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Day 1 -5, July 6th to 10th
Well, as in our inimitable fashion and as luck would have it,
our Bahamas 2006 adventure didn’t start out when or the way we
wanted. For months we had been planning to go to the Bahamas for
TWO whole months – May and June. Let’s try to get out of here
and back again before Hurricane season sets in, wouldn’t that be
a novel idea. Best laid plans, right? When week after week went
by in May and June we knew that particular pipe dream was just
not going to happen. Work was always getting in the way and we
thought we had better re-think how long we would be able to get
away for and “just do it”. We decided we would just go for a
week or two and hang around Bimini Islands in the Bahamas, which
is only a couple of hours from Miami Beach where we keep Salty
Old Dog. We made slip reservations at Bimini Big Game Marina and
were happy to find out we would have wireless high speed
internet access – so that would mean, we may not even need to
get a Bahamian cell phone.
Thursday, July 6th
We set July 6th as the day we would finally head out of Cape
Coral and head over to the boat at the Miami Beach Marina but even
then, I had to stay back to finish up some last minute and
unexpected work (organize a new listing, pictures, advertising,
etc.) and Barry went ahead because he was expecting technicians to
be at the boat in Miami early Friday morning. There’s always
something to be fixed on the boat and this time it was the GPS
antenna AND the Direct TV antenna – needed to be replaced. We all
know that the GPS Map is essential for a safe voyage but once you
get there, Direct TV is crucial! So, off he went to take care of the
boat before our cross over on Monday and I wrapped up in Cape Coral.
Salty and I headed across Alligator Alley on Saturday – both ready
to hit the beach and another Salty Old Dog adventure. Salty and I
did hit Miami beach early Sunday morning (he’s not allowed on the
beach so we sneak there for a quick run and dip in the ocean before
the lifeguards come on duty). We then spent all day Sunday shopping
for groceries and essentials and then packing the boat to leave on
Monday. It was raining in the afternoon and evening so we are hoping
it clears up by the morning for our crossing. Salty even likes being
on the dock in the rain – crazy guy – he just lays there overlooking
“his” dock, even in the rain.
Monday, July 10th
So, Monday, July 10th we’re both up early and “getting ready”
which means making sure everything is batten down, lines are ready
for an easy exit out of the slip (thank God Barry did that for me
this year)! Salty watched the whole process and kept out of the
hustle and bustle by laying on the dock and wondering what was going
on so early in the morning. We pulled up the stairs/ramp, secured
the aft deck furniture and were out of the slip and headed over to
the fuel dock by 8:50 am….a little later than we normally head off
but the weather was cooperating and it didn’t look like there was a
great urgency to get out on the water to beat the mid-afternoon
waves. We were at the fuel dock at 9:00 am, when I said “well, that
was easy”. Never say that….never even think it until you are safely
where you are going. The dock hand started to fill up the tank when
diesel suddenly started to spew and spurt all over the place –
cripes, what a mess! He thought that perhaps there was a bubble, or
the diesel in the tank was old, or there was a blockage of some kind
in the vent. It continued to spurt during the fueling process and
Barry suggested they try the other tank. It was not as bad and in
fact, turned out to be just fine after the first nervous 10 minutes.
Barry remembered having had some work done on the fuel vent and took
it apart while the dock hand was fueling the other tank. Lo and
behold, there is a big blob of silicone in the vent! That would
explain why it wasn’t flowing properly and it also would ultimately
have caused the engine to shut down. Barry knew the tanks were about
three quarters full and was almost tempted to just forget about
filling them and go anyway. Great – that one little blob of silicone
would have shut the engine down and we would have had no idea what
was wrong. The scarier part being, where and when would the engine
have shut down? With our luck we would be right in the middle of the
Gulf Stream. Oh yes, when the fuel was spewing out and down the side
of the boat, Salty was spewing up top on the towels – good thing I
didn’t feed him this morning! He’s not quite the boater he used to
be for some reason and has turned into quite the wiener in my
opinion….hopefully he gets his sea legs back soon.
An
hour later we are finally heading out of the channel at 10:00 am
into slightly choppy waters and overcast skies. It was a little
rough with 2-3’ wave action with the odd 4 footer thrown in for good
measure. When I can see the spray shooting up past where we are on
the upper deck, you know the wind and waves are going to play havoc
with you for the next few hours. Barry had to put the front plastic
down to protect the equipment AND his face as it was really pelting
in at times. He was happy, however, with the way the boat was
running, the electronics were all working, the Direct TV was still
receiving (didn’t ever work when we were running before) and the new
and very improved Stidd helm seat was great. The original Carver
helm seat(s) he had always bobbed and jerked around making him look
very much like one of those little toy dogs with the bogging head on
the dash of a car. We were looking at Bimini Island before too long
and much to his pleasure the entry had been improved with proper
markers which was an added bonus. The wind had started to pick up of
course as we were trying to dock but the Captain made it in
perfectly and we were settled and docked at Bimini Big Game Marina
(North Bimini) by 2:00 pm. Then, the fun part – Customs and
Immigration. I filled out the paperwork and we walked up the street
to Customs – she was none too impressed when we both walked in the
door as I was NOT supposed to be off the boat until she said I could
get off – only the Captain can do that. To make matters worse, I had
forgotten my Passport and we were sent next door to Immigration – I
guess she didn’t want to be bothered with us if Immigration threw us
out. As it turned out, he was a really nice guy and I thought I
could talk my way through not having a Passport by showing him the
Bahamian Customs forms we had from last year. After all, they were
stamped by the Customs office and had our Passport numbers on them –
verification, right? Wrong. We were supposed to “check out”, sign
them and leave them in the Bahamas when we left last year! Great, am
I in even more trouble now? We managed to talk our way through with
the documentation we had but then we had forgotten Salty’s Permit
and International health certificate on the boat and had to go all
the way back to get that….AND she also wanted to see our Boat
Registration. Back and forth, back and forth, geez! For the $300 we
have to pay just for the honor of being here, you’d think they would
welcome you with open arms. With that done and over with, we went
for a drink and a munchie at the bar at the end of the dock
overlooking the marina – The Tackle Box. The food is much better
than last year so maybe they got a new Chef. They were extending the
top decks overlooking the pool and marina so it looks like we’ll
have that noise to deal with over the next couple of days. The
marina is virtually empty now but would no doubt fill up over the
next few days when the fishermen returned. July 10th is the Bahamian
Independence Day so there were fireworks this evening to drive Salty
crazy, along with the thunder and lightning threatening the skies.
He ran up and down the docks, barking at the sky and stomping at the
slapping wave action – another thing he doesn’t like. The end of a
perfect day beginning our (short) Bahamas 2006 adventure!
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