Bimini 2018

Bimini 2018

Saturday, February 3, 2018. The wind really picked up overnight. Sunny, 75 degrees. I tried to hook up our Wi-Fi booster, but for some reason, the offboard radio (the one that actually connects to the marina Wi-Fi) is not working.  After talking via email with the manufacturer and doing some trouble shooting, he is going to send a new one.  One of the folks who keeps there boat here lives in Miami and flies his own plane back and forth.  He will be coming back on Friday, and Charlie (at Nauticloud) agrees to send the new unit to him in Miami.

Lisa has been talking to some of the folks in the marina.  Many are leaving tomorrow, so a group pot luck dinner has been arranged for this evening.

We walked the beach and find quite a few shells which have potential to become conch horns.  A lot of the beach has washed away since we were last here and it is quite steep in places.  Still lots of shells.

The pot luck turned out very nice.  Almost all of the boats showed up.

Sunday, February 4, 2018.

Beautiful morning.  Partly cloudy, 75 degrees.  We worked on blog.  Lisa hung out with Carly and her daughter Sophie including a trip to the beach.  We went over to Seascapes (Gary and to watch the Super Bowl.  For some reason his streaming service was not working, so at half time we came back to Rhiannon.  We managed to get the game on FUBO, but unfortunately the Patriots lost.

Monday, February 5, 2018.  Nice morning.  Wind has gone to the NE.  Tried to get the pictures off our two phones so we can get the blog published.  To do that, we had to update the software on both phones.  Managed to get our Bahamas Telephone phone working with data, so we could do the updates to the other phones. Downloaded the pictures to the computer – finally!

We walked the beach and found a few more conch shells that have the potential to become a horn. We had a pina colada at KC’s and watched the sunset.  Dinner on board – local lobster!

Tuesday, February 6, 2018.  Beautiful.  Winds light from the SE. No clouds.  Quite a few boats left today as the next two days are supposed to be good weather for the crossing from here to the Exumas.  There is a boat here, with Carly (from Australia), Alfredo (from Mexico) and there 6 year old daughter Sophie.  Lisa went to the beach today with Carly and Sophie.

Lisa carried our empty propane tank down to M&S Liquors.  The Roscoe (aka Clifton),husband of lady who works there, fills the propane tanks.  He filled the tank and then gave Lisa a ride back to the marina. Lisa and I walked the beach late in the day and are finding lots shells.

Wednesday, February 7, 2018.  Another beautiful day.  I worked on getting the pictures for the blog uploaded.  It is always a challenge in the Bahamas.  The internet service gets better each year, but it is still a long way from what you get used to in the US.

Pierre (Destiny IV US) woke up in the night with a terrible stomach ache.  Kathy (So Many Stars) is a Nurse Practioner and went over and talked with Pierre and did a preliminary exam.  Her recommendation is he see a doctor.  Luckily today is the day the doctor is here from Nassau. Ron? (Piece of Cake), stays here for several months at a time and has a golf cart.  He was kind enough to drive Pierre and Emilienne to the clinic (which is at the north end of the island). He had lobster for dinner last night and the doctor thinks that might be the cause of the pain (allergic reaction).  Kathy thinks there may be more to it than that.  The doctor gave Pierre some pain meds and told him to rest.

The boat opposite us is So Many Stars, a trawler from Rock Hall, MD with Dave and Kathy aboard.  Also aboard is Rose, an eight year old female black lab.  Getting our dog fix.

We walked to the south end of the island to a liquor store to get some Pink Sands (beer, grapefruit Radler – ummm good), but they were closed.  We found a couple more really good conch shells along the beach.

Thursday, February 8, 2018.  Wind Drifter (Tim and Diana) leaves this morning, headed down to Honeymoon Harbor until Sunday.  They are traveling with Destiny IV US and will stay in touch.  So Many Stars leaves headed to the Berry Islands.  Lisa and I walked to the laundry and dropped it off.  We will pick it up tomorrow (they do wash and fold here).  We stopped at Nate’s Variety and bought some rum cake. We asked Pierre and Emilienne to dinner, but Pierre is still not feeling up to par.

We had showers and then dinner at The Big Game Club, which is right next door to this marina.  The food was very good.

Friday, February 9, 2018.  The wind is back and building from the East.  Mostly sunny, 75 degrees. We awoke this morning to the news that Lisa’s cousin, Corinne, had passed away.  She apparently died of an asthma attack and attempts to revive her by her mother, brother and the EMTs all failed.  She was only 25 years old.  Her father, Fred, was a good friend, and passed on 11 months ago from complications of surgery.

About 10am, Pierre came over to say he was again feeling poorly, in a lot of pain, and was headed back to the clinic.  The doctor was not in, but they got him on the phone.  Hopefully, the new meds will help.

At 11am, Lisa and walked down to the grocery.  The mail boat (supply ship) came in yesterday and the shelves are full.  We bought some fresh fruit and then walked next door and picked up the laundry we dropped off yesterday.

We spent the afternoon finding options to get Pierre to a hospital.  They are Canadian, so have different insurance issues than we do.  We found several options for flights to the US.

Dinner on board.  We made curry and added the last three lobster tails.  It came out really good!

Saturday, February 10, 2018.  Beautiful morning.  75 degrees already.  Wins East @ 15+.

Pierre is still not feeling well and after talking to the doctor in Nassau and his Canadian health insurance, he is going to fly to Miami this morning.  He has a friend in Fort Lauderdale who will meet him at the airport and provide a place for he and Emilienne to stay (if necessary).  Richard (Piece of Cake) gave them a ride to the seaplane base.  Emilienne promised to keep us informed.

Bobby brought us the new radio for the wifi booster.  I got it installed, but the wifi is so bad here I have not really been able to see if it is working.

Sunday, February 11, 2018.  Very windy today. Pierre is in Broward Medical Center and has seen the doctor. They have run several tests and determined it is his gall bladder.  Surgery tomorrow.

We also heard from Five and Dime. As they were leaving the inlet at Lake Worth, Curt was feeling very weak.  Kathy got the boat to the dock and then they got Curt to the hospital.  Turns out it was his heart.  He has had a valve replacement and a pace maker and is recovering at a friend’s in Vero Beach.  Bill (Providence) brought the boat back to Vero for them.

Monday, February 12, 2018.  Partly cloudy, 75 degrees, wind east at 20.  The oven is not working.  Spent most of the day trouble shooting using the PDF file provided by Sure Marine.  Also, talked with the techs there a couple of times.  Turns out the mercury switch which controls the flow of gas to the oven is not working.  The parts are no longer made for this Seaward stove, but Sure Marine rebuild them and has some stock.  We will send the bad one to them at some point.  They are shipping one to our house.  Lisa will bring it back with her when she flies home next month.

Tuesday, February 13, 2018. We walked the beach and stopped at Dave’s to get some of that great Bahama bread.  On the way back we met Thomas Saunders.  We had met him a couple of years ago when we were here.  He is getting on in years and has arthritis in his hands.  Lisa took him some of the Sports Cream that we use for those pains.  He said is actually reduced the swelling and the pain.  I asked Bobby if he would bring some of the cream back for Thomas on his next trip back from Miami.  Lisa also asked Lee (Three Dolphins) to do the same.

We filled up with ice, water and fuel (12 gallons), as well as gasoline (4 gallons) for the dinghy.

At 5 o’clock, I think everyone from Blue Water Marina and Brown’s Marina gathered at the beach for sundowners and the watch the sunset and blow their conch horns.  We ordered take out at KC’s and took it back to the boat.

We heard from Emilene that Pierre’s surgery was successful.  They had to put in two stints in his tubes from the gall bladder in addition to removing the gall bladder itself.  They will remove the stints in a couple of weeks.

Wednesday, February 14, 2018.  Valentine’s Day.  I got Lisa two cards, some Hot Tamales and a little plaques that says LOVE.  I wrote Sandy Toes and Salty Kisses on it as well.  The wind has finally started to settle down and we helped several boats depart.  We filled the tanks with water, then refilled the jerry cans.  Said goodbye to Carly (from Australia) and Sophie(daughter), who Lisa has gotten to know well while here.

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