BAHAMAS WELCOMES US

 We arrived on Friday February 26 and so happy to be here. Bahamas has many protocols in place before you arrive and after.

1.

We uploaded a travel profile for each of us on the Bahamas government website. Including photos of our passports. We did this a couple of weeks in advance. It takes some time.

2.

We took a CoVid test within 5 days of arrival of Bimini. We took ours at 3:30pm on a Wednesday, 450 Crandon Blvd, Key Biscayne. We took our tender to the State Park at No Name Harbor and walked the 2+ miles to the site. We made an appointment online. No cost to us. 

3.

Thursday at 5:05pm we had our test results and all was good. We then uploaded these results on our travel profile with the Bahamas government. We also added a trip to it with details of our arrival. We put in Friday as that was the day we wanted to leave and arrive in Bimini. At 8pm we had Bahamian government approval to travel to Bimini. We had to make a payment of $60 each for our CoVid health insurance and this includes the Rapid Test we get on Tuesday (Day 5 after we arrive). 

4.

Friday We check in to Bimini with all our normal paperwork plus the additional CoVid Test results printed out. Some do take a screen shot of the results but the Customs and Immigration like it when these are printed out for them. There were days we did not have a printer. 

5. For 14 days after arrival we do a quick online health survey that is sent to the government.

While anchored at Key Biscayne, I saw the most beautiful sunset (aren't they all ?), as I was taking a photo with my phone it fell in the water! It happened so fast and I was very stressed about it. I have never lost or dropped my phone ever. We have cameras on board, 2 laptops, a tablet and Paul's phone. I will make do for next 3 months. I just had to upload Facebook etc on other devices. Just the inconvenience now when going ashore or keeping in contact with friends and family. My Canadian phone number is not working now. 

The weather is not good for travelling beyond Bimini until next week anyway so we enjoy this lovely island and the friendly people here on the dock. 

Time Out coming into the fuel dock to get a pump out and gas for our dinghy. Plus, friends came to say good-bye and took some cool photos. Thanks to you all. We love our marina with so many friends and friendly staff.

GOOD BYE

We feel so blessed to be able to have another season in Exumas, Bahamas. 

REMINDER THAT I HAVE A POST TITLED 

2020-2021 TIME LINE. I do update this post much more regularly with some interesting world facts thrown in during this time. 

WE LEFT THE DOCK

 We love our marina but we love being anchored out even more! We left Monday morning after saying our good-byes to everyone. The ICW south was uneventful but after the long day yesterday to Ft. Lauderdale we needed to save time and go on the outside. A normal eight hour day and eleven bridges to Key Biscayne turned into a three hour day today by going out into the Gulf. I decided not to take my anti nausea pills which was my mistake. The new stabilizers worked but my mind and stomach did not for the first hour. Lesson learned to take a half pill before heading out... you can't do it Shannon! I wanted to try and I know I can't. In the ICW the day before I captured some great sights.

I liked this place along the way because they flew many flags.

This boat above in the ICW we actually saw at Bonds Cay, The Berry's, Bahamas last May. It is so beautiful!

It rained today when we were in the Gulf Stream and the water droplets kept my mind (and stomach) at bay. 

We have taken our CoVid tests. We wait for results tomorrow and probably off to Bimini Friday. Blue waters here we come!

"you know you're in love when you can't fall asleep because reality is finally better than your dreams." --Dr. Seuss

HOME MADE CUSTOM SUN SHADE

 

The hot sun does damage to many items on our boat but gauges can be very expensive to replace. We sent these gauges to be fixed which saved us hundreds of dollars. See the before and after photos below. Gauge Savers did a fantastic job, we highly recommend them.

Our back cockpit is in the hot sun every afternoon and we get to watch the sun set. However, we have to close all our curtains and maybe even put the air conditioner on. We usually put up a sun shade we have folded and bungeed onto our railings. The next best thing to owning a sewing machine is having friends with one. We went to our friends' boat Daruma and Paul got a quick lesson on the machine. All the prep work the night before with double sided tape paid off. 

After practicing on some fabric, out comes our sun shade material. Paul did a fantastic job and now we can have this sun shade installed and rolled up when not in use. To have this professionally done would have cost over $1,000. Thanks Dave and Traci for letting us use their sewing machine!

Paul said.... "Shannon, take a photo of this stuff and have everyone guess what it is", can you guess? It is actually a bunch of stuff from our water maker. Paul is reinstalling a bunch of stuff from the front of the engine room to the back. This way he does not need to crawl into the engine room and go all the way forward to have access to part of the water maker. Now it is all very handy in the lazarette here in the cockpit. This is a very big deal for Paul. It will save him many steps, oops I mean crawls.

There were a few good sunsets a days ago. Also there has been a few foggy mornings. Down here there are all kinds of weather, even super cold nights where we need heat on and then bam.... we need the air conditioner on.  

I have started a newish craft on the boat. Instead of painting my rocks like I usually do I got lazy and just starting pouring the paint on. After that I have experimented with doing an ocean theme. These rocks actually take no time at all and I love giving or hiding them away. 

A friend on the dock wore this shirt. Aaaah, boaters can relate to this. It is very funny!