Oh how we love the Bahamas Feb-March 2014

Here I sit in Blackpoint laundry using their washing machines and free WIFI. I need to go back 2 months and update all the fun and adventures we have had. The internet service has been at times non-existent but we were having too much fun anyway to try to search it out.
Backtrack to early February and we quickly get ready to leave Key West to cross over to Bimini Bahamas in the next 24 hours because a change in the weather is forecasted. so we fill the water tanks, fuel tanks and reprovision as much food and drink as we can reasonably hold and set off in a very calm sea.


The crossing of the Gulf Stream from Key West to Bimini is about 120 miles NE and we hope to utilize the 2-3 knots of current in the Gulf Stream to arrive in Bimini in daylight the next day. We motored and motored sailed and arrived as planned. Lots of ship traffic were encountered as we crossed tracks with ships heading into and out of Miami’s busy port. By morning we are off of Bimini and entered and clear Customs easily. It was so beautiful there and the wind we had anticipated was coming so we pulled into Browns Marina and stayed for the night. Cocktails and potluck dinner was enjoyed. The next morning we had dramatic waves and seas to watch from the safety of the marina.

After a few days of Bimini we headed to Gun Cay to snorkel and explore before heading across the Bahamas Banks.

This is miles and miles of sand with 10-15 feet of crystal clear water covering it. Again a light wind motor sailing crossing where we caught some mackerel and kept hoping for more. But there is not a lot of fish to be caught here. by night fall we were off of Chub Cay in the Berry Island group. We did a landing after dark which we always try to avoid but sometimes can’t be helped. We had thought to anchor just off the banks at dusk but found large discrepancy between our charts and our depth sounding so we opted to not risk it.
Chub Cay had a very large new looking marina complex but it was virtually empty except for a few sport fish boats. We wandered around and enjoyed the scenery including this infiniti pool.
West Bay on New Providence was our next port of call.We were looking for a place to land near the airport for picking up our son Jim in a few weeks. We biked around the south and west side of New Providence which is much less inhabited and seems to cater to the rich and famous. The Lyford Cay peninsula had this almost Disneyesque looking resort? private home on the point.


On the SW side of New Providence was a terminal port for oil delivery but historically it was used in the slave trade. here you see a cut into rocks staircase that was used to bring slaves ashore.


Also located in West Bay was the Clifton Heritage Park which had a great spot for viewing birds.

This is a sculpture made from casaurina wood called the Sacred Ladies.

Very cool sculpture!!
But that is enough blogging for now. I will leave you with this full moon thought and a promise to continue this tomorrow.