But, I used to live near Lodi, California and let me tell you, it cannot compare to the Bahamas. And, stuck is really not the right word….but, the weather kept us captive in all three locations.

We left Fort Lauderdale for our first foray outside…which means we were on the ocean. We headed for no name harbor on Key Biscayne for our staging point for Bimini. We took off early the next morning while it was still dark and the first 2 hours were pretty intense. Lots of wind and seas about 3-4 feet. But, then it turned into a beautiful sailing day. We pulled into Browns Marina in Bimini and, stayed there for week waiting for the weather window we needed to cross the Atlantic and spend a night anchored on the Grand Bahama banks,,,,more about that later.

Bimini is charming. So many cruisers are dismissive of the island as the place you have to go to do immigration or to state for the northern, central or southern Bahamas, but I really found the people to be incredibly friendly and the island to be very pretty.

A little history about Bimini….a pretty common theme, and actually for most of the Bahamas. The original Arawak natives were conquered by the Spanish, who indentured them into slavery, decimated their population with disease, and generally took over the islands. British settlers arrived seeking religious freedom in the 1600’s, but after butting heads with the Spanish, seemed the area ungovernable and let it go to the Pirates. The Pirates reigned in Nassau until Woodes Roger, famous for capturing and killing Blackbeard cleaned up Nassau and challenged pirates to accept Death or Pardon. Spanish were not happy with all that was happening, so with the help of the US and France, they recaptured Nassau, but it only lasted a year until the Brits got it back, playing a trick on the Spanish, by having the same British troops go into and out of ships making it look like they had many more troops than they did. The Spanish fled and the Bahamas went to the British.

In the meantime, the U.S. was just finishing up the revolutionary war and many loyalist to the king fled to the Bahamas. There are still a couple of settlements that will only sell their land to descendants of the loyalists! During the civil war, the Bahamas became a major trading center for the blockaded south. And, again those blockade runners were employed during the 20’s prohibition. The Bahamas were the major source of hooch for the U.S….but, after prohibition was repealed, a severe depression hit the islands.

During WWII the islands were an allied staging area and R&R site for US and Canadian soldiers. Today, tourism accounts for 60% of their GDP.

Back to Bimini

Our only problem was that the disco was right at our Marina and we were there before, during and after New Years! So, with the exception of a night or two, we heard blaring hip hop until 2 or 3 in the morning. But, we had a lot of fun with our fellow slipmates and the facilities were good.

We had dinner with our neighbors every night! First, Steph fixed us chicken cache tori delicious! Next night Dave and Mary had bought fresh lobster off the resident fisherman, and we had some filet mignon, so for NYE we surfed and turfed it. Next night Richard had spaghetti that one of his friends had made…fantastic, with a salad and bread. Next night it was fresh grouper and lobster at Richards again and the we finished it off with a salad and taco night with all the trimmings. Needless to say, alcohol was involved!

We spent our time touring the island…checking
to see if Charley, the resident Bimini bread maker had fresh coconut bread, waiting for the supply ship to come in on Thursday with fresh produce, walking the island, renting a golf cart to visit the rest of the island, doing chores on the boat, waiting for navigational chips for the chart plotter, napping, going to the beach, saying hello to everyone on the island and just generally relaxing. I attended mass at the Catholic Church…right alongside the 7 or 8 other churches on the hill overlooking the ocean. Stunning and the few people in church sang in loud and lovely voice.

After a conference of everyone who could speak on what the weather was going to do, we decided, along with Richard and Dave and Mary to make the run for Nassau. The day was a little iffy, but turned into a beautiful sailing day. We anchored in the middle of the ocean on a shallow bank for the night. Full moon, loads of stars, light wind….until around 10PM!!!!! Big wind shift and too much wind…along with really heavy seas. We were bounced around all night. Have to admit, it was uncomfortable, but I have a lot of confidence I the captain and the boat. We left in the dark around 4:30 AM and got to Nassau 12 hours later…just in time to miss the cruise ships exiting. Dave and Mary were not so lucky and had to stay outside the harbor for 2 hours until they left. They were greeted by armed men in dinghys…guess that is good considering the security, but they were really tired by the time they got in.

The weather prediction kept us in Nassau for 3 days. We got on a bus with Dave and Mary…the wrong bus, and did a tour of New Providence. the people there are so polite. Everyone getting on the bus bid us a good morning and helped us figure out the proper bus to take us to the gardens and the zoo.

Downtown New Providence is a mixture of colonial British influence and t-shirted Americans off the cruise ships. We are asked a lot that day, took a coup,e of bus connections and toured both e botanical gardens and the zoo. A delightful day except for my feet! Another night of dinner and drinks with Mary and Dave…Richard begged off as he had a lot of company coming in the next day from Canada.

Dave and Mary stayed in Nassau because their daughter and son in law decided to fly over from Florida and cruise with them for a while. We pressed on to the Exumas…a short 5-6 hour sail from Nassau along with some new slipmates…”peaceful, easy, feeling” Marilyn and Bob. Everyone remembers your boat name easier than your actual name. And, since our boat’s name is Sassy Dancer, I have to constantly say it was named after a dog…not me!

Allen Cay is beautiful and we have only had 5-6 boats anchored in the inlet that we are in….but, weather once again has kept us from moving. Last night we had 40mph winds and were concerned over whether the anchor would hold…it did. But, it was a rocky, rolly night. Tomorrow we are moving over to a marina to celebrate my 4 year old birthday! I had my BMT stem cells 4 years ago today from my lovely donor, Diana. I am here to enjoy the huge and ugly iguanas that inhabit one of the beach at the cay polite us because of her lifesaving donation. Aside from being a lovely person, she is a hero to me and to my family. David and I toasted her and her family tonight as we shared a glass of wine.

The raw and unspoiled beauty of these islands is amazing and when we sit out at night and see more stars than we have ever seen and enjoy a full moon over the most beautiful water, we thank God that we are so lucky. Life is good!

Love to you all!