Back to Bimini

Saturday morning, May 8^th, we set an alarm for 6:15 am, yes an alarm and yes 6:15 on a Saturday.  Our goal was to be underway by 7, we had a long day ahead of us.  The sky was not looking very favorable, the couple next to us on Safari said they were going to wait a little longer before leaving, hoping to wait out the storm.  Not us, we got underway, luckily the storm went completely around us.

Sunrise before leaving Chub Cay

Storm clouds ⛅

We knew it was not the ideal day to be crossing the bank, but we did not want to stay at Chub Cay until Tuesday, our next good weather window.  When talking to the couple from Safari the evening before they told us their plan was Great Harbour Marina (still in the Berry’s) to Port Lucaya (Grand Bahamas, Freeport).  Before leaving, we told them our plan was to Bimini and if it was too bad we would change course and go their route.

Well, we started out it wasn’t too bad, but the further we traveled the more the boat was rocking from the waves, still not extremely bad.  At this point we decided best to change course and start heading to Great Harbour, only 4 hrs. versus 10 hrs.  I called the marina and they had no open slips available.  However, there were several anchorages nearby.   Just when I found a slip at Grand Bahamas Yacht Club, Safari hails us on the radio to inform us they decided to go to Bimini. 

Rob informed Safari that we were unable to get a slip at Great Harbour, Safari was kind enough to offer to contact the marina and switch his reservation to us.  Rob and I discussed our options and figured they must know something we don’t.  There trawler was just a slight smaller than ours. So I said let’s just go to Bimini.

We radioed Safari and told them we were going to change our course back and buddy boat with them to Bimini.  We soon discovered they travel just a little faster than us.  Shortly, after we altered our course, I told Rob you are probably going to hate me for saying “let’s just go to Bimini”, at this time it was still fairly pleasant.  Well, here is where the fun really begins.

The winds started to increase, which in turns means the waves also were getting larger. The winds were out of the northeast, so they were basically coming across the beam. To make things worse, the wave swells were hitting us at two different directions. This was making us rock and roll all over the place.   

While underway, I play games (Candy Crush), read, puzzles, anything to keep me occupied.  Rob says I don’t know how you can read when especially when we are rolling like we were.  I do those things otherwise I would just watch the waves and that would not be good. 

So, for hours we constantly rocked and rolled to the point where we both thought the boat was going to roll over.  Neither one of us spoke of our fears.  But, I could see the worry/panic in Rob’s face as I continued to read while praying silently.  In addition, the autopilot continuously failed, which meant it kept setting off a beeping alarm.  It would correct itself and the process would start all over again.

As I said before Safari was just a little faster than us, so it was not long before they were way ahead of us.  They kept in contact with us the entire trip, gave us updates on the conditions ahead of us.  Safari was heading to South Bimini and we were heading to North Bimini. During our conversations, there apparently was another boat listening in, Be As You Are contacted us to figure out where we were because they were not seeing the same conditions we were talking about.

Be As You Are also left Chub Cay around 6 in the morning and we couldn’t figure out why we did not see the sailboat.  They went south of Mackie Shoal and we went north.

The trip was so bad once we docked and hooked up the electric at Bimini Bluewater Marina I got out the bourbon and vodka.  Rob poured himself a quadruple bourbon on the rocks and I had a Moscow mule (vodka and ginger beer).   

Chub to Bimini

Some pictures of the damage:

Broken picture frame

Flybridge

Portable ice maker fell over

Once we were settled, I quickly heated up some leftovers, Rob had not eaten all day.  I on the other hand, ate every snack, I had in my little basket.  After we ate I said I need to get off the boat, I needed to walk.  Rob just wanted to chill, but he walked with me.  Of course, 2 minutes into our walk we encountered Star from our time here last month.

On Sunday, Mother’s Day after talking to each kid (best part of the day) and Rob talked to his mother we decided to spend the afternoon relaxing on the beach.  Later, when it was time for a cold refreshing beverage we walked to Big Mike’s Conch stand. 

The stand is small with only a few seats and overlooks the beautiful blue waters.  No seats available, we began talking to the couple sitting on the end while waiting to get a drink. Come to find out, John and Belinda were on the sailboat Be As You Are.  We seem to keep attracting sailboat friends.

The four of us left Mike’s and walked to Shadow’s Coconut bar on the beach.  Shadow’s drink were not as good as Coconut Brian’s but, he was entertaining. 

We then moved on to the Conch Fu Shack for dinner. 

The bartender asks what music we wanted to listen to and John says Barry Manilow, REALLY.  It gets better, they gave control of the music to John.  He actually played a variety of music. He was very entertaining he sang and even danced to just about every song. 

The guys both got a conch burger and us ladies ordered salads.  The guys were a little disappointed they thought a conch burger came in the form of a burger.  It was fried conch on a burger bun.  Two guys sat at the table next to us, Matt and Bob.  They just arrived in the Bahamas and were heading to Nassau.

Matt and Bob ordered drinks in a coconut.  Matt offered to buy Belinda and me the same drink for Mother’s Day.  We of course said sure.  I believe the drink in the coconut was straight up rum.

Belinda and I with our 🥥 🥥

On Monday morning, there was a knock on the door.  It was the couple from Safari, so we finally exchanged names with Dan and Mary.  They had felt bad that we had such a horrible trip over.

We took our scooters to the bread store, I wanted a loaf of the cinnamon bread, I thought it was the best bread we had the entire trip.  Not saying the other bread we had wasn’t good, but the cinnamon was my favorite.  They were out, so no bread for me, good thing because I think I've gained about 10 lbs. just from bread.

The rest of the day we did some exploring, we went to Stuart’s for a conch salad, spent some more time on the beach, hung out with John and Belinda. Finally,  started prepping for our early morning departure back to the States.

Stuart's Conch Shack 

Last time in the beautiful blue water