Nassau Bahamas Sunday Jan 23, 2011

I left Coconut Grove In the early afternoon. I stopped for fuel to top up in the rain and managed to leave my spare gas can on the dock. I didn’t notice it until I reached Bimini. It was a pretty easy crossing to No Name harbor to wait for the morning to leave. I managed to sleep in a little and by the time I headed out at 06:30 all but one boat had left. Cara Mia had left Coconut Grove early and was about an hour ahead of me. At 08:20 I was crossing ahead of one freighter on a course of 120* but my actual path was about 80* as the Gulf Stream pushed me north. The depth sounder had maxed out at 522 feet. At 12:48 I spotted some islands in the distance and I was tied up to a dock in Bimini at 15:45. My only issue was hitting the bottom on the way in, I had to get in closer to shore than I thought the channel was and went in about 100 feet off the beach. I found out later that the channel is about 150 feet off the beach.

Checking in was not a problem, I asked for till May 1^st and they gave me 90 days without an issue and said to simply ask for an extension in Georgetown when it got close to the time.

I met a few new people and had internet intermittently at the Big Game Club with its $6.00 beers. A Florida fisherman enjoyed our sailing stories So much that he gave me a huge fillet of fish enough for 3 meals.

Jan 20 I left Bimini with two other boats to head for Nassau. Just as we rounded North Rock a thick fog closed in. I couldn’t see the lead boat only 200 feet away. After switching on the radar I saw him just as a large power boat came out of the fog and passed me a 100 feet away going in the opposite direction. We traveled the course line for several hours in the dense fog with only our radars and the GPS lines as reference but the last boat had AIS system and was able to see any freighter far ahead of our radars. Other than that first boat the crossing was somewhat uneventful. Island moon was letting us know about big ships long before they got close. We were traveling in the dark along the path the island freighters took. The water never got shallower than 15 feet. About midnight we were crossing out into the deep water but the wind was strong and opposing the tide and I had already  put 5 spare gallons into the tank and with the waves at night I wouldn’t be able to add any more. So I turned around and went 5 miles back in to where 4 other sailboats were anchored and spent the night there. I was exhausted and slept fairly long and when I woke up all the others were gone. I put in five more gallons and had a coffee and light breakfast and left

The winds had gone more south and getting into deep water was easier now. It was a long motor sail across to New Providence, almost 50 miles. The winds were out of the south at 10 to 13 knots and it was tight so I motor sailed all the way. At 14:00 I sighted New Providence and at 17:30 I had called in to harbor control and was at anchor in Nassau Harbor. I was time to cook up a nice piece of that fish for dinner.