Alice town, North Bimini Isl., Bahamas

We have arrived! After much anxiety about crossing the gulf stream we set off from our Miami marina at 6AM, in the dark, and proceeded to watch the most glorious sunrise as we headed east toward North Bimini Island. The weather was the warmest yet so our cockpit was very comfortable. Everyone had their coffee or tea and we settled down into our routine. Winds were blowing from the east, on our nose, so we were motoring. The waves were coming from the north so the mainsail was deployed part way to stabilize us. Waves were running 1-3' and we were a little rolly but still comfortable. Peter went below at 7:30 to contact friends on the SSB. Jane was on the helm with Liz when they spotted a change in the water ahead. It looked like it was boiling!! We suspected it was the west wall of the gulf Stream...and we were right! Once "crossing over" the waves slowly became stronger, 2-4 feet, but Kinvara handled it in stride. Our rum line was 95' magnetic but we set our course at 118' magnetic. Once we got into the gulf stream, the northerly current started to push us north until eventually we had crossed over our rum line. Then, as the current decreased closer to Bimini, we came back onto the rum line. The only variance we had to make was to avoid a large oil tanker crossing our bow. About 6 miles off Bimini we could see the islands, the water turned dark blue, and the waves decreased 1-2 ft. As we approached the channel to the harbor the water was crystal clear and shallow. Liz was kneeling on the bow and Jane standing on the life raft while Peter watched the depth and GPS tracking. We came in at low tide and at one point had 1.6' under our keel. We really have to learn to "read the water". There were a few boats anchored outside the island, we suspect to wait for a higher tide to enter. We were tied up by 2PM and Peter cleared customs by 3PM. We were waiting for a clearance form for Pretzel to be faxed from the Bahamian Dept of Agriculture but it didn't arrive in Solivita until yesterday, so right now pretzel is illegal!!! We will get it faxed to us in Nassau when we get there.
So here we sit in North Bimini Island, probably until Monday, then head directly to Nassau. It's not the exotic island paradise one would think of where we are docked. This is a small working island with tiny houses, many homes & businesses are closed up. The people are so friendly and helpful and it's a time to catch our breath, get a few jobs done, and relax. More tomorrow.