We be in the Bahamas mon

Preparation

We spent the entire day finishing our provisioning for the trip. The boat is about an inch below the waterline when the fuel is topped off. Thursday looks good as the seas are supposed to be 2-3 ft. We went to West Marine (twice), Boat Owner's Warehouse (BOW), Super Target and the liquor store. Then one last stop at Whole foods for an opportunity to throw down stupid money for average steaks, which were the last food item we needed. After all of that I treated BJ to a great Cuban/Spanish restaurant we found a few years ago named Catalina. The owner and the rest of the staff are over-the-top gay, but the food is excellent. We had Mario (the owner) cook for us so he chose the entire meal with only one request of no chicken from me. We had an awesome array of Cuban food including beef empanadas, ham croquettas and some sort of roasted meat with a tamale mixture. It was great. We then had a skirt steak and a grouper with the most succulent shrimp on top of each. I MADE BJ try the tres leches (Three Milks) dessert because it is a Spanish tradition. She loved it, but there was so much food at dinner she could only entertain about 3 bites.

Crossing

OK, after some last minute shopping and a horrible experience at Gold Coast auto rentals we were ready to go. It was about 1:00PM but hey, it was supposed to be great seas with 2-3's. I saw those 2-3's right before the 3-5's and the waves were stacked up. It beat the hell out of me and the boat. I have got to take it easier on the ol' ESWEET! After 3 hours of an extremely rough ride, we showed up here in Bimini. We got checked into customs, paid our fees and halleluiah we were in the Bahamas with 30 days to go to the wedding. So far so good. This crossing was the worst weather we had so far on this trip, and was probably one of the worst crossings to date. I wanted to turn southeast to try to ride the tiny troughs, but the CG was conducting a live fire exercise and we had to stay at least five miles away. We were only about 7 miles away at the time.

First Night

We usually stay at Big Game, however due to some financial problems they are closed down. We had a choice to be up at Bimini Bay, but it is too snooty and we like the locals here very much, so we stayed here in the south of North Bimini. We are walking distance to most of the bars and stores, however BJ wanted to see our old friends Sandra and Nikia, so we hitched a ride with a guy who turned out to be Nikia's nephew. They are all so related here, I don't know how they date. We had a great but brief reunion with both of them and we headed back to Alicetown for the rest of the night, and the nightlife as well. We retired fairly early as we were both worn out from the previous few days and the crossing.

First Day

We spent the day organizing and cleaning. I actually got up to the top of the boat and cleaned and waxed it. I am not a great fan of heights especially since the Bahamians never heard of a "No Wake" so there were huge wakes rolling in while I was up there. BJ cleaned the cockpit and the dog as well as a bund of stuff in the cabin. The most important part of the day, was that we got a little sun burnt since we were both in swim suits in the great weather. Still not hot yet, but upper 70's and mostly sunny. We should be heading out on Monday as a small front is upposed move through this weekend. I have a couple of more chores to do before we leave, and we are going to "Hi Star" tonight for a special guest singer from Nassau. It looks to be promising……..

More to come with pictures, hopefully tomorrow.