Bimini

We are sitting at a dock in Weech’s Marina, about 100 feet from “The End of the World Bar”, in Alice Town, Bimini, Bahamas. We arrived yesterday at about 10:30 after a mostly uneventful crossing of the Gulf Stream. We started at the planned hour of 2:30 AM, at low tide (comme d’habitude) with light S winds, and we motor-sailed thru the nite at 7 kts of boat speed. The Gulf Stream appeared as expected, with a 5 kt current at one point, but the seas stayed flat for the entire passage. It was fascinating to be steering 120° magnetic to make a course of 090°. Several cruise ships passed up and down the straights, as well as several freighters, but we managed to avoid one-another quite well.

At about 8:30 AM, we spotted several water spouts in the line of clouds that approached from astern, but they dissipated before reaching us. The front eventually caught up about 9:00 AM, and we had good solid rain for about an hour, till just before we entered the Bimini entrance. Everyone got wet, including especially Dante, who insisted on staying up on deck, inside the cockpit during the rain storm. He demonstrated the Maine Coon ability to shed water from his long, shaggy fur quite well.

We tied up here are Weech’s because there were already a few sailboats here, and because none of the other marinas responded to VHF hails, on any channel. The entire town looked pretty deserted, in fact, and it turns out that it deserted at this time of year. Their “season” runs from March thru Labor Day, when hordes of Floridians come over here to escape the heat. At this time of year, they evidently stay home, huddled in front of their fireplaces.

We have had two meals here so far, and they were quite tasty – both at small roadside restaurants featuring fish and regional cuisine, aka Jamaican. Lots of food served in Styrofoam containers, eaten outside on rough wooden picnic tables. Also not cheap, but we will not begrudge the locals their business. We found these places by walking the entire length of the island up to the grand new development at the north end, which has a giant two-story gate(!) and a marina that looks like a major port. The existing towns are quaint but a bit “battered”, and it is clear that the developers do not want their clientele to have to pass thru. They have a separate channel dredge straight to the marina, and high-speed ferries from the airport on South Bimini Island that bypass Alice Town. Which is too bad because this place has so much history that could be built on, if only someone wanted to do so. Some of the locals mentioned to us that the development has all of its own infrastructure, and the residents will not have to come south to do any shopping whatsoever, so they are worried that the boaters will also bypass them.

We are planning to stay here till Friday, when the weather is forecast to be nice for a passage across the Great Bahamas Bank. We will stop next in the Berry Islands, and then over to Eluthera, where Bill and Dot have a house, and are going to be next week. After that, we will head down the Exumas.