Upon arriving in Bimini, we had two critical issues to deal with:
- Fix the watermaker
- Buy a cellular plan
Further complicating our situation was that without a cellular plan, we couldn’t make phone calls about the watermaker unless we had marina WiFi. We weren’t going anywhere.
Making the Wrong Kind of Water
The watermaker was producing water alright, but salt water pouring out its side isn’t very useful.
Our handy endoscope to the rescue! Using it to see behind the panel, I found a half dozen high-pressure jets coming out of a small brass pipe. Knowing where it was, we proceeded to tear it apart and further confirmed that it was solely a 1/4 inch by 4 inch brass pipe in the high pressure section causing the problem.
This would become our first repair experience as cruisers. Back home, it would be a quick drive to Home Depot or in our case the watermaker company itself in Ft Lauderdale. Are there hardware stores on Bimini? Nothing came up on Google. We walked the one street and discovered a tourist office. They gave us a “map” (copy of a hand-drawn one on a sheet of paper) and directed us to both a hardware store and a place to buy an ALIV cellular plan. After a couple miles, we found Dolphin Electronics. What a great find – one store that seemed to do it all. The owner booked plane and ferry tickets for the locals, sold toys and wrapped Christmas gifts, and of course a variety of electronics. She did sell ALIV, but was out of stock until the ship arrived tomorrow. We’ll be back!
A way further down the road, and one broken Brenda sandal later, we found King Brown Hardware. Another great find with all kinds of things, but sadly no brass pipe of any kind. Now what? Nassau would surely have more supplies. After speaking with our watermaker company, Watermakers Inc, I got the names of two places in Nassau with whom they work. I also learned that the owner of Watermakers Inc also owns Staniel Cay Yacht Club and that they ship equipment there all the time. So we grudgingly decided on going to Nassau, with Staniel Cay as a backup plan.
Joe’s Conch Stand
On the walk back, I had to stop at a local landmark – Joe’s Conch Stand. Yes, it looks pretty sketchy. But it’s well known and I couldn’t visit Bimini without at least trying. The Conch Fritters were amazing! Nothing like the ones in Key West that I didn’t like. These reminded me of the last time I had really great Conch Fritters – 30 years ago in Turks & Caicos.
The Blow
“The Blow” was coming in a couple days – we didn’t know yet that “the blow” happens every week in the winter – and we needed to come back the next day for our ALIV purchase, so we decided to stay around Bimini until it passed and do our five day Covid test there.
We went down to Gun Cay and anchored for the night. A very long night. When I dove on the anchor, I saw we were in grass and the anchor piled up a giant ball of sod when I had backed down on it. We really should pull up and retry, but the sun was setting and there were no obvious sand patches around. We had nothing but open Bahamas Banks water behind us, so I opted to stay with what we had. It worked out fine, but I set an alarm every 30 minutes to check on our status. By morning, we had drug almost 200 feet.
Tired and irritable, we decided to treat ourselves to a morning on the beach at Gun Cay. It was fantastic. So great that you may notice this dock in our main web site picture!
With the blow coming, we headed back and stayed at Browns Marina for two nights. The two nights combined were significantly less expensive than the one night we spent at Big Game Club.
The Bank
We got our instant Covid test the last morning and then rushed out to cross the Great Bahama Bank. The late start meant we didn’t get very far, perhaps 30%, before anchoring at sunset. We went about a mile to the side of the main route (aka the rhumb line) to avoid getting hit in the middle of the night. No moon and no land, anchored in the middle of the water, rolling like crazy. We saw two other anchored boats’ lights far in the distance.
Because we had so far left to go and didn’t want to spend a second night on the Bank, I insisted we get going at 3:00 am. Such an earie experience going full speed in total darkness over 10 feet of water with nothing but your charts and radar. We made great time and reached the Northwest Passage by 1:00 pm.
The deep water changed everything. We were beating directly upwind into the waves. The boat was rocking and Brenda wasn’t liking. Anxiety was setting in. Until… she grabbed the wheel, gunned the engines, decided this was no different than skiing the moguls back home, and that this wasn’t going to get her. It was impressive. An hour and a half later we were pulling into Chub Cay Marina for the night.
Chub Cay and the Lightbulb
Let’s just say that Chub Cay Marina and Cruising Budget are incompatible. We were one of the smallest boats there. But yes, it’s nice.
As we were approaching Chub Cay, I was browsing through our Explorer Chartbook and noticed two curious ads. Our watermaker company, Watermakers Inc, and the local airline, Makers Air, had the same logo. And then there’s the name similarity. Makers Air advertised that they flew from Ft Lauderdale to Chub Cay daily. An “aha!” moment had arrived. I called Watermakers Inc and sure enough they work with Makers Air regularly. They dropped off my parts order that afternoon. Makers Air was not on full schedule due to Covid, but would deliver the parts in a couple days. Perfect!
The Southern Berries
The next morning we headed out to explore what we could of the southern Berry Islands. We found a great anchorage between Whale Cay and Bird Cay. Two beautiful days resting and walking a local beach. On the third day the winds were shifting to the east, so we picked up and anchored on the western shore of Bird Cay. Another beautiful spot.
The Blow Ho Ho Ho
“The Blow” was coming in a couple days. Yes, it appears to be a regular occurrence. This time, however, it was Christmas and it was more serious, into the mid 30s. So we checked back into Chub Cay Marina for Christmas Eve and Christmas, picked up our parts from customs at the tiny airport, and settled in. We got water and extra spares for Christmas!
