Bimini..............next stop, Miami

Bimini Big Game Club - our marina

We arrived in Bimini on Sunday morning, after another windy, wavy sail. Due to the distance (80 miles from Chub Cay Club- or as we affectionately called it, "Club Chub") and the necessity to arrive in the morning here, we left in the late afternoon and sailed all night.

Bimini has no shortage of sharks

We were worried about this part of the passage because of the depth of the water. We crossed a large bank of water that was only 10-20 ft. deep and prayed that we wouldn't hit a random coral head while going 8 knots. That would be game over for L'ORIENT as we need the bottom of our boat to help keep the water out.

Once again, hand steering through big seas made us both tired. We dined throughout the night from our passage menu..........cookies, caffeine, Snickers bars.......basically anything to keep you awake and alert. Telling stupid jokes also keeps us awake.........."How many presidents have sexually inspired names?".............(Johnson, two Bushes etc.) "How many Irish presidents ?" (Kennedy, O'Bama). We were both happy to arrive with the boat intact.

As it was still a bit dark as we rounded North Bimini, a spooky sight was clearly visible in the western sky...........the unmistakable shimmer of lights from Miami (43 miles away)..........and the end of our trip. Gulp. We try not to talk about that.

Shopping, anyone?

Bimini is dirt poor. Outside of the infrastructure required for sport fishing (which is apparently off-season now), there's not much here. The usual 3 shuttered restaurants for every one that's open. Four of the first 10 people we encountered on our walk were very obviously mentally ill. The rest were just flat broke. We felt like we were walking around a warmer and beachier version of Baltimore.


The sport fishing guys are interesting. Generally sans female company, they are certainly a breed apart. They are like an army of ants always busy with one of two primeval tasks............"must kill more fish"........."must find more beer". Many of them talk with Nascar accents, as well. A hair-cuttery inspired look completes the 30 lb overweight package. Any everybody's name is modified to end with a "Y" for some reason..........Ricky, Bobby, Johnny, L'il Johhny, etc. Nice.

Anyway, today we'll play for one more day in Bimini. Wednesday (weather permitting), we sail across the gulf stream and the Florida Strait for our new home..........Miami Beach Marina here we come !!!  We will continue to live on the boat full time (as it's the only domicile we actually own). L'ORIENT needs some TLC after a year at sea with limited access to chandleries (especially in the past 6 months since we left Grenada). Should be a completely disruptive transition.........we will try to take it slowly. Looking in my closet at jeans and long sleeve shirts that have been neatly folded for more than a year is disheartening. Winter ? OK it's Miami so I'm not expecting snow drifts or anything.

Channel into Bimini

More to come.