Conch shells everywhere!
Well, we are here. We made it to Bimini yesterday at 10:00 am. We left Marathon, FL at 12:45 pm on Friday. Yes, we left again on a Friday (supposed to be bad luck). It may have been bad luck. When we left Marathon the plan was to go further north for a jump on Saturday. We were just basically going out for a sail. About an hour into it we looked at each other and said, “let’s just go”. Chomping at the bit, worried about the upcoming front, and the absolutely great weather made us want to just go. We neglected to put up the dinghy so we slowed down and managed to raise it to the deck. David went to the wheel, attempted to increase speed and said loudly, “we have no throttle”. Sam and I finished tying down the dinghy and went back to figure out what was wrong. We are a sail boat after all, so we put up the sails. I drove while David channeled his inner mechanic. He took a lot of stuff apart, piddled around in the lazarette and said “the throttle cable has sheared off”. Even I know that is bad. Worse than bad. Show stopper. I thought we may want to go back to Marathon and get it fixed, but David said he think he could rig something. We continued on, even with my doubts. He rigged a line and a bungee to the throttle and ran it to the cockpit. Bad ass! We were back in business. I was still a little wary, but after 16 hours of running the engine and successfully making it across the gulf stream, I believed in the fix.
The motor sail across the gulf stream was uneventful. Lots of ships passing too close, but at least it keeps you awake. We did 2 hour shifts, Sam helped keep us awake. It was difficult to sleep with the engine on, but we really wanted to get across the stream as soon as possible, so we left it on. In the morning, we put up the sails, spotted land and got excited. All the guide books/charts came out (we have about 5). Now the tough part, entering the channel. I was driving, David was navigating (GPS not out his hands for 2 seconds) as well as the reins (throttle boy). There ended up being 4 channel markers missing unbeknownst to us. Long story short we bumped a couple of times in the sand (thank goodness, not rock). We now have the colors of the water burned into our memory. Nothing hurt except our pride. We got out quickly and went to the darker water. We finally got in the channel, found the marina, the tide was up so the current was ripping through. I handed over the wheel, but the reins stayed with David too. Uh oh, the lines aren’t ready, run, run. David turned around, dock master yelling “don’t go over there, it’s shallow”. David went in fast, we fumbled getting the lines to the dock master. David went to fend off. We’re done. I got off the boat to tie off lines and got reprimanded (only the captain can get off until we clear customs). David got the paper work to fill and desperately needed a drink. He was fried. Done.
We cleared customs and got cleaned up and went to look around. I talked to the locals and they talked to me. One even offered me drugs. I need to be a bit more discerning, I guess. We ended up staying at the boat that night visiting with a boat guy, Peter. He is a bum like us (I just mean jobless and a wanderer) and needs to get to Nassau before the 17th to pick up his girlfriend and son. We will probably go with him to Chub cay because it might be fun.
We are having a bit of rough weather, it is blowing 20-30 kts and raining. We walked the island today, in the rain. Everything was closed, but we enjoyed the exercise. The weather is going to be rough for the rest of the week. The wait is on to make our next move. No snorkeling today, just too windy and nasty.
Could have been us
That’s it for now. Any questions?
