CODA HERE IN THE BAHAMAS 2025 (21)

CODA : exploring in Bimini, Bahamas.

30 January 2025 

Bimini Big Game Club and Marina, Alicetown, Bimini, Bahamas 

Bimini Road to Atlantis. Painting by Wesley Carter.

Marc- We have stayed an additional day due to weather.  Another day in paradise is not so bad.  Sunny skies and easterly breeze 10-15 knots.  First we had to take care of essentials:  go to Nate's Bakery for  delicious bahamian bread and stop at the Batelco phone office for SIM cards for our phones.  We were successful at Nate's, but not at Batelco.  Verizon in VT had told us our phones were unlocked and it would be simple to add the SIM cards.  Batelco said our phones are locked.  Then we figured out that mine is not locked, Sue's is, I called Verizon who told us they are having problems transferring the eSIM cards and unlocking.  They "put in a ticket" for this and promised us a "courtesy" call at 4pm.  Fixing a problem is not a courtesy call.  But they did not have the courtesy to make the promised courtesy call, and we are leaving tomorrow, and because we haven't got the SIM cards we will have to pay $12/day per phone, which is the Verizon rate for The Bahamas.

Sunrise at 07:00.

Nate's Bakery

Nate's also does lunch and delivers.  We bought cinnamon bread rolls, coconut bread rolls and oatmeal raisin cookies.  They threw in a slice of pizza for free when we oohed and aahed over the pizza we saw being made.  

The beach near Nate's Bakery on Queen's Highway.

The local Catholic Church with a well engineered design.  You'll notice there are 8 steps going in to the church.  First you have to descend 8 steps under the roof (they don't show well in this photo) and then ascend 8 steps (that you can see in this photo).  It felt 20 degrees cooler in the church with the doors wide open than outside.  I said a prayer for the victims and their families on the American Airlines flight that crashed at Reagan National Airport last night.  There were young skaters from the Skating Club of Boston, their parents, and their coaches on board.  Sara, Stephanie and I skated for the Skating Club of Boston.

Great forecast.

Although we ate lunch on Coda we were tempted when we passed here.

A conch pile where fisherman dump the shells after cleaning (harvesting the meat).

Conch is a delicacy on this Island and served in most restaurants.

The only road that travels the entire length of Bimini is King's Highway. It is only 8 feet wide in the South and broadens to 16 feet well in the north.  Driving is British style with the steering wheel on the left and driving on the left side of the road. 

You enter the northern end of Bimini through these gates.  It is another world on the other side.

First we have certain priorities.

Lots of marina space but very few boats.

We took the elevator to the top of the Hilton hotel.  Notice the nearly empty marina and the new protected anchorage with several sailboats.

This part of the Island has expensive homes on canals with manicured lawns.

Looking west from the top of the Hilton at the cruise ship terminal and new Caribbean style single family homes.  Did I mention that the Hilton has a Casino and 4 super fancy restaurants?  They run a free shuttle from the Cruise ship and Fast Ferry Pier to the hotel, casino and fancy stores.  The residential areas are gated.

Sue:  Our marina is on the South end of the island, it is where the Bahamian people live, and it's poor.  The North end is a different world.  This is the classic poor island with rich areas that belong to outsiders.  At least the hotel provides jobs for the people, because it doesn't look like there is any other big industry.  

The Bahamas have a population of 412,623 spread over 600 islands and 600 miles.  Seems to me that they need more people for a bigger tax base, just like Vermont.

No more fussing about the weather from me.  It's a steady nice temp here with a good breeze.

CODA HERE IN THE BAHAMAS 2025 (20)

CODA : we have arrived in Bimini, Bahamas.

29 January 2025 

Bimini Big Game Club and Marina, Alicetown, Bimini, Bahamas

We saw so many catamarans in Key Biscayne.  Sailboat catamarans and power cats.  No Name Harbor and outside No Name were filled with them.  And they are all big new bright shiny things.

Marc-  We hauled up the anchor at 06:55 in time to make our 07:00 departure.  Only one ipad worked so the track I had so carefully made on the way in to Key Biscayne was kind of useless.  Between the working ipad and some paper charts we muddled through.  We passed by Fowey Rocks Lighthouse on the Biscayne Bay barrier reef at 08:00.

We steered a compass course of 120 degrees magnetic to offset the 3 knot north flowing Gulf Stream current.  My AIS lasted until cellular service ended.  It was helpful in locating several other sailboats headed for Bimini and some ships that would be crossing our path.  We crossed paths with 6 ships (only one required Coda to deviate her course).  Initially the 10 knot north wind made for whitecaps and swells.  The waves never exceeded a foot.  The swells started around 3 feet once we entered the Gulf Stream and maxed out about 6 feet.  We set both sails, and motored as well, completing the passage in 8 hours.   

We arrived at the entrance to North Bimini harbor at exactly low tide.  There are numerous warnings about shifting sands and unreliable buoys.  Not to worry, the ipad with the Navionics software with sonar charting was spot on.  It also helped that we were arriving in plenty of sunlight making both the reef and the sandbar obvious.  A ferry leaving while we arrived also delineated the way.  We saw a large catamaran hard aground in the middle of the channel to the Bimini Sands resort in South Bimini.  Our plan was to go to the Sea Crest Marina but I could not raise them on VHF or on the phone.  The marina looked mostly deserted.  In any case we had plan B of the Bimini Big Game Club.

I had heard stories of difficulties with Bahamian Customs and Immigration.  It was a breeze with wonderful people at every step.  All you have to do is complete the required Click2Clear online forms (the forms are a nightmare).  I had done a practice run with the forms in Vermont, completed the final forms on Coda on arrival (poor Sue had to listen to me moaning about the forms) and paid our $309.00 fee online.  Once that is done nobody asks you for any money again.  Funny thing happened at the Customs office.  The guy in line in front of me sees my Point Bay Marina cap and says "You're from Vermont."  Yes we are indeed from DIYC and so is he:  Tristan Vaughn on a beautiful red custom aluminum trawler.

Big Game Club pool.

Guess who used to rent a cottage here and dock his boat.

Dolphin House built by Ashley Saunders,  Remarkable place. 

 Notice the free roaming dog (quite friendly).

Interesting homemade tombstone behind a house.

Found this work of art on the sidewalk.

A well balanced cat.

There are two main streets in Alicetown:  The Queens Highway, along the beaches, and the King's Highway, along the harbor.

Queen's Highway beach.

Cruise Ship leaving North Bimini.

Queen's Highway sunset.

 

Sue:  We waited 6 days to leave Key Biscayne, when the forecast was for light and variable winds.  The idea being that there would be no wind from the North, so no waves or swells.  But the wind today was blowing 10 from the North, so there were waves and swells.  The first half of the crossing was a bit rolly, with stuff flying around the boat, and 2 hands needing to be tightly on the wheel at all times.  So it was difficult to drink my coffee, and with the rolling I was not as interested in it as I usually am.  The second half was quieter, which was great.

Along the way we heard the Coastguard on the radio saying that a 27 foot boat had left Freeport for the US, and was overdue.  Right after that a Coastguard helicopter buzzed us, and we assumed it was looking us over to see if we were that boat.

We only had about an hour to walk around Bimini after the $#%@! Customs forms were completed.  It is nothing like the area we left this morning.  Everything is beat up looking, and nothing here ever looked like the area we left this morning.  There are pretty murals that say "KEEP BIMINI CLEAN" and it is clean on the Main Street, but on the back streets there is trash in some yards.  We did not make it up to where the cruise ship was docked, so don't know if it's nicer up there.  But the views everywhere are amazing.  We'll explore more tomorrow.  

CODA BAHAMAS BOUND 2025 (19)

CODA :  1 day countdown for Bimini, Bahamas.

28 January 2025

No Name Harbor, Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Park, Key Biscayne , Florida

Our friends thought we had left for The Bahamas a day early.

Marc- We did our last day of travel preparations.  The weather was perfect this morning and the harbor was nearly empty when we awoke.  In fact most of the boats had left together at 03:00 to be able to reach the Berry Islands in daylight (140 miles).  Getting across the reefs around here is not for the faint of heart but we do have decent navigational aides (thank you US Coast Guard).  Not so much in the Bahamas since eyeball navigation seems to be primary.  

We went over to the Crandon Park Marina at the Miami end of Key Biscayne to fill up on fuels, water and do a final pump out.  The marina staff could not have been nicer or more professional.  We spotted some helicopter rescue activity on Biscayne Bay.  Not sure what happened, but two people were lifted up to the helicopter before it sped off (could have been training).  No Name Harbor had a new crop of boats when we came back in.  We were able to find Coda a choice location.  We had one last walk in the afternoon to get the mail posted and to meet up with our friend George with some last minute incoming mail.  Thanks George very much for the bike delivery service!

The Crandon Park Marina office and store (resort style eh).

They have all of the essentials here and especially good service.

Passing Miami on our way back to No Name Harbor.

Rescue helicopter.

Rescue?

Back at No Name Harbor.

Tomorrow's destination.

Sue:  We did our final provisioning at Winn Dixie.  About half of the egg area was empty.  There was just one brand to choose from, one that we are not familiar with, and it came in all sizes and amounts.  We bought 6 dozen.  Hope they're good, not like the anemic looking Costco eggs we bought down here one year.  We have very little refrigeration space, so the amount of fresh meat that we could buy was extremely limited.  We'll be into the canned sardines, etc. in no time!  Same with the fruit...

   

CODA BAHAMAS BOUND 2025 (18)

CODA :  2 day countdown for Bimini, Bahamas.

27 January 2025

No Name Harbor, Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Park, Key Biscayne , Florida  

From the Lens room of Cape Florida Lighthouse.

Marc-  My local Canadian family came down to visit us in Key Biscayne.  We spent the day doing things close to the water.  We started out with a tour of the Lighthouse and Lighthouse Keeper's home.  Next we went to the West side of the island to have a delicious picnic lunch made by Danyelle & Tante Monique.  Then we went back to No Name Harbor.  Then to the beach where we sat under a big umbrella, enjoying the sun, sand and water.  Sue and I did some trail exploration into the local woods.  No wildlife to speak of except a Raccoon at the Lighthouse Cafe.

Todays explorers/beachgoers.

Miami from the top of Cape Florida Lighthouse.

Looking west from Cape Florida.  Note darker water, near shore and further out, indicating coral reefs.

The entry channel is the pretty blue water in between.

We came back to show off No Name Harbor.  I cannot believe how many 500 horsepower outboards you can fit on the back of a center cockpit boat.

Entrance to the Cleat bar and grill.

I found some very strange looking fish swimming just outside the harbor:  Atlantic Needlefish (sort of resembles the long nose gar fish of Lake Champlain).

Beach friends.

Hanging out at Lighthouse Beach.

Florida Strangler Fig tree with its victim Palm tree.

This evening I met with a couple in a Power Cat who are planning on making the crossing to the Bahamas on Wednesday, like us, with light and variable winds.  The couple tell us that most of the boats here (quite a few Power Cats and sailboats) will be leaving tomorrow (with forecast 10 knots out of the north).  They, like us, feel that is too much wind and, in turn, waves to deal with in the Gulf Stream.   They will be traveling at 14 knots (we travel at 7) but we will keep in touch with each other and they will be able to give us advance notice of the conditions.  Tomorrow will be our final prep day for refueling, filling our water tanks, and provisioning.

Sue:  Finally we have weather that is worthy of Florida.  Sun and warmth!  We had a nice time with Tante Monique, Danyelle & Martin.  I'll leave it at that.

CODA BAHAMAS BOUND 2025 (17)

 CODA :  3 day countdown for Bimini, Bahamas.

26 January 2025

No Name Harbor, Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Park, Key Biscayne , Florida 

Afternoon concert at Key Biscayne's Paradise Park.

Link to some fantastic trumpet playing:  https://youtube.com/shorts/lWSCxN8x8bk

(cut and paste this url if it is not a live link)

Marc-  We spent another day here is the now warmer Key Biscayne (we can leave the hatches open at night).  I did some more work on the cockpit bench seat before our friends Carol and George came over.  We had some crackers, cheese and drinks on Coda before going out to the Lighthouse Cafe for lunch.  Carol and George came by bike and we joined them on ours.  Lunch was great.  We then joined Carol and George at the concert in town.  We had a really good time listening to a great Cuban band and enjoying the crowd singing and dancing along.

Friends Carol & George.

The AIS indicates only large ships are crossing the Gulf Stream these days.

(Green ships are cargo and red ships are oil tankers.)

Our current plan is still to leave at dawn on Wednesday with at least one other boat going to the Bahamas. That leaves 24 hours for the seas to calm down from northerly winds according to my Predictwind App.  There are several power cats in the harbor leaving either Tuesday or Wednesday morning.  Some of them go 14 knots.

Sunday was a busy day in No Name Harbor with many boats coming over for the day from Miami.  All of them left before dark.  It was a banner day for the restaurants out here.