It's two days from Marathon to Bimini. The first day we fueled up at Marathon for $1.25 gal and headed up to Rodrigues Key.  It's a safe and convenient anchorage near Key Largo. We arrived as large thunderstorms rolled through the area. The anchor dragged in the soft sand so we had to reset it once.
It was a peaceful night; the storms were gone in an hour.

We were up at first light and weighed anchor around 8 AM. For the first 15 miles we were cruising in Hawks channel and working our way out to the reef edge. My computer was upset and I decided to restart it. That distraction got me off course enough that we got into some shallow water. I did not realize it until I noticed the speed had dropped to 6.5 knots. We were actually rubbing bottom. It took about 10 minutes to thread our way back to deep water. About a half an hour later we were in the Gulf Stream.

Winds were from the South East about 10 kts and the seas were about 1 to 3 feet. That's a comfortable ride on Remedy. Another two hours and we were in the middle of the Gulf Stream. The winds diminished to about 5 Kts but the seas picked up to about 4 feet with an irregular choppy action. The chart show two segments of the Gulf Stream merging in that area... perhaps that caused the turbulence... The action was violent enough that Marion could not go up and down the stairs or fix lunch... It lasted for about two hours.  The rest of the crossing found the seas gradually smoothing out.

With about 3 Hours to go the Genset AGAIN Overheated and shut down. I would deal with it when we got to port.

The Gulf Stream gives about a 3 kts boost to the boats speed. At one time we were moving about 11 kts at a setting that would give 8.5 Kts normally. The autopilot was placed in NAV mode and steered a perfect straight line for the Bimini Waypoint.  Getting in and settled was a great relief.

We had Crossed the Gulf Stream... We were in the Bahamas at last...

After an appropriate period of celebration (gin and tonic as I recall), I got down to business: deal with Customs and Immigration, and fly the Bahamian Courtesy flag.... THEN establish why the GenSet Failed!

I was confident that I knew the cause; it had to be a broken fan belt. I had ordered two fan belts but, as you may recall, I had the old one tightened by the AC repairman (not replaced).  I felt pretty smug when I went below and discovered the Fan Belt was truly broken!

I was so happy that I didn't even bother fixing it. That could wait until the morning.
 

We assembled the bicycles and toured the whole town, both streets.  There is a street that goes along the bay (right side) and another that goes along the ocean (left side). See Photo Right >>> We stayed at the Bluewater Marina (middle of picture bay side) That evening we had dinner at the Anchorage Restaurant. Marion had the Cracked Conch, I had the grilled Grouper. Rating ***$$$.  You can see that Bimini is not a real big place. The largest and finest marina is the Big Game Club at the top. We stayed at #2 and found it delightful.

On our second day we snorkeled at Three Sisters Rocks. They are at the far north end on the Ocean side.
 

That afternoon we met five firemen who were on their week off.  They came on a small boat and were having a great time fishing.  The work schedule of a fireman is much like the schedule of offshore oil field workers: Two weeks on, 12 hours a day, then a week off. Many pursue second careers in their third week off. These firemen were pursuing fish.  Note: Michelle and I are not firemen.

We met Kevin and Cindi McAdams of Marthon FL.  Our bicycle trips had taken us through the neighborhood where they live. They cruise for a month at a time on Island Bug their 29ft Mako sport fisherman.  They cruise at about 25 kts so they can make the run from Miami in about 2.5  hours. Boats of this size are very common in the Bahamas.

BIG Black Cloud
 

Right around sunset a massive storm system moved in from the East. It was part of a tropical wave. We sustained 60 mph+ winds broadside at the dock.  "Ed, Ed, the dinghy is battering the boat." called Marion. The fender I had placed earlier broke loose and floated away on the incoming current. I moved the dinghy to the lee side of Remedy.

Next I doubled up the lines so we would not break loose. The forces exerted by Remedy were shaking the concrete docks.

"I can see the fender washed ashore," said Marion.

"That's my new $50 fender too," I replied, "I'm going after it."

I put on my worst pair of boat shoes. "Here, take a flashlight with you," advised Marion.

The rain and wind had a brief lull so I went wading along the shoreline to fetch it. It would have been gone in the morning.

Winds and stormy conditions kept everyone in port for five days. We saw a lot of Bimini by bike and by dinghy.

We have a satellite TV aboard and with it we are able to everything we would see in Houston. The Weather Channel kept us well appraised of South Florida and the Bahamas are very close by. On the fifth day it appeared there would be some clearing so we took off on the 90 mile cruise from Bimini to Chub Cay. This trip is across the Grand Bahamas Bank in 10 to 15 feet of water most of the way. The crossing was comfortable and we dodged two thunderstorms in the crossing.

Our stay at Chub Cay Club was marred by the fact that the shore power was cut off to all boats on the transient docks.