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!!!