Back In Bimini

Wrinkles and Island Tyme

After spending a very calm night on Mackie Shoal we awoke by 6 a.m. to be ready for another long day of motorsailing. The forecast was for very light winds which of course meant relying on the motor yet again. It is ironic that we got tired of hiding from the high winds in the Exumas only to be met with a total lack of wind as we motored west. By 7 a.m. we were cruising along with just the genoa and the staysail up which provided us with a little boost. The water was so calm we watched the bottom go by as clearly as if we were snorkeling. We could see starfish, bowl coral and several kinds of fish. Mike and Gail both had lines out, but the barracudas that are in the shallow waters bit through the steel leaders. Guess we'll have to grill the fish from last night.

Wrinkles getting a much needed cleaning.

After 6-7 hours we started hailing Bimini Sands Marina on the VHF in an effort to secure boat slips. We tried numerous times on channel 16 and 68 without getting any response. We decided to just sail into the marina and flag someone down. We entered ahead of Island Tyme and tried unsuccessfully to get the employees' attention. We circled a couple times waving at the dock people who just ignored us. We decided to pull into a slip where Mike would drive the boat up to the dock and then jump out to catch the lines which Brenda would throw with her one good arm. Someone to catch our lines would certainly have been appreciated. No stress here!

Thankfully our docking went very smoothly. Mike ran up to the marina office as Island Tyme continued to do circles in the basin. It was hard to believe no one was paying any attention to us. When Mike got to the office the woman said, "Oh, we are having radio problems." She said to talk to the dock master whose was actually right outside pumping fuel. He had been right outside watching us do circles and waving our arms. I asked where he wanted us to dock and he said, "Right over where you are is OK."

Mike hustled back and told Don and Gail to pick any slip near us. They did a great job of bringing Island Tyme into the slip where we grabbed and secured their lines. Whew! Glad that is over with.

We secured our boats, showered and then walked over to the Thirsty Turtle for their awesome pizza. The waitress/bartender was about as interested in helping us as our dock master, but the food was terrific. Now that we are here we will explore Bimini some more and eat as much of Charlie's bread as we can. When a solid weather window opens up we will cross back over the Gulf Stream to Florida. What an adventure we are having.

 

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