Mackie Shoal to Bimini

April 16, 2013

After 4 hard days of travel, we have reached Bimini and are now docked at Weech's Bimini Dock in Alice Town, North Bimini. 

No rocking, heeling, sail slap, or engine noise now - nice change.  The trip from Rock Sound in Eleuthera was about 209 nautical miles over 4 days.  The wind was generally moderate and favorable but much of the trip featured swells that caused significant boat movement (rocking, pitching). 

As I was relating this post to Joyce and commenting that 209 miles would not be very impressive to many people, she came up with a great comparison.  A car at highway speeds goes about 10 times faster than our boat; this would make our boat trip equivalent to about a 2100 mile car trip!  That comparison better communicates the scope of the trip - a long way!  

On Sunday we had a long day traveling from West Bay, New Providence through the NW channel and onto the bank.  We anchored on Sunday night on the Great Bahama Bank near Mackie Shoal.  We had done this in December on our trip east and had a comfortable night at anchor.  This time, however, there was a 10-15 knot SE wind overnight that kicked up some small but sharp waves - we had a very uncomfortable night offering little good sleep.  We were off at 0600 (and glad to be underway) before sunrise to catch a favorable tide at Bimini.

Given the long trip and the poor sleep on Sunday night, we were both very tired on arrival and napped and slept much until this morning - feeling better now.

Our plan is to stay docked in Bimini for about a week until the next weather window to cross the Gulf Stream and return to the States.

Tom
Docked at Weech's Bimini Dock
Alice Town, N Bimini
Map Cruise 2012-13