Bahama Exodus

November 5, 2004

Friday, March 11, 2005 - Nassau, Grand Bahama
By Tom

Another day of life in the big city. This is our first trip to Nassau and neither one of us likes it much. The part of the city where the marina's are is only moderately safe in the day time and down right dangerous at night.

This morning we ran into Jim off of Blossom II and he was telling us about a body that the police found washed up in the harbour. Two years ago while passing through, his wife was witness to a shooting! Can you say Ghetto style? I think you can.

We did venture out of the sanctity of marina security for an hour or so to do some grocery shopping. We are both still shocked and awed at the sight of a real, full size grocery. It's funny the things you take for granted back in the states.

Dinner tonight was the last of our lobster tails from the hunting expedition at Norman's. We stayed up well into the night listening to the sounds of the urban environ (horns, drunk people, drive by's) before finally turning in. One more day to go til we blow this joint

Saturday, March 12, 2005 - Nassau, Grand Bahama
By Tom

We wrapped up last minute chores today in preparation for leaving tomorrow. I filled us up with water and carted 15 gallons of fuel back to the mother ship, while Amy stowed things inside to prepare for blue water.

In the afternoon we ventured into the DMZ to buy a few bottles of wine. For some reason, here in the Ghetto, I mean Nassau you can buy wine for $4 a bottle. Everywhere else we have been in the Bahamas it has been outrageously expensive, so we took advantage.

We saw Jim off of Blossom again today and we said our good byes and good lucks. He is going to motor straight through to Florida where as we are going to stop in Bimini and wait for wind to sail. We purists must endure, either that or are too cheap to pay $4 a gallon to motor all the way back to the states.

It's time to get moving.

Sunday, March 13, 2005 - Chub Cay, Berry Islands
By Tom

We motored out of Nassau early this morning. Lots of boats have been stuck here waiting for weather, so it was quite the exodus. I counted at least 15 boats heading west and another 6 or 7 heading east.

The dump apparently caught fire just outside of Nassau and as a result the entire down town area was filled with smoke so thick you could barely breath. I'm glad I hadn't paid 5,000 dollars for a week to see that.

What wind there was today was light and right on the nose. We resigned ourselves to motoring and we arrived at Chub Cay around 1:30 in the afternoon after 38 miles. There isn't a whole lot here and we aren't planning on staying long.

A front is suppose to push through on Tuesday and we'd like to be in Bimini when it does. If the weather materializes as advertised, we will sail overnight back to the states Wednesday night.

We are currently 70+ miles from Bimini, so tomorrow promises to be a long day

Monday, March 14, 2005 - North Bimini, Grand Bimini Islands
By Tom

We were up at the crack of dawn and headed towards Bimini with all possible haste. Bimini is about 75 miles from Chub and we had to arrive before dark or else spend the night outside the harbour in the open ocean.

We started off sailing, but after two or three hours the sun came up and the wind started dying. To keep our speed up we dropped in one engine and ran it at half throttle. About 10 am we hit the Great Bahama Banks and thats when the fishing action started.

Right off the bat we snagged a 5 foot barracuda, which we returned to the wild. Thirty minutes later we caught a 2 foot Cero Mackerel. I was giving him a brain transplant when the other line ripped off. This in turn upset the fish that was on the operating table.

I left my patient to attend to the other line. It was another Cero, but this one was 4 feet long and about 10 pounds. I added him to the operating theatre and the two fish proceeded to flop, hop and spew blood all over me and the cockpit.

Suffice it to say that the ensuing battle was pretty ugly, but I prevailed. As a side note, there will be Cero Mackerel on the menu for the next 5 or 6 days. Reservations recommended, but proper attire is optional.

We got into Bimini just ahead of sunset and we took up residence at the Weech's Marina, mostly because it was $0.65 per foot. For like $25 a night we decided to tie up rather than risk the anchorage here.

Tomorrow we plan to explore a little and then on Wednesday cross back to Florida

Tuesday, March 15, 2005 - North Bimini, Grand Bimini Islands
By Tom

Not much happening today. We stayed tied up to the marina dock here and worked on odds and ends for the trip across the gulf stream tomorrow.

In the afternoon, we wandered through the little town here looking at the different things to do. I guess because of it's close proximity to Florida, Bimini is always full of tourists. It certainly is now anyway.

We went back to the Compleat Angler this afternoon for happy hour. The bartender here has a thing for Amy so we basically drink for free. He even tried to share his lunch with us.

Later at the marina, Maggie tried to make friends with the local dock parrot. I think it was a nice gesture, but the parrot was not at all pleased. I kept hoping Maggie would play with him, but she was more interested in her food than the actual bird.

Tomorrow ends our 5 months in the Bahamas and we are both sad. We'll definitely be coming back as soon as possible.

Wednesday, March 16, 2005 - Lake Worth, Palm Beach, FL
By Tom

In a word, the scariest sailing I've ever done.

We left Bimini at 5:30 am and hoisted our main sail in 15 - 20 knots from dead behind. This was more than the forecast called for, but as we were dead down wind I wasn't too concerned. About 6 miles out, the wind built to 20 - 25 and then 25 - 30 ! After two hours, we were screaming along at 12 knots average and surfing to 15 !

Shitty death!

The waves built to a solid 6 - 8 feet with an occasional 10 footer slapping us around for good measure. Coming down off the face of one elongated 8 footer we surfed at 16.9 knots sustained for a good 30 seconds! Mega shitty death!

I ended up spending the entire trip watching over my shoulder so that a breaking wave wouldn't sneak up on me. Suffice it to say this was the scariest sailing I have ever done.

The boat handled the situation much better than either one of us. It's nice to know that she is up for a lot worse conditions than any of us.

We are now going to cut this log off so we can go get a drink and try and calm down. I do not recommend trying sailing across the gulf stream in 30 knots, nor does Maggie.

Thursday, March 17, 2005 - Lake Worth, Palm Beach, FL
By Tom

We hid from extreme weather today. There were mega thunderstorms in the area, so we mostly hung out on the mother ship and did odd jobs. I snuck into West Marine in between rain storms and got some replacement light bulbs for our salon light which has been acting flaky for the last two months.

In the afternoon we surfed the internet and tried to decide what we are going to do with the rest of this year. Such big questions. Around happy hour we went in to Duffy's next door to the Publix for a Saint Paddy's Day beer or two.

Tomorrow we plan on heading up to either Vero Beach or Manatee Pocket, depending on what kind of time we make. More to follow, stay tuned