By the account of most South Florida locals who spend time on the water, boating from the mainland to Bimini, Bahamas, during the winter is a really bad idea. Once you reach the Gulf Stream, eight-to-10-footers and beyond are notuncommon during the 50-something-mile trek. It’s best to make the blessed crossing in the summer months, but even then there’s a chance of rough water.
That’s actually good news, because winter is the best time for boating in Florida. Summer-boating there, especially on those dead-calm, glass-water days, is miserable The weather is simply too hot and humid. The water temperature often exceeds the high-80-degree mark, which makes getting in it less than refreshing.
This is why Stu Jones, the head of the Florida Powerboat Club, stops producing poker runs and such in the late spring and starts organizing multi-day club outings to the Bahamas. Jones, his wife, Jackie, and their oldest son, Tyler are here now with 16 Nor-Tech center console owners and their guests for inaugural invitational Nor-Tech Bahamas Run. Led by the Florida Powerboat Club founder, they’ll check out the local sites—Stingray Bay and SS Sapona shipwreck—before checking into the Resorts World Bimini property for the night. Then it’s off to Nassau, followed by Pig Beach on the way to Harbour Island for a few days. The group will finish with the Abacos.
Jones ran his Nor-Tech 390 Sport center console his family and a guest. The group stayed behind him for the crossing, which saw funky 2- to 4-footers in the Gulf Stream that dropped to less than one-footers as the fleet entered the protected leeward waters of the island.
By the time the center consoles pulled up to the docks at the Big Game Club Resort and started the Bahamian Customs process, the water was aquamarine glass. It bore a disturbing resemblance to the evil stuff Walter White and Jesse Pinkman cooked up in Breaking Bad.
Bimini water looks like a Pixar product. If it weren’t real you’d swear it was fake. Most of the folks on this trip are first-timers, so there were plenty of wide eyes and massive grins around the docks.
Their adventure is just beginning. The blessed crossing to Bimini was a mere gateway—but one opened at the right time of year—to an experience they’ll never forget.