February 1st - 2rd, We travel along the ICW from Lake Worth to Boca Raton. Air temp 75 degrees and wind 10-15knots. We are traveling with the boat "Emotional Rescue".
February 3th, From Boca Raton we motored to Fort Lauderdale. I have never seen so many mega Yachts in my life. I never knew there were so many people in this world flaunting their material possessions.
February 4th, Today is Superbowl Sunday, so the waterway is relatively calm, which may I say, I am thankful for. We sail by waterfront property with families setting up barbeques for the pregame parties. Intent on getting in on the spirit of things we set up our four inch black and white tv to watch the game. The crew of Emotional Rescue came over for a superbowl party. We spent at least 15 minutes making rabbit ears our of aluminum foil to make the picture come in clear. Just as the tv was adjusted a mega yacht motored by with a six foot plasma screen in the back......The rain poured and poured.
February 5th - 6th, We stay put. The storm has very strong winds, it is even difficult to move around in the dinghy. The rain continues all day and the wind is around 20knots.
February 7th, We sailed out of the Fort Lauderdale inlet past large cruise ships, Heather wishing she was on one instead of Seaesta. We sailed down to Miami and arrived uneventfully in the afternoon. After being turned around by blue lights and port security (Cruise ships were in port) we anchored next to Fisher Island.
February 8th, The weather window looks good so we leave Miami harbor at 03:00 hrs. We sail the 47 miles across the gulf stream in great weather! much easier than the last two times. The winds were south east so we had to pinch them but the waves were only a choppy 3ft. We arrived in Bimini around 13:00hrs and checked into customs. The cruising visa was only three months.
February 9th, We are anchored in Bimini. After school we walked around the town and met many people trying to sell various services and goods. We did buy bread from a woman who had just finished baking in her kitchen. Ernest Hemingway used to live and fish on the island, some of his six toed cats still inhabit the island.
February 11 We motored across the banks trying to get to Andros. Not wanting to travel at night we anchor on the banks in 12ft of water. It is a strange feeling to have sailed 50miles all day long and to anchor in 12 ft of water still unable to see land for 360 degrees.
February 12 - 28th We made it to Morgans Bluff, Andros an island that we did not visit last year. We stayed a few days, going to land between squalls. We visited Captains Morgans cave supposedly used by the famous pirate himself. There we met a group of teenagers visiting on an outward bounds week aboard a schooner. The locals played furious games of dominos for hours, which were quite fun to watch. Leaving Andros we sailed to Nassua. Dodging weather fronts we spend a week there. The boys even spent a day at Atlantis Resorts with the crew of "Emotional Rescue". Pierce went down the 60ft water slide with gusto apparently.. I'm glad I was not there. After leaving Nassua we traveled down the Exuma chain of islands stopping at Allens Cay, Wardwick Wells, Stainel Cay and Little Farmers Cay. While in Little Farmers Cay we met a nice couple from Berlin Germany, which allowed me an opportunity try to speak German. Somehow I am less self consious of speaking a second language with strangers than with old friends. It turned out that the couple were looking for a place to stay for the night in return for a airplane flight. Soon Dominik and Bozina were on our boat and stayed the night. We had a great time talking to our guests. James took them snorkling and spear fishing. Later in the afternoon Domink took us up flying along the Exuma chain. The water was so amazing and colorful from the air. Each of us had an opportunity to fly the Cessna for 10 minutes. I was sooo frightened to be controling the plane, but Dominik commented that he was afraid of swimming with sharks around, which we are now comfortable and used to doing.. |
