Waiting for Weather at South Cat Cay

Winds from the northeast and east were predicted, so we made our way a few more miles south to South Cat Cay. We had to poke around for a while, but we eventually found a big sand hole to plant our anchors in. The winds started the day after we got here (Friday), and are expected to continue through the weekend. We’ve haven’t been able to get out in the dinghy to explore, but we’ve found plenty to do aboard: reading, writing, editing, getting the SSB to work, baking bread and trying out new recipes. We’re certainly not bored, but it will be good to be able to get out and about again once this system blows over.

Honeymoon Harbour, Gun Cay

After leaving North Bimini, we sailed south just a few miles to a tiny little anchorage called Honeymoon Harbour (British spellings in the Bahamas) on the north end of Gun Cay. We anchored in a lovely big sand hole; sand is the preferred anchoring substrate as it provides much better holding than sea grass or hard pan, and there is less flora and fauna to disturb. After murky waters, it’s so nice to SEE that your anchor is firmly stuck in the bottom. In this picture, you can see our anchor chain extending into the sand hole, while the boat floated over seagrass. By the way, that water is about 12-feet deep – nice visibility, huh?! We swam and snorkeled to our hearts’ content, although there was little in the way of coral reef here, there were lots of fish. The anchorage was apropos for the date; our 20^th wedding anniversary was November 4^th. What a great gift, to be able to do this.

North Bimini, Bahamas

We spent one night on the dock in North Bimini, and did some exploring around while we were there. The waters surrounding the island are incredibly clear and myriad shades of blue. In the picture on the left, it was hard to tell where the sky ended and the ocean began. But although we managed to work our way successfully through the waters, others apparently have not, as you can see by this rusted steamer parked on a rocky portion of the North Bimini Island shoreline.

First Stop: Bimini

Our first foreign country check-in in Mr Mac! We arrived in Bimini at about 1:00 pm Monday after crossing over from Fort Lauderdale, and headed for the harbor. The only problem was that the three outer buoys shown on our chart were missing, so we had to feel our way in. A bit nervewracking, but good practice, since channels in the Bahamas are not as well-marked as those in the US. But the water sure is pretty! As we headed in, the depth went from over 200 feet to 80 feet in a matter of seconds. When I could see the bottom well I asked Chris how deep it was: 50 feet! Visibility got even better when it shallowed to twenty feet, ten feet, five feet… We basically felt our way in (we love our depth sounder!) past the shallows, and put in at the Bimini Blue Water Marina. This is the first dock we’ve been at since we left St. Pete in May, since we prefer to anchor out, but it provided easy access to the Customs and Immigration offices where we checked in to the country. See the Bahamas courtesy flag flying near our mast? Dinner out as a treat to celebrate our arrival, and we were in bed by 8:00, since we’d been going since yesterday morning with not a whole lot of sleep.

So, How Clear Are The Gulf Stream Waters?

The waters of the Gulf Stream, and the waters near the Bahamas, are so blue and so clear, it’s like looking through glass. As we crossed, we’d see clumps of gold-colored sargassum (a seaweed, see it in the lower left corner of the picture above) floating, with schools of tiny fish beneath. We also had a visit from these dolphins, who played around the boat for a few minutes. Believe it or not, in both of these pictures, the dolphins are underwater, even though they look like they’re out of the water, especially in the picture below, where Anne is watching the dolphin from our bow sprit. A few moments later, the dolphin swarm straight down, and we could see it perfectly clearly until it disappeared under the boat.

Bahamas Bound!

We set out from Fort Pierce Sunday morning intending to sail to Miami and make the jump to the Bahamas from there, but it was just so darn nice out when we got to Fort Lauderdale about 1:00 am, and Bimini was the same distance as Miami, so we made a hard left turn. We couldn’t have asked for better conditions: full moon, good breeze (although it died after a while), and slight seas. However, the Gulf Stream, which when we last saw it helped us speed up the coast at ten knots, now conspired (Yes, conspired. I can anthropomorphize anything – try me.) to run us north again, so that even though we were running a compass course of about 140 degrees, our course over the ground was closer to 90 degrees. Even more fun was avoiding the heavy shipping traffic going in and out of Fort Lauderdale. But once across the stream, we were able to steer directly toward our goal. All in all, it was a great crossing, and the sunrise was fantastic, as you can see in the picture.

Ashopping We Will Go

After returning to Vero Beach from St. Pete, we were busy shopping for provisions (food and such) for the Bahamas. We continued shopping in Fort Pierce, our next stop on the ICW. The cruising guides, as well as people who have been there, say that the food selection is limited, so we tried to stock up on what we liked best. Amazingly, we were able to fit it all into lockers and hammocks, albeit sometimes cramped, as you can see here. Mr Mac has terrific storage, with locker space under the settees, and more locker space UNDER the locker space under the settees. It makes getting at some stores a bit of a hassle, but what do we have more of now besides time?