Jun 2006

Mike: Soul Healer arrived at Port Everglades in the early afternoon. She stayed offshore for about 1/2 hour to allow a thundercell to pass and then proceeded to the 17th St. bridge. The clearance is reported to be about 55' which is what we figured our height, not including VHF antenna had to be close to. The bridge will open on demand on the hour and half hour. Calling the bridge at 1:55pm got the lady operator to insist we come closer and read the bridge height from the scale provided at the bridge's base. It showed between 53' and 54', so again the request was made to open the bridge. Now she came back with that the next opening would now be 2:30pm.

Continuing on to Hall Of Fame Marina and our slip was straight forward and didn't really cause any difficulties, save for not really knowing where it was. There's a lot of docks in those waters on the intercoastal. We asked for directions and they provided some guidance by having someone stand at the end of their dock waving their arms. Anyway, boat's safely tied up and the packing begins for our crew.

It's been an exciting month. It seems that we were leaving the BVI only yesterday, but looking over our log shows all the places that we've been to. And all of the incredible places visited during our approximte 1100nm voyage.

Mike: Bimini came into view over the horizon just before lunch. Coming around the northern point now required heading south toward the channel shown on our chart. We had talked with the flottila out of Ft Lauderdale and they'd told us that Bimini had been dredged and they've created a new marked entrance channel. Since some of them were on 46' boats that draw more than ours, we got on the sat phone and reserved ourselves a slip. Good thing too, since they're expecting a full house due to the upcoming 4th of July weekend. Sure enough, there was the new channel all staked out, so we turned in and enjoyed about 15' of water all the way in to the slip we'd reserved at the Blue Water Resort. After fueling at the fuel dock, we backed our boat into our assigned slip, and then it was time to try their pool... very refreshing and greatly appreciated.

Bill, Ann and Brian decided to rent a golf cart and tour the island. It's a small place so it wasn't surprising to see them back in about 1 1/2 hours. Alison and I strolled around Alice Town and later dock talked with others in the marina. There were a number of boats getting ready to jump the gulf stream to Florida, so boat names were exchanged and plans made for meeting on the other side.

Later on, just after sunset, another sailboat came in and not seeing the sand bar, drove up on it at high tide... not good. A number of people assisted and with everyone's help, got him off and tied to a dock. An arguement ensued because a power boater with his 50+' trawler didn't like that he had to share the 100+' T dock with a sailboat. Of course, he didn't assist. You just gotta wonder.

The weather looks good for the crossing tomorrow with forecast light winds (which we've had now for a number of days) and a relatively flat seas. We'll be leaving at high slack tide which should be about 6:30am and getting to Port Everglades in the early afternoon where we have a slip reserved at the Hall Of Fame Marina.

Mike: 27 Jun
Ok... so you're probably thinking that we're talking about trundling over to some banking branch and making a deposit or withdrawal, or something like that. Actually, we're talking about being anchored smack dab half way across the Grand Bahama Bank. The water depth is 18 feet and the only thing in sight is miles and miles of boundless ocean. That plus one other boat that chose to drop the hook near where we are. I guess that there's safety in numbers. There's hardly a breath of wind and the water's flat calm... and it's expected to stay that way for the next number of days. Tonight, we've fired up the barby and will be sizzling up some steaks, with fresh garlic.

So yesterday, we decided to stay another day in Nassau. We had a flex day still left on our schedule, and we decided that we'd rather spend it in Nassau instead of the middle of the Bahamas Bank. I figured that I may as well take the opportunity and try to get our brand new 40A battery charger replaced since it had gone DOA on us. I also figured that Nassau would have a facility for the replacement of the charger, so I climbed down into the bowels of the aft fender locker, removed it and with charger under arm, Alison and I took a walk from each chandlery to every marine store. And were totally out of luck. We returned to the boat dejected, with the inoperable charger still under arm. As we passed some new friends on their boat a few slips down that we had met earlier in the day, Dave recognized what I had and asked what was up. I explained that we had a new charger that had gone toes up, and he said to wait right there. He opened his locker and after rummaging for a few moments, extracted an almost identical unit and said it was ours if we wanted it. He had upgraded and removed his unit but had never taken it off the boat. We were speechless. What are the chances that someone almost in the next slip would have the exact charger that we needed, didn't want it anymore and felt that we were worthy enough to offer it to. Unbelievable! We were dumbfounded at the generosity! I installed his unit and it worked like a charm. Later, we made sure that his generous nature was rewarded with a big bottle of rum. Top class people.

During the afternoon, a contingent from a Ft Lauderdale yacht club descended on the marina. Two of the boats we recognized from Normans Cay, where they had anchored beside us and dinghyed over for information about what we had found while exploring Normans Cay. We helped tie a number of boats up and just dock talked for awhile. Great people. We had a few people over to our boat for 'afternoon tea' (generously proportioned rum concoctions for those not familiar with my ways). This life style is sure tough.

Later that night, Alison and I checked out this new restaurant called the 'Jumbey Cafe' which is located in an authentic Bahamian home. It's right across from the Nassau Yacht Haven where we were docked and had only been open for 2 weeks. Well, we walked through the door and about 20 people all shouted 'Soul Healer' at the same time. It was everyone from the Florida flottila. More drinks, more laughs and good times. The food was out of this world and reasonably priced. I insisted on thanking the chef personnally and then spoke with one of the owners, Jennifer, and said that she needed to give the chef a raise. We'll certainly make a point of returning there the next time we're in Nassau and I'd highly encourage anyone else to check them out. And next time, we're gonna save room for their Pineapple Bread Pudding!

So now the plan is to get to Bimini tomorrow sometime by the early afternoon, refuel and launch for Ft Lauderdale on Thursday.

Alison: Today was an early start (7am departure), leaving Leaf Cay in the Allans Cay group and heading for Nassau. We did hoist the sails to give the motor a little bit of wind assistance (and I say little because the winds were still light). The most excitement we had on this passage was going through the Yellow Bank, where we needed someone on constant bow watch looking out for the coral heads that are scattered throughout the bank. We got through the bank without flattening a coral head and continued on our route to Nassau.

As indicated in the Cruising Guide, as we entered Nassau Harbour, we radioed Nassau Harbour Control and requested permission to enter the harbour. Once we received permission (do they ever not give permission?), we continued on our way to Nassau Yacht Haven where we had reserved a slip for the evening. After getting the boat fuelled, watered and safely secured in our slip, it was play time. Oh, did I mention that it took us 1.5 hours to get our 17 gallons of fuel. Just as we finished fuelling our boat, a big party barge pulled into the fuel dock behind us, effectively blocking us in. We had to wait until the party barge finished fuelling (about 1 hour), so that we could get away from the fuel dock and get to our slip. They only pumped about 500 gallons but the guy on the pump was really slooowwww.

After hot showers and cleaning ourselves up, Mike and I headed over to Atlantis, the opulent resort located on Paradise Island, formerly known as Hog Island. I guess they figured it wouldn't sound too good to have a world class resort on an island with a name like Hog. We stood in awe at the mega yachts tied up in the marina there. Someday? These boats made Soul Healer look like a little guppy. We wandered through the aquarium, where there is a glass tunnel that makes you feel like you are in the water with all the different fish (and yes, there were sharks as well). We also checked out the different buildings on the resort and marveled over the marble carvings, mosaics, tile work - it was almost too much to take in at once.

We had hoped that Nassau would have reasonably priced hi-speed internet so that we could upload some of our pictures from the last couple of days. Unfortunately, economical internet access doesn't exist here yet, or at least we didn't find it, so you'll just have to wait another couple of days for pics.

Tomorrow, we're heading off towards Bimini. The plan now is to sail to the Northwest Channel and then anchor for the night somewhere on the bank.

Mike: 24 Jun
Today's adventure started at 10am. Ya, I know, it was later than previous days. This was because we were only travelling 12nm today, up to the Allans Cay group. There was no wind, so we motored. Didn't even bother to hoist the main which we've done on other motoring days. This isn't to say that there were no adventures though.

As we entered the anchorage area, we managed to ground the boat. No sweat though, we only put the keel into a sand mound. We dug into it with the surrounding water being 6' or more and the charted depth showing the same. Anyway, since we came in on the low tide, all we did was wait for the tide to rise. We floated off and moved the boat a few hundred feet.

The Allans Cay group are the only islands in the Bahamas that have humongous iguanas still inhabiting it. And they're big. The biggest we saw (from nose to tail tip) was about 3 feet. That was on Leaf Cay. Alison and I took about 2 dozen pics. When we went ashore, the beaches were barren. However, the bushes were rustling. Not knowing what to expect, we stood at the edge of the water, snorkel gear in hand ready to beat a hasty retreat. Can iguanas swim? Then they appeared. First one, then more. They were inquisitive and approached, en mass. And can they move fast when they want, although none actually came up to us within reach. Amazing creatures for our day and age.

While snorkeling, a sunken vessel was discovered on the bottom a few hundred feet from the beach. It appears to have been there for some time. We also saw a magnificent spotted eagle ray lolligagging beneath the surface. He was a big one.

Tomorrow, with an early start, we're off to Nassau, where we have a slip reserved at the Nassau Yacht Haven, thanks to satellite communications technology. Then it'll be off taking in the nightlife and the casinos and checking out the aquarium at the Atlantis Resort, although nothing can compare with seeing marine life in its natural habitat, right under our boat. In following days, we head for Chubb Cay, Bimini and then Ft Lauderdale. The end of our adventure is drawing nearer.