Trip report! Let's see how far I get.. I have been utterly pooped, so haven't tackled writing about the trip. I'm fairly pooped tonight, so may just do a little now!

I was still feeling rough while getting ready Sunday morning. The fact that I stayed up until 2 getting ready did not help matters, of course. We were supposed to get up at 5-something, leave at 6-something. Luckily, while Chris rose with the sun (as usual), he let me sleep in because he is a very, very kind soul. I slept until 7:30.

So anyway, I was still miserable on Sunday. Trying to gather my things while stifling a sneeze, squinting. I was very disappointed -- still wanting to go, but disappointed I would feel so icky on my trip.

Last ditch, I took some Dayquil and did some nasal sprays right before we left. Chris realized the ice had all melted and had to run over to the store to get some more. I collapsed on the couch and realized how much I wanted to just stay there, on the couch, in the air conditionining. It was a very scary realization.

But a half-hour or so into the boat ride, I felt everything start to get clear. Wow, I thought, that Afrin must be some good stuff. I made a mental note to repeat the Dayquil & Afrin routine later.

I never had to do anything else the rest of the trip and I felt fine. Amazing, right?

So anyway, we were warned that the gulf stream can be all scary and rough. We hit it on a good day and only knew we were in it because of the change in the color of the water. It was freaking amazing. Seriously.



So it was a really nice, smooth ride. I watched an episode of Law & Order and snapped lots of pictures and, next thing I knew, Bimini was in sight!



Of course, neither Chris nor I knew what to do next. We motored around hoping to see something that would give us a clue. We ended up by a trawling boat, on which the fellas shouted over that we needed to go find the pink building, which was customs. Okay, we said, and were on our merry way.

This was the channel we were going through.



It was gorgeous.

There were lots of boats around. Everyone, you could tell, was from Florida. No one was obeying the "NO WAKE ZONE" signs. That was annoying.

Right next to the channel was this:



I wonder how many drunken boaters run into that.

Well, we ended up at the marina for a resort. A nice dude that worked for them hopped on our boat and said he'd show us where customs was. When we pulled up to the building, Chris and I both exclaimed, "This is the PINK BUILDING we were looking for?!"



Yeah.

Later on, we saw the building from the street and then it made a little more sense.



It used to be pink.

I think the falling-down Customs sign is definitely a nice touch, don't you?

We had some paperwork to fill out, but eventually they told us we could stay and they gave me a nice stamp for my passport.



We anchored out in the channel so we could clean ourselves up... Ahh, showers!



Then we went "into town." We did a very quick tour, but that's really all you need of Bimini. We decided on the Red Lion Pub to eat. They serve turtle, which they bill as tasting "like veal" (double bonus!). I had to eat the shrimp off of Chris's seafood sampler and some corn on the cob. Ha. When we got back to the boat, I made myself a fluffernutter.

We had planned on going back out onto the water to sleep, but Chris's friend in the big boat had left, so we decided to sleep back at the marina. For which we never paid... So we officially were squatting. There were all these empty spots, and who knows where the dockmaster was.. and we weren't getting electricity or water or anything anyhow. Rationalize, rationalize.



It was actually a pretty good situation. I had a real, flushing toilet to use in the morning, with a place to wash my hands, etc. They even had a nice restaurant we apparently should've eaten at... This is where we had to get our air fills, this is where the locals told me I had to come for ice, etc. It's the cornerstone of the community, this place.

Also, they had showers.



Considering we got all this for free, I was willing to forgive them for the Jimmy Buffett. I mean, I like Jimmy as much as the next chick, but can we get any more cliche for something to play at a waterfront resort? They did play Sublime at one point, but mostly it was Jimmy Buffett and stuff that sounded very much like him. I'm sure the staff loves the music. During the day, all the guests were gone and it was just the almost just the staff around, cleaning and hanging out and shooting pool and stuff, but STILL it was the Eagles and stuff on the radio. What a shame -- I much preferred the stuff I heard coming out cars going by on the street.

OK, now, yeah - wow - I need some sleep. More manana!  ¶ 10:26 PM