Sent 3/4/2010 from Bimini

Having finally gotten tied up to the dock Monday night, we knew it might be awhile before the weather would allow us to depart.  The cold front was a vigorous one that brought strong southerly winds and a bunch of rain before the wind clocked and blew out of the west.  Looking at the breaking waves at the harbor entrance and on the shoals, we were glad we left Miami when we did.  Any problems like we experienced with this much wind and waves would have meant more than just the loss of bottom paint.  We're happy to be tied up on the dock and not out at anchor wondering if the anchor will hold.

With the clouds indicating rain sooner than later as the front approached, we walked down to the nature trail Bimini Sands constructed since our last visit.  The trail was about a mile long with interesting signage for the plants and points of interest.  As we were walking back, one of the workers from the resort picked us up with a golf cart so we'd be sure to beat the rain.


We managed to walk out to the harbor entrance to watch the breaking waves before the rain started.  We noticed a sail boat just off the entrance channel into Alice Town with much reduced sail.  We were glad not to be him, especially when the rain and wind switch occurred.  The entire channel was a mass of breaking waves, and although there were a few channel markers, we'd noticed some were missing when we arrived, and given the conditions, even the remaining ones would have been almost impossible to see.
 

After the rain passed, we walked down to the ferry landing to look at the conditions in the bay.  The wind was really blowing out of the west, and when I looked out, I saw the boat, anchored just off the shoals, pitching in the seas.  Either the bow was buried in the waves with the stern well out of the water, or the bow was up and the stern buried.  The conditions were what is termed a "rage" in Bahamian waters, breaking waves blocking an entrance or exit to a protected area with shoal water.  The situation was made worse by being a lee shore.  Any problem with the anchor would make it difficult to control the boat before it got pushed into the breakers.  We'd been surprised by the white caps and windy conditions at the dock in an almost fully protected, small harbor!  We were happy to be on a dock where, although annoying, the jerking on the dock lines and the howling of the wind in the rigging could be assigned to an "OK" category, we could sleep in relative peace.

As we listened to the wind during the night showing no signs of abating, it was obvious we'd be spending at least another day here.  Leaving under these conditions would be fool hardy, and we aren't in that big of a hurry.  With little to break the wind, we felt the full strength of it.  It continues to range from 20 - 30 knots.   Waves slap the stern and occasionally the mast pumps when the wind conditions are right.   Leonard doubled up the dock lines with our extra heavy ones which have less stretch than the ones we normally use, and tend to jerk us around some, but at least they keep us in place.




Before noon on Wednesday, we caught the ferry over to Alice Town.  We hiked out to the Bimini Bay Resort to take a look at their docks and facilities.  Leonard estimated it was about 4 miles each way, so we got our exercise.  There are actually 3 towns strung along the road from the harbor to the resort, Alice Town, Bailey Town and Porgy Town, with little other than the name to differentiate them.  The resort was quite the project.  When it is finished, it will be a small, upscale town in it self.  A number of homes have been built along the ocean, condos and multi unit buildings are behind the private homes, and along the bay side, a large number of harbors have been dug and are in the process of having docks built.  There was also a small town center by the marina with a dive shop, restaurants, clothing, a small grocery, gift and jewelry stores.  And of course the sales office!  It was quite impressive.

We managed to find one of the local "bakers" on our way back, and picked up some, still warm, coconut bread.  The house smelled wonderful and the bread tasted great.  It will make really good French toast in the morning.  We also took a look at the local history museum which was interesting, but minimal, and made a stop to pick up some Bahamian rum before catching the ferry back.


We saw the boat that had been anchored out.  Looked like a Freedom in the 36' range, with sails bunched and tied in what looked like a hurry.  Leonard said he heard a bit of chatter on the VHF last evening, but was uncertain as to who initiated the rescue.  Apparently one of the local boats went out to lead him in, for which I suspect he was extremely grateful.  Lesson learned, when making a crossing it behooves one to think about the conditions at the other end.  With the strong south winds, switching to west, it would have been a fast, hard sail across the Gulf Stream, but those conditions then made it impossible to safely enter the intended harbor, with no viable alternatives.  Not prudent seamanship.  We'll try to keep that in mind, although given the weather conditions, we would not have left.

With the wind still rattling the rigging, we suspected we'd be here a few more days before the seas diminished enough for a safe departure.  No worry of being kicked out, since they had a lot of empty dock space and it was unlikely anyone was crossing in the current conditions (Gulf Stream seas 8 - 10').  We're also looked at options while we had easy access to the internet in case another front approached while we were in Nassau.


By the way, this was a cold front, and we are once again bundled up in long pants and jackets!  It may be in the low 60's, but with the wind blowing, it isn't all that warm.  We have no plans to use the swimming pool.  Our plan was to leave Bimini Friday morning after low tide hoping to exit the marina entrance without a repeat of Monday's grounding.  The marina supply boat ran aground in the entrance Thursday and possibly re-arranged the bottom. We'd see. Our next stop with internet or phone service would be Nassau on Sunday evening after a night on the banks and a stop at Chub Cay.

Sent 3/13/2010  From Nassau

There we sat, in Nassau, waiting for the cold front to clear the area and the winds to settle.  Once again, the wind and sun kept the batteries fully charged so we could use the computer without feeling guilty about the current draw. We were entertained at anchor, people watching, as more folks heading north scurried in ahead of the front.  Things got a tad tight in the anchorage since the holding was at best fair, and there were a good number of boats at anchor, some flying flags from as far a away as Japan and Sweden.

Thursday we attended the local Seven Seas Association/BASRA cruiser's lunch held at the Greet Parrot (the dinghy dock).  We met some interesting folks, mostly British, and a Greek.  It was nice to put a face to the voice that gives us the weather every morning at 0715.  He and his wife came to the Bahamas for 3 years (they weren't sure which 3 to count since they've been here 40 some years).  His wife runs nature and bike tours for the folks from the resorts or the cruise ships, and I was sorry not to have known sooner so we could have seen more of the island.  Unfortunately she wasn't available until Monday, and we planned to be gone by then.

Another British couple spent their working years as captain and cook aboard private yachts.  I asked her about life aboard which she said has gotten much easier than when they started in the 60's.  While cost wasn't an issue, finding provisions to please the owners was difficult. They also ran a canal barge in Europe for a number of years.  They purchased the barge from a couple in Holland who had spent their entire life on board hauling goods and raising a family.  After totally renovating the barge, they took it to show the old owners what they'd done.  The only parts that hadn't been changed were the bow and stern, which had been painted in a way to designate where the barge originated and ownership.  When they were in a lock, the lock master wanted to know what they were doing on so and so's boat, and was surprised to learn they'd purchased it and planned on running it as a cruise barge.  They sold it a number of years ago and now spend 6 months in England, and the other 6 months cruising aboard their sail boat.

The Greek spends time running charters in Greece, something perhaps we can look into in the future.  It would be a great way to see the country!


Friday we got the bulk of the chores done and glad we did since the wind had clocked more to the NW and picked up, making white caps in the anchorage.  Hauling laundry and groceries is always easier (and drier) without bouncing around in waves.   Our dinghy can't, by any stretch of the imagination, be considered dry, but with the wind out of the south earlier, we were protected by the island.  We can look forward to a wet ride back to the boat when we go ashore later today.

Last night a local tug pushed a barge, with several construction vehicles on board, aground between several of us and shore.  Totally unexpected and somewhat inconvenient since the predicted wind shift would swing us toward it, limiting our swing radius considerably.  Near as we could tell, they parked it there for the weekend!  We'd have felt a bit better if they'd put the barge anchor poles down so we'd know it'd stay put.

Around 0500 a small thundershower woke us up.  It wasn't a problem, but knowing the holding was poor and the wind due to shift, we were up and dressed in case there was.  While eating breakfast things got a bit more interesting when the wind started to blow out of the NW.  The boat most effected by the barge, a single hander, worked at resetting his anchors. About half the boats had 2 anchors down.  It provides an extra measure of security, and frequently when one anchor type doesn't hold, another will.

Watching him prompted Leonard to take a look at our anchors and he found the CQR had moved, but not enough to set off the GPS anchor drag alarm, set for 200 ft.  While we worked on our anchors, another single hander rowed over to give our neighbor a hand.  Both of us managed to get settled when a horn tooted, alerting the boat on the other side of us that they were dragging.  We could have spent all day being entertained by the Chinese Fire Drill happening throughout the anchorage!  We hoped everyone would get settled before dark, so the night wouldn't be too exciting.  Shuffling around in the dark isn't a lot of fun and there is never any guarantee that the boat ahead of you won't drag.  Some folks seem a lot more competent than others, however they aren't always the ones next to you!


If the weather cooperatesd we planned on heading east in the morning, with the anchorage between Allan and Leaf Cay as our destination.  That anchorage is fairly protected and we could spend a day or more, if necessary, while the wind calms down a bit.  With nothing but iguanas for residents, we wouldn't have internet available until we reached the park at Warderick Wells.