FIRST STOP ALLEN'S CAY-The Iguana Island

Above is a shot of a typical day aboard on a "sea day".  Pete's working up in the cockpit, cleaning the fiberglass around the teak cockpit sole, while the boat steers itself on auto-pilot.

Meanwhile, I'm making a huge mess in the galley defrosting the fridge (again!) *Note the buckets of "sea water" on the floor, part of our 4-step system for washing dishes, Bahamas style (more later on THAT!)

Here's some shots of the trip across the banks, over to Exumas, with Marylee and Passage (who joined us for awhile).  Everybody, it seems, is eventually headed for George Town, at the southern tip of the Exuma chain. 

Marylee and Passage right beside us

Check out how clear the water is (and how shallow!) on our crossing the banks

Once we arrive, Pete and I sport our "marriage-savers" (headsets for cruising couples so they don't SHOUT at each other when docking or anchoring).  We didn't like them at first because of the static, but they work really well over here and we "look" like real cruisers with him on the bow giving orders and me at the helm, saying "Yes, Captain!" (Right!)

 Who could possibly complain, when at the end of the day, you see your destination island in the distance...

with beautiful crystal clear turquoise water...

approach a white sandy beach a few feet from the boat

and get a warm greeting from the "natives"!! YIKES!

Here's to the "good life", ......

and the end of another great day aboard HD and her daughter...LHD

This is Allen's Cay, Exumas, Bahamas

Goodbye Bimini, Bahamas...Hello Exumas, Bahamas... by Cindy

After 9 days in Bimini waiting for the right weather window to move across the banks to the Exumas (a 2 day trip), everyone was getting a little antsy-even our buddy boat, John and Mary, were ready to roll.  While Pete took the afternoon off to relax and read, I took the ferry boat over to Alice Town for one final trip to see if there was anything I'd missed.  There wasn't.  I did get a few more shots of the "broken dreams", houses abandoned half-built, half burned down, just left standing right on main street, closed up shops, homes half destroyed by hurricanes.  Then as you get off the ferry back on the S. Bimini, where our resort/marina is, you see "Ali's Conch Stand", one of the nicer buildings around, but "nobody's home" ever.

Then you reach the ever popular "Booze and Screws" store, S. Bimini's only general store.

A short walk down the dirt road to our resort, you see a whole different scene, modern facilities, beautiful pool, tiki-hut style bar, etc., but again, almost completely vacant, a few boats in the slips and even less tourists in the condos. They say their season starts in May and continues til October.  Odd.  Guess when school's out the Floridian's flock here to escape the heat.

So as the sunset on S. Bimini, on Tuesday evening, we said our Goodbyes to our first Bahama stop (finally!) and left early Wednesday morning with Marylee, heading across the banks towards West Bay, New Providence.

The Grand Bahama bank is quite an amazing body of water-only 6-30 ft. deep, clear and aqua blue for miles!

It is so wide that you can't cross in one day, so everyone anchors on the banks, since you dare not transit them at night to arrive at your destination harbor in the dark.  Bahama Rule #1-never enter any harbor except during daylight, so you can use VPR (visual piloting rules).

The next day, we rose early to head out into the "tongue of the ocean", which in total contrast to the banks, has depths of 5,000-8,000 ft!  I tried not to think about that!  We had a great sail that day, on a far reach, averaging over 7 kts!  Saw some dolphins playing in our wake. (See movie above-if it works?)

Stay tuned for Pete...

A Week in Bimini by Pete

Spent our first week in the Bahamas at  the Sands Resort and Marina on the Island of Bimini. HD is waiting for favorable winds and waves to continue east to the Exumas. The next leg (which is now scheduled tomorrow-Tuesday morning- departure requires spending a night at anchor "on the banks".

This trip is about 120NM to the Island of New Providence, home to Nassau.
Since the number one rule in the Bahamas is not to travel at night due to the poor or non existent aids to navigation, we need to stop on our way to New Providence. There are no harbors enroute, therefore we will anchor in the middle of the open water between the Islands of Bimini and Andros in 8-10 feet of water on the Grand Bahama Banks.  Plan then is to cross the "tongue of the ocean" the next morning and on to West Harbor on the western tip of New Providence Island.

This then puts HD and crew on the The Grand Bahama Bank again and island hopping down the chain to Georgetown which will be the southern most stop before heading north to New England in the Spring.

Yesterday we became like real Bahama cruisers we bought two 5 gallon blue, plastic water jugs from a boat who is heading back the the States due to a torn ACL and won't have need for them until their next trip to the Bahamas. These will give us more flexibility in getting water as it is not always available by hose directly to the two 60 gallon boat tanks. We will use these to get spring/well water at small villages along the way.

While waiting on a weather window HD got all kinds of attention. I used my new dive gear to inspect the her undersides discovering that one set of anodes was completely disintegrated. These are the sacrificial pieces of zinc attached to the metal boat parts in the water (propeller, bow thruster & sail drive) that erode due to electrolysis instead of the aforementioned equipment.

These are boat specific spare parts a seasoned crew would have with them, however we didn't. Since they are not available in the Bahamas and having packages delivered here is an ify thing, we were fortunate to run into Brent who owns the Thirsty Turtle,  home to Chris' Dive Shop, who has been filing our tanks.  Brent flies his plane to Pompano,  Florida a few times a month for supplies and turns out he was leaving the next morning.  So after phoning the zinc anode supplier in Massachusetts  and having them overnighted to the airport in Pompano,  Brent brought them back with him to Bimini. Two dives later two new sets of zinc anodes are installed and HD's undersides are protected once again.

John, on our buddy boat, Mary Lee, tracked down the right kind of splice to reattach the main sheet after having to cut the old eye splice off to install the new Flip Flop block. After he was able to decipher the code, the splice was amazingly simple to do. (Says the guy who only watched)
Having access to fresh water and a hose, HD got her first real bath ever for her top sides. Looks very nice again. Also used the water to strip the teak cockpit sole and coamings and applied three coats of fresh teak oil to them. Now that they are protected from the sun by the cockpit enclosure we are hoping that this will
 last until summer.

Sunday we attended the local Revelations Church of God and were the only non natives  there.  There was a whole lot of music and dancing going on but the 45 minute sermon was the highlight. The pastor gave a James Brown performance on Jesus and the Bible.  He really knew the Bible and screamed his message thru a microphone in a church the size of a living room with twenty people listening.  I was the recipient of one of his "up close" messages on knowledge and given an assignment with 7 stones. More on this as the rest of the message unfolds.

Then we have the Super Bowl party up the street at the Bimini Beach club complete with the Superbowl special of wings, barbecue pork, corn on the cob and dessert. There was a whole lot of cheering going on here with the outside big screen TV and libations a plenty.

Back at our dock there are a variety of  sharks coming by including the friendly nurse, lemon, and tiger sharks.
Had our first conch hunting, catching, cleaning and eating experience in Bimini. All is all this has been a very productive and fun learning experience for Cin and I. However, we are ready to push on and anxiously await tomorrow's scheduled departure for the Exumas and our last long two day sail before heading North in the Spring.

Stay tuned for more excitement from the Bahamas!
Pete