Bimini the Second Time and the Gulf Stream

By Capt. Scott Buckley

Bimini can only be approached from the Gulf Stream side and not the bank side so we would have to exit off the bank thru one of the cuts.  We chose Cat Cay cut because we had never done it and were told Cat Cay is beautiful.

Cat Cay Cut from the Bank side thru to the Gulf Stream side

Light House at the southern tip of Gun Cay

 

Bimini

We had heard of shoaling in the entrance channel to Bimini and we were going to arrive at the Bimini Entrance a couple of hours after low tide.  We had the option of anchoring off the island and waiting until noon or 1PM for high tide or reading the water depth visually as we have learn to do in the Bahamas.  I chose to go in now and read the water depth visually by the color. So in we went and I did not see water depth less than 8 feet but to do that I had to go all the way over to the red side of the channel because there was definite shoaling in the middle of the channel.


The channel entrance is in the upper left corner

Due to the tidal current thru Bmini shoaling is a constant problem with the shifting sands.

This is not our boat but a boat that came in shortly after us.  He was stuck there for two days.

SV Kooky Dance at Blue Water Marina Bimini Bahamas

  We met back up with John and Peggy from SV Simpatico and proceeded to get the crews of SV Alice Mae, SV Simpatico and SV Kooky Dance together to have some fun on the Island of Bimini.


This was our gang.  We had a lot of fun with (from left to right) Alice, Dave, Scott, John, Peggy and Tamera

Crossing the Gulf Stream

Again we watched the weather and planned our route from Bimini to the US.  We opted for a day crossing instead of an over night crossing so we changed our plans from Bimini to Ft Pierce to Bimini to Lake Worth. 

Lake Worth looking to the WEST

It would be 75 miles but with the Gulf stream pushing us it should be easy to get there in plenty of time. We would leave the following morning.  Again the sadness really hit us the following morning. 
We left the next morning, bound for the USA.


It is recommended to stay south of the rum line.

As we left Bimini the winds were from astern and the sea though confused were not too bad.  We arrived in Lake Worth that afternoon. Gone was the clear water.  Gone was the laid back ways of the Bahamas.  We had to contact Customs and immigration to check ourselves into the US.  It was not too difficult, however at one point immigration told us we had to return to Lake Worth go ashore into the office.  We were able to straighten it out by phone the next morning.
It always amazes me the speed of the Gulf Stream  For a good bit of the trip were were doing 9 knots over the ground.

Lake Worth Florida

  
As we enter Lake Worth we turned north in the channel and anchor in a small lake about 4.5 nm north of the Lake Worth inlet.

Ft. Pierce

We started out the next morning heading to Ft. Pierce. We had a long run and thunderstorms were predicted for the afternoon so got and early start.

We traveled all day and though the storms raged around us we luckily dodge them all until that night.


We motor sailed when the winds cooperated but the motor was running the entire trip to Ft. Pierce.  There was a small anchorage off the side of the ICW right before Ft. Pierce.  It was shallow but manageable and a soft bottom.
The next morning we were headed to Vero Beach and is sometime call "Velcro Beach."