Christmas in Miami, Boxing Day in Bimini. Dec. 26, 2012

Spending Christmas in Miami, away from from family, felt very strange to us. We started the day by meeting our friends, George and Jackie on shore and going for a walk through a bayside park. It was warm and sunny and there were a lot of people out enjoying the holiday morning.




Later, George and Jackie came over to Glory Days for a Christmas celebration. We had appetizers in the cockpit, then adjourned below for Caesar Salad, stuffed chicken breasts and roasted Brussels sprouts. This was followed by Jackie's rum cake and shortbread cookies. We all decided that if you can't be with family, it is nice to be with good friends. It was truly a unique, but merry Christmas.

For George and Jackie, there are family members to meet and boat parts to be installed, so their decision to stay in Miami was an easy one. For the crew of Glory Days, it was a little more complicated. We had been watching the weather forecasts, trying to decide when we would have the appropriate "weather window" to cross to the Bahamas. Some people thought leaving the day after Christmas might be dicey, with the potential for strong winds and rough seas. Our interpretation was that there was potential for great sailing. We made a plan to leave our mooring ball in Dinner Key at 6:00 a.m. and head across Biscayne Bay into the Atlantic for the 50 mile crossing to Bimini. We felt a little better about our decision when the sun rose and we could see no less than eight other boats heading in the same direction.

The wind was strong and the waves were big, but there was great sailing to be had and and we beam reached all the way to the entrance to North Bimini Harbor. It was a little wild taking down the sails and turning toward the channel, but the intrepid crew was up to the task.




Soon we were tied up to a dock and Dan was hoisting the "Q" flag before reporting our arrival to a sleepy Customs officer and even sleepier Immigrations officer.

After taking care of these formalities, it was off for some exploring and an opportunity to walk the same streets that Ernest Hemingway walked.




We walked the six blocks, or so from Alice Town into Bailey Town and on the way said hello to many friendly residents. Among the people we met was a man that offered to sell us "fresh frozen" lobster tails. He sold us what he said were 12 tails, but upon closer inspection, back at the boat, turned out to be 18 tails. We had a great Bahamian dinner of lobster and we still have enough for another five meals. And, this is our first day in the country!

We are watching the weather to look for an another opportunity to make our next move, but for now we are pretty content to hang in Bimini and eat lobster and drink cheap rum.

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Location:Alice Town, Bimini, Bahamas