When we awoke this morning, we went back to Three Sisters reef. The mighty hunters got a good mess of fish. We went north to try to find some dolphins and, while underway, decided to go all the way to Great Isaac. Conditions were magnificent for the trip. We explored the island and, of course, did more spear fishing. Gordon speared a blue runner (jack) about 6 pounds – what a beauty. We found some dolphins on the way back and we put a couple of guys overboard to engage them. Unfortunately the fun was cut short due to the sighting of a big shark deep below. We thought it would be a good idea to let him have this part of the ocean. Tonight we’ll be at Honeymoon Harbor at the north end of Gun Cay.

We ate some good food at C.J.’s Deli today –  conch fritters, plantains, fried conch, chicken, burgers, etc. Ty tried to catch a seagull, luring them with french fries. We did some service work at a local church. We snorkeled at Three Sisters. Lots of spearfishing – about 8 fish caught. We saw big bull sharks in the harbor including a feeding frenzy. The kids made a friend with a local boy named Narj. We saw an old friend named Caleb. Currently at anchor off the northwest shore of North Bimini. Had a delicious dinner of cheeseburgers, complete with live entertainment – guitar music ala Gordon and Mr. Bob. Fishing late into the night – William caught a shark; Mr. Bob caught a mahoghany snapper; lots of snapped lines. Some technogeeks spent some time watching funny videos.

We spent last night at the Big Game Club Marina and enjoyed a beautiful day at a beach picnic. We brought chicken and sausage gumbo to share, thanks to Chef Bob. The kids did a lot of snorkeling right off the beach. Big Game has a pool, pool table, and ping pong too to keep all happy. We will stay tonight again at Big Game. All our sailors are doing great.

We are at anchor off the beach of Bimini. As predicted, we arrived in the wee hours of the morning. To avoid the hassle of docking at night at an unfamiliar dock (Weech’s was destroyed in Huuricane Irma), we chose to anchor instead. It is absolutely beautiful. We slept in to recover from the long drive and Gulf Stream crossing. The kids are enjoying snorkeling in the pristine water.

We are underway! Should get to Bimini in the wee hours.

We made it safely to Key Largo a few hours ago. We’ve been transferring gear to the boat and getting things ready to go.

The road trip is going well. We’ve put about 600 miles on a new set of windshield wipers! The sky is clear now and we’ve got about 3 hours to Key Largo. All is well…

We’ll be leaving in hopefully less than 1 hour from SSC and driving to Tallahassee tonight. The weather forecast during the drive is for rain, so we’ll take it slow and easy. We’ll continue our journey by road tomorrow (Friday) from Tallahassee to Key Largo. There is a good chance of rain in Tallahassee tomorrow morning too, diminishing as we drive south. The weather in Key Largo and the Bahamas looks great for the week.  We’ll be staying on the boat in Key Largo on Friday night before we leave out on Saturday morning. Thank you Suzanne! Our Gulf Stream crossing Saturday should be in quite good conditions: 5-10 knots of wind Saturday morning, increasing to 10-15 in the evening as we come into Bimini.

There are only two weeks before we head out! Now is the time to be getting your stuff together.

First, and most important, make sure you have a passport and get it to me as soon as you can so I can input the data into our float plan. Along with that, if you still need to turn in any paperwork or money, please do so as well.

Next, make sure you have snorkeling gear: mask, snorkel, and fins. Trust me, you need this. Not swim goggles, please don’t tell me you can swim just as well without fins or you don’t like using a snorkel… I’ve heard it all. So just make sure you have these 3 items, and we’ll help you with any difficulties you may have. It is going to be amazing underwater and we don’t want you to miss a thing.

Then, make a pile in your room of the things that you think you want to bring. Try to keep the pile to just the things you really want to bring and not a ton of things you don’t need. Remember that you want to pack this in SOFT luggage, not a big bulky hard suitcase. Soft luggage works best on a boat.

I hope you are as excited as I am about the trip! Mr. Bob is also pumped and is working out all the details on the food. As always, if you have any questions whatsoever, please come see me, call me or email me.

Pretty soon, we’ll be sailing into the Bahamas as the sun goes down…