M/V MAERIN

We finally pulled the anchor loose from the bottom at Miami Beach after having said our farewells to the dog park gang, and headed for Key Biscayne Tuesday afternoon. We had a very easy cruise, and arrived to a fairly crowded anchorage just after fellow Selene Mystic Moon dropped their anchor. We had been in contact with Celebrate earlier in the day, and awaited their arrival later the same afternoon. They arrived on schedule, and since conditions were perfect, made fast alongside Maerin for the night. After a brief captain’s meeting, we agreed to an early start in order to make the almost 50 nm to Bimini and enter the channel at high tide and high sun for the easiest approach.

Chris and Joyce had a replacement water maker membrane aboard for us, they had added it to their last minute provisioning run. The watermaker production had been deteriorating progressively for a few months, but the days leading up to our planned departure saw the performance really go in the toilet. Since travel to the Bahamas was the motivator in installing the watermaker in the first place, replacement was a no-brainer. It was a good move, the supplier is not terribly distant from the girls’ provisioning travels, so we are now up to top performance and are producing water that rivals bottled quality. So the evening activity for the skipper was to replace the membrane, and insure that all was in order. Much better!!

We departed No Name at about 0620, had a relatively smooth crossing, despite violating the prime rule against crossing with winds having any northern component. Winds had been calm the day before, so the building northerly winds gave us a bit of a bumpy ride toward the end of the run, but otherwise a good run!

We tied up at Bimini Big Game Outpost. The facility was closed up during our cruise 2 years ago, and subsequently was bought out by Guy Harvey. Since that time it has been undergoing significant rehab, and is being restored to one of the prime Bimini destinations. Very nice facility, reasonable rates at $1.00/ft (low season until March)- we thoroughly enjoyed our visit.

As cruising is defined as repairing your boat in exotic places, Bimini ranks in with that characterization- the batteries that power the dinghy lift decided now would be a good time to go T-U, so part of Thursday afternoon was given over to locating and replacing the batteries. We have learned (finally) that if the opportunity presents itself, there’s no time like the present. Do it now. So that cloud is not hanging over us any longer.

We’ll head out later today, bound for Cat Cay where we’ll anchor overnight then leave very early in the morning and cross the Bahama Bank to Chub Cay, a long run of 70+ miles. So another o’dark-thirty departure! We’re still buddy boating with Celebrate and Mystic Moon, and enjoyed a wonderful pot-luck cookout last evening with some fresh Bahamian Lobster, still-warm fresh Bimini rolls, and some of Joyce’s yummy organic fed chicken.

It’s great to be back in the Bahamas and that gin-clear water. Spectacular!