We made it to Bimini!

Originally posted feb 8

Through an organization called Hope Fleet, we have accepted a shipment of 35 blue buckets for delivery to Nassau. Each bucket contains seeds, a small bag of soil, irrigation tubing, and the bucket itself. Everything needed for someone to start a backyard garden to help the Bahamas to become less dependent on imported food. It seems that during COVID, inter island transportation was interrupted, and some of their people on outer islands ran out of food. So this is an effort to gain independence. 

We departed Miami with another sailboat also bringing buckets. For our first day here on Bimini we joined them on folding bicycles to ride to the end of the road and back. About four miles down and four back. The cruise ship dock and the fancy hotel and ritzy homes are all at the far end. Close to the inner harbor where we're tied up is the old town where Earnest Hemingway used to come. Eclectic and sometimes run-down houses, stores and old resorts crowd the street. 

At the far end of South Bimini island is a biological research station known as SharkLab. So we rode the water taxi to the other island and rode our bicycles down for a tour. Three energetic young women run the place, enthusiastic about anything shark related. After the PowerPoint presentation we walked out into shallow water and saw a few one year old tiger sharks. 

Then my friend Tom came to visit for a week. So Sunday morning we untied the docklines and sail two days east, then another day to Nassau where Tom will disembark and fly home. We'll also drop off the buckets there. 

Sailing east from Bimini is everything that sailing should be. The morning started somewhat confused under the asymmetric spinnaker, first on port, then starboard, then back to port. Then we were reaching, so that was replaced with the little jib, and later when the wind picked up and settled in to a near reach, we were sailing smoothly under genoa, jib, main and mizzen, making about three knots. It's a two day run in 20-40 feet of clear turquoise water, so we anchor in the middle of nowhere near Macey Shoal with no land in sight, but near our friends aboard Dream Escape. 

Onward to the east and we have a decision to make. Slightly north is Chub cay, a nice anchorage but the land is all private so one cannot go ashore. Or slightly south to Morgans Bluff on Andros island. We chose Andros. 

The harbor is exposed to the north, and holding is poor in some places, excellent in others. We found a poor spot, but with no wind nor tide it's adequate. Andros is the largest of the Bahamian islands, but one of the lowest populations. Much is wetland or pine forest. So we rowed to shore to explore, and met the assistant harbor mistress. Fortuitous!

Kristen mentioned that we are delivering buckets from Seeds of Hope/Hope Fleet and her eyes lit up. When she's not being dock mistress, she's a farmer. When COVID hit, there were no ships in the harbor, so her farming passion kicked in and she got a grant to lease some government land, level it, and plant limes, coconut, banana, plantain, sour sop, pineapple, Jamaican apple, tomatoes, peppers, peas, squash and more. She was so excited to meet us she took her lunch break to drive us to her home, then her farm, and show off her green thumb. Very impressive. So we gave her one of the buckets. And she gave us a box of fresh produce. 

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