Back to the Bahamas. FINALLY.  From the west coast of Florida, around the Keys and across to Bimini.

You may recall that we sold our Beneteau Oceanis 45 in 2019 after many wonderful sailing adventures. Almost immediately we bought a 2008 Island Pilot, 43’ motor vessel, which is much more suitable for the West Coast of Florida, with only a 4’ draft.

We were so looking forward to cruising again now that 2020 is behind us, we are fully vaccinated, and the Bahamas has reopened. It will not be as easy as it once was to clear Customs this time due to the strict procedures in place as a result of the pandemic. 

We left Punta Gorda on the 18^th of April with friends Carol & Jack on Toucana and Sharon & Dan on Rhumbline and set our sights on the Matanzas Pass Mooring Field in Fort Myers Beach. Five hours later with the boats secure on mooring balls, we took the dogs ashore to stretch their legs, etc. and after walking around town decided to stop and eat a little early at Nervous Nellie’s on the outside deck overlooking the water.  The dogs were quite happy and content sleeping under the table while we enjoyed our tropical drinks and dinner.

Back to our boats for the night and the predicted rain arrived and rinsed all the salt off for us. The next day the heavens opened all day keeping us overnight once again. We had prepared for a 3-night stay with the predicted weather but made the decision to depart the next morning in order to get ahead of the front. After a rough trip to Marco Island (rain & 3-4 ft seas) we anchored in Factory Bay. The sun emerged and we “watered” the dogs at the Rose Marina, filled our bag with ice and retreated to the boat for the evening. Our friends went to the Dolphin Tiki Hut for dinner where a couple of tequila refreshments soothed their sore muscles.

Strapped the fridge with Cappy's leash. Perfect length!

Sunshine greeted us in the morning! We were ahead of the front as hoped for and hoisted the anchor at 9:00. We enjoyed a nice calm trip down the Big Marco River past the little town of Goodland and out Coon Key Pass to Indian Key and anchored for the night. Indian Key is in the middle of Ten Thousand Islands National Wildlife Refuge. Friends Tony & Kaaren aboard Peacock joined us there and we all took the dogs to the beach to play. And did they! Running, swimming, chasing and frolicking, then back to the boats for a bath and some shuteye while we humans got together for Happy Hour and discussed the plans for the next morning. It was decided we would depart at 7:15 for the 9-hour trip to Marathon where we will have our Covid tests in order to obtain our Bahamas Health Visa. Remember in the beginning of this post I mentioned how it is a little more complicated to clear customs?  Hold that thought.

Cappy's comfy

Next stop was the Faro Blanco Resort & Yacht Club in Marathon where we had scheduled our Covid tests at Walgreens for the following day. Friends Tony and Kaaren stayed at the Yacht Club and we all met for dinner at Keys Fisheries and ate stone crab claws and shrimp until we couldn't eat anymore! 

Waiting outside of Faro Blanco

The gang

Nancy and Carol

Sharon and Dan

Pineapples!

Slept well after a late evening and left our slip at Faro Blanco two days later for Islmorada, a 4.5 hour trip and anchored off of Lorelai where we enjoyed dinner, music and a great sunset.

Walked the next morning to Walgreens to have our tests which were all negative. While awaiting our test results we ate lunch at King’s Seafood across the street and were very pleasantly surprised with our meals. Matter of fact, my chicken quesadilla was as big as a pizza and was the best I have ever had. That speaks volumes! I shared the leftovers for happy hour and everyone agreed they were very tasty.

On Saturday, the 24^th we left Faro Blanco and motored to Islamorada, the first time Jeff and I have visited there. It was so much fun! We ate dinner and listened to live music at Lorelai and watched the sun go down aboard our boats anchored out. On Sunday we toured the Dive Museum. Quite fascinating!  Florida Keys History of Diving Museum

Penny, Dan & Gus

Christmas in April

Cappy loves watching the fish

Rhumbline

Thinking the art district had some interesting sites to be enjoyed, we walked there only to find most were closed on Monday. Dinner that night was aboard Rhumbline and featured lobster, salad and black beans & rice. Definitely a five-star meal!

On Tuesday we shopped til we dropped - girls only! The wind had really picked up in the afternoon which kept us from leaving once again. We played Mexican Train aboard Toucana until 11:00. Yes, we old folks still have it in us!

Finally, the wind dropped out the next morning enough to allow us to make the short run to Plantation Yacht Harbor, a pleasant surprise! It was located in a park and featured an Olympic swimming pool, a beach, walking trail and more. From what we could tell, there were mostly liveaboards spending their winters there escaping cold places.

The next day we left for Key Largo to once again have a Covid test. The Bahamian Health Visa is only good for 5 days so if you can’t make the crossing within that timeframe, the whole process must be repeated. This is done by walking through the Walgreens drive through, swabbing your own nose and sending it back through the RX drawer. Once the negative results come back everyone must complete the Bahamas Health Visa again and upload the lab report. The Walgreens was across the street from Snook’s Bight, a restaurant we ate lunch at in order to use their dock. Fortunately, there was an Office Depot next door where we had hard copies of our paperwork printed since we had heard that the newly created online system for boaters clearing customs was not exactly all electronic.  

Paperwork in hand, we anchored off Pumpkin Key for the night and rose before the sun came up to finally make the crossing to Bimini. Early on our way in about 850 feet of water, we caught a small Mahi. At 2:15 we were all securely tied up at the Bimini Big Game Club. Only the captain is allowed off the vessel, so the boys went to immigration and customs. Remember I mentioned how clearing immigration and customs had become a little more complicated than years gone by? This time we had one major problem. My passport was not aboard the boat. Yes, I had many copies of it, which had been uploaded (due to the new covid requirements) to multiple places…health visa, cruising permit, etc. but the REAL THING was at home in my safe. I was officially an illegal alien. So… most of you should now be singing that song…

I called my neighbor Mark, who located the passport. Now to somehow get it to Bimini. It’s not as easy as overnighting it in the states. The immigration officer told Jeff to have it delivered to the captain of the Casino cruise ship in Ft. Lauderdale, which was coming to Bimini the next morning, across the state from our home in Punta Gorda. Our neighbors offered to drive it there and left immediately. They spent the night in a hotel and took the passport to the cruise terminal the next morning where they were flatly denied the handoff. It was 6:30 in the morning and a Sunday. What to do?? Mark went back to his hotel room. While Jeff was at his wits end, I thought to call Makers Air, who I knew flew from Ft. Lauderdale to the Bahamas. A kind gentleman on the other end of the line advised they did not fly to Bimini. He suggested a couple of possible Air charters, one of which wouldn’t open until Monday, so I called the other. Imagine my surprise when a voice answered so early in the morning. Unknowingly, at the time, I had reached the President of Tropic Air, Tony Marinello. I explained my situation and learned that he was in fact, on his way to the airport at that very moment. It would cost $1100+ to charter a flight. However, after hearing of the events preceding my call to him and learning that my neighbors had driven across the state to help me, he advised that if he had a flight going to Bimini that morning, he would hand off the passport to his pilot, who would be departing Ft. Lauderdale at 9:30 am. And charge me nothing. Mark took the passport to Tony at the Ft Lauderdale Executive Airport and Tony gave it to his pilot. An hour later my passport was in Bimini. Our cruising buddy Dan took a water taxi to meet the plane since we weren’t allowed off the boat until we cleared, which I guess classified us as literally in EXILE. When things come together like this, I have a restored faith in humanity. In the event anyone needs a charter flight for themselves or cargo transported from Ft. Lauderdale to the Bahamas, I highly recommend Tropic Air Charters, an amazing company with a compassionate President. And I cannot say enough about our next-door neighbors, Mark and Brenda for their assistance. Without all of them I would have been headed back to the states instead of cruising with our other 2 boating couples here in the beautiful Bahamas.

 

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