We arrived in Bimini after a moderately fair crossing from Miami. As is often the case, the forecast sounded better than it was. I’m not sure I've liked having working wind gauges. I now have a better idea of wind speed and direction. On the crossing, even subtracting out our 7 kts , it registered well over 20 kts much of the time and right on the nose. Seas ran 3-5 feet. However, Sable is fast, and we made the crossing in just under 7 hours.
Now we are waiting on the weather window to make the run to West End on Grand Bahama Island. That will be tomorrow. We hadn’t planned to stay this long in Bimini but I chickened out on departing yesterday, I didn’t like the forecast. It turned out to be a good move, not only hoping for a more comfortable crossing, but we attended the first ever circus in Bimini.
Beside us at the dock at Big Game Club is the sailboat Sea Iguana with Canadians onboard. But these folks aren’t ordinary sailors. Bert, a Quebecois social worker, is the director of Bimini Quebec whose goal it is to build relationships between Canadians and Biminites. He sponsors a group of volunteers each month to come to Bimini to paint houses and focus on various beautification projects on Bimini. But Bert has another goal: a focus on Bimini youth projects. For the first time, which we were fortunate to be part of, he brought performing artists from Montreal National Circus School in Quebec , put on shows ,and set up a circus day camp for the children of Bimini. His hope is that this will broaden the outlook of the children, and in some small way help open their minds to what is available for them beyond what they see in Bimini. If you ‘re curious, you can find out more about this project at http://www.biminiquebec.ca or on their facebook, Bimini Quebec.
With this in mind, we attended the first of several circus performances that he will host this week with the cooperation of the manager of the Big Game Club where we are docked. It was well attended by Biminites and boaters and equally enjoyed by young and old- as the saying goes. The acts included acrobatics, the precision cycling duo of Yldor and Maxime. and juggling (with fire) and tumbling by Gabriel.
Ed got his chance— well, he was “volunteered”—to be part of the show. His role, was to be one of 5 men who lined up on the ground and Gabriel (who also juggled with fire, balls and clubs) did a running back flip over the group. Since Ed was last in line, Maxime laid on top of Ed to make sure he wasn’t injured if Gabriel didn’t quite make his goal. I’m not sure how Ed felt about this, but all ended well. Ed is intact and Gabriel landed on his feet to a grand applause.
Tomorrow, West End.
