S/V Symphony

Maryanne did some incredible magic making almost $1000 worth of groceries disappear into our boat in places where we hope to be able to find them again.  Our friends Ron and Elaine helped us out more than we could have ever hoped for - making trips to Fort Lauderdale Airport for a drop off and then again for  a pickup.  They patiently waited while we took forever to shop for groceries.  We got rides to marine stores, a propane place, they cooked us dinner and gave us a bed on stable ground for a night among other things.

After almost a week of provisioning and organizing we motored down the ICW to Fort Lauderdale where we picked up a few more last minute items and waited for the winds to die down so we could go outside the ICW to the ocean for our sail down to Miami.  There is a bridge between Fort Lauderdale and Miami that our mast will not fit under - so there is no alternative but to sail outside.

In Fort Lauderdale we met a group of people who are sailing together in 3 boats who were planning to sail to Bimini from Fort Lauderdale.  The morning we were to leave there were bright yellow and red cells marching across our radar images - lots of squalls over a huge area south of us.  So we kept waking up every couple of hours after 6 a.m. to see if the squall would move out of our way.  By 10 a.m. we figured they were out of the way and since it was too late to sail for Bimini, Miami would be a better choice.  The seas had still not settled down so we did some major hobby horsing and rolling as we left the breakwaters into the Atlantic.

Eventually, the waves subsided and we made our way to Dinner Key near Miami's Coconut Grove.

The next morning with some trepidation we joined the other 3 boats from Fort Lauderdale to sail to Bimini. North winds were forecast.  All our guides said don't cross the stream if there is any north wind.  The wind was supposed to be mild - and it was.  So were the seas - not flat - but not uncomfortable.  As we sailed out into the Gulf Stream I realized this was not so different than any other sailing I've done on the Atlantic in New England - it was just warmer.  The wind did pipe up to about 18 knots so I was able to kill the engine and sail our last 2 hours to Bimini.  The entrance to the Bimini Sands Marina was interesting -- but I'll post more about that with pictures tomorrow.

Entrance to the Bimini Sands Marina

Hooray!  We are in Bimini!  It feels totally unreal.  Such a change of environments - and with all the apprehension we had about making the crossing - it was fine.   We'll edit this post - add pictures - and explain more tomorrow or the next day.