Magnolia had a lovely visit to Bimini in part we were able to meet  number of people whom we previously only knew by their boat. In addition we met what we refer to as the “Royal Canadian Navy” which consisted of nearly a dozen power and sailboats all proudly flying their Canadian flags!  Oh yes, sorry about the poor picture quality, after 6 months I finally figured I had better clean my lenses!!!!

Before departing Bimini we needed rent a golf cart; , that’s what you do in the Bahamas. We made our way to the northern most reaches of the island where there is a brand new swanky Casino. As you can see Annette is dolled up in her finest cruise where and we were off.  Winnie, thanks for the shiny stuff!

We were not inclined for lunch at the Casino but how could we pass up a conch salad joint on the side of the road which has never faced a health inspection and most certainly would have never passed one if it had! The salad though was to die for and some of the coldest beer on the island.

As “sometimes” happens, Frank and I started discussing the merits of ice cream on this particular day.

“Deputy Marshal Samuel Gerard: Alright, listen up, people. Our fugitive (ice-cream)  has been on the run for ninety minutes. Average foot speed over uneven ground barring injuries is 4 miles-per-hour. That gives us a radius of six miles. What I want from each and every one of you is a hard-target search of every gas station, residence, warehouse, farmhouse, henhouse, outhouse and doghouse in that area. Checkpoints go up at fifteen miles. Your fugitive’s name is Chocolate Ice Cream. Dr. Richard Kimble. Go get him it.”

We searched and came up empty handed. As we were returning the golf cart we related out search to the proprietor.  He sent us to the boat and said he would be there in a few, “be back in a few min.”

Low and behold than man came through. I mean he scored and as you can see we scored too! It was like a seen out of spy movie with a clandestine ice cream hand off!

MaryMarie  (of Eleanor Q) particularly enjoyed taking this picture. Her caption was “Thank you, Lord, for this divine ice cream for which we searched so hard. Amen.” She really is a mind reader!

While we were being decadent MaryMarie broke out her stash of Chocolate covered bacon…yea baby, chocolate covered bacon!

After the ice cream incident and heaven forbid the bacon thing leaked out ….well it could  have been pretty wild. On top of that this cold front hitting the east coast could have left us in dire conditions….perhaps into the 60s. It was time to take the show on the road.

As you can see it was a bigger than normal show….what you are seeing is the entire Royal Canadian Navy in hot pursuit of three Yankee boats!

Here is Magnolia making her way out the Bimini Harbor.

Our Comrades on Eleanor Q make her way north along the Bimini Coast

The screen capture above was actually done a little later in the evening that the pictures below but it give you an idea of how we navigate our route and info available. Magnolia in yellow is approaching the Mackie shoal light with Eleanor Q off our starboard quarter (AIS track).  We have a number of AIS tracks plus a bunch of non-AIS vessels we are monitoring. In addition we you can see the wind conditions overlaid as well. All total our trip was about 120 miles over about 22 hours.

This is the North Rock light (NROCK) from above.

As the sun was setting I grabbed the below panorama.

This was the first overnight passage that Annette and I have done on our own. To be completely frank it is a big deal. When you can see nothing but a few lights coming at you or going away from you and no horizon your brain can attach to along with taking turns to sleep and trusting your partner to keep you safe while you do sleep, yup it was/is a big deal. Just before dawn about 20 miles out of Nassau we had a hellacious squall come through. Not much accompanying wind but the rain gave the boat a very thorough wash down. As the sun began to rise it was nice to know we had “done the night” and did it safely. I am very proud of the Admiral, she certainly got’er done!

Annette double checking some Nassau Harbor entrance details.

Land’ Ho

 

Upon entering the harbor the first thing you come to is the cruse ship docks. In Miami they shut down entire areas of the port but here you have to transit RIGHT past them. It is a little un-nerving in the difference in protocols!

Eleanor Q transiting the cruise ship docks.

We arrived at our planned dock within minutes of these being taken. The crew were tired but proud of our nights success.

After our arrival in Monday morning, the same front that has caused cold winter havoc arrived Nassau about 01:30Am Tuesday morning in Nassau. (We expected it) and it has been blowing into the low 30s at the dock, plenty of rain and cold temperatures..okay tropical cold!  We hope to be on our way to the Exuma’s Thursday. Will check the weather!