Islands in the Stream

So, are we procrastinating??  You betcha!!  We are realizing as we lounge about in the beach chairs looking out over the Great Bahama Bank and enjoying the shade of the palm trees, that the weather isn't all that great in Florida right now, and have it on good authority that the Hudson River is still frozen solid!  And we are wondering, "What's the rush??"

Since my last blog sent in Nassau, we have crossed two fairly large bodies of water.  Our first day out we had good 20 knot winds with a 6 foot following sea, so pretty 'rolly', but otherwise a good sail....so good, in fact, that as we were nearing our destination that afternoon, we were seriously considering carrying on and sailing the next passage over the night.  However, cooler heads prevailed, and we decided to stick with plan 'A'!  That first day we sailed about 35 miles and crossed what is known as the Northeast Channel, a body of water that runs between the Exuma Bank and the Great Bahama Bank.

That night we anchored outside of Chub Cay in an area that we knew might be rolly, and boy was it ever!!  We were protected from the winds, but the sea curled around the point and banged in to us all night!  How rolly was it, you ask?  So rolly that I left the stove on its gimbal so that dinner wouldn't go flying, and George elected to sleep on the salon bench.....with the leeboard on so he wouldn't roll out!!

Chub Cay

Needless to say, neither of us got a whole lot of sleep that night, but we were determined to rest, at least, as we needed to get going the next morning at 0400 hours in order to cross the 75 miles on the Great Bahama Bank and get to our next anchorage outside of Cat Cay.  The first few hours of the sailing continued to have good winds with high following seas, but by noon, the winds had quietened down to about 5-10 knots and the sea had finally flattened out to about 1 foot swells.  It was nice not to have a hard day after the physical day the day before, followed by the sleepless night!  Because it was quiet, George decided to put out his trolling line, as we had not had many opportunities to fish during our visit.  After about an hour, we noticed that the lure was at the top of the water, which meant we had either caught a fish or some seaweed, so George started to haul the line in.  As the lure got closer, we could see something silvery on the end, so now we knew it was a fish, but worried it had drowned, as we weren't sure when the lure was taken, so how long the poor fish had been dragged along behind us!  However, as it got even closer, it started to swim and go back down in to the water.  The fish was a good size, with a brown colouring to its back, so initially thought it might be a dogfish, which is a small member of the shark family.  Once we got the fish to the side of the boat and were trying to haul it in, we realized that, no, it was not a dogfish, but a long, silver-coloured fish that might even be good for eating!  Finally George hauled it out of the water and laid it on the deck.....this fish had HUGE teeth!  This fish was no ordinary fish,.... this was a Great Barracuda!!  It must have only been a juvenile, as it was only about 3 feet long, and they can get to be 6'6".  Once I got a look at its teeth, I was definitely not interested in eating it, and after all it had gone through, it was still giving George a pretty good fight, so George didn't want to eat it either, so he managed to get the hook out without getting bitten, and set it back in the ocean!  It was all very exciting and certainly broke the monotony of a long day on the water!!!

That night we dropped anchor outside of Cat Cay in ground that was not great holding, but with such light winds and lots of chain, we had a nice, quiet, restful night!  The following morning we relaxed over breakfast and coffee, as our plan was to simply move up the 10 miles to Alice Town, Bimini, where we planned to jump across the Gulf Stream the following day.  That day was sunny and hot, and  as we made our way to Bimini, we realized as we watched the flying fish fly across our bow, that we were enjoying the beautiful aquamarine blue waters of the Bahamas for possibly the last time!  After debating whether or not to try and anchor in the lee of one of the little islands that lie between Cat Cay and the Bimini Islands, but finding bad holding again, we decided once again, to stick to the plan and go in to Brown's Marina in Alice Town.

A working lighthouse!!  on North Cat Cay

Sailing to Bimini Islands

We were met by Humphrey, the dock master, a very friendly guy who helped catch our lines as we came in against the current and risked losing control of our stern!  The marina here is a great spot!  The docks are in great shape and are also well lit, with a 'man-made' beach with palm trees and beach chairs, washrooms and showers, and internet that works!!  The marina is locked with 24 hour security, so we feel very safe here, also.  The marina is on the lee side of the island so we look out on the Bahama Bank, but a short, easy walk over the hill takes us to the Gulf Stream side with beautiful vistas of the ocean and a huge, long sandy beach with the accompanying turquoise water, darkening to aquamarine as it gets deeper!  Beside the marina is a restaurant/bar that sends Caribbean music out over the water and has tables overlooking the harbour.  During the day, this is a very peaceful and relaxing marina.  Saturday night, however, the 'joint is jumping'!!!  With a live DJ and the music cranked as loud as it can get, we had ringside seats to all the activity......until 2am!!!!!  We had already been debating resting here for an extra day or two, but after spending a relatively sleepless night ( music finally stopped at 2 am, seagulls started screaming at 6 am!!) our decision was made!!  Once we had decided to wait until Monday to cross, we were now gambling with the next front that was moving in, and have now decided that we might as well wait it out here, rather than rush to Lake Worth, risk getting caught in some weather, and then having to wait out the front on the ICW instead of in the Bahamas!!!  Seems like a 'no brainer', somehow!

view from our dock - Bahama Bank

Brown's Marina Barbeque area

Brown's Marina 'beach'

So, here I sit, under a palm tree, with a belly full of crack conch and feeling sleepy!  The crack conch we purchased for lunch at the restaurant, however, we have finally managed to buy some fresh conch!! As we were signing in to the marina yesterday, we noticed a boat with a couple of fishermen cleaning conch, so George asked if we could buy any and came back with a half dozen!  Needless to say, last night we had fresh, homemade conch salad, (or ceviche) for supper with a slice of my homemade molasses brown bread!

Buying Conch

preparing conch!

Alice Town was made famous by Ernest Hemingway, who came here frequently for big game fishing and wrote about the town and the islands in his book, Islands in the Stream. In fact, Brown's Marina is mentioned in the book.  I believe the town also inspired The Old Man and the Sea.  So, we will spend a few more days here, and see if we can pick up a few stories about Hemingway along the way!!

Tourism office

library

'Welcome to Alice Town' sign

Bimini Museum and ?Post Office?

Meanwhile, because of the front, and because of our procrastination, we will likely spend a week here, and if all the forecasts ring true, we will plan to cross the Gulf Stream next Monday or Tuesday.  This will actually be a better time because, with the tides and currents, we will be able to cross during the day, as opposed to a partial night crossing which we were going to have to do with our first plan.  Also, our experience has shown we can't leave here on a Sunday.....no sleep the night before!!  However Sunday nights are nice and quiet, so a departure the following morning should be good!!

beach restaurant with a view of the Gulf Stream

Gulf Stream side and beach