April 16 - Slept until almost 9:30 a.m. Guess we were more than a little tired. Nothing planned for the day and I’m all about doing as little as possible. Kryss and Steve and Jane rent a golf cart to go to Resorts World a new major time-share facility (numerous small houses), casino and marina at the South end of North Bimini Island. It is still very much under construction. But for that, there’s nothing much on the Island and we spend most of our time reading, trying to figure out the weather, and catching our breath. Wind has shifted to the NE, which is not what is expected at this time of year and we keep hearing predictions of very high winds and squalls for the next few days. It’s partially cloudy most of the day and it’s apparent that the weather is "unsettled". There’s also a "homecoming" festival this weekend in Bimini for Islanders who have left Bimini, with a brass band and parades, etc. The natives at least are excited about it. Dockage is very inexpensive and we’re not in a rush, so it’s a "wait and see" attitude on our part about when we’ll depart. We have to make our way to Chub Cay next which is about 78NM from here, not something we can make in daylight in a single day. The plan all along was to go to N. Cat Cay which is somewhat, but not much closer to Chub Cay and to depart from there to Chub Cay. That’s still the plan, with us making a short trip to N. Cat Cay from Bimini and then leaving for Chub the next day. If we can anchor out in N. Cat Cay (depends on the sea conditions), then it’s easy to get under way a hour or so before first light and with favorable conditions we should just be able to make Chub Cay in daylight. Anyway, like I said, it’s all up in the air at present because some predictions call for squalls with winds as high as 65 mph (no that’s not a misprint) during the next few days. We have a relatively early dinner on the boat and turn in about 9:30. We rock and roll most of the night with gusty winds and waves from aft even at the dock.
April 17 - Wind finally gentles early morning and we’re up at a more normal 7:30 a.m. or so. It’s more squally with rain showers and generally cloudy weather and same longer range weather reports. The "Island ferry/supply boat" and the "mail boat" both arrive in Bimini today, so we look forward to buying fresh produce and fruit later in the day. Satellite phone is problematical for data downloads and reception is intermittent, which is disappointing and frustrating. Fortunately for the time being, the WiFi at the marina works fine. Well, now we know about "Homecoming". The band begins at about 10:00 p. m. at the restaurant/club by the marina and the sound is absolutely deafening. After trying to get to sleep for over an hour with no success and growing irritation we close the hatches and put on the air-conditioning and the sound is muffled enough for us to get to sleep. The band plays on well into the morning hours, but we’ve surmounted the problem. Probably should have put our clothes back on and gone to the Club but we were too tired.
April 18 - Get up early to try to get Chris Parker’s Bahamas weather report (he has a paid subscription weather service but transmits free reports on the SSB as well) on the SSB. It’s less about hearing his report than it is to the fact that I’m committed to finding out whether the SSB (single sideband radio) is working properly. I have not been able to hear more than one or two random transmissions since it was installed. SSB’s are low frequency long range radios that when properly used can, like ham radios, allow you to listen and speak with parties across the world, but they are notoriously "sensitive" and their tuning mechanisms are totally different from those of VHF radios or most other kinds of devices that are tuned to receive radio/tv transmissions. Anyway, I can receive Chris Parker’s report and then some other transmissions on another station as well, so I finally know that the radio is properly installed and working and I’m learning to tune it to the stations I want. I know it may not sound like much, but that makes my day. It’s Good Friday and Kryss and I take a walk on the West side of the Island (the Atlantic side). As I remembered from the last time I was here, everyone is very friendly and seemingly every fourth building is a church. We’re waiting out a good weather window to leave, so it’s another lazy day with lots of reading, naps and light conversation.
April 19 - Weather reports yesterday suggested best days to leave to N. Cat Cay and from there to Chub Cay would be Sunday to N. Cat Cay and then Monday to Chub Cay. Wind dropped down last night and I started to think that perhaps we could leave today, Saturday, but woke up to cloudy threatening skies, and by 9:15 it began to thunder and lightening and rain cats and dogs. No leaving today. Weather is quite unsettled all day and we just laze around for the most part. Kryss goes swimming on the ocean side and says the water’s great. I look at the ocean side (it’s calm as can be although the inlet is rough) and I’m sorry we didn’t leave, but it’s too late now.
April 20 - It’s Easter and there’s a VERY LOUD sunrise service just up the coast that wakes us with the sounds of a preacher’s exaltation and a congregation’s religious fervor. Winds are up and from the West and the unanticipated (it should have been anticipated) is a nasty swell across the Gulf Stream and right in our path that it entirely uninviting. We hope that it will subside by midday when the tide is right to leave but it doesn’t, so we’re here for another day. Kryss and I have lunch out at the Big Game Club and Marina where we stayed with Endless Summer when we were last here and it’s very good. When we get back to the boat Kyrss discovers our Easter "surprise". Entirely in keep with the Easter holiday, our bread dough which we couldn’t fit in the freezer but hoped would stay frozen under the freezer compartment in one of the refrigeration units has not stayed frozen and has "risen", so now we’re baking bread.
Sorry, no more pix.
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