This is the morning to leave North Bimini. We were up early and watched a sailboat
leave, headed for Miami. We checked the
weather and the next few days are still expected to be good with the exception
of some thunderstorms so we set about preparing to cast off. Since we’ve been at Brown’s Marina for a
while, cleaning up is a major undertaking, as everything is out of place and
has to be properly stowed so it cannot fall or slide while we are underway. We know the waves outside will be rough as
from our slip we can see the breakers outside the channel.
Slack tide is at 9am which is a good time to push off but
Dan, from Quest, looked on his satellite weather radio and noticed a band of
severe thunderstorms moving east, towards us, off Florida. Mirador, (George and Sarah) who was also
preparing to leave, and we decided to hold off until after the front passed by.
Waiting gave us time to make a final lunch stop at Ellie’s and pick up some
last minute groceries at Robert’s Grocery
as we are leaning towards skipping Nassau and traveling through the
night to Highborne Cay. We got caught in
the rain on the way back from our errands but after getting soaked during the
first minute of a torrential downpour, decided that there was no more reason to
rush back other than to minimize the water damage to the toilet paper which,
come to think of it, was pretty important.
A not so funny thing happened as we were preparing lines to
leave the slip. Peggy didn’t want to forget her conch shells which were sitting
on the swim platform so she opened the stern door, but did not latch it, to
retrieve the conchs. Due to high winds
during the last month, nearly every line on board had been used so multiple
lines were criss-crossed for springs and across the stern. We did not see it happen but apparently a
line slipped under the door, the boat moved away from the dock, and the
tightening line lifted the door off its hinges and dropped it into the
bay. Someone from Weeches Marina next
door noticed it floating, retrieved it, and returned it to Charles at Brown’s
who brought it to us. What a fluke and
another lesson learned.
12:15 was the magic time.
We uneventfully backed out of the slip while waving goodbye to our
friends from Quest and Sunday Service who were also our exceptional line
handlers. Through the channel we turned
north, passing Bob’s Beach (officially Radio Beach) with more than a little
homesickness, to round the northern end of North Bimini and catch the rhumb
line towards Northwest Channel. A few
sailboats were our only company and we spent the day watching turquoise water
and ended with a red sky at night. We
adopted our previous watch schedule with Bob on from 6-9, Peggy from 9-12, and
so on. Dinner was apples and Almond
Butter and the left-overs from Ellie’s will be lunch for tomorrow. The nearest sailboat to us anchored at Makie
Shoal and we continued on alone.
Everything is wide open out here . . . and 10 to 20 feet
deep with a forever sandy bottom. The
seas were peaceful, calm and very clear turquoise. It was a little disconcerting at first to see
the sand and occasional dark splashes of coral heads passing by under the
hull. Basically you can anchor anywhere
but if you don’t wish to run overnight it is wise to move a mile or so off the
standard course to minimize getting run over by boats who may not have an
attentive watch at the helm.
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