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| Our tour bus |
Seems we had to switch drivers because somebody was having too much fun.
This pier is what’s left at Thunderball Marina. Inside, the bar has more reminders of the crew and cast of the 007 film. Movie posters adorn the walls by the pool table.
What you see here is the back side of Thunderball cave. There is another snorkel entrance here but very shallow water leading to it.
Debi watching Dennis collecting fishing net.
A street sign that will never get you lost. You can go “This way” or “That way” You’re on an island after all. How bad can it be to get “around”?
Beach combing was great on this stretch. I have never seen such an assortment of lost flip flops. This is one of my greatest perplexities. How can one lose a shoe and not know it? Wouldn’t you stop and put it back on when its comes off your foot? Rubber boots and tennis shoes were among the left behinds or right behinds. Fishing net, floats and drift wood Now here is something we can use!
We now have a large wood board for our plaque to take back to Wardrick Wells on Booboo Hill. The girls also found sea beans and shells. It was a good adventure.
The sand swallowed your feet as you walk. Not like quick sand but, a memory foam mattress. that in itself was a neat experience. It’s easy to forget how much fun little things can be.
Since we arrived by boat, this was our goodbye sign. We gave our hugs and wished Karen and Horace goodbye.
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| Airliner |
We headed back to Wardrick Wells where we would say goodbye to our friends on True North. They were continuing on north to the Abacos Islands and we needed to be back in the States to continue our trek north to Norfolk and the AGLCA rendezvous. It is amazing how close you can get to someone in a short amount of time, when you are sharing the same adventures. We both vowed to do this again together in the coming years.
True North with the ranger station in the background.
First thing we did was dinghy to the ranger station. When Tom left he said we had to go back to Wardrick Wells and feed the birds. So I had read they used to eat sugar out of your hand. Still do. Got the picture for Tom of the Bananaquit eating out of our hands. Pretty darn cool.
Second on list of things to do for Tom was to, take our plaque to the top of Booboo Hill. That piece of driftwood from Staniel Cay worked great. Larry used the soldering iron to scribe the name I sketched on for him. Our boat on mooring ball #11, is pictured with the plaque.
Third job for Tom, was to capture blowhole spewing water. Sorry Tom. No cooperation this time. The sea as too calm that day. Maybe next trip.
The scary thing is that we were now going to be on our own!! No one to help make decisions with us as to weather, seas, places to stay,etc. For the first time, I was getting more than a little apprehensive. Most of the sailboats carry a Single Sideband radio (SSB) that they use to get daily weather and sea information. There is a well known source, Chris Parker, that is on the air early every morning with information about moving about from Florida to everywhere in the Bahamas. Note to self; check into the cost of a SSB when we get home. I have this really neat App for my cell phone, but it has been known to not be correct all of the time. Close, but not perfect.
We spent two nights at Wardrick Wells mustering our courage and saw True North and their new travelling partners on "Bout Time" off for their trip to the Abacos.
We introduced Bout Time to True North who learned they could buddy boat the next leg of their route. It was hard to say goodbye to Dennis and Debi that evening. We had been with them since Marathon and become close.
The next morning we waved them bye along with Bout Time.
Docktails our last night at Wardrick wells had a void. We met Whisper on the beach who is sister to Betty L who we traveled with on the Ten Tom. After a good sunset we went back to the boat and turned in.
One the way back to Nassau we decided to visit another island instead of revisiting the ones that we had seen on the way down. We made it another short day. We could have made it all of the way back to Nassau, but decided to visit Highborne Cay on the way back and make it a shorter day tomorrow back to Nassau. I picked Highborne because of its location and not because it was cheap. So far it has been the most expensive stop yet. We have been averaging $1.25 to $1.75 a foot (Boat is 40 ft) , per night since we left home. We had a couple that approached $2.00 a foot but they included electric. Highborne charged us $2.50 per foot plus $50 for electric for one night!!! Luckily we got there early enough that we could walk the island, visit a couple of beaches looking for shells, and even wade in the water at the beach. You didn't want to go in too deep however, because at the end of the beach on the pier where they clean fish, there were Nurse Sharks and an occasional Lemon Shark lurking, waiting for the fishermen to return with their catch. There were even a couple of Stingrays about.
Photo op. The hut at the end of the pier is the fish cleaning stand. Everything in the dinghy is washed up treasures.
These are the dinner guests waiting for appetizers.
Yes, when their bellies are full they fall asleep too. Just not in a bark-o-lounger.
NOT!
Another first, tropical painted stop signs. Only seen on Highborne Cay
The 65 mile trip from Highborne to Nassau was the most beautiful, most calm seas that we have ever seen! I will let Cindy describe Her thoughts and pictures for this leg of the journey.
Cindy’s Observations: FREEKING AWESOME! Painstaking beautiful! Never have I felt such a rush of enthusiasm or pure delight. Truly a natural wonder to behold. Ok, so I was a little excited. Finally, we witnessed a flat sea. Up to now we had only heard stories about flat water and counting star fish on the bottom and now it was actually happening.
It took six months into our trip to be at sea in beautiful crystal clear calm water. I saw fish eating and swimming around the grass on the ocean floor 25 ft below. Dark star fish were in contrast to the white sand and easy to spot. Large or small, they were all thrilling to gaze on.
Larry and Pat watching the crazy person on the bow taking all the pictures. I was pinging all around the boat. It was a “first” in a lifetime thrill I didn’t want to end.
Perfect shadows cast below the floating grasses.
Our wake carried to the horizon. Absolutely without any doubt, a marvelous day at sea!
We arrived back in Nassau at a perfect time (3:15 PM) when the tides were slack. It made for an easy approach into our slip. The tidal current here can be fierce. Now all we need is a good weather window for our 130 mile long trip back to Bimini.
To get back to Bimini we either need to retrace or steps back through the Northwest Channel ( remember the "The Rage") or return a slightly longer way, having to travel only in the daylight, and visiting yet another chain of islands; the Berrys. We opted for the latter. We would go about 77 miles to a harbor at Great Harbor Cay and wait there for good weather for the 100 mile trip back to Bimini.
We left Nassau at 8:00 in the morning on the 22nd and headed north over the 8000-10000 ft deep channel. They tell you to watch out for Submarines because the Navy uses this area for training. We had picked a good day! The seas were running around 1-2 feet with 1-2 foot swells. Very enjoyable. We met 2 or 3 Carnival Cruise ships headed toward Nassau. They were coming from the direction of Little Stirrup and Great Stirrup Cays which are located at the north end of the Berrys. The cruise ship companies have developed a couple of private islands for their own use. We arrived at Great Harbor Cay crossing around the north end of the islands and past a cruise ship anchored at Little Stirrup Cay. We arrived at around 5:00 at night and almost had the place all to ourselves. I had read that this place is often overlooked because of it's location. You really need to be coming here as a destination because it's not on the way to anywhere.
Entering the channel to marina.
Since this is not a heavy traveled route, it was as though we had a private slip.
The marina office, showers and laundry room.
View from the condos. We are above the hammock.
Larry waiting on the crazy camera person. We went for a little ride about the island.
Found the local air strip. Their sock needs some darning. It is a wind “strip”
Stopped here for lunch. A few times. Found some terrific sea biscuits on this beach.
A bit down the road was Shark Creek. Excellent photo op. At slack low tide we found several sand dollars. Sea urchins were washed up in the wrack along with sponges.
Sugar Beach Cave was fun to explore. We walked around, into and above the formations. It’s best to enter the cave at slack low tide.
Bicycling to the cave about did us in. It was very warm and we drank all our water supply. At least we had more down than up going back.
Another photo op for the airplane pilots in our circle. You never know what type of art work or sculptures one can find on islands. This one belonged to a wreck that is still in the water.
Yay, we got wheels. Pat rented a Hoopdi so off we go to the high ground. We ran out of road and drove through the bush. It was like a drive through car wash. Had to roll up the windows so the limbs wouldn’t slap us inside. After the drive through, we could see the point were the cruise ships anchor for the guests to go deep sea fishing or parasailing.
Cruise ship anchored north side of island. We came around the ship from the southeast to get to harbor. After the high ground we headed back to our favorite stop. The bar on the beach.
We drove the entire 14 mile island. After lunch we went back to Shark Creek were the tire went flat. We limped to the airport were the owner of the rental came with his portable air compressor and filled us up. He also owns the little quick shop at marina, can mail a letter for you and preaches on Sunday.
One of our sunsets during our stay.
We stayed at the Marina at Great Harbor for 5 days, leaving on the 28th. I wanted to leave before daylight because we had 100 miles to go and at the speed that I like to travel, it would take all day. The harbor at Bimini can be tricky even in the daylight and I didn't want to attempt it arriving after dark. When we left I used the Radar and the course I had programmed into the plotter and they led us out of Great Harbor with no problem. By the time it got light, we were already 10 miles on our way. We started out with 2-3 ft seas from 45 degrees off our Starboard. The seas gradually got lower and became 1-2 feet for most of the remainder of the trip. As we got closer to Bimini and the Gulfstream they picked up a little but not much.
Since Larry got us up before dawn, otherwise you will not see too many of these shots from me, the moon was full and provided some neat lighting effects on the clouds.
Sunrise to the east and the moon fading away to the west simultaneously.
This is a picture of our destination on the charts “North Rock. It is on the north end of Bimini and marked our turn to the south to the harbor in Bimini. You can see the island on the horizon We pulled into our slip at the Blue Water Marina in Bimini at 4:45 P.M. we still had plenty of daylight and we didn't need to clear customs going this way.
On the south end of Bimini rests the Sapona, built by Henry Ford during the first WW. Afterwards, it was used as a warehouse by a rum runner during Prohibition. The islanders were very upset when it ran aground and all the precious cargo was lost. The owner died pennyless . Later it was used for target practice by the navy and was used by the infamous flight 19 as their last target before being lost in the Bermuda triangle. Now a popular dive site for Scuba divers.
Bimini is under construction for a cruise ship port, so the rumor has it.
The Dolphin House is a labor of love built from recycled materials at hand. For a few dollars you will receive an in-depth history lesson about the island and the man who owns and is still constructing it, Ashley Saunders. Artifacts cover the interior walls from around the world and mosaics cover the exterior walls. He may even tell you about his time chauffeuring the Miss Universe pageant contestants about.
Bimini is not very wide. View from the roof top both directions.
On Good Friday Alicetown had a parade. A big celebration for the island. We had BBQ and coleslaw. Island style.
We met with Bout Time and Blue Moon at Bimini. This would be our last Bahamian sunset. Time spent in the Bahamas was too short. We have already talked on returning in the near future.
A short visit this time too. The weather was going to be marginal on the 30th but was going to get really bad for a week after that, so we decided to leave the morning of the 30th. It was a little "rolley" but I was going slow and taking our time. It was only going to be 50 miles or so including the extra distance that the Gulfstream was going to make us travel. We arrived back at Dinner Key mooring field at 3:00 in the afternoon and hooked on to a mooring ball. A quick call to Customs to get cleared back in and we were free to leave the boat.
Sunrise. A north heading until we reach Canada.
Key Biscayne was a busy place for holiday boaters Easter weekend. Once again we are back to the land of fast boats and bigger faster boats.
Pat had arranged to pickup a rental car to go back to her parents in Sarasota where she would change cars and drive her parents car back to home. We didn't make it in time for her to pick it up that day, so I took her into the dock by dinghy the next morning to go pick it up. Later that morning, Cindy and I dropped the mooring ball and pulled into a slip to fill with water, empty the holding tank and unload Pat's gear.
After saying our goodbyes to Pat, we headed north through Miami. Finally on our way to Norfolk!!
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