FL Lauderdale or Miami to bimini

[beetlejuice30]

Is it possible to make the run from Miami to bimini with out fighting the current too much?
30 foot catalina, average 6 to 6.5 knots
I'm also looking for a few favorite places to head to and relax. Due to new projects at work I will not have as much to explore as I thought. We plan to do a lot of diving and beach drinking. Any suggestions?

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[s/v Moondancer]

The Gulf Stream will take you north by about 25nm which you have to make up by going into the stream of sailing south on one side or other of the Stream.

Easier to go to Key Largo down Biscayne Bay of Hawke's Channel, start from there and let the Stream carry you to Bimini.

[Steadman Uhlich]

I am sure others will have some good answers soon for you. I have not made that trip myself yet. But, I have spent some time researching the topic and found a very good source of advice and tips.

Here is a link to a page that has more links to more pages of information I found very useful when thinking about taking a small boat to Bimini or the Bahamas from Florida.

If you will search a bit on some of the pages, I think you will find excellent advice and good details about what to expect. You might also like to see the detailed description of his crossing (it is well illustrated with chartplotter screen shots etc.). It is the very BEST and most comprehensive guide I have seen online to making that trip. The writer's text and photos are well crafted and illustrate the entire voyage well. The writer is SUMNER and he is a member of CF too.

http://1fatgmc.com/boat/mac-1/2015%2...Main-Menu.html

Bon Voyage!


See this thread (I posted comment #3 and #7) for some recent tips on Sailing from South Florida to Bimini:
http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...ml#post2251755

[travellerw]

I made the trip from No Name in March of this year. I was actually surprised at how little the current pushed us. Pretty sure I just got lucky and it was a weak week.

However... Tons of boats leave from No Name and if you pick your window right it can be an easy run. If you want to sail it though, you may be waiting for weeks for the right windows. Motoring or motor sailing gives you much more opportunities.

We left at 4:00am and were in Bimini in the early afternoon!

[mikeod]

Last time we left from Miami we left just before dark and headed south 20 to 25 miles then you can sail on an east heading and get pushed right up to bimini by mid morning. No need to head out in the middle of the night or rushing to get in before dark. I like sailing at night but do not like leaving or arriving in darkness.

[tdh1849]

From Miami, "Government Cut", steer about 129 degree while motor sailing. Leave at night, you will see the lights of Bimini while still3 hours out.

You will want to see "Honeymoon Harbor" as well as the wreck of the Cement ship, which is great for snorkeling/diving, both to the south of Bimini Harbor.

Finally, great info can be had from the Bahamas Tourism office in Plantation, last I knew.

Stay safe.................

[Tingum]

Go down to marathon, spend some time, WAIT FOR WEATHER!, then leave from there. Much easier trip, particularly this time of year.

[wannacat]

Go to Waterway Guide | cruising guide, fuel pricing, navigation alerts and news for boaters and yacht enthusiasts and order the 2017 "Bahamas" edition. Normal price is $44.95, but they have 30% off till the 25th of this month. Covers the entire Bahamas c/w with all the marinas, diving, beach and bar info. An invaluable tool for planning and being in the Bahamas! We leave from Lauderdale at daybreak and make Bimini usually by 0700 hrs with a cruising speed of 6.5 knots through the water on average. You'll probably average a little slower , so if you left at 0500, you'd have no problem getting there in daylight. Bimini Bluewater Marina has been the most reasonable place in the past. Great staff, clean and secure facility. We'll be passing through there mid to end of January on way to the Exumas. I believe the Bahamas guide still has a chart for the course to steer based on your speed in it for various crossing's to and from Florida. Enjoy!

[dfloeter]

In 2008 we took our old Catalina 30 from No Name to Bimini on a light air day. IIRC I steered about 20 degrees south of the initial bearing to Bimini and arrived with little correction required.

While around Bimini I would recommend dinghying (at higher water as it nearly dries out a low tide) to the east end of North over the flats past the bone fishing grounds. The mangroves and pools back there are beautiful and you might even find the mythical Healing Hole where the Fountain of Youth might be found. At leat according to local lore. Enjoy.

[aliddell]

Went on the site but didn't see any discounts.

[Catkeywest]

I just ordered it from Landfall for the discounted price.

[skipmac]

Without a doubt it is easier to cross to Bimini from farther south but unless I had to wait on weather or for some other reason hang in Florida for a few days I wouldn't waste time going south just for a better crossing angle. Just cross from Ft Lauderdale or Miami (but not W Palm to Bimini).

Diving around Bimini is somewhat limited. Of course must do the Sapona (concrete shipwreck aground in 15-20' of water just south of Bimini). The Bimini Road (supposedly Atlantis if you believe in fairy tales), Moray Alley (reef area a few miles west of N. Bimini. I think there are some nice reefs SW-SSW of Cat Cay but every time I was there a big head boat had blocked up the whole area.

If you are into technical diving and have the right gear the Bimini Wall is spectacular. About 6 miles west of the island the sandy bottom drops down a vertical wall that's 300-400' high. The top of the wall is 130-150' so NOT for novices. It's also a drift dive as you are in the Gulf Stream so must have a chase boat and divers tow a surface float. This dive best done on trimix. Do not attempt this on air (and way, way too deep for Nitrox) and a single Al 80.

[Davidhoy]

Originally Posted by wannacat

Go to Waterway Guide | cruising guide, fuel pricing, navigation alerts and news for boaters and yacht enthusiasts and order the 2017 "Bahamas" edition. Normal price is $44.95, but they have 30% off till the 25th of this month. C!

I just went to the website to buy a copy - how do you get the 30% off discount?

-David

[wannacat]

The promo code that was sent to my email was " CCHOLIDAY16 ".
Hope it works for you. I'll be ordering one tomorrow. My existing one is 6 years old and I'd like to update.

[Rocinante33]

I did the run from South Florida to Bimini twice last summer.

First trip out left Miami late afternoon and we anchored to the dive buoy at Fowey Rocks light for the night. Got up at 5 AM and took off from there with a good SSE wind of 15 or so knots which held all day. Perfect. We kept up an apparent heading of 120* in order to make a true course of 90* at 5.5-6 kph for 8.5 hours and arrived off Bimini around 4 PM.

When we got to Bimini the electronic charts started to show strange readings. I was using a Lowrance Elite 7 with Navionics charts and both of those, failed to load any data at close resolution. Approaching the harbor between North and South Bimini is not very challenging but all three apps showed us aground when we were in the center of the channel. The paper chart and an iPhone map gave us just enough info and confidence for a daylight approach.

I called Lowrance about this when I got back and the tech had the same phenom when he tried to diagnose. He said that he would get back to me and a week later he called to tell me that the nautical charts for Bimini are a few hundred feet off due to navigational errors in the 1840's that for some reason are difficult to correct for today, so Bimini is one of those places for which chart anomalies will always be a thing. This was true for both Lowrance's data nd for NAvionics. I put in my own waypoints and called it good.

Good thing I did. When I went back in early August, the wind forecast was for SSE winds, shifting to S. I was on a schedule so I left No Name at 5:30 AM and planned to motor if required. Motoring was required. The wind blew all day from ESE, shifting to E and the seas rose to 4-5 feet and became disturbed.

Keeping the same 120 heading but under motor and frequently chopping through at 3 or less knots, we made a true course of 90 again, but this time took almost 19 hours to do the crossing. It was not much fun and my crew got sick.

I had my waypoints but-of course-the Lowrance decided to dump them along with my previous track about 10 miles out (Bermuda Triangle, anybody?) so went in on visual and a paper chart. Rough seas, dark, and then a thunderstorm blew through reducing visibility to under a mile for about an hour.

When it passed, about 11 PM we had a visual on Bimini and proceeded towards the harbor. There are two VERY bright nav lights visible 10 miles out, that one might conclude are the harbor channel markers. That would be an error. They are lights that mark a small motorboat channel to a private hotel marina (Bimini Sands, I think) and they will take a boat like mine with a 5' draft aground on sand.

By this time it was 1:30 AM and another gusty t-storm was threatening, and after bumping the sand bottom a couple of times I retreated to 10' of water and threw out an anchor.

In the morning the channel markers were visible, but there are only four of them and only two are lit, and being used to Florida style lights, they were so faint as to be invisible at night. IF you know them, you will see them, but if you are looking for first world lights in a third world country you might miss them altogether. I did.

The rest of the trip was a smash. A professional Bahamian fisherman who had ridden out the storm at anchor and observed our plight offered to hire away my 11 year old mate and gave us a fish. He was awesome. I second Sapona snorkelling, Honeymoon Harbor, and dinghying over the flats in search of conch. Clifton and Boom-Boom at Brown's marina were perfect local hosts and gave us a bunch of great tips.

Can not wait to go again!

Fair (SSE) winds!


Post Script. On that same E to ESE wind we screamed back to Lauderdale at 6.5-8 knots with a couple of course corrections as the stream (which NOAA radio reported at 12 miles east of Port Everglades, actually continued to give us a turbo boost until we were less than a mile from the jetty.