Bahamas Pretty Mamas !!!

Bimini Is. Bahamas

We travelled north up the inside ICW route to the jumping off point for the Bahamas at Pumpkin Cay. This is a small island near Angelfish Creek one of the routes out through the Florida Keys from the inside (Florida Bay) to the Atlantic Ocean. We traversed a couple of shallow sounds but it was close to low tide. We anchored the first night in Matecumbe Bight hoping that the wind was going to swing away from the north to the east making our trip across to the Bahamas more comfortable. If any wind with north in it meets the north flowing 2- 3 knot Gulf Stream the waves seem like small herds of elephants so we're told. The next night we anchored behind Pumpkin Cay and when we awoke the wind had changed around to the east.

There were 2 other trawlers & 3 catamarans at the same anchorage. All except 1 sail boat left about 6.45am & it was a comforting sight to us being all together. To plot the course you need to take into account the northerly push of the gulf stream and adjust the bearing accordingly. Col set a route on the automatic pilot & we were almost dead on course. Some of the other boats had gone too far north by not allowing enough for the drift or too far south – but they adjusted later. For the first couple of hours we had a fairly lumpy ride as the remains of the north easterly subsided. The rest of the trip was really good and we reached Brown's Marina in Nth Bimini after about 8 hours at 2.00pm.

The pictures & descriptions you see re the colour of the Bahamian waters are absolutely spot on – like Australian blue opals – and so clear. We can see the bottom at 15ft and watch fish from bait fish to a shark swimming in the marina. There is a Bimini Big Game Fishing tournament coming up next week so we have watched a steady procession of large game boats and huge mother ships which act as hosts to the smaller boats moving up to the Game fishing Marina past us. The forecast for the next few days is not good so we will sit here for a few days but hope to be gone by the time the tournament starts next week. Our friends Chuck & Vicki hope to make it here by Tuesday after waiting out bad weather in Fort Lauderdale to cross.

Alice Town is the town we are in. It is very small with narrow streets, cupboard-like shops often behind an unmarked door selling small amounts of stock mostly clothing, beads & souvenirs. There are a good handful of little eating bars & cafes with local fare as well. We found a small boat supply come hardware type store (cupboard) that you could barely enter; it was so full and disorganised. The seller sat at the entrance with a glass of colourless liquid when we walked in at midday & reacted very bluntly to Col's greeting “sorry to interrupt your lunch” with “I'll have it whenever I like” & the conversation deteriorated from there with “I'll drink whenever I like as well”. We realised that this expat (USA) was well sozzled – our dockmaster confirms this as par for the course. Just adding some colour to the environs. We rode our bikes & visited Bailey Town further north to try & find a hotspot for the computer. BTC (Bahama Tele com) didn't stock these but referred us to another place. They had none in stock & thought maybe the boss had ordered some but didn't know when they would be arriving. They suggested another shop – same story. We will continue to try. If we can't get one we will have to rely on wifi at marinas which are infrequent & scattered throughout the islands. So our blogs may become well spaced out only being possible when we happen to be in a marina or place with a good wifi signal.

We also visited the local museum – very old & needing a lot of care to preserve what is there – which is an interesting history of Bimini, the game fishing & the entrepreneurs such as Hemmingway & Michael Lerner ( of Lerner & Lowe fame).

Colin is attempting to repair yet another flat tyre on our bikes, no tubes our size on the island, and we have used both spare tubes, guess we should have bought a repair kit. Went to see the boozey owner of the hardware store but she hadn't made it to work by 11am, so made a patch from super glue and duct tape, so will see if it works.

Had docktails on 49ft De Fever next door & yachties. The De Fever had a horrible crossing leaving from Marathon at midnight the day before us before the wind had changed & the gulf stream had settled. The wife was sick the whole way, the water maker & aircon broke down, the hatch way cover up to the bridge ripped off, furniture toppled, glasses broken & all her pot plants tipped up. The yachtie left from Marathon the day after and met bad conditions also smashing his front windscreen when the boat racked in the lumpy seas. It shows you how small the window for crossing can be.