Key Largo to Bimini, Alice Town - The Crossing

Date: Jan 7 & 8, 2020                      

Arrival Time: 1730 ET                      

Location:  Bimini, Bahamas

Weather:  70’s  

Sea State:  4-5 ft seas

Destination Tomorrow:  sit tight for weather

Engine Hours:  1426 Tue, 1429 Wed                                                                         

Crew:  Ruth and Greg    

Mileage Log:  1116 T/ 1122 W

Comments:  We pulled up anchor at 0630.  We had the motor running by 0600 but waited until we could see well enough to navigate.  The original plan was to shove off around 0430 but the crab traps had been so bad we didn’t want to risk it.  We actually didn’t see as many as we had been seeing and we assumed it was because we were passing through the John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park.  However, we did change course just before running over a blue float.  I’m not sure why a crabber would paint it blue in blue waters. 

The route we took across the Gulf Stream from Key Largo to Bimini was approximately 75 N/Miles. 

Crossing the Gulf Stream

We were hoping to make it before sundown as it is never wise to enter an unfamiliar harbor at night.  We traveled about 20 miles NE up the Hawk Channel before steering ENE just north of Turtle Reef, before entering the big blue Atlantic Ocean.  Throughout Hawk Channel, our ETA to Bimini was showing to be near 2230.  It was disconcerting but I knew it would change, we just hoped the change would be significant and in our favor.  As we entered the Turtle Reef, the ETA dropped to 1730 and eventually to 1700 in the stream.  The stream was beautiful.  The seas were dark blue and deep.  My depth gauge no longer registered around 500 feet but the chart showed us to be in waters as deep as 2700 feet.  As we were traveling NE, through the stream, our speed was bouncing around 8.5 knots.  It was nice to travel that fast as we often travel around 6 knots.  Ruth definitely has her sea legs now as she handled the 4-5 foot swell as if she was riding Chapo, her childhood horse.  We were under full sails most of the way across but kept the engine going to help Pura Vida land by 1700.  We noticed the deep blue water turn to turquoise and knew we had arrived.  We dropped anchor in the south Bimini anchorage at 1700. And all is well….

She always looks happiest with money in hand

Well…not exactly! We made several attempts to set the anchor but it was like cement on the bottom.  We found out later that though Hurricane Dorian did not affect the Bimini infrastructure it did affect the sea surface.   The sand was gone from the anchorage. Our Mantus anchor was dragging on flat rocks.  It felt like I was dragging it across a parking lot.  After several attempts to set, we decided we would go into the Bimini Island entrance and look for an inside anchorage.  Of course, by this time it was dark.  During the trek to the entrance we studied the chart and I made a call over channel 16 for local knowledge assistance.  No one responded for a while.  Then, low and behold, Fred from Sea Tryst who we previously talked to at the Channel Five Pass at Long Key, answered.  He explained that the charts were wrong since Dorian and gave us another route.  We (mostly I) really couldn’t understand his suggestions though we questioned again and answered to the affirmative.  After a few minutes, I told Ruth that we were going back to the south Bimini anchorage and we would just stay up through the night, set the anchor alarm, watch the tracking on our phone charts and reset the anchor as we drifted.  We dropped the anchor with approximately 180 feet of 3/8 inch chain in 13 feet of water.  My thoughts were we’d put down as much weight onto that cement as possible.  The combined weight was probably over 350 pounds.  We ate dinner, went to bed and waited for the anchor alarm to sound.  One thing we had in our favor was that the winds were only blowing about 10 knots.  Around 2245 the alarm sounded.  We jumped up with vigilance and went to work.  Fortunately, the boat had shifted because of the tidal change but there was no need to reset.  We went back to bed and waited.  I was awakened around 0600 by the sound of Ruth turning on the generator to make coffee.  No other alarms sounded and there was little drag. 

Cruising is not for sissies. 

South Bimini Airport

At 0645 Wednesday morning, we pulled up the anchor, which took a while and headed toward the Bimini Island entrance.  We studied the few boats that exited through the channel but it was from a distance (a couple miles).  We hailed each but none answered and so we went forward with the information we had from Fred and the information in Active Captain. Unfortunately, there is very little input in Active Captain since Hurricane Dorian last September and it was a bit spooky - but we made it through seeing depths no less than 8 feet. 

Bimini Bay North anchorage

We anchored right in front of Customs and Immigration and I went ashore in the dinghy.   It was pretty easy and once I explained that I couldn’t see the small print very well they were a little nicer and excused me.  I guess that was my first time I used the age card.  That anchorage was small and would not be very well protected with the incoming strong winds so we moved to the Bimini Bay North anchorage.  The rest of the day was spent dinghying and taking a taxi to the S. Bimini airport to get our island time wi-fi card. 

Now we wait for winds, forecast at 25 to 30 mph for the next week, to subside and spend this time touring Alice Town, Bimini, Bahamas and resting.