North Star on the Great Loop Journey: Bimini Basin

Preparing for the trip

Captain Jerry has been making the final preparations to North Star, our 32 foot Cape Island down east trawler. We are anxious to leave our landlubber lives behind and begin our long awaited journey around the Great Circle. Join us as we travel 10, 000 kilometers: through the historic Trent Severn Waterway; the pristine waters of Georgian Bay; the North Channel of lake Huron; and hop from beach to beach on lake Michigan. We will visit Chicago and begin our trek along the rivers: Illinois; upper Mississippi; Ohio; Cumberland: Tennessee; Tenn-Tom Waterway and the Black Warrior. We will have transited through 68 locks at this juncture. We have chosen the inner route from Mobile Alabama to Tarpon Springs Florida and the shorter Ocheechobee Waterway to reach the East coast of Florida. We will skip over to the Bahamas to wait out the winter before heading North on the Atlantic Inter Coastal Waterway.
The 10 years of researching and planning are finally at an end and we invite you to come along on our adventure.

Thursday, February 2, 2012

Bimini Basin

We finally released the dock lines yesterday and we are making way. We are heading east on the Callousahatchee River, just a short distance per day. North Star is dragging her heels which probably means that she needs to be hauled out to have her bottom cleaned. We were pulling the dinghy behind us and it was encrusted with barnacles and unsightly growth. Chances are the same is true of North Star.
We are at a beautiful anchorage called Bimini Basin, on a Cape Coral canal (N26 33.5990 and W081 57.8553) We are rafted up to Black Tickle as the anchorage is fairly full with about other boats. There is a small park with clean restrooms and a free dinghy dock. There is a small beach where we landed to turn the dinghy over to clean the bottom. The park ranger came by when Jerry was done to tell us that we could not land on the beach. It is strictly for sunning.
I walked about 10 blocks in town to find the Publix that was mentioned in the guide. Sure enough there it was but it is quite a walk on a hot day.
Elaine and Bob, are residents who rent a couple of rooms in their house as well as the two boats at their dock. They welcome boaters to sit at the Tiki bar and help themselves to frosty mugs of beer on tap. We went over for happy hour and had a nice chat with one of the guests while a loud parrot squawked. It does bite. There is a table in the pool for cooling down while sampling a libation. You help yourself, leave money in the jar and wash your mugs when you're done. They have room for one or two boats at the dock with 15 amp service, very nice set up.
We finished off with a nice chicken dinner on Black Tickle, compliments of our chef Randy. Nice to have you back with us, Randy.
Today, the three of us are off to Hancock Creek anchorage which is 12 miles away in North Fort Myers.