November 4, 2000
Location:
Miami, FL
Odometer:
1296 miles
A short cruise today after leaving the Marina at Ft. Lauderdale. No
more provisioning, no more fresh water, no more West Marine trips before
crossing the Stream ......are we crazy?? The anchorage is pretty and the
water is bright green and clear. A quiet place to drop the hook in
Miami!
November 5, 2000
Location:
Key Biscayne, FL
Odometer:
1310 miles
Our last stop before making the crossing. The anchorage, No Name
Harbor, is part of a
state park in Key Biscayne and packed with boats and blaring Latin music
on Sunday. Key Biscayne is pretty and an obviously wealthy area. We
spent some time walking around the city a bit. There is a pretty
lighthouse in the state park and a nice beach area. Later in the
afternoon, a 90 foot, incredibly opulent mega-yacht arrived and anchored for a brief
period of time in the anchorage. The yacht's name was "Party Girl" and this
was all too fitting! There were 4 "professionals" on board
keeping some businessmen "company" (i.e. Playboy Channel). For some
reason they could not seem to keep their clothing on (sorry guys, no
photos were taken) but it was hours of entertainment for Chris, Jim and all
other males in the anchorage! This was the last time we saw Jim and
Cindy - they joined us in Key Biscayne and began their journey to Corpus
Christi Monday morning. We used our time in Key Biscayne to wait for
the weather to become calm and for a southerly breeze and early Tuesday
morning we started our crossing!
November 7-10, 2000
Location:
Bimini, Bahamas
Odometer:
1365 miles
We rose at 4:30am and started our journey across the Gulf Stream. We
experienced 4-5 foot waves and some chop - it was a bumpy ride. Our boat
was surrounded by flying fish during the crossing - yes, they really do
soar over the waves! One
side of our radar arch cracked loose during the crossing and the entire
sun-deck was moving - quite alarming! We tied ropes to lessen the
movement and arrived into Bimini around 1pm. We anchored north of
the Big Game Fishing Club and cleared customs. The first thing we
noticed about the Bahamas is the unbelievably clear water - aqua in color
and the bottom is completely visible. We were scared to death coming
into Bimini fearing that we would run aground even while we were
in 20 feet of water! The sea life is completely visible - we watched
spotted rays, barracuda, and a variety of other fish swim by the
boat - it was amazing! A sea plane would fly directly over our
boat daily - wow, did that give us a scare the first time it went
over!! North Bimini is only 7 miles long and Alice Town is the main
settlement. Bimini is small and the houses are modest. The
streets are dirt and there is a lot of trash strewn about.
The town is geared to tourists and the prices are astronomical! We
did not eat at the restaurants very often for this reason. We did go
to the End of the World Bar - a local attraction with graffiti and
underwear (yes, g-strings, fruit of the looms, etc.) on the walls and
ceiling! We did not consume enough Bahama Mama rum drinks to add our
own underwear to the walls!! We also stopped at the Compleat Angler, the home of Ernest
Hemingway in the 1930's - apparently he used to go shark shooting in
Bimini. The beaches are glorious - white sand and brilliant, clear 80
degree water. We snorkeled every day while in Bimini and walked the
deserted beaches - truly wonderful!
November 11, 2000
Location:
S. Cat Cay, Bahamas (Dollar Harbor)
Odometer:
1383 miles
On our way to Cat Cay we passed the wreck of the Sapona, which was built
by Henry Ford and served as a private club, rumrunner's storehouse in
the 1920's and bomb practice target for the Navy during WWII. It is
amazingly intact and a good snorkeling spot. There are numerous
small, deserted cays in this area and we anchored in Dollar Harbor - not a
boat in sight!
November 12-13, 2000
Location:
Chub Cay, Bahamas
(Berry Islands)
Odometer:
1476 miles
Wow, what a long day - we started crossing the Great Bahama Bank at 6:30am
and arrived after dark at 8:00pm - we were beat! We will never cruise
into a new area in the dark again - the danger of hitting a reef or other
obstruction is all too real. A 60 foot charter boat ran into the
breakwater at Chub Cay after we anchored - they eventually got off the
rocks that evening with minimal damage. The next day we took the
dinghy into the Chub Cay Marina to check out the restaurant and stretch
our legs. The
marina is literally the only developed area in Chub Cay and is actually
very nice and clean. We enjoyed a spectacular snorkeling adventure at
Mamma Rhoda Rock in Chub Cay today - we saw large schools of tropical fish
and the coral was pristine. The coral we have seen in other areas (St.
Lucia, St. John) was many times broken by divers and snorkelers.
Today was our 6th wedding anniversary so we went to dinner at the Chub Cay
Club restaurant (thanks Mom and Dad!!). We had the Fisherman's
platter - fresh fish, conch and lobster - delicious!
November 14, 2000
Location:
Little Harbor Cay, Bahamas
(Berry Islands)
Odometer:
1530 miles
We left Chub Cay for Little Harbor Cay, a few miles north in the Berry
Islands. We decided to set up a rod and use a spoon (Chesapeake Bay
lure) and troll our way to Little Harbor. Basically we had no idea
what we were doing. We had no gaff (a device for pulling large fish
into the boat), no ice to chill the fish, no place to subdue or filet the
fish, our net was pretty darn small, and we were really afraid of catching
barracuda - exactly how on earth do you take a 'cuda off the hook??
We must have been insane because we decided to fish ANYWAY. Well in
the span of three hours we caught two large barracuda and one big 'ol
Kingfish. Chris got down on the swim platform with gloves and pliers
and released the barracuda (wow, their teeth are big). We were using
medium weight rods and these fish were a challenge to reel in - I reeled and
Chris took them off the hook (no way I was touching them!). Chris
wrestled the 20 pound fish to the swim platform and had to carry it by the
gills to the front of the boat (remember we have no gaff and a net that
the fish's head barely fit into). Needless to say there were fish
scales and worse all over the boat by the time it was cut up and put into
the freezer. I am am not going to fish again until we have more
freezer space! We went to Flo's Conch Bar and Restaurant for dinner
- what a wonderful experience. You call Flo's on the VHF and place
your order (we ordered conch) and she will tell you what time to come for
dinner. Flo's restaurant is located in a small house sitting high on
a hill and is run by members of the Darville family - the only
remaining family on the island. There are chickens, goats and
dogs running around their property and the Bahamian hospitality can't be
beat. The conch, rice and beans, and slaw were outstanding and the
Darville's friendly and entertaining. We would highly recommend this
experience to anyone visiting Little Harbor - the highlight of our trip so
far!
November 15, 2000
Location:
Hoffmans Cay, Bahamas
(Berry Islands)
Odometer:
1550 miles
We set off for Great Harbour Cay but the wind was blowing out of the
north/northeast and kicked up steep waves. We chose instead to stop
at Hoffman's Cay, a beautiful cove with no other boats for miles! We have
not seen another boat all day. We
walked up to the famous "Blue Hole" (a volcanic formation filled
with sea water in the middle of the island) and Chris went for a
swim. I make it a rule never swim when I cannot see the bottom -
the Blue Hole is extremely deep and should be the "Black Hole" - no
chance I was getting in there! We saw many interesting lizards and
crabs while hiking to the Blue Hole. The crab pictured here has a
body over a foot long and a huge Popeye-like
claw - the largest I have ever seen! We steered clear of Mr. Crab!
