We are now in Bimini, Bahamas. We left at 2 am from No Name Harbor in Miami. We had about four hours of night sailing. It's really creepy. As we left the channel and entered the gulf stream, each wave seemed to get bigger and bigger. Finally, a huge one came over the bow and soaked us. We looked at each other and said, Okay, that's it let's turn around. But we gave it a minute to improve and turned down the throttle. The waves seem to stand up as they reach shallow water. We had the main sail up and the diesel running. A hardcore sailor would say, "why are you still using the motor, you have 10 -15 knot winds?" The main reason is we want to make sure we get the before the wind picks up again. NOAA was reporting that a cold front would come in the evening of the next day and we didn't want to hope we made it. It's no joke out here. The motor gave us an extra knot or two. When we turned the throttle down, she stopped plowing through the waves and we didn't get as wet. I was chilly at night with goose bumps. Anyway, when the sun rise came, all I could think about was Toko Irie's song "When the sun rises in the morning...." We were so happy to see the sky light up. We had a great sail. We rolled out the genoa to a jib reefing and hobby horsed over the waves. Up and down. It was awesome cresting a wave and then dipping in the trough. Delphine was designed for this and you could feel it. It was a wet ride though. Every now and then we would just get soaked.



About half way across, I heard a noise and looked back. So did Piper. we both did a double take. The wind turbine had fallen over and was hanging off the stern horizontally! I quickly jumped up and pulled it back up. All the mounts were still there. Nothing was broken in half. It has adjustable clamps that had just come loose and slipped. I tried to tighten them with a wrench, but the rubber gasket I had made to dampen the vibration had fallen out and now the clamp was just too big. I rigged up a line from the clamp to a cleat to stabilize it. That was holding it up just fine. I built the tower and this was ultimately the big test. Obviously, there was room for improvement. I later, in Bimini, installed some hose clamps to prevent the other clamps from slipping. We got lucky. We could have lost the wind turbine, the solar panel and an anchor I had hung from the tower. That's really a lot of weight. I can improve later. When we put the throttle in neutral, we were doing 3 knots with both sails. It was really very peaceful despite the wave action. With the motor, we were doing 5 knots. Crisis averted.



It took us about twelve hours to cross. We came in Bimini just ahead of four other sailboats that had made the crossing that night. The water is so beautiful here. Pictures cannot describe it. We try. This morning I dropped a bike lock cable in the water at the dock and had to dive for it. In seven feet of water, I could see it from the dock under the boat. Like a swimming pool. We stayed at Weech's Marina for $35 a night. Just as a treat. We never get to stay at a dock. It is $90/night in Key West and $200/night at Cat Cay, Bimini. The weather got worse that night after the crossing, just like NOAA predicted. High winds 5-7 feet in the gulf stream. 5-7 feet is awful. The ocean becomes full of white caps.



This time Piper made me do the check in with customs. So I gathered the paperwork and went down to the office. They basically want to know what you have on board. Guns, bicycles, motors, spears etc. We also get our fishing license here. It covers hawaiian slings as well. That's what we do here is snorkel and spearfish. However, We were talking with a local at a practice junkanoo parade. He was telling us about how much history that is here and often goes unnoticed. Like the stories of Atlantis, Hemingway hung out here, and US target practice on a ship we dove last time we were here. The Bimini Roads are pillars laid down like a road under water. Apparently, during the last Ice Age, the watewr levels were way down and somebody made it. There is also the Three Sisters. Three big rocks on the Atlantic side in 18 feet of water. the formations in the rock had to have been man-made.

Bimini is very poor. Everyone wants to sell you something. I passed a guy under a palm by a seawall on the bay, right in front of the police station. He asked me what I was looking for. That could be anything apparently. I said, "Milk". He told me where to go and asked me if I wanted some conch salad. he wanted to sell me two bowls, but I said, "How about just one". He left me standing there in front of the police station to go get it from his mother's house. It looked bad, but I waited anyway. He came back with a styrofoam bowl ( bummer) It was delicious. It was spicy with lime and green peppers and onions and more. I at most of it and had difficulty saving some for Piper. It was $12. Food is expensive here. But it was worth it and by looking around at all the dilapidated buildings, I wanted to buy something. His name was Fidel. He asked me if I ever dove for conch and said I should. He said fresh conch is excellent. He jumped into the water and waded over to a trap where he kept his conch about fifty feet into the water. He came back and showed me how to get the conch out. A conch is just a big slug in a pretty shell. With a hammer he punched a hole in the top. Then, with a butter knife he agitates it til he can pull the conch out of the shell. He cuts off the toenail and the guts and hands it to me. "Eat it All". I did. Although I must admit some parts were too tough and I tossed them. It was good. I ate it raw. It's better with lime. I thanked him for the experience and said I had to be on my way.

That night we were cooking food on the boat. A couple of cute cats came by to see if we were meat eaters. Unfortunately, we were having pasta salad. It was nice having cats around. This one kinda looked like a bobcat. We've been looking for a bobcat kitten for a boat cat. Let us know if you here of one that needs a home. We started hearing music playing in the street. Lots of drums and horns. We were watching podcasts and decided we had to take a look. We went into the street and there were about fifty people hanging out. Most of them were playing drums and horns of all kinds. Big plastic trash cans with skin heads, some cow bell type morroccos, some tin horns that looked like jewish minoras (spelling error Im sure). There were also trumbones, trumpets, french horns. The music was fast, hard, loud and trancy. It was a very slow moving parade. they moved down the street at about one inch per minute. The trash can drums were so loud and powerful. Kids were playing, adults were teaching, it was outstanding. I have some video clips, but I have to get better internet for that posting. Coming from a musical Key West, I was pleased to witness this Junkanoo homecoming practice at night in the street. What freedom they have. Apparently, they do this every so often. The homecoming is when their children come home from college from the states or elsewhere. Our friends from Christmas Tree would love it and do it on the Island.

I been sitting at this gazebo next to the immigration office blogging far too long. Peace Out.