Arrived in Bimini Bahamas

We arrived at Browns Marina and checked in with customs and immigration.  Only Walter could go as I had to stay on the boat until we were cleared.  The process was quick, we were approved to be in the Bahamas for the next 3 months.  Browns Marina was a no-frills place but it did have a shower that was desperately needed by both of us and electricity to plug into.  To celebrate our official arrive we walked to another close by marina that had a special Sunday night lobster dinner.  The lobsters were so good, but I could not finish mine and took it back to the boat for our lunch the next day.

The next morning, we got up early to find the local electronics store to see if we could purchase Bahama SIMS cards and a Wi-Fi hot spot.  We found a place called Dolphins, success, we got everything we needed, and it was only a 3 mile walk round trip, on the walk back we passed a bakery bought a loaf of fresh bread and some cinnamon rolls .  We spent the rest of the day organizing, cleaning, and fixing the boat.  Along the way we realized that the outside shower had a kink in it and required Walter to pull apart the aft birth mattress to get the kink out.  While the mattress was out he took advantage of the opportunity to installed a rudder position indicator. We did not play tourist while in Bimini it was more of a place to check in and get set up for the next few months, but the boat was sitting in some nice water.

We headed out the next morning at 7am looking to get half way to the Berry Islands but it turned into a wild ride.  Sails up, sails down, wind, no wind, motor sail of just motor. It turned into our first night sail (unexpected) so the life jackets and jacklines came out just in case.  Doing your first night sail/crossing required a mental preparedness’ but as Walter and I did it, we worked together as a team. This leg of the trip was taking much longer than expected so we pushed a little further and about 12:30am we called it quits just outside of Great Harbor Cay, dropped the anchor in 10 feet of water and crashed. Next morning, 

We got up ( you will see a pattern of many sunrise photos) called the marina and asked if they had room for us for a few days. Luck would have it they did, we found the entrance to the marina and headed in for the next four days (originally two days but stormy weather coming so we planned on hanging around a little longer)

Back when we were at the free dock in Jacksonville on the ICW we had met some great folks on the boat Duchess, Rob and Allison, they were heading south as well.  So far south that we reconnected with them in Great Harbor Cay.  It is great to see them and hope to hang out.