Government Cut and Memories

The next day, we left late because we only had a short sail to the next inlet of Government Cut.  Another great sailing day except that we had to tack back and forth quite a bit, so the sun was going down by the time we made Government Cut.  We've gone in and out of this cut as bareboaters several times, so it was pretty cool to be going in on our own boat.  

There's a (new) rule that if a cruise ship is going out of the Cut, regular boats cannot be going in.  While we were tacking back and forth, we noticed at least three of the cruise ships had gone out, so we felt safe entering and motoring to our destination (UNDER A BRIDGE!!!), but halfway in, we noticed a big red boat coming out.  We slid over to let is pass and noticed it was a Bahamian boat taking folks to Bimini where, since we'd been there last 10 years ago, a casino had opened on the far side of the island.  Makes me sad because I know the feel of Bimini has been compromised.  The loss of the Compleat Angler to fire just added to that feeling.

We cleared the area and went by the marina where Gary and I first met.  Where there was a huge open parking lot stood skyscrapers and restaurants.  The marina had expanded exponentially over the years, too.  But it was neat to be back.

Because it was dark and you know my feelings about boating in the dark, I was relieved to make the bridge with a very good clearance (Gary had timed it thus).  But instead of taking the safe way around and having to come through a bascule bridge, he took the short cut, short in distance and short in water.  

At one point, I saw the depth sounder read 5.2, which meant we should have been scraping bottom, so I just turned my head away and didn't look again until we were in our anchorage.  Our friends on the s/v Azimuth were there and we said hello as we motored by, but we had to anchor away from them to allow for swinging room.  This is a rolly anchorage; not so bad the night we came in, but because it's a water play area, you have megayachts, smaller cruisers, jetskis, ski-boats, and every other kind of boat in between using the close by waters.  We are always moving.

On the plus side is the fact that a short dinghy ride away, you can find a grocery store, hardware store, and the famous Lincoln Road pedestrian area and South Beach.  The sail down was my first ocean run without Bonine, but I wondered if we'd need it just to stay anchored here.