Bahama Mama!

After a 45 hour passage from Cuba, we were delighted to arrive in Bahamas! Our first port was Bimini. As this was only meant to be a stopover, we were not expecting much...

Upon entering the channel we thought we were going to run a ground as we could clearly see the bottom... However , our instruments told us we were in 50ft of water!!! This was our first experience in seeing Bahamas crystal clear tropical water!! We spent the first night at browns marina where the water was pristine. The locals where catching fish off the dock 15ft down and you could see the fish take the bait. Shortly after going for a snorkel on the marina we saw a 8-9ft bull shark cruise right by our boat! The local fisherman told us no one ever swims on the marina because the sharks come in to feed on the fish. Yikes!!! We headed down to the beach on the west side of the island for sunset and a fresh cracked coconut pina colada! After fixing a few things on the boat, we headed out the following day to a close by anchorage.

Once getting settled in our anchorage to the east of the Hilton Hotel, we were greeted by all of the neighbouring sailboats in the area. We met many cruisers and over the week that we spent there we developed friendships with all of them! We participated in our first “dingy flotilla” which is kinda like Pottahawk in Lake Erie on the ocean! All our our boats tied together and we floated down the channel with the tide! Everyone brought a dish or tasty snack and drinks and we shared all our our treats while we watch the sun set! Later in the week we had a girls night and boys night on different boats and chatted about all the commonalities we shared living at sea.

We were lucky enough to meet a young family our age who loved to fish and volunteered to take us out! We caught fresh fish shortly after the sun came up and our our new friends caught lobster with their Hawaiian sling! They gave us 3 lobster to eat! We decided to do an iron chef competition on board with fresh lobster as the secret ingredient. We each had 45min to create a meal which would be judged on presentation, taste and uniqueness! The iron chef competition concluded and Steve was the winner.... this time... Steve’s dish was a lobster tail with garlic butter and a warm tropical fruit chutney for dipping, an avocado and tomato salad with shredded lobster. Ashley’s dish was a stuffed lobster tail with caramelized onions, garlic and mushrooms garnished with fresh cilantro, a chickpea salsa salad and stuffing with grilled celery! Bella also enjoyed the delights from the sea!

Another delight in Bimini was fresh baked coconut bread. One morning with coffee, we ate the whole loaf between the two of us!! Sooooo good!

Turns out, we were in Bimini during Florida spring break which meant boat loads of students ready to party! As the Hilton was just outside our anchorage, every night was loud music and celebrations. We didn’t mind much but one night we couldn’t sleep so we decided “if you can’t beat em, join em!” We hit up the outdoor dance party and brought our own booze to avoid the $10 drinks. We almost watched the sun come up that night.. good times!

The town of Bimini is quaint and native to Bahaman culture. If you were seeking fresh produce, Thursday and Friday are pretty much your only shot! The ship comes in once and week and when it’s gone that it is!

We said goodbye to our friends and all agreed hopefully we would meet up later in our trip! We left Bimini for an overnight sail to our next destination which is West Bay, New Providence. We are told the snorkelling and hiking trails are supposed to be beautiful so this will be a good stop over on our way to the Exumas! We write this while are sailing comfortably downwind in 8450 feet of Blue water!!!