crossing

As my father would say, "We've arrived, and to prove it, we're here."

This morning we woke up at 2:30, pulled up the anchor 3:30,left the territorial waters of the U.S.A. in our wake around mid-morning, and tied up at a marina in North Bimini at 2:00.

Crossing the gulf stream was fine. There was a small swell left over from the previous days' northerly winds (see earlier post for an explanation), and we had to motor because today's wind was on our nose, but otherwise we were comfortable.

The water in the gulf stream was a deep blue--almost royal blue. We saw numerous flying fish, which would pop out of the water and skim across the surface of the waves for 40 feet or so before diving back into the ocean. From a distance they looked like little silver birds.

In spite of our growing familiarity with running aground and finding ways off again, sailing into Bimini was scary. The deep blue ocean water turns clear and green rather suddenly toward the shore, and the water here is so clear that you can see the bottom perfectly when it is ten feet deep. After we tied up, I looked in the water beside our boat and could see clearly dozens of angelfish and other colorful fish that had come to feed off the stuff that's been growing on our hull (someday we'll dive down and scrub that off).

Bimini is tiny, and you can walk the whole island. Many people get around on golf carts. After Captain Dean cleared us and Delilah with customs we took a walk...and said hello to Johnny Damon, who was driving a golf cart. His hair is short, and he is clean shaven, but he does have funky sideburns. I had mixed feelings about the whole meeting until Dean reminded me that it's really the Red Sox management's fault for letting him go.

------------------------------
Sent via PocketMail
Email Anywhere
www.pocketmail.com