Not long after getting the people off the sailboat broke free and drifted 1/2 mile just offshore. It was from here that locals and many tourists began the 3 hour rescue of the ship.
Fortunately, Steve and Mark along with their skiff driver were able to get the group of 4 people and 2 dogs off the ship and to shore. All survived, even the boston terrier who had lept into the water from the side rail. The captains wife suffered the worst injury of a broken ankle. Madeline was the most concerned and she was thrilled to be able to help me with the injured woman and take care of her chihuahua!
Steve's "Mayday" rescue at the mouth of Bimini Harbor. It was quite a sobering experience. We knew that there was no saving the boat but we were not sure Steve and Mark were going to be able to get close enough to save the people, as the ship was broached sideways on the rocks and it would be very easy for Steve's boat to meet the same demise as the larger ship. I had been able to get a local Bahamian man who was standing in his skiff at the shore to take Steve and our friend Mark from "Seazen" out to the boat in peril and get the people to safety.
Alicetown, North Bimini
Bahamas
Alicetown has 1600 inhabitants and has a real out island feel. We immediately liked the atomesphere and felt the inherent difference you get just from being in a different country. Not 2 minutes after tying up at the dock we had tons of paperwork to fill out for customs. Only the captain of your vessel is allowed off the docks until customs is cleared. Steve only had a block to walk from the docks to get to the customs office. Customs never did come to our boat, Steve must have looked innocent enough!
We were all exhausted as we had had only 2 hours of broken sleep in the 36 hours from when we had left Marathon. We had left Marathon at 6:30 in the morning, arriving in Rodriguez Cay by supper time. After fighting with our dinghy to get it onto the deck and making the last preparations for crossing the Gulf it was 9 o'clock at night. We decided on a midnight "leave time" so we knew we had 3 hours of sleep, or so we thought.
Just as we were drifting off into an anxious sleep thinking about the crossing Emma comes out of the V-berth saying her mouth hurt. Seeing nothing pressing we sent her back to bed only to be awoken again by screaming, "My tooth fell out!" Yep, it was true, she lost a molar at 11:00 at night. Amazingly, the tooth fairy found us before she woke up at 4 a.m. in the middle of the gulf stream!
The alarm went off at midnight just as planned. We hauled ourselves out and in 15 minutes and had the anchor up and our nose pointed east. Winds were 5-10Kts out of the East and picked up to 10-15Kts in the stream. Seas averaged 3-4 feet with the occasional 5 footer. Since winds were on our nose it was quite a ride. Similar to riding a wet roller coaster!
The color of the seas amazed us as we watched them turn from solid black to clear black to dark colbolt blue to clear dark blue to bright aqua-green.
Liam(12), Beth & Mark Griffin from our "Buddy Boat, Seazen" when crossing the Gulf
Beach on the west side of North Bimini
Kings Highway just off the marina in North Bimini where we are staying while waiting out the next cold front.
We made it into Weech's Marina in Alicetown, North Bimini, Bahamas at about 2:00. Beautiful water...we saw a big nurse shark lazily swimming around the boats just after settling in.
First sight of Bimini!
Crossing into Bahamian waters, raising the Quarantine Flag.
March 10-
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