Crossing from Bimini to Morgans Bluff, Andros "Take 1"

After researching all of the different weather options on the internet that we like we opted for leaving Wed night at midnight for our crossing to Morgan’s  Bluff, Andros. It is a 90 mile sail. And even if we did our best sailing and had no swell, it would take us at LEAST 16 hours.

We had dinner with our neighboring boat in Bimini at Brown’s Marina. This was s/v Whensday that had arrive on Sunday with a destroyed headsail. We had a lot of fun swapping sailing stories, sampling whiskey that Mike makes in his distillery back home and touring each others boats and sharing ideas for storage (every girls nightmare). We left them early to get a few hours of sleep before departure time.

The next morning at midnight, we got up, made coffee, started the engine and got ready to cast off the docklines. Mike had set his clock to see us off. What a guy, sailors are instant besties and help each other out. He gave us hugs and a hand shake and through out our docklines and one big shove. There is a lot of current in the the channel here. It took us a little bit but we got her turned around and going. As we are pulling out the music is loud and Bahamians are dancing at the outdoor nightclub. It is an odd feeling to see them partying it up and we are leaving to the still black night of a sea of unknown.

We motor sailed for about 2 hours and then turned East. We were beating into the wind and the waves for about an hour. Our speeds would go from 4knots to 2knots.We weren’t going to make an headway at 2knots and it just kept getting worse. So, Mark called what no one wants to call, “Let’s turn around and head back and try tomorrow”. As much as I wanted to just keep going, being the optimist (it will get better), Mark is the Captain and I completely trust his feelings, calls, and intuition. If he says turn back, then by golly we are turning back. And we did just that. We motored back and threw the hook down by Resort World Bimini’s pier. It is a new metropolis that built on the island. We checked it out a couple of days ago. It definitely kills the whole Bahamian small island feel. But it does bring a lot of jobs. We couldn’t get a straight answer though from the locals on how the felt about the “circus coming to town”.

 

Wednesday afternoon was spent fixing a few more things. We found that the frond hatch leaks quite a bit. Mark took the whole thing out and scraped out the old butel tape and went and got some 5200 to seal it in place. This is a permanent fix though, 4200 would have been better. Mark also went and got more diesel. He topped off our tanks from the jerry can that we have and then took that to town in the dinghy, beached it and walked for gas. He grabbed the 5200 and then got a ride from a local to the marina where we were and connected to wifi and rechecked the weather. Mike and Vickie from Whensday were surprised to see him but glad to hear that all was good. They were out on the lawn refitting a storm jib on the lawn to fit their roller furling. You would think that when you went from house to a boat it would all be simplified but it isn’t. There is so much to always fix.

 

While Mark was gone, I stayed on Firefly and squirreled away about 100 water bottles and 2 cases of beer. It is a bigger project then one thinks.  It was all in the V-berth and we have guests coming soon. They will need the bed space. I did it! It is all hidden away. Amazing!

 

Mark returned with everything checked off of the list of the “honey do’s” and he dset to work on the front hatch. With that fixed we decided to go for a swim. It is sweltering hot and 100% humidity. Everyone keeps telling us that it is a high for here. The water is crystal clear so we go down for a look. We dive on the anchor and check out the prop on the boat. We had a bad vibration the night before…culprit found, weeds around the prop. The water is about 80* and the only thing that doesn’t keep me there longer are the numerous jelly fish all over.

 

Thursday midnight. A new day. We get up and do the same routine as the previous night and set off into the dark moonless sky. The wind is stronger but the sea is calmer. The swells are more tame and manageable. They don’t stop us in our tracks. We sail all morning long and  finally around 6:30am we see the sunrise. I wait to take a picture when the sun is just right but I just can’t wait. I am so tired I fall asleep on the cockpit bench with camera in one hand and camera bag in the other. Maybe tomorrow I will get a shot of the sunrise.

 

To be continued…..( I got a wifi signal and will send this part)