Bimini!

After our departure from Rodriguez Key, we ran into unexpected boat issues that ended up sidelining us for a few weeks. Empty Nest went into the shop in Ft. Lauderdale at Bradford Marine. We visited our good friends Matt & Kim in Orlando and stayed in their guest house and had a blast. Here were are with Matt. This picture ended up in their club newsletter after we attended their party. Ann and I also went to Animal Kingdom, and played pickleball every day.

From Orlando, we flew home to Annapolis for a little over a week and caught up on lots of stuff in our normal lives, visit with family, celebrated Elana's 25th birthday, and of course played pickleball every day.

We returned to the boat two days ago, and yesterday, we sailed from Ft. Lauderdale to Bimini, Bahamas! We have to go outside the US every year to get paperwork because our boat is registered in Jamaica, and this is a requirement to get a new cruising permit. So, this is our second annual trip on Empty Nest to Bimini.

Conditions were very rough at sea. At one point, you can see here we were going under 6 kts. You can also see that the water was 2,499 feet deep there. Our usual cruising speed is 10 kts, so this took almost twice as long. Any faster, and the ride got even bumpier. At one point some chairs flew up and landed on their side. Anything that wasn't secure was airborne. 

The forecast called for 4 foot waves on our nose with 10-15 knot winds from the West. Not ideal, but it seemed doable. Well, the waves were more like 6 foot, and the winds very heavy. We were also fighting the gulf stream a bit. It's the first time I've been seasick in 14 years. We both arrived in bad shape.

Here is Empty Nest tied up safely in the Bahamas. No better feeling than tying up safely at a dock after a rough ride. It took me 50 minutes to wash it down.

Even though we "have" to go here every year, no reason we can't have fun. The pool was very, very cold. Ann did not go in! 

I was a bit apprehensive about paddle boarding because of sharks, but there was a sign telling the sharks not to attack people, so I knew I was safe.

View from our flybridge in Bimini.

We are right next to the pool.

Our mechanical problems are not over. The starboard generator, which was responsible for the majority of our previous electrical problems, shut itself down. It turns out that we have a bad impeller. Lots of things could have caused that. Most likely is that water flow was restricted due to an obstruction in the intake. You can see here that the impeller is completely shot.

After I removed the impeller, I cleaned out the hoses.

I met a captain here on another boat - one that passed us on the way here. I asked him about getting parts here, and that's not a thing. However, he mentioned that someone was flying in to crew with him tomorrow, coming from Ft. Lauderdale. We arranged to have the right impeller and a couple of spares delivered to that guy, and he's bringing them tomorrow, so hopefully I can have a working generator once I install that. I've never gotten my hands this dirty, but here we are in the Bahamas. That diesel engine course I took (4 days at Annapolis school of seamanship) is coming in handy. I was also on the phone with our mechanic who walked me through it.

Our marina is part of a nice resort. So we spent the afternoon on vacation at the beach.

Our boat is right in the middle of the big walkway and by the pool, so we have a lot of friendly banter with passer by-ers. 

And here's one last view from the pool deck. This place is great. If it had pickleball, it would be perfect.

Tomorrow we have a full day here. Besides finishing with the generator issues, we have another beach and a rooftop pool to explore. We plan on heading back to the US on Sunday. Once we get our cruising permit, we'll be pushing to get to Annapolis. I doubt they give cruising permits on Easter Sunday, so our journey North might have to wait until Monday.

Happy Holidays to all who are celebrating on Sunday.