Bimini at last

After a wonderful overnight sail across the gulf stream, this is the sunrise that greeted us in the morning over Bimini. If you look close enough you can see the trees of the shoreline to the left of the sun.

This is always a very special time for me as coming to a new place in the morning after sailing all night is magical.

We left Ft Lauderdale in a very leisurely fashion on Saturday afternoon around 1415. It was leisurely that is until we picked up anchor and negotiated the final 3 bridges. Lots of Saturday afternoon boat traffic and Florida crazies did make for some stressful moments but all in good stride as we let the thoughts of what lay ahead take good control of our minds. We topped fuel and made our way to the inlet and had sails up and heading south by 1730.

An east wind carried us nicely along the now lit up Florida coast. This is the best way to see this part of the coast......at night, outside and reaching along with full sails up. We stayed within 5 or so miles of the coast to keep the gulf stream influence to a minimum. Even this far out our southbound progress is slow but steady. By 2030 we were at the point where we needed to turn east.......far enough down to allow for the set northbound as we proceeded east.

On eastward thru the night. Now this east wind became a bit of challenge as it was on the nose.....right where we want to go. So with a bit of help from our reliable Yanmar engine, we made good progress towards the waypoints that we set up. A bit rolly as the east swells came in but not uncomfortable. We exchanged watches every 90 minutes or so. A bit short on the watch schedule but on a short passage its nice to have fresh eyes on the scene.

We did have to negotiate numerous eastbound and westbound cruise ships that had departed earlier in the evening. With the help of radar and AIS this was a rather easy task. Just had to confirm which way they were going stay out of their way. Size does matter on the high seas too! One stays out of the way even if you're a sailboat verses power boat.....a very big powerboat. Fine by me .......

Ahead of schedule by a couple of hours, we slowed down to allow us to enter the inlet with sunlight and the tide in our favor. On into the anchorage we went, commissioned MJ our dingy off the deck and into the water. Passports , boat papers, Minnie papers in hand, I went on over the customs office at Big Game Club to check in.

Sleep......perfect.....

This morning, mother nature is once again smiling on us and providing a long steady rain to wash the boat. Likely we won't be quite so welcoming of the rain if it keeps up too long but hey.....fresh water from the heavens can never be complained about. The sun will shine again......