JetBoaters.net Bimini Fling July 10th to 15th 2017

[Valerie]

they made it to Bimini

 

[Valerie]

I know you guys are looking for a fresh water rinse but this is happening when we get back
at Disappearing Island

 

[robert843]

they made it to Bimini

Did they have a tracker? I didn't see any updates on face book anywhere maybe I'm looking in the wrong spot though.

 

[Bruce]

Currently we have 120 adults and 59 youth registered for the 2017 Bimini Fling!

 

[swatski]

Currently we have 120 adults and 59 youth registered for the 2017 Bimini Fling!

@Bruce if you keep growing the group at this pace, we may be able to raft up and WALK over there.

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[Andy S]

@Bruce if you keep growing the group at this pace, we may be able to raft up and WALK over there.

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I might end up something like this,

 

[Bill D]

So, not to take this thread in a serious direction, but... Do you have an idea on how many groups and what the group size may be to manage this many boats?

 

[Bruce]

So, not to take this thread in a serious direction, but... Do you have an idea on how many groups and what the group size may be to manage this many boats?

That is a project for next week but we will likely split into six or seven groups for the crossing. Fortunately we have plenty of experienced Captains returning from last year several of which have already been involved in the behind the scenes planning.

 

[Bill D]

We'll be arriving all day! Lol

 

[Bruce]

We'll be arriving all day! Lol

The groups will be tightly spaced.

 

[blacksapphirez]

I wanna be one of the first ones to Bimini!

 

[Bruce]

I wanna be one of the first ones to Bimini!

When we get to Bimini you can expect to spend several hours waiting to clear customs. With six groups leaving within 30 minutes being in the first or last will make little difference.

 

[Bill D]

I plan to turn my watch to island time as soon as we deploy the yellow flag.

 

[2nazt]

Having all your paperwork filled out and correct and passports and everything ready will be the only thing to get through the process faster. If anyone is willing to look through everyones papers at the captains meeting for mistakes or corrections would greatly help the process upon arrival. Make sure you bring all pages of the fillable PDF with you even if you do not type anything on them. I got stuck behind a gentleman at the immigration office with his papers out of order and it delayed me for quite some time, and put the officer in charge in a bad mood for me...

 

[robert843]

@Valerie did we hear if the crew that left today made it to Nassau?

 

[Bruce]

Having your paperwork completed perfectly will ocertainly speed up the process. You also need to have all passports and exact cash ready. I will hand out landing cards at the Captains meeting that will need to be completed for every person traveling.

I have been talking with the Bahamas Tourism staff in Fort Lauderdale every few weeks. They have arranged for customs personnel to be at Bimini Sands for our arrival. They are aware how many of us are coming. With a little bit of luck their District Manager will be in Bimini when we arrive.

I expect to have the best customs and immigration experience that we have had. But with the larger number of boats it will take a while.

 

[2nazt]

@Bruce will that also cover the immigration office or will that still require its own trip? When I went they had a customs officer at the Sands when I showed up and was there every day I stopped in.

Depending on conditions you could have every other group use a different location one at Sands one at BGC and back and forth to spread the load possibly. Just spitballing ideas but I'm sure from all your planning you will have a smooth experience regardless.

 

[Bruce]

@2nazt, it will be full dock side service at Bimini Sands. You should not need to leave your boat until you go to pick up your key to go to your condo.

It is expected that the majority of customs and immigration staff on the island will be waiting for us at Bimini Sands so there would not be benefit to going anywhere else.

July 10th is their Independence Day Holiday. So I expect everyone will be in a hurry to get us checked in.

Ideally I would like to have our dockage assigned before we depart for Bimini so that we will not be playing musical chairs with 50 vessels for customs then checking in to the condos. I have been talking with Bimini Sands about this but will not know for sure until days before departure.

I may have another nice surprise for check in but that will wait until the captains meeting.

It is also possible that all these plans do not work out and we make the best of whatever the situation becomes.

 

[2nazt]

@Bruce thats awesome! Hats off to you for your dedication to this event and time and effort put forth by you and the other behind the scene organizers! If all else fails adapt and overcome.

 

[Valerie]

@robert843 seems they are delayed in Bimini due to weather