Sailing Ft. Lauderdale to Bimini, Bahamas
Log Book - Saturday April 17th
We left our friend Sal + Chris’s house after a 5 week stay where we were able to get an enormous amount of work done to prepare the boat for cruising. Previously we were at our friend Mark’s dock for an extended period of time. We cannot thank all of them enough for their generosity and friendship. Truly salt of the earth people.
While there we installed a laundry list of key items to make our cruising life more comfortable (or so we think).
An additional chart plotter on the port helm and inside nav station.
A Pepwave Router that will use either wifi or LTE to capture internet with corresponding Wifi and LTE antenna.
A regular router to create a network inside the boat.
A NAS to store all of our video files.
Anchor remote so we can deploy the anchor from anywhere on the boat and a chain counter so we actually know how much chain we’re letting out.
We left the dock at 8am, hit the fuel dock and made last minute checks on the boat. We then caught the 9am 17th Causeway bridge and headed south east for Bimini.
There was very little wind from the south so we motor sailed the 50 miles across the Gulf Stream to Bimini on a beautiful sunny day. We were both beat from the push to get going so this was the perfect crossing for us. We took naps and relaxed.
Thankfully we are able to travel to the Bahamas but between COVID testing requirements and traveling with a dog there are time constraints. You need to have a negative COVID test within 5 days of arrival in the Bahamas. The day you take the test is day 0 so it’s actually six days. Once you receive the negative test results, you apply for a Bahamas Travel Permit ($60 per person) which we received via email in less than 24 hours. Yoda was up to date on all of the vaccines needed and I had applied and received the Bahamas Pet Import Permit from Wellington at Bahamas Pet Permit https://www.bahamaspetpermit.com/. It was $50 for his service and well worth it. We received the pet permit in 2 days after submitting the application. The final documentation for Yoda was the health certificate ($75) which needs to be dated within 48 hours of arrival in the Bahamas. Hence the time crunch.
Once we were on our way we set up our new fishing rod and lure and trolled on our way over. But there was not one bite. We clearly have a lot to learn about fishing. The Bahamian customs officer asked about our ride over and we said it was good but not one fish bite. He asked what kind of bait we used and when we told him lures, he shook his head and said our Bahamas fish are HUNGRY. You gotta use bait and laughed. Noted.
We arrived at the Bimini channel at about 4:30 so it took us 7.5 hours to cruise from Ft. Lauderdale. Navigating the channel takes careful attention because the water is shallow but overall it’s not bad. We ended up at Bimini Bay Marina through a friend’s recommendation.
Since it was after hours, separate customs and immigration officers came by the boat to check us in. The after hours charge for immigration was $75 and the Bahamas boating permit is $300. The permit does give you another free entry within 90 days for up to 3 people. We won’t be taking advantage of the free re-entry this time but it’s good to know.
After customs and immigration were settled, we made a quick pasta and hit the sack. We are so looking forward to some R&R and exploration of these beautiful islands.