We departed at sparrows fart (5am) to cross “The Great Bahama Bank”, this is a significant area of sea which is a shallow tableland of water. It extends 75 nautical miles at its widest point, and 180 nautical miles from North to South. The majority of the water is 5 to 6 metres deep but there are numerous sandbars that are always changing. The nature of the bank makes accurate charting impossible so careful attention is needed when crossing. Whichever route you take there are 60 nautical miles to get across, plus the 15 miles from the anchorage to the North West entrance to the bank, which for a slow boat like us means it is unachievable to make the whole passage in daylight. Hence the zero dark thirty departure, so as to arrive at South Bimini in daylight.
I was grateful that we had good weather for the crossing as making that passage in any decent amount of wind would have been unpleasant.
A few boats passed us during the crossing, one other motor boat called “Ziggy” who called us up and is a Nordhavn fan and had quite a chat with Robbie. We had intended to go to Gun Cut Cay but he suggested we go to South Bimini where he was heading, which we did. Ziggy was towing a sports fishing boat behind him, this is a very common sight in the Bahamas.
Tomorrow is our last day in paradise, before we head to Fort Lauderdale Bahia Mar marina on the 2nd.
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