THE END OF THE 2008 ADVENTURE IN THE ABACOS

July 3 – July 27, 2008

Being Blue in a Beautiful Way

We have managed to keep busy since the last blog posting. It is with much sadness that I'm now (July 24) writing the final chapter of this year's Spring/Summer cruise; we all wish that we were staying longer. That's saying a lot since we have had relatively poor weather with lots of wind, overcast days, day and night thunderstorms, terrible lightning, hurricane anxiety, water with poor visibility and fast moving currents, hordes of biting insects,burned by fire coral, shark encounters of an unpleasant kind, and finally, very hot days when the wind wasn't blowing. So, why have we stayed and still don't want to leave? Read the rest of the story!

The Motley Crew

Stranded Naked

30 boats ended up anchored in our “neighborhood” the night of July 2, most all to attend the big event scheduled for the next day on Fiddle Cay, an easy dinghy ride around corner of our Crab Cay. Many more people, as evidenced by the photographs, arrived in various vessels from neighboring cays and other anchorages.

Just a Part of the Food Line

Our Happy Group

Despite ominous skies, this Regatta Time event proved to be a fun time for all. No one could ask for a refund since the food and drinks were free! The grilled hamburgers, hot dogs, fries, and fixings went well with the Abaco Glow margaritas. Commemorative t-shirts were for sale, and that line was nearly as long as the food line. Jimmy Buffet music blared from steamer trunk sized speakers as people wore funny hats, competed in contests, walked a tight rope, milled about in the gin clear water, and caught up on cruising news with old and new friends.

Food Instructions

The Real Party Animal

Strategically Placed Flowers

Leaving Civilization Behind

After we finished eating our food and completed our social interactions at Stranded Naked we hauled up the anchor to head north to Allans-Pensacola Cay. This was to be our first stop in what would be a gradual move westward through a chain of small, remote cays that are mostly uninhabited except for a couple of small settlements that can provide only a minimal amount of goods and services. In fact, only the most adventuresome cruisers spend extended time in these areas because of poor holding, shallow water with swift currents, and no protection from the wind. Those are especially trying conditions for FLUKE with her deep draft, heavy weight, and big windage. An eye to the weather on a daily basis is a must!

Signing Tree

All that negative stuff aside, Allans-Pensacola is an idyllic cay with picturesque surroundings. In times past, this land mass was once two separate cays, but a hurricane joined the two together by pushing up large amounts of sand such that now there is vegetation growing on the “new” area. Allans was once the site of a U.S. missile tracking station, and the abandoned ruins, old dock, and foot path to a beautiful beach (opening photo) with colorful silver buttonwood signing trees are regularly visited by passing cruisers. Nearby offshore reefs and cuts between the small adjacent cays, afford excellent trolling, spearfishing, and snorkeling opportunities.

Allans-Pensacola Yacht Club Dock

We celebrated July 4 aboard FLUKE with our friends Janet and Bruce from NOCALL. Janet made a big dish of lasagna. That feast was topped off with the traditional holiday dessert of ice cream, an extra special treat when you're in the Bahamian out islands. Eddie had been whining about eating the ice cream since the beginning of June, but had finally been convinced it would be more enjoyable to share it with friends who would appreciate the treat too! And they did.

Eddie speared his first edible fish (Nassau and strawberry groupers) on July 10. Then, we enjoyed our most memorable Bahamian meal aboard FLUKE with Janet and Bruce: freshly caught grouper and hogfish encrusted with coconut and almonds (Janet's special fish dish), cole slaw, scalloped potatoes,and fruit ambrosia. Who needs a restaurant?

The Hunters With Their Catch

Bahamian Feasters

After leaving Allans-Pensacola, still traveling with NOCALL, we made a day stop in Cooper's Town, located along the eastern shore of Great Abaco a.k.a., the mainland of the Abacos. NOCALL needed some dinghy fuel and a couple of grocery items. We bought a 4# bag of sugar for $2.99. The classy hot spot waterfront bar and eating establishment had a sign that read “No Dope Smoking”.

Waterfront Conch Bar

With high westerly winds in the forecast we decided to anchor off of Angelfish Point, a short distance north of Cooper's Town, and the northernmost point of land on Great Abaco. Aye Doc, with Stacy and Nancy aboard, joined up with us. We anchored for 5 nights behind a 43' hill of land that helped block the winds and rain that came with the thunderstorms. We productively passed time between storms by walking the inside beach, exploring the backwater shallow areas adjacent to where we were anchored, trolling in the lee of the point, and snorkeling along the rocky shoreline.

He Drew Blood

The shallow areas of the mangrove flats offer some interesting exploring opportunities if you aren't in a hurry and have the patience to carefully pick your way through the skinny water in your dinghy. Blue holes of various sizes, some hardly larger than FIN, abound. It is fascinating to come upon a deep blue hole sitting amidst a brown, grassy shallow area. You glide over it and peer down through the crystalline blue water; you may see honeycombed rock formations with fish swimming in and out or even water bubbling the sand around the bottom where the water is spilling into the hole from an underground stream. A small barracuda jumped right into FIN and startled us!

Looking for Deeper Water

Eddie and I had fun trolling. We had several hits and boated a toothy barracuda, big horse eye jack and even bigger, cubera snapper. Despite making great fillets, Eddie and Wayne wouldn't eat the snapper when I mentioned that this species of snapper was associated with ciguatera poisoning. This neurotoxin accumulates in the food chain when toxin containing dinoflagellates are consumed by small reef dwelling species of fish who are, in turn, eaten by bigger fish which further concentrates the toxin. The toxin, which doesn't affect fish, is most frequently associated with large sized barracuda, grouper, and snapper (bigger than what we caught). Usually word will be out in regions where ciguatera has been found, and we haven't heard of anyone being afflicted during our travels. Oddly enough, the guys have eaten grouper and other snapper until they have started to grow scales. We reached a compromise by freezing the Cubera to eat when we get back to Florida and have access to 911 or the nearby community hospital.

Cubera Snapper

You don't need vibrant, colorful coral reefs to have fun snorkeling as evidenced by the good time we had poking among the rocks lining the shore for 4 hours. Eddie found a small Danforth anchor, and I found a mushroom anchor. We saw so many lobster (to say 100 would not be exaggerating) just sitting side by side in ledges; some ledges were stacked on top of one another, and they were filled with another whole row of lobsters. We are so disappointed not to be here for lobster season which starts August 1 as we would only need a day to get our legal quota. Oh well, we sure have had a lot of enjoyment anyway in just seeing them in their natural habitats. I poked through octopus middens and found a couple of nice shells. Despite my declaration that it would be a recreational snorkel Lloyd took along his spear anyway, but I wouldn't tell him when I saw any fish. We had swam to shore from FLUKE and trying to spear fish with no place to put them would only lead to trouble as you will read about further into this blog.

We were finally able to move further westward to the Fish Cays on July 17. They are a group of 4, low lying cays with a couple of nice beaches surrounded by beautiful water. However, they are out in the open and plagued by swift currents. We were bounced around quite a bit and could hear the water ripping by under the hull when the tide was moving. We came here to do some spearfishing on the nearby reefs, but unsettled weather only permitted a two night stay.

We moved over to Strangers Cay, trolling and boating 2 barracuda, for another stay of just two nights. Scoured sea bottom makes finding a good anchor hold a real challenge. Swift currents move off nearby bars and cuts, and there is minimal wind protection from the low land mass.

The Fleet at Anchor

Everyone wanted to spearfish the nearby reefs in hopes of finding some good fish since the area doesn't get a lot of visitors. Murky water dampened our efforts, but we managed to get a few anyway.

Stacy took Janet, Nancy, Ursa, and I to the oceanside beach for shelling. Beach landings are difficult because of the surge from the onshore waves, so you have to time your exit from the skiff properly. Nancy had gotten off the bow and was moving toward shore and stepped into a hole at the same time I was getting off the bow. I tripped over her and fell down. Wayne had tossed Ursa into the water to swim to me while Stacy was trying to back up the skiff to keep from getting pushed into us, so she just added to the confusion. We were all laughing so much it was difficult to get up!

Uncloudy Day, a Bahamian conch boat, came in to anchor for a night. The boat carries 10,000 conch, which they take to Nassau to sell for $2.50 each, provided they are delivered alive. It takes the 5 man crew about a week to fill the boat. Every night they have to unload ALL the conch into their 2 dinghies and take them to shallow water where they are retrieved again the next morning. The conch can't crawl away because 4-5 are strung together with a rope looped through a hole in the outer part of their shell. The dinghies are piled so high with conch they are barely above the water, and have to be constantly bailed out to keep from going under.

Two crew members came by our boats wanting to trade their conch for “smokes or beer”. I told them we don't smoke and we were out of beer to where I was going to have to ask Stacy to let us have a couple of cans. We didn't want any conch anyway, but I asked them if they needed some canned foods. They just laughed at me!

The most special event at Strangers Cay was getting to see the green flash at sunset. Until you get to see one you don't know how unique it is. When the sunset's horizon is clear, and atmospheric conditions are correct, the orange yellow orb of the sun melts into the last bit of the horizon and a beautiful emerald green flash pops up for about a second. If you blink, you will miss it, but if you see it you will remember it forever.

On July 21 we moved further west to Wells Bay, adjacent to the Grand Cays. Trolling on the way over proved to be profitable. We boated a gigantic barracuda that put on a good show, leaping 8-10' out of the water after it was hooked. We also caught a nice yellowtail snapper (in the freezer), an Almaco jack, and half an amberjack, which was chewed off when I was reeling it in.

Yellowtail Snapper

Little Grand Cay has a small settlement and provides some basic goods and services so it is a popular cruiser's stop in this part of the northwestern Abacos. Walkers Cay is about 2-3 miles away. It used to be a popular dive and fishing resort until it was destroyed by a hurricane a few years ago and has never been rebuilt, although you can still clear customs and immigration there. Wells Bay has fair holding, but you have to chose your spot carefully as many of the clear bright patches on the bottom are not sand, they are that scoured, rocky marl.

Wells Bay Beach Meeting

The patch reefs are close to the Bay, so are a convenient dinghy ride. I thought they were the most beautiful heads we have seen on this trip. There is a large diversity of fish and both hard and soft corals, varying depths, interesting structure formations and fair currents. We had a special treat on one dive when a pod of 8 dolphins spent some time with us swimming in the water. Janet was even able to get some good video footage.

Our weather woes continued with thunderstorms popping up in mid morning, right about the time we like to leave to go diving. One day we were caught out on the reef and had to ride back in the pelting, cold rain with lightning and thunder. Pretty scary.

Nearby Conch Shell Cay has a small beach on the northwest tip where you can find quite a bit of sea glass. You have to pay your dues though; there is no place to safely land the dinghy, so you have to anchor off and swim in. If you swim into the beach be very careful of the slick, flat rocks that are right off the beach. I made 2 trips and added quite a few nice pieces to my sea glass treasure chest.

Lillies by the Sea

Eking Out An Existence

I think out island living presents a hard life for most of the residents, and much of their lifestyle pits our ideals of conservation against their daily livelihoods. Most cruisers come here to enjoy the natural resources and do follow bag limit rules. We have to pay $300 to clear customs, part of which is supposed to be used for “conservation”.

I already described the activities aboard the conch boat, Uncloudy Day, and that is just one of those boats, and there are many more. They are having to go further and deeper to find the conch to maintain their livelihoods. The conch are not keeping up.

We have walked deserted beaches on uninhabited cays and saw where sea turtle nests have been dug up to harvest all the eggs. And they are still killing the turtles.

Janet saw a Bahamian woman collecting bird eggs along a rocky shore, probably night hawks, terns, or gulls like I have marveled over and written about in an earlier posting.

In Wells Bay we watched 2 men pull up an abandoned electrical cable from the sea bottom and cut it into pieces to salvage the copper to sell for scrap. Very hard work, but at least they are not hurting their natural resources.

The settlement towns of Grand and Cooper's Town do not look thriving. I do not know how they are able to afford to pay the high prices for food and fuel that we see here. A walk around town brings friendly smiles from residents, but they are just milling around during the traditional work hours. Hopefully they have a viable plan for the future, and it just isn't based alone on these words posted at the school.

Trying to Teach the Young

How Lloyd Kept All His Limbs and Became a Champion

One of our goals this trip was to learn how to spearfish, and I have briefly mentioned that we had some success. Much thanks goes to Bruce and Janet (and later on, Stacy) who took the time and patience to let us go diving with them and give us tips on techniques and safety. We know that they chose dive sights that were best suited to our level of skill, despite my complaints that I felt we were being trained for the Senior Olympics with some of the currents we had to swim in.

Lloyd Hones his Weapon

One of the spearfishing rules we tried to adhere to was to dive in pairs, so early on Eddie and I would go out together with Eddie carrying the spear and both of us trying to spot fish. Then, if Eddie would dive down to try to take a shot, I would hover nearby to make sure that he didn't get into any trouble, particularly watching out for sharks.

If a fish is speared and isn't killed directly by the hit, it will thrash violently to try to free itself from the spear. The thrashing and sounds made by the fish, noise of the spear hitting the fish or rocks, blood in the water, and our movements all serve to make the reef creatures take notice. Some of them come out of their hiding places to see what's going on, some swim farther away, and some even come close to the speared fish hoping to get a piece of the action. Thus, it becomes very important to get the speared fish to the surface and out of the water and into the dinghy as soon as possible.

July 11, the day after Lloyd's first big success, nearly proved to be the end of his budding new career. We were diving on a large coral head with a lot of current and had gotten quite a ways from the dinghy. Plus, we were both carrying spears and got separated going after different fish. I heard Eddie yelling and looked up to see he had speared a fairly large hogfish and was struggling to keep it out of the water. I was a bit closer to the dinghy than I was to him, so I decided to swim back to get the dinghy and then go pick up Eddie.

I heard Eddie yell “shark” and just swam as fast as I could. By the time I managed to get to him with the dinghy he had dropped his weight belt (he didn't think he could stay afloat during the melee´) and the shark had grabbed hold of the fish and spear and took off. We were lucky there was only one shark and the speared fish kept him occupied! Fortunately Eddie only lost the expensive spear and his weight belt. He was determined not to quit though.

It was another week before the weather calmed enough to allow us to dive again, when we had moved to the Fish Cays. We added another safety net to our strategy: Wayne volunteered to stay in the dinghy and drive over to anyone who speared a fish and take the fish off. This gave everyone much better peace of mind and greater mobility.

We continued to have more encounters with the “toothy guys in the gray suits”, but we kept our distance and watched their behavior and moved to other areas. However, one more time, we knew we had overstayed our welcome and pressed our luck to the limit. Eddie wounded a fish, and Stacy went after it to try to shoot it again, and did, but not before the “word” had gotten out. As Stacy was bringing the wounded fish to the surface, two bull sharks (they are BAD) came after it; Stacy had to slap the fish off the spear to divert the sharks away from him and Nancy who was in the water nearby. Fortunately the two sharks were content to fight over the fish in time for all of us to get back in our boats.

By the time July 24 came, Eddie had gotten his technique down better, borrowed a weight belt from Bruce, and Stacy loaned him a different style spear and a set of “lucky” beads, presumably as a joke. However, on the next outing Eddie speared the most and biggest fish! Even the master divers cheered for him.

Eddie and His Hogfish

So, how has Jacquelyn managed to do? With minimal spear time, I've only shot 2 fish, and neither one stayed on the spear to allow me to get it to the surface. Eddie hit a fish which fell off his spear, and I swam to the bottom and grabbed it with my hand and surfaced and threw it in the dinghy. This year I can only take credit for being a good fish spotter for Lloyd, but I am looking forward to trying my luck at spearfishing during our next visit.

The Last Day

We left Wells Bay yesterday afternoon and headed to remote Mangrove Cay to spend the night. We were spared a night of thunderstorms and got up at 3:30 a.m. to finish crossing the Banks and cross the Gulf Stream in hopes of getting to Ft. Pierce inlet and up the ICW to Vero Beach before dark. The best news is that the crossing has been calm enough for me to write most of the day, and no one, not even Eddie, has gotten seasick. We've been trolling and have boated a barracuda and small tuna. The not so good news is that we probably won't make it to Vero before dark, but if we don't have to deal with a thunderstorm, which we can see in the distance, we can tough it out and get to the home dock.
Eddie has spent the day on the pity pot, lamenting over having to leave when there were more fish to be shot. Wayne has spent the day with Jason Bourne (Bourne Supremacy). I've been busy writing and being grateful for having been lucky enough to have spent the last nine weeks on another of life's adventures. We all want to walk and swim those islands again and we can find the way, since we left behind a trail.

What We Left Behind

Standby For Future News

FLUKE will be getting hauled out within the next month to have some preventative maintenance work done and to get some storm protection. We will have some photos to share, and you can see what this big girl looks like out of the water.

June 27 – July 2, 2008

Dive Right In!

Still Talking Treasure: When Strangers Become Friends

When was the last time, if ever, you introduced yourself to a complete stranger? Parties and work don't count!

It's easy to do when you're cruising. Conversation starters include hearing someone say something interesting on the radio, seeing a boat you want to know more about, passing someone on an island beach with no other people around, lending assistance, weathering the same storm, or seeing a boat in the same anchorage often enough to just introduce yourself. Before you know it you have a real treasure chest of seafaring friends and acquaintances. I smile when I hear one or more of them blowing through their conch shells, an island tradition, to signal the setting of the sun.

Treasure Hunters

That's how we met Janet & Bruce on NO CALL, a Krogen 42', aptly named for a couple who dropped out of the medical profession. Now they have become masters of the sea, cruising full time for almost 10 years, island hopping, spear fishing, diving, and perfecting their hobby of underwater photography and videography. We always look forward to being in the same area with them in hopes of tapping into their cruising data base and lifestyle which is so similar to ours. Eddie and I are hoping to get some serious spear fishing training, and we have already shared water time with 5 hr. snorkel forays out to a few of their favorite marked spots on the near shore reef.

We were invited aboard NO CALL for a soda party to be able to try out a compact machine that carbonates a liter bottle of water using a small CO2 cylinder, and then you add the flavoring of your choice, giving you a fresh bottle of soda. The machine saves all the trouble of having to carry drinks aboard; they take up so much space, add a lot of weight, and are difficult to store. We were pleased with the quality of the soda drink, its ease of use, economy, and portability. Another item to add to our shopping list.

Lloyd's First Taste of Blood

More news in the continuing saga of the undersea adventures of Jacquelyn and Lloyd.

Water temperatures have finally increased to where we can stay in the water for 5 hours without feeling cold and stiff or turning too blue. In fact, some pockets of water are so warm I feel like I'm swimming in a whale pee pool, although I do have to make sure I'm not down current from Lloyd because he says he pees at least 15 times per outing now.

On one snorkel trip we decided to take the short way to the ocean by trying to go out our nearby cut despite having a low tide (we didn't realize that the tide was really 1' lower than normal!) to save time from going the long way around. In two areas we had to push and pull our dinghies through sea grass tidal flats which were actually peeking above the water's surface. That is no small feat considering FIN weighs 800 pounds. By the time we had done this twice for both dinghies we were really beat and decided to take a water break. We also admitted we could have gone the long way twice for what it took us to get through the tidal flats once. Janet gave us one of those bottles that you squirt water into your mouth with. When I opened my mouth for Eddie to squirt the water he, he squeezed the bottle with full force and sent a fire hose sized blast directly into my windpipe, causing my poor lungs to scream out in pain, and the water got shot out right back at Eddie. It was the closest I've ever come to drowning, and I wasn't even submerged in the water!

J & B took us out to a blue hole located a short ways offshore of Manjack Cay, but well within the outer reef. Blue holes are outlets for underground “streams” that run through channels in the limestone. They can be in the ocean or on land and can be fed by fresh or salt water. Since they come from deep within the ground they are cold and generally clear.

The Manjack blue hole is actually a water outlet that shoots out from under and within the crevices and ledges of a big rocky coral head. When you float over the head you can see the clear, water “glowing” a crystalline, almost eerily blue color from the edges of the outlets and then feel the coldness of the water when you swim through it. Bruce has dove 70' down into one crevice, until the light ran out. We saw schools of graceful Atlantic spadefish, which we haven't seen anywhere else around here, but Janet says they are always around this blue hole.

At another site we saw a great grandfather (i.e., gigantic!) lobster crawling right over the surface of a coral head, a rarity in lobster behavior. Since the sun was shining brightly and the coral head was so close to the surface of the water the lobster was fully illuminated, showing all the colors in full splendor that we don't see as we peer at them under ledges or in crevices: purple, green, black, brown, and white. It was fascinating to watch all the legs and antennae purposely probing and reacting to our presence and close observation.

Even Wayne had some aquatic excitement back at FLUKE. A huge manta ray with a 6' wing span was swimming next to the boat, doing back rolls in the water over and over. They have such a funky looking mouth area and the jet black top side contrasts so starkly with its bright white underside. While having seen many other rays, we haven't seen any manta rays on our snorkel expeditions, and have never observed that kind of behavior before, so I was sorry I missed it.

The purpose of our last snorkel trip up to this posting was to combine forces to engage in a lionfish eradication attempt and get some shallow water practice using our spear. Lloyd went fully armed and managed to spear 3 lionfish, ranging in size from 4-6”. The small ones were the most difficult to hit since the spear tip was almost as big as the fish and would slide by the fish. None-the-less, after the first hit, Eddie was hooked and would have happily spent several hours in the water had it not been for the 2 gray reef sharks that showed up, presumably attracted to the spearing activity and dead fish. Their agitated behavior, as demonstrated by circling around us, swimming erratically, and quickly weaving to and fro made us all agree to climb back in our dinghies and head back to our mother ships.

More Neighborhood News

Eddie's Idea of Fun Aboard

One morning Wayne and I stopped by Joe's boat (SV Desire) to ask if he wanted to go for a land hike to the ocean side of Manjack and loop back by Half Moon Cove, north of where Carousel was being built. Good thing we weren't on a time schedule since it took us over 3 hours. Sight-seeing was great, but we had a big crowd of mosquitoes with us most of the time when we were in the canopied areas. No time to linger; they have become a nuisance since the rains have fallen.

Geiger Flowers

Wild Allamanda

We had to wade through the water part of the way to shortcut back to a regular path and happened upon an interesting group of little hermit crabs in a sandy patch left by the falling tide. No telling what kind of a meeting they were having!

Hermit Crabfest

Eddie and I helped with a rescue at sea mission. A sailboat, full of strangers, was aground here in our anchorage. They had lost their prop on the way over from Florida so they couldn't use their engine to help get them unstuck. We took FIN, a powerful dinghy by cruising standards, by to help push on the forward portion of the hull while another dinghy pushed on the aft portion and another sailboat pulled a line strung from the top of its mast. They put up a sail to get some wind assistance, and the boat was freed. The captain offered to buy us a beer at the next port!

We had 18 boats here last night. One of them belongs to a Kathy and Dave (Lemenski) , a guy that Wayne worked with at Telematics/ECI over 7 years ago. It was fun seeing them and hearing about their adventures.

I think there will be more boats here tonight. Cruisers are gathering from afar for the big event happening tomorrow. Even WE are going to the Stranded Naked Beach Party at Fiddle Cay right around the point from where we are anchored. We will be going over in FIN. This free event serves cheeseburgers in paradise, margaritas, and live CD (their terminology) Jimmy Buffet music. It is the opening gala for Regatta Time in Abaco, an annual island sailboat racing and partying time that begins here and moves down the island chain.

Stranded Naked Party

I'm not sure when I'll get to make another post. Not because of being at Stranded Naked! We plan to head north with NO CALL tomorrow afternoon and anchor at some of the more remote cays, and I don't know if we will get another WiFi connection while we are in the Abacos. Instead, we hope will be elevating our hunting and gathering skills to a new level, and will have exciting stories to share of catching and eating our game and other out island adventures.

June 12 – June 26, 2008

All Alone Away From Home

Uprooted and Washed Away

We MOVED! But of course, as evidenced by this posting, we went back again.

Shifting winds from the west made us have to haul up the anchor and travel 4 miles in a westerly direction to anchor off the eastern shore of Great Abaco (the “mainland”) where we would be able to get protection from the westerly blows aided by the land and its higher vegetation.

Friends made jokes about whether we really hauled up the anchor or just got dragged over during one of the multi directional thundershowers that have been popping up. We wondered if anyone had notified Reef Relief, the local conservation organization, that the sea bottom and all the creatures that had come to attach themselves to our chain had been disrupted when we moved.

Anchored along the shore we were able to see a grand vista northerly and southerly along the Sea of Abaco as the thunderheads formed and moved along. One time there were 3 waterspouts visible out of the same roiling dark cloud. It is very eerie watching the dark, skinny “finger” reach out of the menacing looking cloud twirling down to the water's surface, where a dark, already spinning swirl of water is waiting to link up with it. You can easily see the counterclockwise motion of the water sucking up high towards the cloud after the two halves link up with each other and quickly move along the water's surface as we hope they stay well out of our path. Fortunately they are very narrow, but still instill fear in anchored cruisers since you can't just move out of their path. Even a skinny tornado could do some serious damage. We clocked winds of 45 Knots (52 MPH) during one storm that passed over us.

We heard that a charter boat was hit by lightning and ignited into a fire while at the marina dock in Marsh Harbor, the biggest area of population south of here. That is so dangerous when there are many boats packed into such a tight area.

While we were up with one of the night storms moving through the area, we could see a couple of boats dragging anchor. We heard a MAYDAY call at 11:00 p.m. issued by a Hatteras 58' LRC anchored in Fishers Bay at Guana Cay requesting assistance because he had dragged anchor and was on the rocks, getting held in place broadside from strong winds. A local power boat from one of the nearby resorts was launched to go help him; boaters are willing to lend assistance in times of need. That is a law of the sea.

While we didn't welcome all the wind and lightning, we were grateful to get some plentiful rainfall and collected over 200 gals. of water to fill our water tanks which had dropped to about half of their 500 gal. capacity. We did not want to have to go into a marina and buy water at the going rate of $.40/gal. We also filled several jugs and buckets, 60 gals. worth!, to use to do laundry and rinse off areas of FLUKE where we track sand and salt water.

Decontaminated!

We don't go through a lot of outer clothes, but some of the more than normally worn items were getting pretty grungy; my poor fishing clothes were so stiff from salt water and fish slime they were scraping my skin when I would put them on before we went out for “The Hunt”. Despite making me initially miserable for putting such stinking dirty clothes on my clean person, I'd rather do that than have a huge pile of fish covered, salted clothes laying around. We have a rule that no salty items can stay inside the boat because it just makes such a mess. I know I would be better off if I took the attitude of my favorite pirate, Jack Sparrow, and just quit worrying about it. I don't care if I stink out Eddie and Wayne, and besides, the cat and dog think I'm better than ever with the eau de fish smell!

Doing the laundry by hand in a 5 gal. bucket used 30 gals. and took Eddie and me 2 hours. It really made us appreciate how hard Ms. Whirlpool works back at the house in Vero. We were able to hang some of the stuff out on the upper deck, while other items were put in the dryer when we ran the generator to charge the batteries in the evening.

In between manning our stations for weather alerts, we have been keeping busy. Not a lot of things are breaking down since we're not moving much, but we are using the generator every day to charge the batteries, burning about 3 gals. of diesel ($12/day). Eddie noticed a build up of water in the aft bilge and discovered one of the raw water hoses to the generator had a broken hose clamp and was leaking badly. W & E Marine Repairs Inc. made a service call to take care of that issue. Cheap labor, but they do fine work, and they are clean, cute, have all their teeth, and don't smoke. I always wish for those qualities when people come to work on FLUKE. Cruising profiling!

Wayne is studying to get a HAM radio license so we can install a single sideband radio to improve our communications, particularly for better weather data. I was supposed have done it 2.5 years ago, but never followed through. He will get a better score than I would anyway, and this is a perfect time for him to be studying all the stuff.

Wayne is also building on his baking skills. He made some English muffins that were so good Eddie declared that we didn't need to be buying them from the store any more. We gave some to other cruising friends who, initially remarked how good they looked, then, after a sample, told us the taste matched the look.

Eddie and I have been working on making some canvas covers for our water jugs to keep algae from growing in them all the time. Eddie salvaged some old canvas from our previous boat just waiting for the right project to come along to use it. I did as much machine stitching as I could (the fabric is doubled in some areas and breaks the needles), and then I hand stitched the rest. We are happy, but are not available for hire.

C & E Seafood Company

Eddie and I are continuing our regular forays out to the reef for trolling or bottom fishing expeditions. We are getting along better in the confines of little FIN. Some days I let him drive FIN at high speeds even though I know he is in one of his fantasy worlds; the wind is blowing in his smiling face, the emerald water is rushing by under us, and he is thinking of Danica Patrick. FIN is not quite an Indy car, but with the 50HP Honda we are zipping along.

Eddie "The Sea" Andretti

We managed to catch a couple of nice sized yellowtail snapper trolling. They were so delicious I am hoping we will be able to hook up a few more of them. However, it seems that we have recently entered into a weather pattern that is blowing seaweed in our direction and we haven't been able to have much fun trolling since the lures keep getting fouled with weeds.

We have definitely improved our skills in navigating through the cuts in the reef and dodging coral heads; there haven't been any more close calls with having to ride FIN over the waves before they break on the reef. Part of that success is attributed to going out with brighter skies which enable us to see so much better into the water.

Trial and error bottom fishing techniques, loosing rigs from getting hung up on the coral, sea fans, or sponges have had us conclude that we are best off just drift fishing along the outer edge of the main reef, where the water gets the deepest. At least we have pulled in a lot of fish, mostly coney and triggerfish, and even if we don't keep anything to eat we are having fun. One day we were so occupied with pulling in fish we didn't realize we had drifted quite far offshore into the deep blue Atlantic Ocean. We finally realized our situation when we had a lengthy argument about why it seemed like our lines were drifting so far and we could no longer see the shadows on the bottom. It also became apparent why other boats that were visible in the distance were so much closer to shore. At least we figured it out before we could see the French coastline!

I Want to Suck Your Blood

I am “morbidly” fascinated by a parasite, called Anilocra ,that we find attached to the heads, generally near the eyes, of many of the pretty coney fish we catch. This isopod (a marine crustacean) is usually about 1-1 1/2” long and firmly attaches itself with a pair of grasping claw-like appendages so that it can suck blood from the fish. One day I removed a couple of them by grasping with a pair of needle nose pliers, and it was like pulling off a strong strip of Velcro; removal had a ripping sound to it! I managed to find this photo in Reef Guide, even attached to a coney.

Eddie has finally relented to help with the entire fish cleaning process now, mostly because if he doesn't, we won't eat until well after dark if I have to do all the work myself. He is doing a great job of keeping our knives in hair shaving sharpness, the key to successfully filleting the fish and minimizing waste. He thought he had it down pat until one morning I brought home an Ocean Triggerfish for him to cut up to use as bait. The skin on that fish is like a hide; he had to use our hunter's knife that is used to cut animal hair, skin, and bone. Then we wondered how we would ever get a hook through the chunks to use as bait. You can see we don't like to waste anything and willingly share with the real natives!

Nothing Gets Wasted

Whenever we come back to FLUKE, Ursa hears FIN coming from afar and rushes out hoping that we will be unloading some new fish. She and Visitor have delighted in getting tidbits of raw fish, both saying “Sushi”. Ursa will even grab the whole fish and pull it aside and then growl when we go to pick it up again.

A Taste of Civilization

Using Natural Resources

We finally broke down and went into the settlement of New Plymouth located on Green Turtle Cay. Practically all cruisers have to make a stop here for all or one of the following: groceries, alcoholic beverages, fuel, repair parts, offload garbage, get an internet connection or eat out.

When we first stopped here about 15 years ago you got everywhere by walking since there were few vehicles other than those golf carts used by the rental properties; few private residents even owned one. Now radio chatter is filled with golf cart rental requests, people are zipping by, and yet the island is only about 3 miles long, most of which has “roads” that are so poor riding in a golf cart would rattle your teeth loose if you weren't going any more than a snail's pace. Trying to use a cart within New Plymouth confines is a pain since parking areas are so limited and the streets are too narrow. We welcomed the opportunity to take a long walk on terra firma.

No Snorkel Gear Needed

We see that a lot of building is taking place in the outer parts of the island, albeit at an extremely slow pace as evidenced by how weathered the building sites look. A number of truly upscale island vacation homes have been built, with pleasant island architectural features, wild colors, and funky names. There is even a business we hear a lot on the VHF called Island Properties that manages cottages for rental purposes.

Plum Crazy Cottage Recycle Screen

New Plymouth was first settled over 200 years ago and still has some very old buildings in the settlement proper and not much room to put any more. The first thing you do is put your garbage in the dumpster on the dock, and then go eat or drink. It is a short walk to anywhere from the public dock. You have to pay attention to the day of the week and time since there aren't any 24/7 businesses like we are used to back in the states, and depending on what you want, you'll want to know if the mail boat has already arrived bringing much hoped for supplies, especially fresh vegetables.

Is This Any Way to Run a Business?

After depositing our garbage we walked through town to our destination, Plymouth Rock, a.k.a. The Liquor Store. Guess what for? Wrong! After listening to Eddie whine for at least two weeks we had finally relented to go get our out island fix, conch burgers. Plymouth Rock is really the island liquor store, but it has a small kitchen and a counter with 6 stools. The food is great and to our delight, reasonably priced, especially by island standards. While you are waiting for your food to be served (it takes a bit since everything is freshly prepared) you can peruse the shelves and look at the truly interesting selection of Bahamian and international liquors with fascinating names like PYRAT RUM and FIRE IN DE HOLE. I saw a book on a shelf that was The Idiots Guide to Pirates and wondered if it was something I should read since I only am knowledgeable about 3 pirates: Blackbeard, Morgan, and Sparrow. With our new lifestyle it can't hurt to be well-informed of all pirates!

Good Sauce for Eddie!

Eddie and Wayne took FIN with our spare gas cans into the Green Turtle Club fuel dock to get our supply of gasoline replenished since the C & E Seafood Company and Jacquelyn & Lloyd Underwater Expeditions had pretty much burned up all we had brought over with us. They bought 23 gal. at $5.86/gal. You can see those fish we are catching aren't for free, but such camaraderie is priceless! Another ad for MasterCard?

Joe, SV Desire, dropped anchor nearby, and we invited him over in the evening for some popcorn and wine. We had first met him when we were clearing customs at Spanish Cay over a month ago now (time is flying!) and wanted to hear how his travels were going. As he was leaving, the bands from the two shoreside bars were getting into full swing with the sounds blaring out across the water for their usual Friday night raucous competing entertainment. I knew that we wouldn't be staying there for Saturday night. Four miles back to the old “neighborhood” for FLUKE.

Island Flames

Our timing was lucky as Toucan Dream and Kea followed in behind us. Bob and Jerry are the best hunters and gatherers we have met, and they had a big bounty of fish (cero mackerel, amberjack, and blackfin tuna) on board that they were going to smoke on the beach and invited us to have some. I was thrilled just to be able to see how they were going to do the smoking; eating the fish was just like icing on the cake (oh, they made one of those too!).

When Smoking is OK

They had the smoker filled up with 3 full racks of seasoned fish fillets, the most they had ever smoked. They made a fire out of wood pieces and dried up coconuts to make charcoal. A big pan of spiced brine water, left over from soaking the fillets all night, was set in the bottom of the smoker just above the bed of charcoal embers to create the smoky steam needed to slowly cook the fish. From 10:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. they tended the fire and stoked the smoker with more embers. The result was a tasty fish treat that you could pick up with your fingers. We all pigged out to overcast skies and palm trees fluttering overhead.

Layer #1

For the Naturalist

Conch Tree in Bloom

We have continued our island exploring in some more out of the way places, where we have had to make our own paths. That is one of the joys of having time on your hands. Going slowly has paid off with seeing some of nature's special secrets and discovering Her hidden treasures.

Prickly Pear Blossom

Early on I posted the photo of the night hawk eggs. We have continued to see other nesting sites and happened upon chicks in various stages of development. This photo is certainly one of the more fascinating ones since the chick has just hatched and looks like a puff of lint. The night hawks have two eggs, with one hatching a few days after the first, and they just sit perfectly still hoping you won't see them, with their other means of protection their mother trying to lure you away with a broken wing routine.

That's Not Lint!

We have least terns come through Vero in late spring and early summer. They are a small bright white shore bird with a jet black spot on their head and black stripe through their eye. They have a shrill shriek, diving for small fish and plucking them off the surface of the water and then giving it to their mate who awaits on a nearby piling. I always think of them as being so “busy”; my type of bird.

Eddie and I had been regularly passing a rocky seaside outcropping of one of the nearby cays during our trolling forays and I saw a group of least terns and assumed by their behavior that they had a nesting site. When the fishing was poor one day I talked Eddie into going ashore to see if we could get to the site to look for tern nests, since I had never seen them before.

We had to land FIN on the opposite side of the island and there was no path through the underbrush. I didn't think it was very far to the sea side of the island and fought my way through the underbrush trying to dodge the poisonwood. Since it was low tide Eddie walked around the tip of the island, through the water, until he could climb up the rocky outcropping before getting swept over by the incoming waves. He got there first and had to yell for me since I couldn't see my way through the brush and had lost my sense of direction. I finally emerged near the water's edge, but had to claw my way clear to an open area on the sea side. I'd be in big trouble slipping on the sharp rocks.

Least Tern Egg and "Nest"

It was worth the effort to find the nesting colony and see their habitat, eggs, and chicks. It appears that they lay 1 gray speckled egg about 3/4” long in a clear spot of sand above the high tide line, but below the inland vegetation. The adult colony members were flying over head shrieking like the end of their world had come. It was a special treat to find one of the cute little chicks tucked quietly under a pretty bush. A National Geographic moment.

Watch Where You Step

The rocky ledges in the areas washed by the tidal changes are home to an interesting 3-5” long mollusk called a chitin, looking like a flat snail with segments. They have always made me think of those prehistoric creatures called trilobites. They adhere tightly to the rocks when the tide is out, and when it is dark and their habitat is covered with water they slowly move along the rock surface scraping algae as their food source. They can be removed from the rock with great effort using a prying tool. The meaty body is scraped out of the shell and used for bait or native food dishes. I haven't tried them in either case, but I did see a local collecting them on the “mainland” at low tide.

Holding Tight

I'll close this blog by reporting that there is treasure to be found out here, and it doesn't have to be hidden in an old chest buried by a bygone pirate. Sea glass collecting is at an all-time high level now that artists and books have highlighted the beauty and uniqueness of these gems of nature. I think of it as another form of recycling and have scoured the beaches we've visited searching for glass for years, always hoping to find the perfect piece of unique color and shape. There is a special feeling to be standing on a beach on a sunny day and gently roll a smooth, perfectly weathered and rounded, piece of glass through your fingers watching the colors gently change as the sun's rays dance across its surface. Where did that piece come from, how long did it take to get that smooth, and how can I find more?

Eddie and I found a speck of a seaside beach set amongst isolated rocky outcroppings on a deserted cay that has more sea glass per square foot than any where else I've ever seen. In fact, we usually don't find much at all in the Bahamas. We could only spend a short time collecting on the first day we discovered the spot because the tide was rising and we could only access the beach by wading through water which was waist deep at low tide. If we waited for high tide we would have to swim and run more of a risk getting thrown into the rocks.

Sea Jewels

The next morning, at low tide, Wayne and I waded back, climbed over the rocky ledges and began picking our way through the seaside scrub to the sandy beach. Imagine our complete surprise when we saw a woman's head pop up from the other side of the rocky ledge. There wasn't another boat in sight, so we wondered if she “lived” on the cay. She was just as surprised to see us. She, an avid sea glass collector, said she had discovered the spot 4 years ago and had never told anyone about it. She has her husband drop her off from their dinghy and then calls him using their handheld radio to pick her up again. Even more surprising was when we found out they owned a Krogen, and we had actually met them in Stuart, FL 3 years ago! I didn't take a blood oath not to reveal the secret location of Sea Glass Cay, but for now I'm not publishing the coordinates of the latitude and longitude. Even if you try to make me walk the gang plank!!!