Bimini and the Great Bahamas Bank

At first, I didn’t really wanna spend time in Bimini at all. But then again, the winds decided otherwise. We got « stuck » there with 15 knts East winds for 5 days, waiting for our window to cross the Great Bahamas Bank. On our first day at Blue Water marina, we met George, our neighbor, when he invited us to check out the bull sharks at the dock. The next day, we had plenty of time to chat, so we talked about fishing, among other things. Really interesting person, whom we enjoyed talking to during happy hour. He invited us on his boat twice for me to catch my first wahoo or mahi mahi. I guess I was not meant to do so, as we didn’t even get a strike during both of our 5 hours trips out on the water!!! Romain came with me both times, and has been more than patient. Oh well, George was nice enough to give us fresh mahi for two dinners, and perfectly cooked wahoo on another night. Thanks again George!!!! 

When I was not trying to catch a wahoo, we spent time at the beautiful beach, 5 minutes away from our boat. At the end of the day, it ended up being relaxing to stick around Bimini!!

 

On the 6th, we finally had a window. Not perfect, but the East winds were lighter than what they had been. So at 8h in the morning, we took off and motored to the northern part of Bimini, heading to Mackie shoals. Wind was in our face, but the waves were manageable and not unpleasant at all. We then headed to Chubb Cay, where we arrived at 11h at night time! Long day on the water, but the kids did pretty well. They actually played a lot of video games... 🤨

Chubb Cay anchorage was extremely rolly, the East winds having picked up again as soon as we arrived. Trade winds they're called... So we moved from there to Bird Cay, a little bit more East in the Berries Islands. It was also rolly, but not as bad. We used our time to explore the beach with our dinghy, where we found some pretty shells and saw our first sand dollars!

On the 8th, as we were expecting some South winds pretty soon, we moved again up to Whale Cay, where we anchored for two nights. The trip was not the most pleasant, as 3ft waves were hitting us on the side, but we made it in 1h30 so it was fine. Whale Cay was just beautiful. The color of the water... I’m just not getting used to it! And I never want to! We explored wild beaches, chased trigger fishes and floated next to southern stingrays. Sometimes I still can’t believe we’re doing this...