BYE BYE BIMINI

12/17/2011 BIMINI TO FRAZER'S HOG CAY

SATURDAY

TOTAL MILES TRAVELED TODAY: 84 NM

MOORED AT FRAZER'S HOG CAY BERRY ISLAND CLUB CLOSED

SUNRISE IN BIMINI: 6:57 AM

SUNSET IN FRAZER'S HOG CAY: 5:23 PM

It was a long travel day, starting when we tossed our ropes off at 6:45 this morning and ending when we secured Quest to the mooring ball at 5:45.

Today we took a different route and veered north after exiting the Alice Town Harbor, skirting along Bimini’s western shore and seeing the island from the water. After passing the Bimini Bay Resort on the extreme north end of Bimini, the sun finally burst out to welcome us to the day.

ALICE TOWN FROM THE WESTERN SHORE

Our charted journey took us first to North Rock where we made our eastward turn and headed out across the Great Bahama Bank. This 50 NM wide and 180 NM wide mass of shallow waters (15 to 18’ deep in most places) affects the tidal currents and the wave patterns and is ever changing. Today it was like a freeway with sailboats poking along, cruisers motoring and fishing boats zipping along on their way to the busy port of Nassau.



NORTH ROCK. YEP, THAT'S ALL IT IS!

At the North West Channel Light we made another adjustment to our course as we entered the channel and continued on towards the Berry Islands.

Our destination was the mooring field at Berry Island Club but as we tried to hail them on the radio and Good Samaritan piped in and advised us that they were closed. When asked about the mooring balls he just said to “grab one and if anyone was interested they would come out to collect the fee”. We did and they didn’t.

I do love spending a night on a mooring ball. Although grabbing the line can sometimes be tricky the reward is a secure night. These floating balls are anchored to the sea’s floor with a rope and then have another floating rope with a loop that you can snag and run your boat line through. You don’t have to worry about your anchor dragging or being too close to another boat. Of course, here there were no other boats, just Quest.

The skies were resplendent with shining stars and shimmering planets tonight. You could even see the glow from Nassau off in the distance.