2011-12-07 - to Bimini, Bahamas

Well,we are off! It's 4am and we are now making our way out of the channel heading to Bimini. We are not alone this morning. Although it is pitch black out here, we can make out the lights of 5 boats in front and 4+ boats behind. It's great company as you can always hear what other boats are seeing in front. The boys are still asleep, but Connor wants to be up when we start in the Gulf Stream. This is probably it for Internet until we reach Bahamas. Catch you on the 'other side'!
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Well, we made it.  At 1:00pm, we arrived on the docks at Blue Water Marina.  The crossing was basically uneventful.  We had 3-4 foot waves on the

nose the whole time and had to motor...but, it could have been worse.  We had a few sprays over the bow, but nothing to soak us.  We also tried our hand at fishing again, without any luck.  Dharma (the other boat that we are crossing with) did catch a Wahoo! 
The water was so blue on the crossing and half way over the Gulf Stream, we tossed two bottles into it which we wrote a note and put in our boat cards.  Hopefully someone up the way finds it and lets us know.  We figured it would probably take 50 or so days to reach land...perhaps Ireland?  We also had dolphins jumping around our boat for about 5-10 minutes.  They were really putting on a show.  It was great!!

Tossing our 'message in a bottle'

As we approached the entrance to Bimini, the water turned that incredible clear that we have so longed for up in "Murky North America".  We could see fish and star fish right down to the bottom. Connor ran to the front to take it all in.  We landed at the docks and got our pile of paperwork from the marina office to fill in.  Once completed we had to go down the street to the customs office.  Other cruisers were there doing the same.  It's here where we pay for our cruisers permits (in case you are wondering it is $300 + $25 for the extra person).  After that, we proceeded to the immigration office where we needed to fill out more

dolphins came to play

paperwork.  All done!  Time to relax and enjoy!    We ended up going to the beach on the other side of the island where some of the other cruisers were also.  The water was beautiful and refreshing.  Dylan even got in with his floating neck ring and loved it.  We'll do more of this for sure.  In the evening a lady named Shirley came by the boat selling Conch Salad and told us of the bonfire down at the beach.  We ended up doing that and met more cruisers at her little restaurant, called 'Shirley's'.  The other cruisers had said that this little spot is the best around and came to Bimini just for her food.  We had already grabbed a bite, but may give it a go tomorrow.  One of the fellows we met is the captain of a boat that landed today as well.  He told us of his woes at the customs office that day.  They stamped the passport all of the people from his boat


Taking the US courtesy flag down and puttting
up the yellow quarantine flag

 until they got to the owners passport.  They shook their heads in simultaneous disagreement.  Apparently, he had been coming to Bimini every 2 weeks or so bringing items for the Bahamians.  He was not running anything illegal....just diapers, fruit juice, etc.  It is very expensive here for some of those items and he was basically just helping out families.  After a brief discussion, he said, the owner was clear.  No other details were shared.  We did a brief walk around the town before heading back to the boat.  We haven't planned what to do tomorrow but there is a front moving in (this is the window that is now closing for those who still need to cross) and we'll make plans then.  We are just thankful that we made it and are very excited to explore these wonderful islands.