“I’m not sure.” That’s our new mantra. What shall we do today? I’m not sure! What’s the weather doing? I’m not sure! Why’s this anchorage so bumpy? I’m not sure!
Do you get my drift? I’m not sure you do! There are so many uncertainties and imponderables that certainty about anything is an uncertainty. Today, the one toilet stopped flushing and the water maker stopped making water!! Why, I ask? I’m not sure!! But down to diagnostics and I find that the water inlet hoses are blocked with seaweed! Hence no flushing and no water. Then the other loo blocks!! Why? You got it!! I’m not sure! Where’s our toilet plunger – do we have a toilet plunger?? I’m not sure!! Nope, no plunger on boat. On to plan B! What’s plan B? Here we go again – I’m not sure! Anyway, some magic effervescent sachet does the trick and we again have 2 functioning loos!
So we left Bimini a few days ago and visited the wreck of the Sapona, a concrete ship sunk in 1929 by a hurricane. Amazingly, a lot of the structure is still visible above the water. We dinghied in close but wimped out at attaching ourselves and snorkelling around the wreck.
So I swam off the boat. Astonishingly the current was so powerful!! I essentially jumped off the swim platform and when I surfaced I was abreast the dinghy about 20 feet behind the boat!! Without flippers or anything to hold on to, I’m not sure if I’d have been able to swim back to the boat! Scary thought and something to take note of.
After that, we headed off to anchor off Cat Cay but found the anchorage had been scoured making it next to impossible to set my anchor although new friends seemed to anchor successfully there for the night.
So we scooted off to another anchorage a few miles further north and found beautiful sand with great holding.
Well, the wind switched and we spent a very rolly and noisy night on the hook. At times it felt like I was suspended above my bed as the bow would lift to the waves and then drop away. Anyway, the anchor held well but our friends dragged their anchor all through the night.
Next day we were away early as we had not slept much and were awake and so headed off to the Berry Islands, intending to anchor on the great Bahama Banks in the middle of nowhere. This would have broken our journey into 2 short trips but the water was so bumpy that we decided to push on all the way to the Berry islands (80nm).
So the throttle was opened, diesel was drunk rapidly but we entered our chosen anchorage at Fraser Hog Cay at about 4.30 fully intending to pick up a mooring ball at the club. As we were doing this, another boater (Benno and Marlene on Diesel Duck) came on the radio and informed us that the club had closed in May this year (no wonder they didn’t answer our radio calls!!!) and that another boat had ended up on the bank, mooring ball and all!!
So off we toddled to the designated anchorage where there were 3 other boats only to find that we could not find good holding. So back to the mooring field where we managed to set our anchor on the first go!
Stayed there for a relaxing day yesterday and, with an imminent wind shift expected, moved to Chub Cay anchorage this morning and have managed to tap into some free wifi!
24/25 December 2011 – Bimini Bahamas
We spent Christmas Eve doing lots of walking and exploring around this small island. We went in and out of just about every store along the main street and managed to find what’s called a Hawaiian Sling for catching crayfish. Of course it may take a bit of practice but here’s hoping……
We had a lovely swim in the sea and also hired a golf cart to go up and take a look at an exclusive resort on the very north of the island – about 4 miles away. The locals also use golf carts for getting around although there are also quite a few cars. I left the driving of the golfcart to Lance – here they drive on the left hand side of the road like back home, but the difference is the cart is still lefthanded! We also enjoyed lunch at one of the local restaurants – cracked conch (pronounced conk). It was very tasty – quite similar to calamari.
We’ve had a lovely relaxing Christmas day – we started off with champagne and orange juice with our boat neighbours this morning and this afternoon we went for another walk and had a drink at the next door marina – the Big Game Club.
Quite a few boats arrived yesterday and we were surrounded by 11 sailboats and all except one were from Canada. The other one was Australian but they left before we had a chance to say hi. We saw another boat this afternoon at the next marina over and it was flying a South African flag. So we had a good chat with one of the crew – they have just about finished their trip round the Bahamas and loved every minute of it.
We’ve been fortunate to be able to catch up with all our family on skype so somehow being so far away at Christmastime hasn’t felt quite so bad. They are all having fun and its good to see them carrying on the family Christmas traditions in our absence.
Although there is a local festival here tomorrow called a Junkanoo, we’re planning to head off to a secluded anchorage somewhere. So no more wi-fi for a few days and who knows about cell phones. We bought a sim card and airtime yesterday and are struggling to get texts out, although we can still receive them. It’s a mystery that will hopefully be solved soon.