Life on Lailia

Bimini Sands Cove Marina, South Bimini, Bahamas (docked)

March 10, 2022

I am intrigued by the cat colony here.  They’re fed in the morning and evening.  The gulls also know the schedule and wait for the remnants

After they meet and eat, each cat seems to move to its own territory.  

I love checking out all of the cool inhabitants of this marina basin.  There’s new stuff daily.

Although we killed a gajillion noseeums, we’re still dealing with their nastiness.  John gets bitten but he doesn’t seem to suffer the same consequences as I do. The one remedy that seems to reduce itching is toothpaste.

Today was my last day of a virtual school meeting.  I won’t have another for a long while.  I know I will miss the collaboration and opportunity to meet others but I won’t miss the stress of wonky internet connections. We also won’t miss weather windows because of my work schedule.

This has been the most consistently overcast day since we have been here. There’s cold weather coming to Florida this weekend so I wonder if these clouds are from that front.

Tonight we started our newest Netflix binge: Peaky Blinders. Since we’ve been on our trip we’ve finished Breaking Bad, Ozark, and Better Call Saul.

Bimini Sands/Cove Marina, South Bimini, Bahamas (docked)

March 9, 2022

We woke up before sunrise to help five boats from marina leave.  They’re on their way to the Berry Islands.  It was bittersweet to see them leave, especially since we want to go there, too.  We’ll get our opportunity when the next weather window opens.

I am on day two of a three-day remote school visit. That means I am in Lailia’s salon for much of the day. John brought lunch from the marina’s cafe for us to share. I had to head back to my online meeting while John took care of important tasks at the infinity pool.

After work we walked on the beach.  The sand is very coarse here with lots of shell fragments; it’s loosely packed so our feet sink into as we walk. There’s a cool ridge of limestone that runs along the edge of the water with cool tide pools. We sat for a bit just watching the teeny striped fish, snails, and hermit crabs.

This western facing beach was getting hit by a bunch of waves this afternoon.  We watched some boats head out of the channel between the the two Biminis.  They were rocking more this afternoon than the boats this morning.

We see a lot of marine life in the basin because the water is so clear.

There’s a lot we miss from Charleston and every now and then we get a visual reminder.

We’re in for another big blow this weekend with predicted gusts of over 40mph. Thankfully we’re in this protected place and won’t have to deal with hull-slaps.

Bimini Sands/Cove Marina, South Bimini, Bahamas (docked)

March 8, 2022

This marina has new ownership and they’re in the process of changing names.  I’m not sure what its current name actually is.

There’s a pretty awesome feral cat presence here – they keep the vermin down, which is great.  I didn’t actually know how many cats were here until I went to the showers this morning.

These cats run if you walk towards them; if you stand still, they get closer.  I think my kitty call also brought them to me.

Marina showers are all very different.  Some are really large and private.  Others are kind of small or cold.  This marina has a nice restroom but…the shower stalls are across from the toilet stalls and have clear vinyl curtains.  There’s not a lot of privacy.  I will be showering on the boat, I think, from now on.  I may still go out to see the morning cat meeting, though.

The internet here is wonky, too.  John hoisted my hotspot up the mast which seemed to work well except for the three times it didn’t.  I have two morning days of Zoom then a break for five weeks.  Hopefully the next time I need intense internet we’ll be in a better place.

After work we headed to the infinity pool.  It’s on the western side of the island so a bunch of boaters go to watch the sun set.  We saw a pretty cool shark in the marina basin. 

The last time I was at the pool I was bitten by ants so tonight I decided to protect as much of myself as I could by getting in the water.  The sunset was gorgeous but the invasion of noseeums was pretty awful. They were out in multitudes.

Noseeum bites are nasty – they stay itchy for a few days and they usually come in clusters. They can get through screens or follow us into the boat. They do seem to cluster around lights

Some boat neighbors recommended using a vacuum to suck those buggers up.  It works!  There’s still a few hanging around but I know we took a bunch out.  I am wearing leggings and a long sleeve shirt to minimize bare skin.  I have also killed two on my phone as I have typed this.

Many boat neighbors are heading east tomorrow.  I wish we could join them but I will be working.  We’ll be living the March-in-the-Bahamas life of hunkering down in between weather windows. 

Brown’s Marina, North Bimini to Bimini Cove, South Bimini (docked)

March 6 & 7, 2022

The wind-driven waves slapping on our hull kept us from getting any real sleep for days. I tried to sleep on the settee in the main salon (it’s narrow and I just fit the length of it). In an effort to reduce the sound around his head, John slept in our bed but with his feet where our heads normally go. We both took over-the-counter meds to get some sleep.

The lack of sleep was wearing us down.

We knew that another marina is a lot more protected than Brown’s Marina. We dinghied there last week but couldn’t get the internet to work correctly with our hotspot. Since we have reconfigured out devices we thought we might check out the protected marina one more time, especially since another blow – with winds forecast to be 40 mph – is coming this weekend.

We took the ferry to South Bimini (it’s maybe 150 yards across the channel) and checked the wifi. With our new configuration (using an old cell phone) we have enough bandwidth for me to work for the next few days.

With our marina neighbors’ help this morning we left Brown’s Marina and motored over to Bimini Cove. The wind and waves died down enough close to the island for us to head over today.

Bimini Cove is a condo complex with a marina inside of it. It’s being rebuilt but has plenty of spaces. As we came in, other boaters helped us dock. We even had lunch here with another boating couple.

One of the cooler things: there’s an oceanfront infinity pool.

We will be here for maybe a week – I have to work and then we need to wait out some nasty weather. We are hoping for another weather window so we can head east to the Berry Islands, another island chain in the Bahamas.

Browns Marina, Bimini, Bahamas (docked)

March 5, 2022

We’re in the middle of a big wind storm. It’s sunny and warm but the wind is high and gusting higher on the west side of the island (where we are docked). Lailia is secure but she’s moving almost continuously. Last night we had some big wave slaps.

On the lee side of the island it’s pretty calm (but we can see white caps further out). We spent some time walking on the beach this afternoon.

There’s some wrecked and abandoned buildings here – we think they are remnants of a casino. This end of the island seems to have a lot of damaged buildings.

The forecast is calling for at least another day of high winds. We have heard that by April these blows will subside. That can’t come soon enough.

Brown’s Marina, Bimini, Bahamas (docked)

March 4, 2022

By the time we went to bed last night the waves were slapping our stern pretty loudly.  If there’s a rhythm it can be relaxing, but last night the slaps were loud and random.  (I made the video from our bed – it’s the view from the portlight right behind my head). At one point I plugged headphones into my phone and played white noise to muffle some of the sound.  We’re in for more (and higher) winds tonight and tomorrow, but it will gradually taper off this weekend.

John has added additional lines to the port side of the boat to keep us off the dock on our starboard.  The wind and the chop are making it feel like we’re vibrating a bit.  It’s not terrible but it’s definitely “a thing”.   I could see the movement during some of my Zoom meetings today; my laptop and the cabinets behind me were vibrating.

To celebrate the end of the week, our arrival in Bimini, a really collaborative and positive remote school visit, and just because we can, John and I walked over the hill to the ocean side of the island to have a coconut drink with one of our boat neighbors. Coconut Brian is right on Radio Beach.

Oddly, the ocean side of the island was pretty calm. We had our feet in the water at the “world famous Radio Beach”.

I am hoping to get some beach time tomorrow, especially now that we know the wind isn’t an issue there. Hopefully the wind direction will change enough that wave slaps won’t be so loud tonight. We’ll see (or hear, lol).

Brown’s Marina, Bimini, Bahamas (docked)

March 3, 2022

It was partly cloudy but it was yet another beautiful morning in Bimini. A cool thing about the clarity of the water is how we can see so many fish – Lailia is floating on a giant aquarium.

Not sure what was happening out on the shallows east of us. There were four small boats in the water (and later on the sand). We never saw people on or around these boats.

There’s a lot of conch here – I am partial to conch fritters. The shells are ubiquitous in rubble piles. Sometimes they’re added to fences and fence posts. When we were kids conch shells were special things at beach souvenir shops and here they’re just no biggie. It’s the conch meat that’s valuable.

Ernest Hemingway was a frequent visitor to Bimini; he often stayed in the Compleat Angler Hotel right on Queen’s Highway (the “the low road” here since it’s on the low side of the island). That hotel burned in the early 2000s and has not been rebuilt. Bimini has a lot of “used to be” places -places that have been damaged by fire or hurricane. There’s not a lot of money in their economy. Cruise ships drop off passengers who take golf carts all over town, but they’re not rebuilding the infrastructure on this small island

The Bahamian government is serious about Covid prevention. Most Biminites wear masks all of the time and all stores require masks. We had to present negative Covid tests within 72 hours prior to entering the Bahamas and had to be tested on the fifth day of our stay. The second test was performed by a nurse at the local clinic today. She submitted our results and tonight we received our official notice from the government regarding our health visas. Their graphic designer did a great job with the logo.

The wind is rising and Lailia is moving a bit more. The water has definitely been more choppy. We’re seeing a forecast for a real blow, so we’ll be rocking a bit for a few days. Luckily it won’t be raining so we’ll be able to walk around town if we need to get off Lailia for a bit.

Brown’s Marina, Bimini, Bahamas (docked)

March 2, 2022

I agreed to complete a remote visit for a school in Maryland.  It may seem like a weird way to spend a birthday but I enjoy the challenge. I also like the structure that a work day brings me.

Remote meetings require a lot of internet power which has been an issue at the marina.  My hotspot seems to go in and out – I can hear and see the meeting participants but they can’t always hear me.  John hoisted the hotspot connected to a battery bank up the mast to see if that would help with service.

It’s still not working as well as I hoped, so tomorrow we’ll try the sim card in an old, unlocked phone.

During lunch today John and I fed crumbs to the school of fish that hang out by the marina.  It’s the simple things ..

We celebrated my birthday with dinner at CJ’s.  Our boat neighbors were also there.  They’ve been sailing for much longer than we have and we appreciate hearing their stories.

Great views, great company, great shrimp and fries — I’m feeling quite lucky.  The chocolate chips we ate for dessert just added to the celebration.

We found that since we arrived on Sunday, things typically move very slowly on Bimini. There are very few people here normally, but today a cruise ship arrived and there were hundreds of people in town. For a few hours, Bimini was transformed into a bustling place. There were tourists in golf carts clogging the streets (we are visitors and not tourists, by the way).

Bimini is also a bit of a waypoint: sailboats from Miami stop here to go further into the Bahamas and beyond. There are also boats stopping here on their way to Miami. In either direction, folks are waiting for a weather window. Two sailboats who were at our marina plan to leave for Miami tomorrow – we’re going east, so after my meetings this week and next, we’ll prepare to head to the Berry Islands.

Brown’s Marina, Bimini, Bahamas (docked)

March 1, 2022

There’s a big blow on the way: heavy winds will be here Friday and Saturday, with wind gusts close to 30 mph from the east. This marina is exposed a bit so we thought we would check into another, more protected, anchorage.  We dinghied over and really liked the area but the internet was awful.  We will be staying here.

We did see a shark in that marina and pretty cool rock crabs.  On our way back to our marina we could see large manta rays in the water under the dinghy

John has secured us with a variety of lines: both to the dock on our starboard and bow sides, as well as the piling to our port.  This should help minimize some of the movement when the wind hits.  There’s some wave pounding tonight but it’s not too terrible and the winds have brought some cooler temps.

John also fixed the davit that broke on our way here.  Yesterday we visited an odd and ends store looking for the bolts we needed.  The older lady who works (maybe owns?) did her best to try to dig through what she had but couldn’t find what we needed.  A search of the stuff that came with Lailia turned up what we needed.  There’s probably some irony in that (and there’s definitely a very cynical, “hmphhh, imagine that! ‘)

Our boat neighbors told us about a bakery they found and we’re also kind enough to allow us to use their golf cart.  We took a tour of the island, including putting through Resort World at the other end of North Bimini.

We broke out a guava cream cheese roll on the ride back to our marina.  We’ll have another for breakfast.

I will be working remotely for the next few days. The ubiquity of easily accessible internet is an American thing – here we have to carefully move the hot spot to get consistently high speeds. I realized today that as much as I think I could work remotely from Lailia during this year, the logistics are going to be difficult. For the first time in 11 years, I had to cancel an assignment at the end of the month. I don’t want us to have to constantly search out good internet for an entire year.

Brown’s Marina, Alice Town, Bimini (docked)

February 28, 2022

We woke up to cloudy and drizzly rain – the first time we can remember since maybe St. Augustine.  It’s warm here (unlike St. Augustine) so the drizzle wasn’t bad.

Right after breakfast we had a bit of excitement when the tide pushed a catamaran into the stern of the sailboat that’s docked next to us.  We all worked to keep the catamaran from damaging docked boats.  It’s an odd feeling to be standing on a wooden dock as it’s being mashed by a large boat.  Eventually someone on a powerboat helped pull the catamaran free.

By the time we showered the sun was shining.  It took us stopping at four places to find a sim card for a local provider – each place we stopped referred us to another spot that was further down the road.  The ocean side of the island is beautiful.

After quick naps we set out to have a rum cocktail overlooking the ocean.  On our way back we met Mr. Aaron who was happy to share island history and his personal philosophy.  Prior to Hurricane Irma, he owned Bimini’s first disco.  This was also where the final scene of Silence of the Lambs was filmed.

There’s a really cool blow hole at the south end of North Bimini – we were there at the perfect time to see it.

Our boat neighbors Kate and Mike joined us for a drink of some sparkling wine that our friends Bert and Mary gave us to celebrate our crossing.  They’ve been in the Bahamas for a while.  Their company reminds us of how wonderful the cruising community is.