We were sitting there peacefully when two other boats came right up to us and asked if we minded if they anchored there too. I said we didn't mind as long as they didn't hit us, and they apparently took that to mean that we DID mind, so they went and anchored about a mile away. They were like Siamese twins out there. Calling each other Capt K and Capt M - real motor mouths on the radio.

Next stop: the Berry Islands -
Frazier's Hog Cay