Blog 7
Good Times In Bimini
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| Panacea in the blue water under the full moon |
Pictures tell the tale...It’s Better In The Bahamas!
So much to do, so much to see, and so many friends from last year. We are still
in Bimini and waiting on a weather window that will give us time, at the very
least, to make an 80 mile transit to Frazer’s Hog Cay, in the Berry Islands. We
are at least 5 days away from that moment and are filling our days by
fine-tuning the boat systems....and by getting married.
Susan and Derek now share the same surname after a very pleasant civil ceremony
performed by the local Justice of the Peace and Chief Administrative Officer
for Bimini, Mr. Oscar Munroe.
Tristan (Panacea) and Kathleen(Now
or Never) were our official witnesses in a ceremony at Mr. Munroe’s
office. Also in attendance were Peter (Now or Never), as well as Perry and
Irene (Tekla Bramble). Peter crafted a non-metallic ring for Susan
which is now her official wedding ring. Several of the ladies in our flotilla
really kicked things into gear, fashioning a lei from Bougainvillea, creating a floral corsage and a similar boutonniere, as well as a floral centrepiece for the table of the feast which
followed the ‘marine’ wedding after the civil ceremony.
The ‘marine’ wedding was the creation of Larry (AFterwards), an ordained minister himself. I recognized parts of the ceremony as deriving from the famous
shipboard ritual practiced in the age of sail on voyagers crossing the equator
for the first time. Larry has donated the transcript of this marriage ceremony
– which I hereby archive on the blog (appendix 1). Larry delivered this while holding a gaff in
across his chest as his scepter. After
the ceremony Larry became the bartender for a leisurely afternoon party at
poolside, while Perry and Irene drummed a wedding waltz. Susan and
I danced the wedding dance.
Eventually the sun set on a milestone day like no other and
the full moon shone down on us in our little boat
A day later and the winds are rising. It is too windy today for
Tristan to go exploring in the tender and by mid-morning the sky boils and we
receive a heavy downpour. By early afternoon we have dug into our list of
projects and finally plumbed and wired the watermaker. We made a gallon and
held taste-tests which passed with flying colours. We will need another 300
watts of Solar collector before we can make water and run the refrigeration
system at the same time... only a minor detail as the wiring and solar
controllers are already installed and the hardtop is prepared to receive the
extra panels. In the meantime we will run it whenever we have the engine on.
Tristan did the refueling today and gave us a definitive
fuel consumption rate for the new engine. We consume three quarters of a U.S.
gallon per hour at 2500 rpm and 6 knots. We have yet to adjust the propeller
pitch, and will probably not do it in this harbour due to the presence of so
many sharks. The sharks are awaiting offal from the numerous fish cleaning
tables at the marinas along this shore. I was fishing with bits of chicken for
bait a couple of days ago, and it did not take long for the sharks to arrive.
Another angler lost his tackle to one of the Bull Sharks.
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| freighter trying to dock in a wind storm |
A change in plan has resulted from a phone call which
Tristan received last night. We must deliver him to the airport at Nassau next
Wednesday so that he can connect with his return flight to Ft McMurray. It
seems that there is still work to be done- notwithstanding the recent drop in
oil prices. The Windfinder.com forecast has been changing daily but at the
moment it looks like we have good weather for motoring across the Great Bahama
Bank on Monday and with fair winds to
drive us south to New Providence Island on Tuesday. The winds have been a
little too strong for our comfort lately and with only very short windows of opportunity
to move. The five boats which left us a few days ago have all arrived in New
Providence after heading into strong winds which made engine power necessary. A
number of sailboats have just arrived in Bimini from Florida under the same
weather conditions. The winds actually prevented some boats from entering
harbour due to surf conditions at the channel entrance.
Our attentions will be on the forecasts. If the anticipated
weather window changes for the worse, Tristan is only a 2 hour ferry-ride from
Ft Lauderdale and a taxi ride to that city’s airport. The trick will be in not getting storm-stayed
between Bimini and Nassau. He would have a much more expensive and difficult
time making it to an international airport from intermediate shelters such as
Chub Cay or Nichols Town. All of our attentions will be on seeing Tristan off
for the coming week, after which we will sail for the Exumas at the earliest
opportunity.
Appendix 1
TO ALL SAILORS WHEREVER YE MAY BE and to all mermaids, Sea
Serpents, Whales, Dolphins, Skates, Eels, Lobsters, Crabs, and other Living
Things of the Sea, GREETINGS:
Today, ye be gathered upon the shore of our sovereign, King
Neptune’s realm that ye may join your lives together and journey the 4 winds
and 7 seas for all of your days, shipmates on the grand voyage of life!
Be it with extreme reverence for the offence of oath
breaking that ye promise, swear and affirm the following, with the penalty of
marooning upon a forgotten shore your eternal punishment for such a vile
disgrace:
Do you Derek, being a worthy Gentleman shellback doth take
this young mermaid to be your partner, your first mate, and your wife upon the
great voyage of marriage? Do you promise to love her through stormy seas, and
when your sails hang slack and becalmed, through life’s bearnacles and
shipwrecks, reefs and typhoons?
(and to walk the plank if you don’t?)(“I do”)
Do you, Susan, being a worthy Lady shellback doth take this
young eel to be your partner, your first mate, and your husband upon the great
voyage of marriage? Do you promise to love him through stormy seas, and when
your sails hang slack and becalmed, through life’s barnacles and shipwrecks,
reefs and typhoons?
(and to walk the plank if you don’t?) (“I do”)
Harken to my words, and repeat unto each other the
following:
I, Derek , take you, Susan , to be my wife,
through low tide and high, through calm and gale, through bilge and barnacle,
to love you more than treasure, to protect you from shark and pirate, to give you
me gold, me heart, me honor, me friendship and me constant love, ‘til the big
red sun sets o’er the yardarm, and the ship’s bell rings it’s final toll. This
I swear by the key to Davey Jones’ Locker.
I, Susan , take you, Derek , to be my husband,
through low tide and high, through calm and gale, through bilge and barnacle,
to love you more than treasure, to protect you from shark and pirate, to give
you me gold, me heart, me honour, me friendship and me constant love, ‘til the
big red sun sets o’er my yardarm and ship’s bell rings it’s final toll. This I
swear by the key to Davey Jones’ Locker.
‘Tis a long-standing tradition to exchange the gift of a
ring, a sword, or a marlin spike upon this occasion, and I would ask if such a
gift be present here today? If so would the groom present his mermaid the gift
of a ring with the following words:
“Upon your finger may this ring linger, a token of my love
blessed by ‘eaven above.”
And then will the bride present to her sailor the ring she
bears?
“Upon yon finger may this ring linger, a token of my love
blessed by ‘eaven above.”
KNOW YE: that o this 4th day of February 2015,
there appeared at the shores of Our Royal Domain – Derek and Susan, who have
cast off from the single life and embarked upon the voyage of matrimony.
BE IT REMEMBERED AND BE IT KNOWN: By all ye Sailors,
Mariners and Land Lubbers, who may be honoured by King Neptune’s presence, that
Susan and Derek, having been found worthy to be numbered as a couple OF OUR
TRUSTY SHELLBACKS, have been gathered to our fold and duly married by the
SOLEMN MSTERIES OF THE ANCIENT ORDER OF THE DEEP.
BE IT FURTHER UNDERSTOOD: That by the Call of the Conch and
nautilus, and by virtue of the power invested in me by Neptunus Rex, Ruler of
the Seven Seas, King of the Secret Currents, Lord of the Boundless Waves,
Master of the Tides, High Constable of the Coral Caverns and Uttermost Recesses
of the Deep, that I hereby Proclaim and Affirm the Aforementioned couple to be
shipmates for life And for Time Without Ending, and command them to henceforth
and forevermore show due honour and respect to King Neptune whenever they may
enter his Realm.
DISOBEY THIS ORDER UNDER PENALTY OF OUR ROYAL DISPLEASURE.
By Order of Neptunus Rex, Ruler of the Raging Main, it is my
honour to present Susan and Derek as shipmates for life!
FEBRUARY the 4th, 2015
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