Author: Steve

Captain’s Log – Thu 3/20/25

Anchor up at 4:00am, we headed out of the reef in the dark through Turtle Harbor as it’s a deep, wide cut which provides plenty of room. From the anchorage spot, it was 63nm. There wasn’t much wind so we had to motor sail to make it across before the weather window closed at 2:00pm. We averaged 7.5kts with a boost from the Gulf Stream and made it to Bimini at 12:45, docked at 1:45. The seas were mild enough for a short window to cross. We weren’t sure when we would get another window so we decided to take it rather than wait for a sailable window.

Watching the sunrise over the Atlantic, priceless!!!

Just to make it a little extra challenging, the GPS decided to freeze up and go blank about 12 miles from the entrance to North Bimini. I had to use my iPad as a backup to navigate the entrance and harbor. The unit is barely two years old. Garmin said they would replace it but can’t get it to me in the Bahamas for 6-8 weeks. Thanks for nothing Garmin.

We cleared customs and immigration without issue thankfully. I’ve dreamed of this trip for decades and was excited to swap the quarantine flag for the courtesy flag.

✌️❤️⛵️

Captain’s Log – Tue 3/18/25

This evening took an unexpected turn when we left for dinner heading to the Caribbean Club in an Uber when we had to turn around because wild fires had shutdown Highway 1 northbound from Key Largo. Unfortunately, The Caribbean Club will have to wait for our return trip. Praying everyone is Ok.

We did however get to take The African Queen out today! What a treat to drive this piece of nautical and movie history. This made my day.

We even re-enacted the scene where Katharine Hepburn dumped Bogie’s gin overboard after she was mad at him for being hung over. So much fun!

In addition to the fun, we learned a bit of interesting history from a very special passenger. The African Queen was originally named The Livingstone when built in 1912 for the British East Africa Railroad company. She was name after Dr David Livingstone, a famous Africa explorer and missionary. One of his descendants, Pam Livingstone, joined us for our little excursion around Key Largo and filled us in on some of the history.

We also accomplished some boat chores in anticipation of heading to Bimini on Thursday

• Replaced life ring that went swimming
• Booked Marina reservation in Bimini
• Planned the course and uploaded it to the Garmin chart plotter
• Setup IPad mount at helm for using “Explorer” charts in the Bahamas which aren’t available for my Garmin GPS.
• Cleaned the head

✌️❤️⛵️