The Dearly Departed: Chris and Joyce Have Crossed Over

It's true. We have crossed over. We departed Miami this morning and crossed over to Bimini in the Bahamas! The boat was loaded to the gills, (not sure where that saying comes from, boats don't even have gills) and we staged at a small lagoon just inside the entrance to Biscayne Bay at the Atlantic Ocean. It was a great spot to anchor for the night, protected from the wind and waves, and only a 30 minute ride to the ocean to start the trip.

Before we said goodbye to Miami, we had to send some things out in the mail, and change our phones plan, and the best way to do this was to walk through Coconut Grove to the various places we needed to go. Coconut Grove is old school Miami, the original Miami city hall is in Coconut Grove. Beautiful tropical trees line the streets, and interesting shops are interspersed with parks, estates and old Florida money.

Next was a quick trip through the Barnacle House, which is a state park now. Cool old house, right on the bay, at one time it was in the middle of absolute nowhere. Now, it is in the heart of Coconut Grove's downtown and restaurant district. I bet the guy who built this so so long ago would flip out if he knew how much the old spot had changed. Not exactly an improvement on the old homestead.

We left the marina once all the errands were done, and headed to No Name Harbor at Bill Baggs State Park. This park is really close to the entrance to Biscayne Bay, and we anchored there for the night. We met a really nice couple from Australia there and visited for a while. They are really awesome, and are headed over to the Bahamas on their boat Echo Echo. It used to be called just Echo, and they liked the name, but in Australian Government wisdom, if there was EVER a bought named Echo registered in Australia, there can never be another one. Ever. So they renamed their boat Echo Echo. The problem with this is, the proper way to hail a boat or port on the radio is to repeat it three times and then state your name as the hailer. Example, if we wanted to hail the Main Street bridge, we would say over the radio.. "Main Street, Main Street, Main Street, this is sailing vessel Saltrun." Now, imagine hailing the Echo Echo boat. It would be something like.. "Echo Echo, Echo Echo, Echo Echo.. " Wow! Great couple, we wish them luck and a great cruise through the Bahamas and beyond, back to Australia! Maybe we can sail some together soon.

We left No Name Harbor at 0730 and went straight into the Gulfstream and across to Bimini Bahamas. It was a nice sail, no Chuck Norris today, although the wind and seas were significantly higher than the forecast. We thought we would be motoring into a slight breeze, but instead we saw winds up to 20 knots and seas in the 8 foot range. Luckily, they were not coming right at us this time, and we sailed at up to 8 knots through the slop and directly to the Bahamas. Once there, the paperwork went smoothly, and we are now officially in the Bahamas! Guincha loves it, and went for a long walk in the water and sand.

Wanted; Boat Letterer, must be a good speller. Apply at the Bimini boat yard, sometime after the sun gets warm this week. It's island time here in the Bahamas.