We finally got a weather window and left Dinner Key Mooring Field on Thursday, January29th along with S/VTehani and anchored outside of No Name Harbor near the Cape Florida Channel.
S/V Ibis was anchored near us and were making their first trip to the Bahamas. They crossed with us the next morning, leaving at 4:00a.m. and motorsailed to Bimini. When we got to Bimini Blue Water Marina around 1300 (1:00p.m.), we met Jane and Charlie on S/V Ibis and helped them get docked.
Other friends we met in Bimini last year also arrived that day including S/V Teckla Bramble with Perry and Irene aboard and S/V Panacea (Derek and Sue) and S/V Now or Never (Peter and Kathleen.) We spent a couple of days walking around Bimini, on the beach and just relaxing on the boat. We tried to leave on February 2
nd but the wind was blowing right up the channel going out from Bimini and the seas were too rough to safely pilot ourselves out the channel so we went back to the dock. That turned out to be a good thing because we had the 2
nd annual rum tasting that night.
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| On the beach in South Beach, Miami (still too cold for the beach) |
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| Miami night skyline from Dinner Key mooring field |
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| Back in Bimini |
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| View of our boat from Tehani's mast |
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| Bimini's West shore |
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| Finally warm enough to read on the beach! |
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| Second annual rum tasting |
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| The rum selection with the winner being Zucapa |
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| Got Lobster from a local lady and had it with pasta and roasted brussels sprouts--delicious! |
We were able to leave for West Bay on the 3rd of February and sailed close-hauled most of the way, arriving in West Bay on Feb. 4th. It was about a 24 hour passage. Our anchor held on the second try (West Bay does not have great holding) and we spent a peaceful night there. We (Ibis and us) left the next morning and had to beat into the wind and 5 foot swells. The staysail helped steady the boat some but it was a less than comfortable motorsail to Palm Cay Marina on the south side of New Providence (south of Nassau). We had to thread through the coral heads to get into that marina with Liz Ann on the bow pointing us away from danger and Greg steering the boat safely into the harbor. The marina was nice but not finished and it was a long walk to the one and only bathroom/shower. We used their courtesy car and went to Nassau one day to get a few groceries and a new impeller for the water-maker as ours was not working. Greg replaced the impeller and we left at the next weather window to head to Shroud Cay on Feb. 8th. Getting out of the coral field south of the marina was worse than when we came in. We had 5 to 6 foot swells and had to beat into 20 knots of wind and the sun was in our faces so we couldn’t read the water very well. Once again, Liz Ann was on the bow for about the first hour, pointing out the coral heads she could see and between that and following our previous course, we made it out safely. Liz Ann was soaked and her feet left the deck several times as she bounced about 2 feet into the air as the boat pounded over the waves. The wind dropped to about 13 knots and the waves to 2 to 3 feet later in the day and we made it to Shroud Cay around 5:45 in the afternoon. We got a mooring and tried to cook dinner but thought our propane had run out. Instead we discovered the solenoid had died and we didn’t have a spare. The next day we made it to Warderick Wells and friends on another Pacific Seacraft (S/V Mythago) were there and had a spare solenoid they gave us. Yeah! Hot food again! We spent a few days at Warderick Wells waiting for a front to go through.We took some hikes and put up our sign at BooBoo Hill and went to see the blow holes.
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| Sun bleached trees on our hike on Warderick Wells |
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| Lagniappe is the boat farthest to right |
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| Scenery from our hike |
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| Greg standing over the blowhole, filling his shirt with air and his shorts with water and SAND. Talk about getting sand blasted. Enough said!!!!! |
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| Blow hole blowing water too |
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| The water rushing in under the rocks which then goes up the bow holes |
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| Sunset in Warderick |
We sailed over to Big Major’s Spot on Feb. 13th and picked up a couple of fresh items at the Pink store in Staniel Cay and topped off on fuel. We fed the pigs some cabbage and spent a very bouncy night at anchor. We sailed to Blackpoint the next day and visited Ida at the Laundromat and she gave Greg a haircut. We had dinner at Lorraine’s Café for Valentine’s Day and met a couple from Texas, Kathy and Mack, on S/V Nancy Lu. We had another bouncy night at Blackpoint Saturday night and had planned to stay until Monday and then leave for Georgetown with Tehani but the weather was not cooperating so we made a hasty trip back to Warderick Wells to get secure before the next big westerly blow. Before leaving Sunday morning, we dinghied in to drop off the school supplies we had carried and left them with Ida at the Laundromat. She is one of the hardest working people we know: running the laundry, cutting hair, running/cleaning rental cottages, coordinating donations/special events/trips for the school, and being the pastor’s wife.
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| Feeding the swimming pigs at Big Major's Spot again |
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| Valentine's dinner at Lorraine's Cafe (Blackpoint) with Mack and Kathy from S/V Nancy Lu |
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| Dropped off school supplies at Ida's laundromat |
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| Students at Blackpoint School |
We enjoyed our time at Warderick Wells, hiking and doing a bit of volunteer work for the park. We scraped rust off the fuel tanks and treated them and then painted the spots and painted a couple of channel markers. Greg also cleared some brush and overhanging branches (of poisonwood!) on one of the trails and re-marked the area. He was well covered so this time he managed not to break out from the poisonwood (worse than poison ivy from what we hear).
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| Two rays we spotted on our dinghy ride around to Hog Cay at the South end of Warderick |
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| Greg tried out the Used-to-be hammock on the trail to Pirate's Lair |
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| LizAnn's turn |
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| RUst removal on the fuel tanks at Warderick Wells |
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| Greg and Paul working on top of the tank while Chris and John replace the valve |
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| Landscapes and nature views from our hike |
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| Interesting tree branch |
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| The Arch |
