The Rest Of Our Bimini Trip Part 3 Of 3

Our plan had been to stay at Bimini Sands for a few days and then prepare for the crossing back. I had scoped out a couple anchorages in Ft Lauderdale and thought it would be fun to extend our vacation by spending some time there and then slowly making our way back to Marathon. 

We had a great night, we took the shuttle to the Island Club and treated ourselves to a nice dinner with some cracked conch as an appetizer, but all the kids wanted was pizza.. They got their Bahamian pizza and we sat in bliss listening to the music. There was a late night swim in the infinity pool and then a great nights sleep. 

I awoke and logged onto a couple of my go to weather sites only to find that a system I found out about when we first got back into civilization the day before had built overnight and wasn't looking good. I rolled over and woke Jess up to make a huge decision.. Either plan on getting pinned here and possibly waiting out some rough weather, or run back to the US and leave in less than an hour.. Within a couple minutes we were prepping the boat to leave.. I informed the office we were leaving, turned in our immigration paperwork and in less than 30 minutes we were pulling out and on our way. 

92L

That was the name of the system heading our direction and it showed the potential for development or at least staying a strong tropical wave. We pulled out of Bimini and headed out of the inlet, at that point I still hadn't decided on our destination. I did take a look at the grib files (predictive weather data files) that show the wind predictions and it seemed like it was going a little more north so I decided we would run for Miami, it was also the shortest run. 

We were almost completely under power with almost no wind to help us along, we were moving around 6 kts and the seas were surprisingly calm. All morning there were bands of storms from the system surrounding us but we managed to thread the needle and avoid them. There was a large catamaran that we spoke with on the radio headed for Ft Lauderdale and we saw them getting pounded in the distance, later we would find out how bad they got it. The trip was fairly uneventful until the engine abruptly went silent, I went down below to quickly change the filter and was surprised how I didn't notice it creep up. When I changed the filter I did notice it wasn't very dirty looking. I fired up the engine and began to motor again, only to have the engine chug and die.  We were in the middle of the Gulfstream and it was pushing us north at an incredible speed, not only off course but also in the opposite direction. After thinking for a few minutes I went below to the spares locker and grabbed a replacement on engine filter. I went into the engine room area and attempted to remove the on engine filter only to retreat in utter defeat unable to budge it. After several more attempts I finally had Jessica hand me the largest screwdriver in the toolbox and a hammer. I drove the flathead through the entire filter body and used the leverage to break it free. I spun on the new filter, crossed my fingers and fired up the engine. It fired instantly and I popped my head up in victory only to see a huge USCG cutter on our stern. I wiped the grease, diesel, blood (damn hose clamps) off my hands, picked up the RAM mic in the cockpit and hailed them. They came back and asked if we knew the system that was coming our way "Captain you do know there is a large potentially strong tropical system bearing down on your location?" I asked for an updated weather forecast and they informed me the system would be on top of us in less than 4 hours.  We were 6+ hours away from port. 

With the engine running I pushed her harder than I ever had before and she delivered without so much as a puff of smoke or a complaint. We would occasionally pickup some wind from the parts of the front surrounding us, but yet we managed to thread the needle without any direct hits. Just outside of Miami the wind began to increase and the city was surrounded by a huge storm that had an eye right in the middle, it was impressive to say the least. Without any warning the hair on our arms stood up and there was a huge flash of light, lightening had struck unbelievably close. There were also several vessels on the radio asking for assistance. 

Just before dark we made entry into Government Cut (Miami's Port) and from there it was a decent trip to get to dinner key the mooring field and we would be coming in at night, but it was well marked. 

We finally got settled and began to relax when a huge squall hit and we were being rocked by 42kt winds and 3 to 4ft fetch that was coming from across Biscayne Bay. Even with the storm rocking us, we didn't have much of a problem falling fast asleep that night. 

The next morning I found out Invest 92L hit Ft Lauderdale directly, we had chosen correctly and I can't imagine how being exposed during that would have felt. The catamaran we had spoken with the day before would have been right in the middle of that storm. 

We spent the next couple days in Coconut Grove walking around and enjoying the shops, parks and sites. I kept an eye on the weather and waited for a good opportunity to head home. We planned on going from Miami to Rodriguez Key and then making the short run to the anchorage we stayed at day 1 of our trip near Channel 5. Both runs were uneventful, but the night at Rodriguez was rough and restless. When we got near the Channel 5 bridge we looked at the clock and discussed just making the run all the way home. We had made such good time we figured it would be good to just get home a day early so we kept sailing. 

As the boat made the last turn for the channel it was just as sad as it was exciting to be back. We pulled into Boot Key, waved at Jessica's coworkers at Burdine's and within minutes we were launching the dinghy and heading to shore. Number 1 on the agenda, showers, long hot showers.. Now we decide what's next.. 

The Rest Of Our Bimini Trip Part 2 Of 3

We left Honeymoon Harbor first thing the next morning, headed south for Dollar Harbor. First we had to navigate the cut at Gun Cay (Key). We were told to approach far to the right, staying near the dock and lighthouse. The current was tearing through the cut and the waves were confused and the cross current tossed us around a bit. Thankfully Thin Line is a heavy boat and she held the course as we passed through the cut. 

We had a great day sail down, passing Cat Cay ( A private Island with huge homes and it's own airport) then down around south cat point and back up into Dollar Harbor. What makes dollar harbor so special is it's complete protection. Flats cover 180 degrees and the island covers the other 180. You have protection from surge and no matter what the wind there is no fetch (waves) that can build. During low tide there is land visible for almost as far as the eye can see. We followed the channel in, never seeing less than 8 to 9 ft of water, even at low tide. I anchored in the middle of the fattest part of the harbor and my anchor fell on mostly sand with a smattering of grass, the Rocna digging in right away. I let out about 100 ft of solid chain rode, applied the snubber and got ready to make a cocktail, after all it was almost noon!

We made a little lunch, enjoyed some fresh ice drinks courtesy of our Engel and prepared to head to shore. The refrigeration on our boat consists of two units. We have our main Engel that is a double fridge and the largest unit Engel sells. It's power draw as a fridge averages a little over an amp per hour, 3.5amps when running, but it normally only runs 20 minutes out of the hour. These units are really efficient and rock solid. Our second Engel fridge is half the size, it's actually the one we bought new for Kainoa and we got it back from them when they upgraded. We decided to run this as a hard freezer, and I had it packed to the hilt with frozen beef, bacon, sausage, lunch meats as well as some frozen fruits for smoothies. The best part was the ice trays where we managed to make trays every single day, at one point we had to stop making ice because we had too much in the fridge and no room. 

We landed the dinghy, secured it and set out to explore the island that we had all to ourselves. Not a single building, person or soul in sight. There were signs of the presence of people, conch shells hung from trees, stones were piled in odd shapes and formations, but we were totally alone. 

We spent the afternoon relaxing on the beach and headed back to the boat just before dark, already planning to light a bonfire the following night and stay later next time. 

The next day we enjoyed a large breakfast, did a little snorkeling, straightened out the boat, enjoyed a large lunch and then packed up for an extended stay and some more exploring. 

As the sun hung a little lower in the sky, we gathered firewood ( it was everywhere!) formed a pile and used one of the many expired flares I keep on the boat for moments just like this! The fire was started in seconds with the quick snap of the flares cap and the dry wood ignited instantly. 

We enjoyed the time spent just talking around the fire, it's times like these most people don't get enough of. Making our way back to the dinghy the tide had risen substantially and it was now anchored in chest deep water, water we had seen several predators in during the day including several small sharks, barracuda etc. What happened next I'll never forget and I'm pretty sure I pissed my pants laughing, Jess on the other hand was a little panicked and not amused when Colby yelled "YOLO!" (You only live once) and took off for the dinghy, leaving Jess behind. 

Of course nothing happened and we went back to the boat for a movie, some popcorn and of course another ice cold beverage.

Later that night I awoke to gale force winds gusting over 40 kts, but the amazing thing is how smooth the ride was. The boat was turning and felt the strain of the winds, but there was no chop, no rolling and after a quick check of the anchor alarm and systems I fell back asleep. (UNlike Honeymoon Harbor where I was up almost the entire night biting my nails off) 

The next day was more of the same, exploring our very own island. 

We stayed in Dollar harbor for a few days, explored all there was to explore and we had our fill of total isolation. The last night a conch fishing boat did anchor about 200 yds away from us, waving as they went by. We could hear the gentle tapping of them popping a hole and forcing the conch out as they cleaned their catch. 

After spending those few days in isolation we were craving something with a few more accommodations and I had scoped out a promising marina/resort that was reasonably priced at around 50 bucks, for us to spend the next couple days preparing for our crossing back to the states. The resort was called Bimini Sands. 

We sailed all the way north back to Bimini, however this was on south Bimini instead of north Bimini where Alicetown is. The entrance was clearly marked and I never saw less than 11ft going in. We weren't quite prepared for what we saw when we got there, we had pulled into paradise. This didn't feel like a Bahamas marina, this felt like a 5 star marina! Infinity pool, ships store with Bimini bread freshly baked, a free shuttle and we were informed that tonight was a special night, it was Karaoke night at the Island Club down the road. We enjoyed the pool and then settled in for some Internet time reconnecting with family via Skype and letting everyone know we were safe. 

Our boat was one of only 3 or 4 in the marina, just like the island we had the run of the place.. 

Next will be part 3, the final update to our trip.