After 10 days of waiting and hanging out in Bimini, we finally got what we thought was a small weather window to leave. We left Bimini around 11 a.m. with 3 other boats with a plan to stop half way to Chub Key and anchor on the Bahama Banks. We knew that the first 6 miles would be rough but then we would be in much smoother water once we turned onto the Banks. We had one of our best sails ever on Con El Viento as we sailed for about 9 hours straight without ever having to turn on the engine! The winds were behind us which helped to push us towards our destination. The only disappointment was that we never did see the bottom of the ocean. The depth of the water over the banks is only between 14 and 20 feet and because of the clear blue water, people have told us how spectacular it is to be sailing over the banks and be able to spot starfish and other marine life on the ocean floor. Since we were all having such a great sail, we decided to keep going after dark and anchor further than we had planned when we left Bimini, this way we would have a shorter sail the next day to our destination. The winds were also expected to pick up the next day so we figured we could get to our protected anchorage before that happened. Because the banks are so shallow, you can pretty much drop the hook anywhere you choose. You are out in the middle of nowhere and cannot see any land no matter which direction you look. It is a very strange feeling and I was glad that we were with the other boats. The only mistake we made was anchoring on the banks as the waves never settled down and it was quite rough for sleeping. Next time we would probably plan to leave later and sail all night without stopping. This was an option for us but because I hate nighters and had heard how great it was to sail during the daylight hours over the banks, we decided to anchor halfway and sail during the day. We won't do that again as we didn't really get any sleep at night anyway as we were rocking and rolling all night. One of the boats with us broke their anchor chain at 0300 and had to circle around until 0600 when we planned to leave again. Our chain also broke shortly after we went to bed and we had to get up and throw out our secondary anchor. Thank goodness we had a trip line on the anchor and were able to retrieve our brand new anchor once the sun came up the next day and we could see it. Bruce had a heck of a time trying to bring up both anchors.

Our trip from our anchorage on the shallow banks took us through a narrow channel called the Northwest Passage and into the Tongue of the Ocean. The Tongue of the Ocean is a very very deep body of water and we went from clear blue water that was around 30 feet deep to water that was over 1000 feet deep in a matter of seconds. You could actually see the line where the water changes colour to a deep blue and the depth drops off like falling over a cliff. Some areas in the Tongue are over 10,000 feet deep!

By the time we were turning up to where we were going to anchor, the winds had really picked up so we were glad that we had pushed and went further than we planned the first day. We picked up a mooring ball in Frazer Hog Key which is part of the Berry Island Marina. The Marina is about the only thing there is on Frazer Hog. It is run by a young lad named Herbie and a cook by the name of Hilda. On the other side of the Island is Chub Island Resort. A very exclusive, expensive resort and marina. It is too far to walk over to the resort and have not been able to bum a ride over but did talk to one man who got a ride over to get fuel and he told us that it was very dead with very few boats. I have yet to see one boat at the dock in this marina even though we were told when we came in that they had a special on for $1.00 a foot. After a couple of days, we knew why. There is a very strong current running up this channel which makes things a bit uncomfortable at times as the boat doesn't always point into the wind and waves because of the current. The waves hit you from the side causing an annoying rocking from side to side. At night the mooring ball hits the side of the boat for a couple of hours which keeps us awake. I have gotten into the habit of going to bed early, reading for a couple of hours in the night when this happen and then going back to bed again. The first night we were here, on of the boats was anchored and realized in the middle of the night that his rode was wrapped all around the boat and that he was dragging his anchor. He was afraid to start his engine as he wasn't sure if the rode would wrap around his prop. He tried everything to wake the boat beside him as he was slowly drifting his way. By the time they woke us, he was dangerously close to hitting them. He decided to tie a fender on the anchor, cut the anchor loose and pick it up the next day. Luckily this worked and he was able to start his engine without the rode getting caught on his prop. By this time his floodlight had died and he had to try to find the only empty mooring ball in the dark without hitting our boat which he couldn't see too well as our anchor light had burnt out. He has only a 30 foot boat and his girlfriend has only been sailing for 2 months. She had to try to pick up this ball and hold on for dear life as the boat was rocking back and forth. They managed to pick it up only to realize that with all the rocking and rolling, the gas tank had somehow gotten under the plug for their dingy and pulled it out. The dingy was full of water and their engine was almost under water! Joel had to now deal with this emergency! What a night they had, I think Jackie was ready to take the next flight out!

We decided to head into the marina and have lunch. When we got there we were told that there wasn't any power and if we wanted lunch, we had to order it the day before! We ordered lunch for the next day and it was great. The marina has a washer and dryer but we found out that the power is out everyday until 5 p.m. when they start the generator and the place is lit up like a Christmas tree all night. This can't be good for business as most people we see come over during the day and are back at their boats at night. This also means that we have no power for our computers so have to make sure that the battery is fully charged before we bring the computer up to get the Internet. The Internet is not great but we have managed to get our e-mail, check weather and make a couple of calls on Skype. The rest of the day is quite relaxing as it is too rough for fishing and too cold for swimming or snorkeling. I have been reading lots of books and will soon run out of reading material so hopefully we will get out of here soon.

It looks like a nice window is opening up to leave on Thursday and then it should be nice right thru the weekend. We will try to leave then and head to Nassau. We are both looking forward to being in a bigger city, visiting with relatives and other friends we know are there and restocking our fresh food. We have not had bread for a week! Hopefully the next blog will be from Nassau.