We enjoyed a few days at anchor in Bimini Basin. We had to move a few hundred feet to the north one evening to give us some distance from some workers building a dock, but other than that, it was very quiet. We took the dinghy to shore and went to dinner, West Marine, groceries, etc. It was a good stop.

On Friday, one of our daughters came to visit for a few days. After picking her up with the dinghy, we decided to weigh anchor and head to Ding Darling to anchor for the night. Bimini Basin is nice, but Sanibel is nicer.

Then… tragedy struck. We fired up the engines and began our routine to set sail. As Wendy was moving up the side of the boat to connect a hose to the salt water washdown (the anchor gets very muddy here), her phone slipped out of her pocket and into the murky depths.

At Wendy’s request, I donned my fins and mask to try to recover the phone. The phone also had her ID and credit card, so it was kind of a hassle to lose it. We were in about nine feet of water and I was able to easily reach the bottom. The bottom is pretty loose and the slightest movement kicked up a lot of silt. I tried for about 20 minutes before giving up the phone to Davy Jones’ Locker.

Disappointed, we pulled anchor and moved slowly down the canal. The trip to Ding Darling was only 13.4 miles. After getting to the channel, we got up on plane for a while to make it a quick trip. The traffic was busy, but not crazy.

Upon arriving at Ding Darling, we found ourselves alone in the anchorage. We dropped our anchor and went for a swim. We swam a couple hundred yards to the shallows near shore and walked around looking at the wildlife. We swam back to the boat to enjoy sunset, dinner, and a quiet evening.

Overnight, the wind picked up to about 15 kts out of the ENE. It proved to be a bouncy and noisy night. Still, it’s hard to complain when living on the Loop.