GULF STREAM AT DAWN

We are leaving for Florida at dawn tomorrow morning. We are anxious to be there already. The winds will be in our favour finally. We will go all the way to the Lake Worth entrance into the ICW and anchor there tomorrow night. We then wake early on Saturday morning as we want to be in Stuart, FL for about 1pm at low slack tide. This is an ideal time to dock our boat at D5 at Sunset Bay Marina. Parallel Parking is fun with a 45 ft catamaran hahahahah!

Today we walked the beach and collected more tiny shells and a few larger. I told Paul this is the last beach for a very long time. We also saw the Methodist Church here in Bimini. It is a quaint structure and you can tell it is well loved and maintained.

Wesley Methodist Church, North Bimini

Shell collecting

We will not have internet until Saturday afternoon.

STILL VERY WINDY HERE IN BIMINI

This is dredging going on. This backhoe moves backwards a
couple of yards, good-bye! Deep water just behind it.
They are constantly dredging the waters so a "path" is made
from the big water to Bimini Sands Resort and Marina.

We are still here in Bimini and still very windy, blowing over 22 mph! Did chores this morning, walked into the town to see more then came back to freshen up. Off we went to Bimini Bay Resort and Marina for lunch. Yesterday we took our dinghy to this resort to check it out. This is a very large resort BUT with the economy they are suffering. Not too many people staying there. The marinas were only 20% filled. There are two marinas and with a multi-million dollar facility it is too bad so many docks are empty. We docked our dinghy and spoke to the dockmaster, wandered around the small stores for awhile and asked about coming today for a lunch out. No problem, he said. So, now today, we left here at Big Game Club around 12noon and docked our dinghy once again. The pool restaurant was the one to go to, so a nice walk there and we had a wonderful meal. This restaurant was at the vanishing pool. Spectacular view!

Vanishing pool at Bimini Bay Resort, the pool is in the foreground.
 The Gulf Stream beyond.

This is not an all-inclusive resort. This is a pay as you go (or charge to your room). This resort offers, ownership, rentals and holiday packages. Paul and I have said if we come back to Bimini we will stay here for a few days too. It is wonderful!

This is the pool at Big Game Club
We like it here, small and reasonable
Such friendly people


How many boaters does it take to change a lightbulb? None, because the right size bulb isn't on board, the local marine-supply store doesn't carry that brand, and the mail-order house has them on back-order.

  

Attached Images

NEVER EVER FART IN A DRY SUIT

WILL BE "STRANDED" IN BIMINI

Yep, we will be here until probably Friday!! The weather out in the Gulf Stream is unbearable for our catamaran. So, we hang here at the Big Game Club Resort and Marina. It seems we have one last little holiday before arriving in Florida. We so do want to get home though. We will make the best of this. We do work on the boat in the mornings, ie: clean out the front hatches, mold growing there..... then have a lunch. We then walk into town to explore the small "stores". I know now from experience, when a tiny building says SuperMarket on it, don't get your hopes up. It is small with a few cans of stuff on the shelves. We did get some coconut bread at the bakery though, mmmmm ... better than the yellow house bakery in Staniel Cay. We sit and read around the pool in the afternoon..... very hard to take, but we are forced to, what else is there to do?? :-)

At the Big Game Club, Guy Harvey caught these in 1999.

We do have such high speed internet here that we listen to our news at home on the radio, the bad news of Ontario and then good music on our Majic100 Radio station. We are weening ourselves right into our civilization.

Next blog post, I will have some DID YOU KNOW.... things. I still want people to follow along, so I have to keep our lives interesting. Tomorrow we will walk to the Bimini Bay Resort, we can shop and eat a lunch at a restaurant there. This is a more expensive place to stay. Looks like they have a nice beach there. Walking and keeping in shape is important!!

The following is supposedly a documented conversation between the USS Lincoln and a Canadian "vessel"....
Canadian: Please divert your course 15 degrees to the south to avoid a collision.
Americans: Recommend you divert your course 15 degrees to the north to avoid a collision.
Canadians: Negative. You will have to divert your course 15 degrees to the south to avoid a collision.
Americans: This is the captain of a U.S. Navy ship. I say again, divert your course.
Canadians: No, I say again you divert your course.
Americans: This is the aircraft carrier USS Lincoln, the second largest ship in the United States Atlantic fleet. We are accompanied by three destroyers, three cruisers and numerous support vessels. I demand that you change your course 15 degrees north, I say again, that's one five degrees north, or counter-measures will be undertaken to ensure the safety of this ship.
Canadians: This is a lighthouse. Your call.

STILL IN BIMINI, BAHAMAS

We did venture out of Alice Town, Bimini this morning shortly after 7:30am.... but the seas were not favourable for us to continue. We were rocking back and forth. We made an executive decision to come back to the Big Game Club and tie up. We did this in January when we tried twice to leave Chub Cay to Nassau. We do not have an appointment or schedule, so we are hanging here until the weather turns more agreeable to us.

"When I forget how talented God is, I look to the Sea."

Big Game Club is a Angler's Paradise (Chub Cay also). This is a Guy Harvey Angler Resort (google him). This "resort" has a pool and restaurant so it is nice. If we have to wait out weather hmmmmmmm... a place with a pool sounds good. We did go out for lunch today and enjoyed Mahi Mahi... this fish is delice!

I finished my Lee Child novel so onto my Stuart Wood's novel... remember my posting of numbers?? Well I should have counted the novels on board that I brought and the novels I read. I want everyone to know I did not read nearly as much as I thought I would. I was ACTIVE!! I usually read at bedtime at home, but I believe I was so exhausted that I read only half the pages at bedtime.

It was Sunday today so our walk into town was a quiet one. We just wanted to get off boat and exercise. No stores open. We will walk again tomorrow and check out a few places here. ... this will be after we check weather and see if we are indeed leaving.

We went to a new island to us with Doug and Vicki. It was Hawksbill Cay. This island is so beautiful and isolated. I thought I saw all the "blues" there were to see, well I was wrong, Hawksbill Cay had even more shades of blue. The pictures just do not capture them. I just learned today that the Hawksbill Turtle is endangered ... we have learned so much this trip, visually, spiritually and emotionally!

At sea, I learned how little a person needs, not how much. -- Robin Lee Graham

"Cruising has two pleasures. One is to go out in wider waters from a sheltered place and the other is to go into a sheltered place from wider waters."--Howard Bloomfield 

HEADING TO LAKE WORTH, FLORIDA

Friday we left Atlantis. We said goodbye to a wonderful experience there. I saw the turtles, starfish and the beaches. Paul and I walked the resort for a good 1 hour to see parts we hadn't seen yet. I'm sure there are parts we still haven't seen.

I will upload pictures tonight. We were in Chub Cay last night and tonight we are in Bimini, this is a place with reliable internet.. and fast. I wish I had this kind of internet at home in small town Metcalfe. So please feel free to visit this specific posting for the next couple of days. I will upload pics for the next while tonight but will be "updated" after each picture. So in one or two hours there may be more pictures, just when you thought you saw the whole posting.

This is Doug and I having fun!
We did not eat ice cream, but we screamed with fun!

You know the internet is so good, that I am listening to Majic100 Ottawa..... the first time since Jan.!! I am slowly getting back to reality! I may need therapy to just adjust to "civilization" hahahahah!

Our son Ben and wife are now homeowners as of June 4th so we are excited for them! Time does not sit still in Bahamas. We are anxious to go home and celebrate with them and enjoy Easter with our family.

Vicki and I at Rose Island, Atlantic side

Starfish at the Atlantis Aquarium!, tickles my hand

Shannon, Paul, Vicki and Doug, touring Atlantis Aquarium (two baldy's)

This is what we viewed from the cockpit of our catamaran,
what a sight! Especially at night all lit up! Atlantis Marina.

Turtles at Atlantis Resort

There are many yachts and wonderful tenders to the yachts that come
into Atlantis, but his boat was memorable as it stuck out like
a yellow banana! I had to take a picture. He dropped off people
that hired him from Atlantis.

Leaving Nassau and saw the Disney Cruise Line!
We know of a cruise ship, Norwegian Epic arriving when we were leaving
4500 passengers and 1700 crew! Yep! 

I will upload more pictures once we hit Stuart, FL on Monday, so stay tuned.

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore, Dream, Discover." Mark Twain

JOURNEY IS ENDING SOON

I am sitting here in our salon drinking a glass of wine and viewing the Exumas through Doug and Vicki's eyes. We viewed the Exumas through Ben, wife, Sam and friends Jalyn and Tyler when we began our journey in Feb. Now we see the Exumas through Doug and Vicki at the very end of our journey. How time flies but not too fast that we do indeed see how beautiful everything God created with these blue waters. We ventured where we never dreamed we would when we were dreaming 20 years ago. We are blessed to have a catamaran to share our experiences with others. We had four weeks of guests and we are so happy to have them see everything through new eyes everytime.

We are sitting once again at the Atlantis Marina. We thought this would be a great end to our journey. Share this amazing aquarium with Doug and Vicki and go out for a nice dinner tonight. There is so much to see and do here. A great ending to our journey. We will venture to Chub Cay, Bimini and Florida to fly home for Easter.... this is the plan, but weather dictates to us, not a calendar.

We enjoyed Doug and Vicki's visit with seeing everything on the return. Norman's Cay must be our favourite as we did collect sand dollars again. (My mother from Vancouver Island visiting us in Ottawa in April wants some... as any daughter would do, I collected extra). The Boo Boo Hill at the Exuma Land and Sea Park is awesome and got some great pictures.

We are lighter in the water as the scotch, gin, vodka and wine is at a minimum and of course all the canned goods are disappearing. Mind you, the 9 cases of beer are down to a six-pack!!! We provisioned well and I hope I remembered where I did “hide” everything! We ate well the whole time we were here... and I did sure enjoy writing this blog. This is a diary of sorts, but I do know I had to make it PG 14 rating as many do read it now, Americans and Canadians and Germans too! I hope everyone got my sense of humour??

I will use the internet again as we travel to Florida BUT it may not happen until we actually get there. We will keep our catamaran in Stuart, FL, for April and May. We will then travel down end of May to Stuart to move our boat to St. Augustine, FL. This is where we keep it for the summer for hurricane season. It comes out of the water “on the hard”. We “summerize” it so we can leave it and come back in the Fall to work on it again. Mold is always an issue down here so we are investing in a solution to keep mold at bay, so who knows, keep you posted.

At Hawksbill Cay, just another sunny day

 

Shell collecting at Norman's Cay's beaches

Wednesday we had a 80 foot yacht anchor right beside us (literally) here at Rose Island, outside of Nassau. This yacht had about 20 .. 20 year olds and crew members. These younguns were sea dooing, boarding, etc. all around us. Anyone who knows Paul would know this is not a good idea. The poor German sailboat in front of this yacht must have been nervous. Paul called the yacht on the radio when they were “leaving” as they were so close we were nervous! Bigger does not necessarily mean better Captains. Paul has many stories, so if going out for lunch... make it a long one hahahahahah!

The man-made lagoon, Rose Island

Later on Wednesday we motored over to the lagoon. This man-made lagoon was created for the Sheraton Hotel years ago. They wanted to build a huge multi-million dollar resort, but times got hard. So the lagoon and a few excellent docks are in place but no resort. There is one house with a house sitter and two “watch dogs”. The house sitter came along to the dock we docked at. We explained the weather was very windy and we wanted to tie to this dock overnight. We gave him a $20 bill and petted the dogs. I called one Marmaduke as he was huge. We traveled into Nassau this morning and got some more fuel for our journey to Florida.

Vicki and I in our own whirlpool! With cocktail in hand, of course.

My friend the Marmaduke dog at the lagoon, Rose Island

Boat Quote:

On the subject of drinking very old, stale beer found in the bottom of the boat's ice box: “I choose to drink good beer. BUT I refuse to drink no beer!!!!

FRIENDS

Staniel Cay, by the pig beach

I did the blog already today but wanted to add this picture of Vicki and I. BUT I know from experience I should not add a picture to an already existing blog post. People will miss it. This is part two of today's blog. See below for the last blog entry.

Hearty laughter is a good way to jog internally without having to go outdoors.