The island disappeared.
We had come through the night across the Gulf Stream from Key Largo, Florida. When the sun rises on the water it is not only a spectacular display of artistic awe, but also a relief embraced by soul and spirit. The night blends both romance and suspense with a certain measure of tension, depending on the weather. The sunrise over the Atlantic washing across the Gulf Stream is an eraser of uncertainty and a harbinger of a great getaway just ahead.
We had raised Bimini off our starboard bow. An island rising is exciting. It begins slowly with tops. Tops of trees, tops of buildings, and tops of hillsides. Soon more rises from the water and land appears. Many times you can smell land before you can see it. It is a good smell. It is a mix of ground, trees, grasses, sometimes aromas from foods, and life that is of the land, both human and animal. Sometimes you can identify certain smells as earthy and sometimes it is the smell where land and sea meet. The sea can smell differently along the shore than at great depths and has to do with the mixing of salt and sand, seaweed, sea life, and sea-moistened land.
Rising in the east was Bimini. Our Getaway just ahead. Then more suddenly than it rose, it disappeared in a squall. Tropical weather comes quickly. You can see it coming, and you can brace for it, but usually you cannot out run it, especially in a sail boat.
"Where did it go?" The Kid called out, searching for the land that had been just ahead of us.
"Dunno. There was something of a wreck to starboard. The water was breaking over there." I pointed.
This Captain and The Kid have been through squalls before. But during this one we were just coming onto the Bahama Bank. The water depth can change quickly, and thus dangerously shallow. I kept close watch on our depth finder, because we could not see the water in front of us to read any color changes.
"Can you see any break in this?"
The clouds were dropping rain very hard and the winds had stirred the sea and the air together so reading the clouds was impossible. It was best to just hold course. If the squall would pass as quickly as it came upon us we would be OK.
"120 feet" I called to The Kid. " We're a little north. The wind has pushed us out some."
"Hey! It's letting up!"
Just as The Kid spoke those words we had sun and rain; then sun and watched the squall roll toward Florida. Bimini popped up right in front us. The Kid rushed to the bow and began taking visual readings.
"There's the bottom!" The Kid cried out. "What's our depth!"
The bottom came up from the depths very fast. It took me by surprise and at first I was not sure if the depth finder reading was accurate because the bottom was clear like when you are in swimming depth. I tapped at the depth finder.
"It says 50 feet."
As we came into Bimini the depth finder proved accurate as the reading kept showing the depths to be more shallow. We pulled into the pier to clear customs and to begin the Bimini part of our escape. Almost immediately the fun began, but that for next time.
The Captain and The Kid
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