ssloop: February 2020

Saturday, February 22, 2020

Bimini-The Berry’s-Cat Cay - Feb 4-9

During our stay in Bimini, most days were quite windy, however on Tuesday, Feb 4, the winds dropped, so we cruised 90 miles across the Great Bahama Bank to The Berry Islands. This is another chain of islands within the country of the Bahamas. We took a slip at Great Harbour Cay Marina and stayed for 4 nights. The marina had bikes we could use to explore. One stop was to visit the remains of the notorious clubhouse and golf course that was built in the 1960s when Great Harbour Cay was a tropical playground for the rich and famous. Cary Grant, The Rat Pack, Telly Savalas, Bridget Bardot & Ingrid Bergman, just to name a few who were known to vacation here and frequent The Club. It was kind of creepy walking through the dilapidated building thinking what it once was.

We soon realized there wasn’t much to keep us here. We were hoping to cruise around to the east side of the Berry’s to anchor out and explore their beautiful and secluded beaches & anchorages off some of their 30 islands, but the winter winds prevented us from doing this. We knew were attempting to do the Bahamas before prime cruising season (spring/summer). We were hoping to catch an unusually calm February, but it was not meant to be.

The winds were predicted to drop on Saturday and then pick up again, so we decided it was best for us to move on. We traveled 90 miles southwest to North Cat Cay and dropped the hook along a fabulous beach. North Cat Cay is a privately owned island with impressive beachfront homes and a yacht club. We totally enjoyed this anchorage with calm seas, turquoise waters and many sea turtles to entertain us.

Sunday afternoon we cruised north 10 miles back to Bimini Cove on South Bimini Island. We love Bimini so have decided to hang here and relax.

Beautiful Berry’s east coast beach

Fun day

Off to explore!

Remains of the Great Harbour Cay Clubhouse

Entrance looks a little spooky now!

Where is everybody?

Oh if this bar could talk

Checking out Cat Cay

Anchorage at Cat Cay

Sunday, February 16, 2020

Ft Lauderdale -The Bimini Islands - Jan 22-Feb 9

On January 22 we left the balmy Michigan winter behind us and flew to Fort Lauderdale where PV2 was waiting for us at our friend Brian Keenan’s dock. By Friday we were provisioned and ready to go. That night we anchored out in Lake Sylvia in Fort Lauderdale. The next morning we headed out to the Atlantic and traveled south to Haulover Inlet. Haulover Inlet is known to be one of Florida’s nastier inlets when the tide and winds oppose each other. We had a relatively easy transit. Conditions were in our favor but we still came in fairly hot to maintain control of the boat. We anchored out for 3 nights in a pretty bay off from Oleta River State Park. With weather in the mid 80’s and sunny it was perfect for enjoying the area including a 8 mile run up the ICW in the dinghy to Le Tub Restaurant for one of their famous burgers.

Tuesday we headed south down the intracoastal, past Miami to Prime Marina in Coconut Grove where we were met by a smiling dockhand holding an Amazon package containing our new alternator. An hour after we were docked, Captain Fix-It had the new alternator installed! After a walk to the local grocery store we were stocked and ready for the Bahamas.

By 8am on Wednesday we were headed across the Gulf Stream with a destination of South Bimini, Bahamas. We had a smooth crossing and pulled into Bimini Cove Marina by noon. This was our home for the next 5 nights. We enjoyed the awesome beaches, amazing waters and local cuisine while here. One day we took PV2 south 10 miles to Honeymoon Harbour. This is a gorgeous cove where we spent time with the stingrays swimming right up to us looking for treats. All we had was some bread which was not to their liking. (They prefer squid) But it was sure fun petting them. The feel like silicone!