HOME SWEET HOME :)

Our crossing was rather uneventful.  The weather was perfect and the seas were calm until we approached Miami.  A few storms had popped up and if you look closely you will see a water spout starting to drop.  Thankfully it went back up into the cloud…PHEW! 

We made it!  The closest fuel was at Key Biscayne Yacht Club.  We called them to see if they had fuel and their curt reply was yes, but if we were not a member of their yacht club or a member of another south Florida yacht club we could not purchase fuel from them. 🤬. I guess I should have asked if being a member of the “Red Neck Yacht Club” would work 🤭. We had to make a jig jog another 5 miles north where they were happy to sell us fuel at $7.00 per gallon AND it had 5% ethanol 😳. We headed south…

Card Sound Bridge…

US 1 Bridge at Gilbert’s…

Home sweet home this morning…

When we bought our boat our insurance company required us to install a hard wired GPS tracking device.  If we did not, and the boat was stolen, we would have no coverage.  😳 All the while grumbling about it we installed a Spot Trace.  Every time the boat moves we get a notification.  When we got home and checked our email there was a notification that the boat had moved…WELL DUH!!  Actually we have found it a pretty cool feature.  And…an interesting track was recorded yesterday :)  Note the little jig jog north for fuel😎

Catch you on the flip flop…

CJM 

TRIPLE WHAMMY!

What is known as a “triple whammy?”  Heading across the Gulf Stream, low on fuel, through the Bermuda Triangle…that’s a “triple whammy!”  

Catch you on the flip flop…

CJM

SUNDAY FISHING REPORT

We headed out around 10ish to a couple of south reef spots that Freddie had taken us to many times in the past.  Let me just say this about that…WE MISS FREDDIE ROLLE!  We tried contacting him via cell before we made the crossing but his phone had been disconnected.  Once we were here in Bimini we asked around and found that he and his brother, Mud Rolle, had moved to Andros.  More on that in a minute… 

Once we found the first spot we anchored up and caught a couple of strawberry groupers and a triple tail.  We then moved on to another reef spot even further south.  There were yellowtail galore there and we put a few in the box.  Again, WE MISS FREDDIE ROLLE!  CTM took over Freddie’s role (😎) of rigging, baiting, and taking the fish off of my line.  So…. we pretty much had only one line in the water most of the time.  When Freddie was with us he took care of both of us so we typically caught twice as many fish.  Once we had enough for dinner we decided to make an early day of it and troll back in.  CTM put out a couple of lines…one being a deep running ballyhoo that Freddie actually rigged the last time we were here 3 years ago 😳. It had been in our freezer in Islamorada for the last 3 years so when we decided to make the crossing we dragged it out and dragged it over with us.  We had settled in with a cold one and some tunes on our kick a—- stereo in the Feeding Frenzy IV figuring it would be like our other trolling days…NO FISH.  WRONG!  About 5 minutes into the troll…BAM!  FISH ON!  CTM was frazzled by the time he got the fish in, gaffed it, and lifted it over the side.  And I was frazzled from being the cheerleader 😬 First REAL blood on the Feeding Frenzy IV!!!  Nice Wahoo, CTM!! 

Dinner and fish for our friends…

Now back to Freddie.  We ran into Freddie’s son, Big Fred.  Usually when there is a Fred, Sr. and Fred, Jr. then Fred, Jr. is Little Fred.  But, if you ever met Big Fred you would understand why they call him Big Fred…he has eaten a LOT of Bimini bread.  (You will probably need to call me Big CJM after all of the Bimini bread I have eaten.)  So we asked Big Fred for Freddie’s phone number.  He said he didn’t have it as Freddie didn’t know what it was but that he and his brother, Mud, were always together.  He called Mud and sure enough Mud handed his phone over to Freddie and CTM got to say hello to him and tell him how much we miss him.  It was wonderful connecting with him and I know we will see him again some day.  We kinda sorta have a new Freddie now.  His name is Willie.  He doesn’t go fishing with us but he meets us when we come in, cleans the fish, and cleans the boat.  The last time we were here in 2019 CTM agreed to give up cleaning the Feeding Frenzy III and have Willie do it.  CTM never thought anyone could do it like he could or thought it should be done.  But, Willie proved him wrong.  He does a very thorough job…maybe even better than CTM (shhh…don’t tell him I said that 😉)  We were happy when Willie showed up and took over as we were both frazzled…CTM from mating for me on the reef and landing the Wahoo and me from cheerleading and drinking beer🤭! 

Once we found there was no fuel on the island we had to forgo fishing Monday and Tuesday  to conserve fuel needed to get us back across the Gulf Stream.  CTM and I are exhausted from trying to hang out and relax.  We do NOT know how to do that but we are giving it our best shot.   Our plan is to head out early tomorrow morning (can’t come soon enough) with fingers crossed and head straight across to Biscayne Bay for fuel.  Stay tuned! 🫣🤞🏼🙏

Catch you on the flip flop…

CJM 

IN A 🥒 (CLOSEST THING TO A PICKLE I COULD FIND :))

What do we have in common with Tom Hanks???  WE ARE STRANDED ON AN ISLAND!!!  Now all we need is to find our “Wilson” 🏐😬.  This is a little out of sequence as I still need to post the fishing report but when we came in yesterday there were two dilemmas…no ice and NO GAS!!!!   Unfortunately they aren’t expecting any gasoline anytime soon.  We think we have enough to get back across to Biscayne Bay but not enough to go out the next couple of days AND get back across to Biscayne Bay.  So…we are going to be stranded on the island for the next couple of days.  I guess there are worse places we could be but being a little uncertain about crossing the Gulf Stream safely to get back home is NOT something I thought we would be facing when we made the decision to come.  

Stay tuned…

CJM 

SATURDAY CRUISIN’ (AN ADDITION TO SATURDAY…OUR DAY OFF)

We took Saturday off after 3 days on the boat and decided to just hang out and cruise around the island on our golf cart.   We stopped at the straw market and looked up an old friend…

We got acquainted with McGarrett when he was the head bartender at Bimini Big Game Club.  When we would bring our boat over and stay on it we stayed at Bimini Big Game Club and naturally spent a LOT of time hanging out up in the bar/restaurant :)  We became very good friends with him.  All we knew was that he had resigned as head bartender at BBGC so we went on a mission to find out if he was still around.  BINGO!!!!  He left BBGC to open his own restaurant up on the high road and also has a stand at the straw market on the weekends selling SMASHERS.  They were DELISH!!!  I only had one SMASHER and knew it was time to put something on my stomach so we headed up to Stuarts for conch salad for lunch.  We caught a glimpse of fresh conch being brought in.  Obviously Stuart’s conch salad is fresh when they walk out, grab one out of the pen, clean it, and serve it.  

On the way to Stuarts we cruised by Nate’s to pick up some raisin/cinnamon bread.  They were out but said they would have some at around 5:30.  Around 5:30 we checked back and they said by 6:30 for sure.  I called at 6:30 to check on it and was told it would be closer to 7:00.  This is what we call “Island Time!”  But…at 7:00 we cruised on up to Nate’s and scored!!!  The bread was still warm so we finished our day off with a slice of warm cinnamon and raisin swirl bread and fell into bed. 

After a day of Saturday Crusin’ the island we were heading out Sunday to fish.  Stay tuned for fishing report.  Catch you on the flip flop…

CJM. 

JUST ANOTHER SATURDAY AFTERNOON ON RADIO BEACH :)

The photos never do this beautiful water and Radio Beach justice.  Turned into a mini “party cove” on Saturday afternoon 😎

Everyone who knows me knows I have a dirty little secret…I HATE THE BEACH!  Well, CTM convinced me that we should take a dip after a long day of fishing on the boat.  So…after a couple of cocktails I agreed.  Other than the sand all over everything it was actually kind of refreshing.  This does NOT mean, however, that I changed my mind about the beach…just sayin’! 

Catch you on the flip flop…

CJM 

AN ADDENDUM TO BOO HISS….

Carnival showed up bright and early this morning and indeed dumped 3000 passengers on the island.  It was standing room only at Stuarts and the golf cart and vehicle traffic was like downtown Miami.  We are back at our cottage after battling the crowd recharging our batteries…aka taking a nap :)  

Catch you on the flip flop…

CJM 

BOO HISS!!!! (I THINK 😉)

So Richard Branson’s Virgin Voyages cruise line is now making a stop in Bimini…BOO HISS!!!!  We were told by Fabriese at Stuart’s that they pull in, they have their own private beach (Bimini Beach Club) for their passengers, and they tell their passengers to NOT go to the “real” Bimini because it is dangerous.  Seriously????  They want to keep all of the money at their beach club, the casino, restaurants, and bars.  I did investigate their itinerary and it looks like they offer a “historical tram” tour of Bimini.  I saw one tram the day the ship was here.  Fabriese also said that Carnival makes a stop in Bimini now and dumps out 3000 passengers on the island.  They rent golf carts and run all over the island so at least they spread their money around.  Carnival is due to come today so I will have an opinion about that after today 😬 

Covid took a hard hit on the Bahamas and the economy.  The Bahamas were in total lock down for months.  A health visa is still required to enter.  One of the requirements is a negative Covid test within 3 days of entry making it difficult if not daunting.  Masks are still required on the island but hardly anyone wears them including the residents. There are places that do require you have one to enter so we are carrying masks in our backpacks just in case.   So obviously I have mixed emotions about cruise ships in Bimini.  I think the local economy could sure use the money post Covid albeit Virgin Voyages doesn’t contribute to the local economy.   But, I hate to see 3000 people on the Carnival ship dumped on the island for the day.  

The “real” Bimini is what has always appealed to us…the people, the culture, the crystal clear turquoise water (as you know my favorite color 😬) and of course the fishing.   I am so afraid cruise ships will spoil that.  Maybe I was just born 50 years too late.  Ernest Hemingway spent 3 summers here in the 30’s.  He stayed at the Compleat Angler.  Our first trip to Bimini was in June of 2006 and the Compleat Angler burned in December of 2005 so we never got to sit at that bar where Hemingway sat so many years ago. 

  Bimini, “An Island In The Stream” would surely have been an unspoiled wilderness and a site to see 😎

Catch you on the flip flop…

CJM 

IT’S BEEN 3 LONG YEARS :( :(

CTM and I left Bimini in the spring of 2019 with the full intentions of returning in early summer of 2020 for a long last cruise on the Feeding Frenzy III deep into the Bahamas.  Well, you know how that story ended :(   Covid 19 hit and dashed our dreams of that one long last cruise.  We decided we needed to downsize as Feeding Frenzy III was getting to be too much for us so we parted with her in August of 2021 😰  I thought we would never see Bimini or all of the friends we have made over the years again…..WRONG!!!!  CTM kept assuring me that we could still do it if and when we got another boat.  That we would just have to pick our crossing days more carefully.  We “downsized” to a center console…Feeding Frenzy IV…in March.  We thought she might still carry us across the Gulf Stream.  We were planning to take an extended trip to Islamorada in June and started looking at the wind/weather.  When that wind/weather window presented itself we loaded her up and headed northeast.  Our Wednesday morning view…

Four hours later our Wednesday afternoon view…

Once we were nestled in at Bimini Blue Water Marina CTM headed up to clear Customs and Immigration…

We were totally frazzled after the long crossing so we rented a golf cart, loaded it with our provisions, and headed up to Katt’s Kottage to settle in and rest…WRONG AGAIN!   We always fall victim to that “first night in town syndrome”…not having the ability to just rest and recuperate before continuing on.  We were frazzled but decided to make a run to Stuarts for a cold Kalik and some conch salad.  After 3 years we walked in and Fabriese took one look at us and said, “A Kalik and a Bud Light?”  🍻  I guess our reputation precedes us 😎

  We decided to have some cracked conch for dinner so walked over to CJ’s Deli.  No conch so we opted for a “cheeseburger in paradise” :)  We quickly devoured them, took a shower, and went straight to bed.  

What a difference 16 years makes…. On our first trip to Bimini in 2006 we would fish hard all day and drink rum until the cows came home.  We are lucky to see the sunset these days 😬  Catch you on the flip flop…

CJM