Bimini
Our first stop was Bimini, just over 50 miles away from Miami on the other side of the Gulf Stream. We crossed on a pretty calm day and motor-sailed the entire way across. The current was 2.5-3 knots but we did a nice S-curve on over with very little concern.
We got settled into a very peaceful anchorage completely surrounded by land so we had no concern for choppy, rolly water. The bottom was clay, which holds incredibly well also, so we had no worries whatsoever. The Bahamas only allows one person from the vessel to go ashore until the vessel is cleared in through customs and immigration. Grete and the kids stayed at the boat while I dinghied in to shore for the formalities. The process was very straightforward and I was back at the boat in no time.
First time shifting from the quarantine ‘Q’ flag to a courtesy flag. Officially international cruisers!
We didn’t really plan to stay in Bimini and the weather was perfect for continuing east to Great Harbor Cay (GHC), so we departed the following afternoon. Buuuuut, we tried to roll out our main sail and it was jammed. It was jammed worse than ever before and we were not able to resolve the issue. We continued along with the thinking that we’d investigate further when we reached GHC. Then, just before sunset, the boat suddenly started vibrating really violently. I immediately went below to check for ingress of water, and the condition of the engine and engine mounts. No water, no obvious signs that anything was wrong.
With guidance from our coaches over a painful exchange on our satellite text device we throttled up in neutral and the boat wasn’t vibrating. That meant that the issue was something with the propeller. We have three ways of moving: main sail, genoa, and engine. We couldn’t get out the main sail and now the engine/propeller didn’t seem like we should push it. With no backup system we checked our location. We were less than 10 miles from Bimini and over 70 miles from GHC. We turned back for the nearest anchorage we could find so we could investigate.
When we settled in to an anchorage on the northeast side of North Bimini, I dove over the side with a flashlight. Our propeller looked like a gigantic bush, fowled with sea grass and growth. I decided to go in at first light so that we could get back underway.
The next morning I dove in and the propeller was as clean as a whistle. Super glad I check it the night before, or I would have kept trying to troubleshoot something that had fixed itself in the rocky, rolly night.
The wind had shifted back to the east so going on to GHC would not have been a good trip. We decided to head back to our first anchorage inside the harbor on North Bimini to wait for weather.
We got ashore a couple of times for walking and exploring. Found a super cool beach that we explored with the family from the boat next to us in the anchorage. We ate some conch (twice) went swimming a bit, ran on the beach and just generally had a couple of great days.
Back at anchor, Grete polished all of the stainless steel topside, I got the main sail unstuck, we measured the rigging so that we can order a new sail, and on and on. It was a busy but slow stay.
The weather was projected to be prefect to head east to GHC and beyond for a few days, so we went for it. We had to motor sail for the majority of the trip to GHC. The wind was from the west so we went around to the east side of the island to rest for the night.
We spent just one day in Great Harbor Cay but Grete got in a decent run, we all walked about 6 miles or so and we got to explore yet another island. It was much slower than Bimini, since it isn’t a weekend destination for Miami folks. Winding dirt (or potholed asphalt) roads on rolling hills made it a pretty nice little community to explore.
We kind of wanted to stay one more day, but the wind was forecast to die out so we opted to head east to Spanish Wells while the wind was perfect. I’m very glad we did. It was our best day of sailing yet with winds off the beam around 12-15 knots. We were sailing at 7-8 knots with seas on the starboard quarter. It was PERFECT. In the afternoon the wind calmed down and we motor sailed the last couple of hours to ensure we arrived at the anchorage well in advance of sunset.
Now it’s time to slow down a bit in the Far Bahamas.
