Another day of relaxation and finishing up the last few errands, like getting fuel and topping off the groceries used, before we head across "the pond" tomorrow morning. The weather and seas are looking suitable for getting to Bimini but then crossing to Chub Cay it looks like the seas increase up to 4-6 feet. We will stay at the Big Game Resort & Marina and clear customs in Bimini until the seas look better for us to get to Chub Cay. The Big Game Marina is the ONLY place we can clear customs in Bimini. Customs and Immigration are located right on-site.
Thursday, May 7, 2015
This was clean the boat day for most of us and then off to the pool for the afternoon.
From the pool it was off to cruise the docks and check out the multi-million dollar 100-200 feet boats dock here with us. That is after Jerry & Stew got in a little song.
Wasting no time we completed our dock walk, cleaned up and headed to the Captain Quarters for the Throw Back Thursday Dock Party. Bill was in his glory, free food, free drinks and music. The food was excellent and provided everything from cheese plates, shrimp, meatballs and sushi. Oh, I can't forget the 60's to 80's candy! No one was complaining as there was something for everyone. Jerry's nephew, Josh, came to visit and joined us for the evening. What a very nice, enthusiastic young man.
Wednesday, May 6, 2015
Everyone was up, ready and anxious to leave early. We had set a 7 AM departure time but managed to be pulling off the dock at 6:45 AM. Although we had a day planned to only travel about 40 miles everyone knew it was going to be a long day of waiting for bridges going south on the ICW to Fort Lauderdale. It was overcast with a mist of rain as we headed down the ICW and for the most part we managed to stay dry although a couple of showers caught up with us while waiting for the bridges, By the time we arrive at the Bahia Mar Marina in Fort Lauderdale the sun was out and it was a beautiful 86 degrees. Oh! Did I mention that we only managed to anger three (3)bridge masters out of the 19 bridges we passed through. And the three (3) were not really our fault! They all though they knew more about our boats than we do (smile). Although the Linscott's have a low profile boat the one bridge master thought they could squeeze under a 9 foot bridge and closed the bridge before they could get through even though they were told there were four (4) boats to go through. I don't think the bridge masters have the right to close the bridge on anyone who has requested an opening? They caught up with us at the next bridge, about 2 miles away.
It seems the many, many,many, boats are stacked up on the east coast of Florida waiting to make the crossing to the Bahamas. We called the FCYC reciprocal yacht clubs and none of them had space for us until "maybe" sometime next week. Then we starting calling the Fort Lauderdale marinas, luck for us, the Bahia Mar has 295 transient slips. This is the location of the Fort Lauderdale boat show. Again, lucky for us that we were not a couple of days earlier. The boat in the slip next to the Marlin Striker caught fire and burned two (2) boats so badly they are totaled and significantly damaged two (2) more. One of which the repairs are estimated at $1.5 million.
Departed - New Port Cove Marina 6:45 AM
Arrived - Bahia Mar Marina, Ft. Lauderdale - 5:00 PM
Total Travel Time - 10 hours, 15 minutes (actual moving time = 5 hours, 15 minutes) love those bridges:)
Trip total travel time - 17 hours, 04 minutes
Trip total distance - 190.6 NM
Average Speed - 11.2 knots
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