We left No Name Harbor in Miami at 4 am.  Unfortunately, the wind was coming straight at us from the southeast all day.  It didn’t seem to slow down other boats, as more than ten came across today on the same route from Miami as we took.  We know this because they all passed us.   The photo on the left shows two sailboats which left No Name about an hour after us, caught us, passed us, and arrived in Bimini a few hours before us.   The disadvantage we have is that we are very heavy especially now that we are provisioned for six months.  But the big factor is that we can only run the engines at a certain speed in order to keep everything charged.  If we push the throttle too fast, we’ll use up our batteries.  So, while other boats can go full throttle, our Hybrid can’t. 

In the photo above, we were entering the harbor just before 4, but by the time we got anchored, it was close to 5 and we figured the immigration/customs office was closed.  They are probably closed tomorrow also, since it’s New Years’ Day. 

It may be a few days before we can go ashore. That’s OK.  At least we are safely here.  Someone told us we could go to the airport, but we’ll probably just wait.

We have a good Internet connection.  In fact, with our new wifi extender I am picking up 16 wifi networks, and ten of them are not encrypted, which means you can get online without using a password.  I was able to call my mom using MagicJack and get on the Internet, as well as check my e-mail. 

For once we actually had some food for lunch while we were sailing.  Usually we just snack, but I made some bread in the breadmaker this morning and we had purchased a rotisserie chicken yesterday at Publix which we used for sandwiches.  The best part was the smell of bread baking while we were sailing.

When we came into the Bimini Harbor, we passed a couple on a Lagoon 440.  He called us on the VHF radio and told us to come over when we anchored.  Mark went over, found out about what there is to do here, and they invited us to go watch fireworks with them in their dinghy.  However, we are exhausted so we’ll just catch up on our sleep instead. 

Besides having a good Internet connection, we also have the same channels on our TV we had in Miami.  The reception is excellent.  That was a surprise.  The cruising guide said that Bimini is a good place to ride a bike, so we’ll probably stay here for a few days and get accustomed to being in The Bahamas.  The weather is still very warm.  We had shorts on all the way here.  It’s going to cool down this weekend, however and will be in the 60’s.  Tomorrow it will be 75, which should be great.