Bahamian Blues

Not blues as in sad songs, but blues as in incredibly beautiful hues. We had a fast sail through the gulf stream with a reef in the main and the jib out. The wind was steady from the south at just under 20 knots. We left Key Biscayne early in the morning and watched the water temp rise from 64 degrees to 74 degrees in just a few hours as we traveled into the stream. 

Cape Florida lighthouse at the tip of Key Biscayne 

Gulf Stream clouds

There were flying fish everywhere (‘flocks’ of flying fish?) and man-o-war jellyfish floating by with their bubble top sails visible on the surface.

The waves got bigger when we reached the channel into North Bimini and we rocked and rolled pretty hard as we turned into the wind to take down the main. Apparently we haven’t learned our lesson yet about stowing things well on both sides of the boat even though we’re on one tack for the entire passage. In the big rolling waves at the channel entrance, my computer, safely stowed for day long starboard tack, came loose and hit the floor. Aside from a few dings it seems to be OK. Lesson learned…hopefully.

We tied up at a local marina and ran our yellow quarantine flag part way up the mast, signaling that we'd arrived but hadn't gone through customs and immigration yet. Skip got us checked in and Saralane is now flying the Bahamian flag part way up the mast as is customary for vessels visiting other countries. (In answer to an email question… yes, we still fly our country flag off our stern.) We have 180 days to enjoy these islands before they kick us out. 

Captain Skip raising the Bahamain flag

Just across the dock from us were some more ‘kids’ – Tyler and Michelle are from New Hampshire and seeing our home port of Newport, they struck up a conversation with us as soon as we arrived. They invited us to their boat ‘Alida’ for dinner that night and we were happy to go. It looks like these hot spots would have been our only other options…

It was really rough on the ocean side, where the first photo was taken, but we walked around the island and found a calm little cove that was just right for a swim. We’re not sure if we’ll move on today… a big cold front went through last night and the water is pretty wild looking out there. If it calms down we’ll head south to Gun Cay so we’ll be in a good position to cross the Great Bahama Bank and head over to the Berry Islands.

A big sleek sport fishing boat came in yesterday afternoon and tied up behind us… blocking our nice view, but also giving us an under water light show in the dark last night! We watched a few barracuda swim around and snack on the smaller fish in the light.

If we sit in just the right spot on the concrete steps by the showers here at the marina, we can get online through their wifi. We were able to catch up with family and friends on Skype after we arrived and will try to connect again before we leave. (Get some cameras on those computers so we can see you too!) 

Sounds like there's another snowstorm heading for the northeast. Yep... we're pretty happy to be here.