Holy Nurse Shark Batman!

We set out on a true adventure when Dan & JR decided to try and catch (yes, I said catch) a nurse shark. The nurse sharks are quite common in the Thunderball area and we have seen them scavenge the area when we clean fish on the beach. We found out from both locals and the internet that nurse shark meat is very tasty and so began our adventure. First Dan caught a parrot fish and then we went to a small beach to clean out the fish and JR hooked the fish head with a metal leader line to his fishing pole and tossed it into the water to attract the sharks. The current was taking the fish blood in the wrong direction, but eventually a shark came to check out the beach. Interestingly, it left without ado and then it or another one came back around and found Dan's piece of fish attached to a hand line. As expected the shark ate the piece of fish right off the hook and didn't even break the line. Then after a few passes back and forth the shark came to eat the fish head off JR's rod line. But JR used a bigger hook (#2) with metal wire (90 lb strength) attached to his rod and reel with a fighting belt to help pull in the shark and tire it. The shark fought hard, but we expected a lot more fight from a shark. Eventually JR was able to reel in the shark to the beach and Dan proceeded to kill it with brute force using a fish billy club and a hammer to bludgeon it to death. It was amazing how resilient the shark was and crazy how long it took to kill the shark. We all felt bad for its suffering and pain. We were able to get an up close look at the shark and learn about its anatomy after it died. The colorful mosaic patterned skin of the shark felt much smoother than we thought and much tougher than anyone would expect. It was impossible to skin the shark with the tools we had to be able to save the skin for future use and I was disappointed at the waste. We read online also about the huge liver having a lot of oil good for lamp fuel, but we didn't know how to extract it so that also was given to the seagulls. We cut up the meat and split it between Dan's family and us, but the remaining meat was thrown out to sea to be recycled and eaten by other fish and organisms in the water. While JR & Dan were preparing the shark meat, I was cracking open my first conch after Dan showed me how he does it. It took me a long time to crack open the conch and I had to destroy pretty much the entire shell to get the organism out. I used Dan's hammer and I found out how hard the conch shell was because some of my strikes didn't do much damage to the shell. It was interesting to see a bright yellow-green ink that was emitted by the conch which has stained my hands before. The slime that accompanied the conch was very sticky and I has a difficult time cleaning it off. Eventually, I was able to get at the conch and found him quite tough to pull off the remaining shell. After removing the conch I removed all the parts except for the white muscle to the foot, which is the edible portion of the conch. I tried a small piece of the conch and found the meat to be quite tasty after all the slime removal of course. Then we returned to the boat and we hurried to prepare the shark meat for lunch. We pan fried a filet of shark with salt and pepper finishing it with a little lemon juice. We found the shark meat to be delicious. I was amazed how it wasn't fishy. Then I ate the conch meat thinly sliced with a little lemon juice. Unfortunately, some parts were a little chewy while other parts of the conch were tender. I suspect it was because it was not consumed immediately and I had it sitting in a Tupperware container under the shade of a tree for a while. Then I cleaned up the boat and we grilled some shark steaks for dinner with only pepper and little Teriyaki sauce. It was very good. We watched a movie and later Dan came over to do a movie exchange and chat. When I woke up in the middle of the night I noticed the shark meat was glowing with phosphorescent organisms on the surface of the meat and within the meat. I have seen these organisms floating in the water, but never inside the flesh of another organism. It really freaked me out and the glowing animals probably came from my washing the shark meat with salt water with no filter, but it doesn't explain the glowing from within the flesh. The shark meat was no longer appetizing to me and when we woke up the next morning we found the shark meat was covered with hordes of flies that had gotten in even with our mesh screen up. We threw out the meat and I didn't protest. I noticed some small itchy bumps on my torso, which I am not sure what their origin was from the shark meat or conch. But either way I wasn't going to eat any more shark. I have eaten conch before in conch fritters, but not raw. So whichever is the culprit I may never know, unless I decide to try and crack some conch again. :)
The next day we went to shore to buy some bread ($5), three onions ($4.80), and a small block of cheese ($6). We also found out about the international phone card from BATELCO so I could call back to the US for my interviews. Then we returned to the boat for lunch and afterward I worked on cleaning the beard off the hull. When I was tired from cleaning the hull we went to shore to hike on the trail to Ocean Beach. It was a short hike there and the wind felt great to cool us. We saw white caps and waves probably 2- 4 feet with winds around 15 knots. Then we returned to Frodo for dinner and a long talk about what JR plans to do. We said our goodbyes to Dan and his family because they were planning to leave the next morning to continue south towards Georgetown and eventually to Dominican Republic for hurricane season. It was really nice traveling with them and we learned a lot about spearfishing. We have met a lot of really cool and interesting people during our travels. I look forward to seeing them again some day. :)
When we woke the next morning Dan's boat was gone already and the anchorage seems empty with only our boat on this side. We went to shore and bought a couple of phone cards ($30 worth) from BATELCO because calls to the US cost $0.51 and I needed to make sure I enough for the phone interview. We found out that the marine boat yard in Georgetown cost $0.35 per foot per day and $11/ft for a haul out. We were surprised to learn it didn't matter if we were trying to leave the boat there long term and after doing the math decided it was too expensive. After my hour long interview I got a very good response and not officially offered a job but essentially I was given the position. I have one more interview and I informed them I would give them my response as soon as I could after talking with the other school. It was so hot in the phone booth I was sweating profusely and as soon as I got off the phone I went to sit on the porch of the Staniel Cay yacht club bar & restaurant with JR and got a nice cold Kalik to celebrate. After sitting for a while chatting we were driven away by a dirty flea covered dog that kept following us. We returned to the boat and had some lunch while watching the end of the movie we didn't finish from the day before. We jumped into the cool waters because it was so hot. Then I did some laundry in the cockpit while JR looked for other boat yards to leave our boat for a while and plane tickets to fly back home. After I finished the laundry we snorkeled around for a while to cool ourselves. I am going to miss being able to just jump into the clear cool waters when I got hot. It is like we have a pool right outside our house that completely surrounds us and is beautiful with marine life everywhere. We had our dinner and a movie then spent some time on deck star gazing, which was a particularly great night due to the absence of the moon reducing almost all the light pollution from the sky. Millions of stars could be seen and we saw a few shooting stars before we headed back into the cabin. I read myself to sleep but awoke in the middle of the night pondering my decision about work and which job I wanted. After finishing the phone interview I actually felt excited about returning and doing something different. I really hope things will be different when I go back to work because if not I am doing something wrong. I need to make changes to reduce my work load and stress level so I can enjoy my job more. I really do enjoy working with kids and teaching them. :)

More of Staniel Cay

Today we went to the Staniel Cay Yacht Club to watch a World Cup game (Brazil v. Portugal) with Dan and Amosh, but instead we watched Korea v. ICD because their ESPN2 channel worked while ESPN didn't. We ordered a Kalik ($4) at the bar and watched the first half of the game, then we left to see if we could catch some fish with bait and a line. We found that the current was too strong and the dinghy was pushed in a different direction with the wind so we gave up and headed back to the boat. We were able to get internet miraculously on the boat and we used it to check our emails and get weather information. We ate a light lunch and JR went back out around 3pm with Dan & Amosh to go fishing. When JR came back they had caught a flounder, 3 groupers, 3 squirrel fish, and a parrot fish. They had even hooked a nurse shark but it was too strong and broke the line. It turns out hermit crabs are good bait and of course using the head of a small squirrel fish was good as well. I gathered the fish cleaning materials and hopped into the dinghy to help JR clean the fish on the nearest beach. We filleted the parrot fish for Amosh because Dan didn't want any fish. We were asked to not clean our fish at that beach by the people visiting the house because the two children wanted to go swimming and couldn't with us cleaning the fish there. It was interesting we had seen a sign posted in town regarding the fact that all beaches in the Bahamas are public just yesterday and now these people are telling us we can't be there to clean fish. We told them we wouldn't clean fish there next time because it really isn't worth the trouble of dealing with these kind of people. We are doing our best to live stress free and karma will come back around. So we finished cleaning the fish and headed back to Frodo to clean up ourselves from all the scales and fish smell. We steamed the two squirrel fish but over cooked them due to using too high heat for too long (5 min), but we still enjoyed them. Then we boiled the bones and fish heads for a fumet to make fish bouillabaisse tomorrow with the fish fillets we saved from the grouper and flounder. On a different note, we saw that the weather will still be windy so we won't be leaving for a few days until it settles. This is the life on a boat with weather dictating your travels.

Staniel Cay

Today we went back to Titta Emil's Bread House and picked up some freshly baked Bahamian bread for $5. Then we went to the Blue Grocery store, which is right next to the pink grocery store, to pick up some eggs ($3.90/dozen). Then went walked back to the beach and enjoyed the cold waters during the hot morning. After cooling ourselves off we headed back to the boat and ate some lunch of bread mostly. I worked on my sketching and then we set off for Thunderball around 1:30pm because it was low tide. The moment we got into the water we had tons of fish surrounding us and coming up to us without any hesitation. Later we learned that some people feed the fish and that is why those fish were so friendly and one even brushed up against the inside of my hand. After snorkeling around outside of the entrance to the Thunderball cave we entered with a current against us, but we made it inside and looked around us at this huge cavern inside this rock. It was pretty neat, but the fish surrounding us really made the moment really cool. Schools of fish were just following us around and I suppose now they were just waiting around to get a morsel of food. I was naive in thinking these fish were just curious about us and not afraid. There were Sargent Majors, grouper, parrot fish, snapper, angel fish, and so many others swimming around us and so many types of coral with even a donkey dung sea cucumber hanging out by the sea fans. Later we found out there was so much life around these rocks because they are in a protected area and that means it is a no take zone. We took the dinghy back to talk with Dan and then picked up my camera phone so I could take a pic of Thunderball at low tide since the entrance was exposed, too bad there was now a whole group of people in the cave. Then we snorkeled around the grotto and then took the dinghy past the rapids to check out the ship wrecked on Fowl Cay and when we brought our dinghy to the beach we didn't stay due to the boat getting a little swamped from the strong waves crashing into our dinghy. We turned the boat around and bailed out a little before jumping back in and motoring out of there. We went through the rapids on the counter current side which was much calmer and we could actually see the bottom of the water, which was very deep. Then JR dropped me off at the boat and went with Dan to try and spearfish near the moorings. They turned up empty handed because the grouper were very scared and retreated into their holes when you were within 10 feet of them. I worked on my sketches while he was gone and began cooking up some fried rice when JR returned without any fish. We ate an early dinner and I did the dishes and cleaned up while JR napped. We planned out the rest of our trip and determined we wouldn't make it to Georgetown with the weather against us and my time constraints due to going back to work. Well, I have about a month left to soak up the sun and make the most of my time out here in the beautiful waters of the Bahamas. I am very lucky to have been able to go on this trip and have the experiences on Frodo.

Sampson Cay

The holding was very good as we didn't move at all, but we had the GPS set just in case the anchor tripped at night to sound an alarm to wake us. We slept well even with the strong winds and we were much more protected than in Warderick Wells because we weren't bouncing around even with the stronger winds here. We are glad we left Warderick Wells to come to this anchorage at Sampson Cay because we are much more comfortable. After having some breakfast we headed into shore to use the internet at the Sampson Cay Marina. We were there all morning and I checked out the store to compare prices of food. The Bahamian bread cost $7, the chicken cost $10.29/lb, steak was $14, shrimp cost $38/bag, and the French wine we got from Nassau for $5 was $9 here. They also didn't have any eggs which we were looking to purchase. I snapped pics of wildlife and scenery while JR was on the computer and then I got on my email long enough to reply to a couple people and quickly updated my blog without attaching any pics due to time. Then we headed back to the dinghy and we saw a nurse shark right on shore in the shallow waters! This is the first time I have seen a shark on my trip and it was really cool. I was able to snap a few quick pics with my camera phone and then we headed out to Frodo. On our way back we saw several nurse sharks swimming at the bottom of the water very close to the marina. Then we pulled up our anchor and headed out of Sampson Cay around 1pm and headed for Staniel Cay. We took the inside passage during low tide and it got a little rough when we approached the opening into the Atlantic where we could see white caps. The wind was blowing 15 knots from the southeast and we motored the entire way not bothering to put out our sails. We got to the anchorage near Club Thunderball around 2pm and saw the Hungarian family anchored here. The current is very strong here and we had to get through some rapids to enter the anchorage. We threw down a second anchor to help pull us out of the strong current and then went inside to eat some much needed lunch. Then we looked at the charts and decided we didn't want to back track to get into a better anchorage so we pulled up both anchors and got closer to shore so we wouldn't be in the strong current area. Then we rested and read for a short while before heading into shore looking for the general store and the dinghy dock. We took the dinghy all the way past the small bridge to Isle's General Store and found that they had their own dinghy dock, which is nice. We looked around and saw there wasn't much as far as groceries so we asked if they had bread and eggs, but they didn't stating the supply ship would be in the following day and to come back. The lady did suggest for us to visit a yellow house for some bread and so we hopped back on the dinghy and headed into town to search for this yellow house. It really is too bad she was not more descriptive because there were several buildings painted yellow around town. So after wandering aimlessly we went into a BATELCO building and asked for directions. They gave us directions and we were off... we walked and walked until we passed the yacht club and saw some new development so we asked the man walking from a house and he informed us that there weren't any shops where we were and we were far from the bread house. So we listened and followed his directions bringing us back to the dinghy parked on the beach, which we made a pit stop to get some water as we were dehydrated by this point in the hot sun. We continued walking down the main street and eventually saw a yellow house, which we didn't think was the right building because it just looked like someone's house. JR kept walking down to the Happy People Marina and I saw that the yellow house we just passed was indeed the place of the bread. So I got his attention and we made our way into the kitchen asking for some freshly baked bread. We were too late in the day and there was no more bread so we would have to return the following morning around 9:30-10am when they are finished baking the bread. We found the Pink Pearl Grocery store up the hill from the bread house so I decided to check it out since we were here. We bought a couple of Kalik's and drank them at the counter while chatting with the old woman working the store. She was quite delightful to talk to and we discussed all sorts of topics. We finished our beers and walked back to the beach to cool off in the nice cold water. As we got in our dinghy we saw a couple nurse sharks swimming near the shore line. Then we decided to stop by Thunderball Grotto to check it out. We set our anchor and tied a stern line to some rocks on shore and gingerly stepped off the dinghy onto the sharp, uneven rocks. I wore my wet Crocs sandals (bad idea) to climb up the sharp, craggy rocks with the assistance of an old rope to see the Thunderball cave from above and snap a few pics. My sandals slid out of place and my big toe got a small laceration from a protruding rock while I was walking around the top of the big rock taking some pictures. JR found the top of the cavern and it was really neat to see how big the cave was inside and to see the blue water below with the light on the other side of the rock shining through the water because it was high tide. Then we hurried carefully off the top because we saw all the stress cracks from the top of the cave around the opening we were looking through, which we never know when it will give out. So now we knew more about Thunderball and we would return the next day at low tide to explore the underwater area. We headed back to Frodo for some dinner and a movie because with all the wind we have been getting our batteries were full from the wind generator. I completed a sketch and read to end my day.

Leaving Warderick Wells

We woke up and listened to the weather to determine if we were able to leave with the wind and waves. We decided with 15-20 knots winds and waves from 2- 4 ft. was alright to leave so we pulled up anchor and headed out of Warderick Wells at 8:40am. We were traveling at 5 knots with only sails when the wind was coming from the east, but then of course the wind shifted to southeast and we were beating against the wind for the rest of the trip and we had to put down our sails because the wind was too strong and we couldn't reef in time with the short period waves hitting us. It was the roughest passage we have had in a really long time, but I didn't get sea sick so that was good. We got tons of sea spray on deck and even our anchors were dipped into the water when it got really rough. We were digging into the water and we were heeled over a lot, to the point where stuff literally flew out of our cubbies even with the cushion covering them. We were only traveling about 1.2 knots at this time and so we turned on our engine and put down the sails. We decided to anchor at Sampson Cay because there was more protection than Staniel Cay. We anchored in front of the beach to the right of the yacht club because there was a sandy bottom with good holding and we would have coverage from the wind with the land. We arrived at 1:30pm and dropped our anchor not too close to the beach because there were people on it. We jumped in the water and snorkeled to check the anchor setting and enjoyed the cool waters for a few minutes before our hunger got us back on the boat and me into the kitchen cooking up a hearty meal of tuna salad, sweet peas, and mashed potatoes. JR signed up online and paid $10 (200MB) for a day (you have 24 hours to use it) of internet service but as soon as he got into his email and was about to respond to one he was kicked off and wasn't able to get back on. This deal is better than Warderick Wells because they charge the same amount but only give you 100MB and they require you to pay for a mooring ball to get the wifi access and because you have to sign up at the park office for a user name and password. We determined we were too far from shore and we would have to get closer to use it. It is strange how we could use it for a few minutes and then just getting kicked off and never able to get back on with either computers. But we will try again tomorrow on shore to check our emails. Then we read and I took a nap until it began to rain. We hurried to grab some bowls and pots to catch water as we haven't gotten rain since Nassau and we haven't refilled our water tanks since Miami. Our water tanks are running low and I am not sure how much longer they will last, but we still have our jerry jugs of water on deck that we haven't touched yet so I am not worried about running out. We only use our freshwater supplies to drink, cooking, and brushing our teeth. We do our best to use salt water for everything else like doing the dishes or washing our hands. We ended up catching about two gallons of water because the rain wasn't very long or very heavy, but it is better than nothing. I cooked dinner of rice, creamed corn and Chinese sausage and ate while watching a movie. We chatted for a little while and then JR went to bed while I began a new sketch and later read myself to sleep.

Another Day at Warderick Wells

Today we stayed on the boat during the morning while it was very hot outside and I read and did some sketches. Then we ate lunch and finished watching the movie from last night. Then we chatted with Dan for a little while and then we headed out to Emerald Rock to do some snorkeling and we got to see some fish that we haven't seen before. :) At the second dinghy mooring we got to see a bunch of fish and it was like an aquarium. Then we headed to the park head quarters to park the dinghy and then we hiked on Boo Boo Hill trail to the top of the hill and it was very hot so we consumed almost all our water by the time we reached the top. We snapped some pics and read a few of the many boat signs left at the top of the hill and then we were on our way back down to Powerful Beach. We were going to hike over to the blow holes, but it was low tide and we wouldn't have been able to see them so we didn't bother. When we returned to the trail we saw that the tide was rising and Banshee Creek was filling up so I had to remove my shoes to get across the trail at that section. Then we snorkeled around the beach and the mooring field, which I got to see several young conchs, a flounder and a few yellow fin tuna under a boat. Then we just stayed cool in the waters by shore for a while and we chatted with Fred before leaving to return to our boat. We made an early dinner of yellow rice with beans, onions, and celery. We watched a movie while eating dinner then I sketched a drawing, cleaned up the boat and strapped everything in the cabin down for departure and before bed we spent some time under the stars on deck.

Warderick Wells Staff

We were invited to have “dinner” with Fred who is the head of the Bahamas Defense here in the Exuma Land & Sea park. It is Father's Day and to celebrate we had a nice big hearty meal consisting of steak, barbecue chicken, ribs, potato salad, peas and rice, salad, and plantains. We ate while Micheal Jackson the movie was playing and everything was so delicious that we pretty much ate in silence. After eating until we couldn't eat anymore we chatted a bit with Fred and he had to leave to go on a fishing trip with one of the park wardens, Justin (?), so he left us with Saunders to keep us company. We got to talking with Saunders and found out he works in the IT department for the Bahamas Defense. He was here for a break from his regular post. Everyone we met here has been so friendly and nice except for the guy, Andrew (I believe) who was the white guy we first met here and also informed us that we couldn't pay to use the internet because we weren't on a mooring ball. We don't understand why this makes sense because they are only losing money by not allowing everyone access to their amenities by requiring certain stipulations, but maybe the guy recognized us and wanted to give us a hard time. The people from Moxie told us they went to the office to use the internet the other day and they were anchored out so I don't know. We didn't talk to them afterward so maybe they couldn't use it either, who knows. Fred was super nice and even gave us a bag of precious ice when we left. We were so full that we were practically waddling out of there. We haven't eaten so much food in a really long time. For me I think it was when I was back in California the last time I stuffed myself with food. We returned back to the boat and took naps and read the rest of the day. We had a light dinner and watched a movie because we had so much power from the wind generator keeping our batteries full. Then we went out on deck and did some star gazing enjoying the wind blowing in our hair. It is so quiet and peaceful here under the stars and with enough wind to keep the bugs away from our boat. :)

Warderick Wells

Today we enjoyed pancakes with our second to last egg for breakfast and then we got our stuff ready to head into shore around 10am. We decided to hike some of the trails to see some nature on land. We met up with the Hungarian family on the beach as they arrive just before us. We ended up chatting and walking with them for a while until we got to Emerald Beach and we went into the water because it was so hot. Then we walked from Emerald Beach through the shallow waters at low tide to get to the other beaches on the way to the Exuma Park Head Quarters. It was much faster and cooler to get to the other side instead of hiking in a sharp, craggy rocks with low brush to avoid. We couldn't walk all the way to the head quarters in the waters along the coast because it became deeper and so we went back on the Sunshine causeway trail to get there. We didn't have to walk much further to get to the park office and when we finally got there we enjoyed the cool shade on the nice big porch. We sat and rested enjoying the beautiful scenery while chatting with Dan as they got to the office before us since we were hanging out at the beach for a little while. Then Fred came by with some ice water, which was excellent as we were parched from the long hike over in the searing sun. Dan filled our bottle completely and we consumed it all very quickly. We haven't had ice in a while and we savored it. Fred told us about a bonfire they were going to have tonight (Saturday) where the office would provide ice and we would bring our own drinks and snacks to share. It reminded me of a meet and greet with the other boaters around here. The office was closed from 12-1pm so we left around 12:45pm to head back to our boat. We saw the park offers kayaks to borrow for free and so we decided to take them up on their offer so we wouldn't have to trek back through the trails. We were able to kayak all the way back to Rendezvous Beach very quickly compared to walking the trails and we stayed much cooler with the water splashing on us. Luckily, I had a plastic baggie to put my phone into because it got pretty wet with the waves kicking up from the wind, which was still coming from the south. When we got to our dinghy we relaxed for a little while at the beach in the water to keep cool and then we towed the kayak back to the park office so other people could use it. The Hungarian family split up from us after the park office because they wanted to walk over to Boo Boo Hill, but we wanted to save that hike for another day. So after returning the kayak to the office we went back to Frodo for some lunch which was leftovers from last nights dinner and a can of pears. Then some park people came by and told us to inform the Hungarian family they needed to move 30 feet further away from the mooring field. I really wonder what difference it really makes when there is no boat on the mooring balls, but whatever. We read and napped until we needed a break from the bouncy boat and we got some beach gear to hang out on the beach until dinner time. We enjoyed being in the shade of our umbrella sitting in our chairs reading and cooling off in the water. Then we had some udon noodles with cabbage for dinner and headed out to the meet and greet or happy hour back at the park head quarters a little after 7pm. We didn't see any of the staff present when we got to the beach, but there were people already sitting around talking under the tiki hut. We began chatting with Tom & Brenda who happen to be from Roswell, Ga of all places! Tom was some kind of doctor and he was very friendly chatting us up. He told us about Harbor Island being a high roller place and how he plans to attend the July 4th celebration there because some guy throws one every year and you never know who might show up. It was funny he dropped some names like Cher and Katherine Hiegel, but we aren't really into that kind of scene so it was interesting hearing his stories about previous years parties. There were also people from South Africa (Gary was the only name I recall) who were traveling with Tom and they brought a very tasty cream cheese with sweet chili pepper sauce and crackers. It reminded us of the jalapeno jelly with cream cheese that we ate with Jen & Maxwell on the Baba, which was also delicious. We chatted with Fred, who we met earlier today and found out he works for the Bahamas Defense, which is their military to protect the people and the coast similar to the US Coast Guard. He is from Nassau, but has been stationed here for a year. He told us about this huge rat that is only found on this island and we saw them walking around after all the other boaters left the tiki when the sun had set. We had seen this animals droppings all over the island during our hike today and even on the beach. JR didn't know what is was and thought it was some kind of fruit, but I corrected him in the fact they were indeed droppings of some animal in the rodent family. I recognized it from the guinea pig droppings when I used to have one as a pet. I had never seen a rat so big before and it wasn't shy so I was even able to snap a couple quick pictures of it. After chatting with Fred for a while, he invited us over to eat “dinner” the following day at noon. We were happy to accept his invitation and were confused about the time of “dinner” with it being our lunch time, but we know the time so there is no misunderstanding of when to eat. The bugs were getting too friendly even after I sprayed on insect repellent so we hurried to get our dinghy back in the water so we could be on our way. We took a bit of a long dinghy ride back to our boat and we laid on deck to star gaze in the cool winds under the half moon until we were ready to sleep. The wind shifted more to the east so the boat was less bouncy and we were more comfortable inside the cabin. :)

Leaving Norman's Cay

We woke up and had a quick breakfast then proceeded to strap the boat down and put everything away to set sail. We pull up our anchor and left around 8:40am while the Hungarian family left earlier. We decided to wait longer to leave so the sun would be higher in the sky and allow us to see the coral heads and rocks more easily in the water. There was enough wind to allow us to not even turn on the engine to leave our anchorage, which is a first for us. The wind inevitably changed into our noses and we had to beat into the wind so we decided to turn on the engine and ended up running it for about 3 hours and when we got close to Warderick Wells we turned off the engine to only use the sails to get into our anchorage. When we got to a specified anchorage we noticed that they put moorings right where we were planning to throw down our anchor. We put down our anchor right in front of the mooring field and then noticed that there was a small bay that we could really get tucked into so we pulled up our anchor and moved into the area. We were quite happy with the anchorage and Pete & Lesley on Moxie came by to apologize for anchoring so close to us before and didn't mean to scare us away, but after chatting with them a few minutes we had a white guy come by on his power boat and tell us we couldn't anchor there because it was “marked as a no anchor zone”. We looked around and didn't see where we had crossed into the mooring field, but the guy said that those vertical standing buoys marked the “line”. We explained to the guy it wasn't well marked because we were outside of the 90 degree box the buoys made and was therefore technically not in the mooring field. He tried to tell us it was well marked and JR corrected him on where another buoy was needed to properly mark the area. So we picked up our anchor again and returned to our original anchorage where it is was more bouncy due to the southern winds that weren't predicted. Third times the charm. We finally got settled and jumped into the warm waters to get slightly cooler and before long the Hungarian family came to meet us and anchored next to us. This area has a sandy bottom, which is good holding and we are happy to sit through the weather here. Warderick Wells is also the location for the Exuma Land & Sea Park (the world's first marine park), which has lots of trails on land and good snorkeling sites. I was surprised at how large the island was when we arrived. We hope the wind will shift to the east (like it was predicted to do for a week) so we will be more stable on the boat and have much more protection with the land blocking most of the wind to allow us to have flat waters. Fingers crossed. We had chili with macaroni for dinner and watch a movie. Then we went to bed and it was rolling all night but not too bad.

Norman's Cay

We listened to the weather and talked with Dan to determine if we were going to leave. Since the wind would be on our noses we decided to stay another day in Norman's Cay. We lounged around and read until high tide around 11:30am. Then we went to the interior beach to meet the Hungarian family to give them a ride over to the submerged plane wreck to snorkel around. We found the interior section of Norman's Cay quite beautiful with the deserted island in the center with a single palm tree and on the east part of the island were some nice resort houses that reminded Dan of Scandinavia. We found lots of conch on the beach while waiting for Dan and family, but JR still wasn't up for eating any so we didn't take any. I found many beautiful colored living conch shells and returned them to their home. When they arrived we left to find the wreck and realized it was easy to see as the very top of the plane was exposed to the surface o the water. It was in the center of the bay so it took a few minutes for us to reach the wreck, which is why the Hungarian family couldn't row all the way there. We threw down our anchor and proceed to disembark the dinghy one by one to explore the wreck. The plane was a pretty good size and we saw tons of coral and fish around this man-made reef. Don't get me wrong, the plane missed the runway by a lot and crashed there instead of it being placed there on purpose. We saw a large barracuda casing the joint and making sure we didn't try to invade his territory or eat his fish. This was the first time we have snorkeled at a wreck and it was very cool. :) Some fish were very friendly and came up to us swimming around to investigate us while others were very shy and stayed in the shadows of the plane. We really enjoyed our time and then when we were all done we all piled back into the dinghy and were on our way back to shore. We passed by the typical deserted island in paradise and decided to stop by to check it out. We found the softest sand on the beach here it was wonderful wiggling our toes in the best sand we have encountered so far. The island was very small with one palm tree and rocks on one side while the soft sand covered the rest of the island. We enjoyed the cool waters and took a quick stroll around the island before heading back to the other beach to drop off the Hungarian family because the current was getting strong. So we left them at the beach and we headed back around towards our boat and due to the searing sun we took a break and soaked in the clear, cool blue waters on the beach before finally heading back to Frodo for lunch. We had some oranges on salad, the crab with butter from yesterday (it was so good), and JR cracked open the coconut we bought back in Nassau. We drank the water and ate some of its flesh, which was quite good and had a underlying sweetness. After lunch, I read while JR took a nap. Then we began our first attempt at making pressure cooker bread. We tried a recipe from the KISS Cookbook for Pressure Cooker Soda bread. We made the bread in about an hour and found the bread to be too dry and not fluffy at all, but it looked like bread with a crust and everything. We will need to tweak this recipe to determine the correct proportions of each ingredient or maybe even try a different recipe. This bread didn't call for any yeast so there was no time needed to for the dough to rise hence the soda bread using only baking powder and baking soda. Oh well, we made a valiant effort and just at a freshly pressure cooked slice of bread with some much needed butter and it was edible. We saw a ray swim by our boat and I took some pictures, but I am not sure how well they actually turned out because of the wind making waves in the water. We also saw a big fish swim by under our boat and we wondered what kind it was and where it lived. The mosquitoes were out at this time with the sun setting so I decided to retreat into the cabin into the safety of our mesh/screen. Then we proceeded to attempt our next culinary feat of the day and make some fish bouillabaisse from the Cruising Chef cookbook and we were enjoying a piping hot bowl of soup after 8pm. It turned out really well, but we didn't have any fish fillets to put in since we ate them all yesterday. We kept eating even though we were sweating up a storm. After we had our fill of soup we cooled down and I began the kitchen cleaning odyssey from the mess that was made from our cooking adventures. After a few hours of cleaning I sat down to read as JR was fast asleep for a while.

Leaving Allans Cay

We woke up early in the morning and decided to head out a few hours earlier than we had planned around 8:15am. We motored and then put up the sails after 30 minutes. We enjoyed just having the sails up for about 2 hours when the wind died and so we turned our motor back on for the rest of the trip. Wind was variable ranging from 5-8.5 knots and we traveled at 2.7 knots with only the sails and when we turned on the motor we were traveling 5.5 knots. I stayed in the cabin for a little while reading to stay cooler in the shade. We had to look out for coral heads and rocks while arriving to our anchorage site on the southwest side of Norman's Cay. We arrived around 12:30pm and only put down one anchor due to the good holding and lack of wind. We felt more wakes here due to no protection from the boat traffic. We made a hot dog lunch really quick because Dan invited us to go spearfishing again around the harbor. We motored to the southern area near the channel in our dinghy and found some rocks with coral growing on them to test their luck at spearfishing. We were skeptical at first, but then they saw some grouper and squirrel fish swimming around and decided that some were big enough to catch. So they began their search and capture mode for dinner while I stayed in the dinghy to see if they would be successful. After a few minutes JR came swimming up to the boat with a small Nassau grouper and so my task was to take care of the fish and make sure they don't spoil in the hot sun. Luckily, we had a compartment in the center seat and we put the fish in there with some salt water and kept them cool and fresh. Then Dan came back with another Nassau grouper and later they turned up with a squirrel fish. The last thing they caught was a medium sized spider (?) crab!! Holy cow, we had collected some varied sea bounty for dinner! :) Then they decided the few rocks in the area wouldn't provide any more fish and so we returned to the rocks near our boats and searched for more. I was last to leave the dinghy with my snorkel gear and by the time I swam to the guys they had caught a good sized Lane Snapper. So I swam back to the dinghy really quick and got the net to put the fish in so they could continue fishing. I promptly put the fish in the net and swam back to the dinghy because JR said there was a barracuda stalking us for the fish we had just caught. I proceeded to swim to the dinghy with the fish in the net trying to keep our catch above water to reduce our chances of attack and losing our fish. I crawled into the dinghy while JR held the other side to keep the crab from sliding out and I quickly put the fish into the compartment with the others. Then when I look up I saw Dan swimming back to the dinghy with a good sized Nassau grouper. After he caught this fish we decided we were done for the day because we had enough food for dinner. While I pulled up the anchor for the dinghy we could see the pesky barracuda stalking us. Dan decided to swim back to his boat because we were close enough and we watch as the barracuda followed him the entire way. We tried to scare the barracuda away with our engine, but it only moved to the other side of Dan still following closely. We returned to our boats and picked up at few things including my camera to clean and prepare the fish for dinner. I had never seen anything killed like this before and so I learned from Dan when he killed the largest grouper by severing the spine right behind his head through his gills. I helped out be scaling the squirrel fish, which I have to say was really scaly. Then I proceeded to learn something new by gutting my first fish. I wore my dive gloves to prevent any harm to myself from the sharp fins, spines and teeth of the fish. I have to say it wasn't too difficult to complete the task, but it was quite messy and slippery feeling. I suspect the gloves will never lose that fishy smell. The guys filleted the fish except for the squirrel fish as we decided we were going to steam it whole. We ended up with a snapper and grouper filet, the squirrel fish, the crab, and all the fish heads. When we returned to the boat we began cooking immediately. First we boiled the crab legs in hot pepper flakes, sweet paprika, and orange peel. Then we cooked the snapper and grouper with blackened seasoning in a fry pan. We ate the fish promptly and both filets were delicious. You really can't get fish any fresher than this. Then we boiled the fish heads to get fish stock for some soup. Meanwhile, we steamed the squirrel fish in saltwater for 5 minutes with no seasoning except a little soy sauce before serving and it was out of this world! I had never eaten squirrel fish before and I have to say it was really good. :) JR said he wasn't hungry anymore, but the squirrel fish was devoured in minutes. We tasted a small piece of the crab and found it was delicious similar to the stone crab meat we have eaten before, but different as we know how a stone crab looks. We decided to save the crab for the next day since they are better cold or at least room temperature. Then we went to shore to check out McDuff's bar & grill. We heard they had good burgers, but we wanted to see what the cost was before we went there hungry the next day. We ordered a Kalik ($6) and a Goombay Smash ($8) and saw that their burgers were a whopping $18! We were glad that we checked first, but it was a nice bar and place to see with Houston's-like décor with an island twist. I liked the cute dogs, a golden Labrador & a chihuahua that greeted people when you entered. :) We rushed back through the wooded trail to evade the ever hungry mosquitoes and got to shore in time to catch the end of the sunset and stopped to take a couple photos, but as I was standing still I got bitten twice. I quickly jogged back to our dinghy and got in with JR behind me. We were chased off shore with mosquitoes and immediately missed Allan's Cay because we never had this problem there and we really liked it. We then went back to talk to Dan & family about McDuff's (we were not going back) and they told us about the cool houses and how far away the submerged plane wreck was from shore. They said they would probably leave the next day because they couldn't dinghy to the plane wreck and the restaurant was too expensive to try. We were on the fence about leaving because I wanted to see the submerged plane and the other side of the island, but JR was going to look at the weather and decide when we would leave because we didn't want to be stuck in an unprotected area with a big storm coming this weekend. I agreed that we should be in a anchorage with good holding and protection from severe weather (strong wind and waves). We will have to wait and see what our next day will entail.

Leaf Cay/Allans Cay

We took a lazy morning and read under the shade on deck while enjoying the comfortable temperatures and beautiful scenery. We watched as tourists came in and out to visit the iguanas on Leaf Cay and blasting their music when they go on shore and we knew they were coming from the loud engines and big wake to shake our boat and they left as quickly as they came and after feeling their wake again we knew they were gone. Then JR took me to a coral garden to snorkel where they had gone to spearfish the previous day. It was north of Leaf Cay and I was able to see tons of coral, fish, a sting ray, sponges, sea fans, huge sea urchins, and later I learned there was a sea turtle too, but I didn't see it. :( Then we returned to the boat and made some tasty chorizo soup. We lounged around and as Dan swam to our boat he exclaimed he saw a 7 ft nurse shark swim by! Of course I missed it, but I was on deck reading so I don't know how I would have seen it unless I was in the water swimming. Dan came by to ask me for the helmet conch to show his wife and take some pics, but I told him I released it this morning because they weren't doing so well and JR swam up and told him the location of the conch because he was swimming around and found them. JR was then inspired to replace the zincs on our bilge keels and he was only able to do one side before he went out with Dan to spearfish again. Unfortunately, they came back without any fish after a few hours. I was dutifully cleaning and organizing in the cabin to prepare for our departure the next day. Then when JR returned we went to Leaf Cay to take pics of the iguanas living on the island and then we motored to the postcard perfect beach on a sister island to take some pics from the dinghy, but just my luck there was another dinghy that came out of nowhere and landed on the beach so they ended up in my photos. We returned to the boat and enjoyed a nice bowl of soup left over from lunch and watched the sunset. Dan came by to return our Bahamas cruising guide and we looked at some charts to determine where we would go next. We drank some wine and enjoyed the rest of our evening under the beautiful stars with the strange song of the nocturnal birds. We star gazed for a while and after seeing some shooting stars and fast moving airplanes we decided to retire in the cabin. It is so nice to be outside and not have to worry about bugs biting us. We noticed a huge bat flying around and we suspect that bats have a major impact on the insect population in and around the island. We really enjoy our time outside and the less mosquitoes or no-see-ums present the better! :) This has been our favorite place so far.

Allan's Cay

We headed out around 10am to go to the Atlantic side of Leaf Cay to snorkel and spearfish. I found 5 beautiful helmet conchs and saw many different types of coral, sea fans, fish including a 4 ft. barracuda , while JR, Dan, & Amosh went to spearfish nearby. This snorkel location reminded me of San Salvador. I really enjoyed myself in the water and kept the sun at bay with my wetsuit even though the waters were warm. After the current picked up and they had no luck catching any fish, we just sat on the beach and chatted with Dan. When we walked to our dinghies we saw the usual iguanas running around looking for food and we hung out there for a while. I snorkeled around to check out the area and found lots of young conch along with many empty conch shells. I did however, find one very large queen conch right on the beach and I only took the biggest helmet conch from the other side of the island to take some pics back on the boat. It is too bad JR doesn't want to eat conch after seeing what they really look like, because we could have eaten it. I don't have the heart to kill them and I stated this from the beginning of the trip, but once they don't look like their original selves and I can't see their faces then I can eat them. At least I like to think I can eat them, but we haven't killed anything so far to eat so I have not been put to the test. We returned to the boat and made some PB sandwiches for lunch with some oranges. Then we sat on deck with a tarp cover to give us nice shade from the sun and we chatted, enjoying the scenery and gentle breeze. Later, I read while JR and Dan attempted to spearfish at a different location. After several hours, they returned with 6 small groupers! :) They went to shore to clean the fish and we had some very nice filets for dinner together on their boat. We cooked the fish on our boat with a lemon butter dill sauce and it was delicious. :) After enjoying our evening we returned to our boat and laid on deck to gaze at the millions of stars in the sky. We saw the crescent moon set and a few shooting stars and fell asleep listening to the nocturnal birds singing with the cool breeze blowing. What a wonder way to end the day under the stars. :) Around midnight I woke up and decided to return to the cabin and remove my contacts that were firmly stuck to my eyes and sleep inside because it became too cool on deck, but I wouldn't change a thing about today.

Leaving Nassau

He decided the next morning that we were going to leave and so I quickly strapped the boat down in the cabin while he pulled up all three anchors. We left Nassau about 9:20am and motored with an attempt to sail with the winds, but in the end we had to put down our sails because we were beating into the wind and the waves with the current against us until we got on the bank. It was quite rough due to the short period waves for most of our trip down and only when we got close to the Exumas did we get calmer seas. We had to watch out for coral heads on our way into Allan's Cay, which was quite demanding because the boat could get a hole if we ran into one and that would not bode well for us. We made it through just fine and could see the white cliffs of Allan's Cay and the other islands of northern Exumas. We didn't trust our GPS charts as we approached the channel for Allan's Cay because it looked deceiving with strategically placed rocks that appeared to block the entrance to the anchorage site. Luckily, we were able to see the channel when we went far enough south and we quickly turned around to enter the channel for the anchorage at Allan's Cay. We saw this was very good holding because the bottom was all sand in the anchorage and we threw out our anchors at about 6pm. We saw our Hungarian friends in the anchorage as well and we went to chat with them for a little while after we set our anchors and jumped in the clear, cool, blue-green waters to refresh ourselves from the hot day. They had gotten there the previous evening and Dan told us about some small grouper they caught with their sling spear gun on a beach located on the Atlantic side of the island and we got excited for fish as we didn't trawl due to the rough waters today and being on the bank. They had gotten here the previous day and invited us over for dinner the next evening. We made plans to go fishing the next morning as Dan told us the fish are just waiting to be caught in their caves. They also told us about the iguanas on the island and feeding them lettuce resulting in a horde of iguanas approaching them for food. We enjoyed a nice sunset with a small crescent moon and Jupiter (or some other planet due to its brightness). It was so pretty I decided to pull out my nice big camera to capture as much as I could. Unfortunately, after I turned it on I found the lens was out of focus and I couldn't tell if I was taking a good picture. JR looked at it and decided it was just the view finder lens that was out of place and he could fix it. We figured it was the rough passage that jostled the lens out of focus because I had the camera in is carrying case, but it was set on the kitchen table instead of its regular storage area on the couch. I assume the couch would have absorbed most of the shock and not transferred it to the camera case as the hard table did, but I learned the hard way and I will never put the camera on a table even it is in it's protective carrying case. I just hope that JR can fix it because I want to take so many more pictures and the camera on the cell phone is working on and off especially with the video option. There was no wind after we got in the anchorage so we had a pretty warm night. On the upside, we are in the Exumas finally and going to see some iguanas and hopefully eat some freshly caught fish. Dan said he saw grouper and squirrel fish where he was fishing today so we are excited to try and catch some with him tomorrow morning. He informed us that tourists come by the hundreds to go to the beach and see the iguanas in the day time so we should expect to see them while we are here. This is the first island we have visited without internet access because the islands here aren't really inhabited or developed. I will enjoy my time being disconnected from the rest of the world. :) I woke up in the middle of the night to lash the tiller down and went outside to hear the hundreds of nocturnal birds on Leaf Cay singing and millions of stars in the dark sky. It was beautiful and I really felt I was in paradise. But I went back to bed and enjoyed knowing that we finally made it this far and we have so much more to see and do. :)

More Nassau

On our last two days in Nassau we went to Triple A's Take-aways bar & restaurant, which is located on Armstrong off East Bay St. towards downtown/straw market. Paul & Malinda from Daydream discovered this hole in the wall and invited us to try it for lunch on Friday afternoon. We took the short walk over to the restaurant and found we were the only customers in the whole place. But we ordered the curry mutton & steam chicken with peas & rice and the food was really good and cost $7 each because they were the daily special. We also ordered Kalik & Sands beer for $3 each, which was much more reasonable than the Green Parrot charging us $4.50 for Sands. We attempted to eat at a different hole in the wall on Saturday, but two places we tried were closed (blue building next to the Rum Cake Factory & Rachel's on E. Bay St.) and so we just went back to the same place as the day before. We ordered the Stew Fish (snapper) for $7 & Fried Grouper for $14. I was mislead into thinking it was going to cost $10 for the meal, but it wasn't the case when we got the bill. :( The food was too salty today and I couldn't really eat the grouper because of the salt overdose. The Fish stew was tasty, but also too much salt as I was really thirsty for the rest of the day and evening. We got fuel from the StarPort (Texaco station), which was close to our anchorage and so we just took the jerry cans in the dinghy. We didn't have to wait too long before someone served us, but problems slowly arose. First, he asked if we wanted gasoline or diesel. We said both and luckily the guy was willing to give us diesel while the other boats around were getting gas. So we got the fuel hose handed down to us because the dock was so high up and the dinghy was quite low. I held on to a wooden plank off set from the dock as JR filled up our fuel jugs as best he could with all the wakes around and the dinghy that bumped into us from behind. Finally we finished getting our 21 gallons of diesel and wanted to get the gasoline, but the guy said we would have to get it from up front. Also he asked if we were paying cash or credit card and since we were paying with a credit card we would have to go to the front because he was too busy. I decided to just walk up front and kill two birds with one stone by getting the needed gasoline and paying with the credit card. So after getting some really long directions from the service guy, I ended up walking to E. Bay St. and going in the Texaco. When I tried to explain to the people there they were all confused and told me I couldn't pay with a credit card there as the sign stated. After explaining a few times the situation and the guy who told me to come up front with the bill and an empty jerry can, one of the guys said that he should have accompanied me up front. I just relayed the information that he was busy and couldn't come himself. Well, this didn't matter as no one up front knew how to use the credit card machine, which I found out later was the reason why they weren't accepted up front. So we walk all the way back to the docks and find the owner of the marina and he clears up the situation quickly. He tells the original service guy to go up front to run the credit card and to get me some gasoline as I never was able to get any up front because of the non- acceptance of credit cards resulting in no fuel. The guy then becomes really helpful and doesn't even let me open the fuel container by telling me he would take care of it all. So he fills up the jug in a few minutes as it was only 2 gallons and then he modifies my hand written bill. Using his trusty four function calculator, he sums up the diesel ($3.88/gal), gasoline ($4.61/gal), and a 3% service charge for using a credit card. He offered to walk up front to run my card, but I decide to walk it up with him just in case. It was a good thing I did make the additional trip up front because he was teaching the lady behind the counter how to run the credit card and she messed it up charging me the wrong amount. I acted quickly when the guy tore up the receipt and told her to run it again. I told him that he will have to refund my money for the charge that just took place or he could just subtract the value that was already charged from the total and make a second charge to the card, which would add up to the proper amount. He tried to tell me to just call the credit card company and tell them to fix it and not charge me, but I refused this option as I would not have phone access and didn't want the problem of having to deal with the credit card company. So I insisted on my second option as I deduced he didn't know how to refund money on the credit card machine. He looked at me dumbfounded and I told him I would do the math on paper so he could see it would all add up to the correct amount. I borrowed a pen and wrote on the torn receipt from the first charge on the card and showed him how much to charge me the second time he ran the card. He had the lady use the computer to do the math and we came up with the same value so he was satisfied and agreed to my request. It turns out this place had reasonable prices for their fuel and even water was cheap at 15 cents per gallon. For the Bahamas at least, we heard the Hungarian people paid 40-60 cents per gallon for potable water in Bimini. We were on the fence about going back to shore for more of the tasty French red wine and groceries, but in the end we were too hot and didn't want to go back to land where it was worse. We didn't know if we were going to leave the next day because JR wasn't in a hurry to leave and didn't want to make any plans, which I fail to understand because preparations need to be made when you leave a place. But I let him decide as he was captain of the boat and deemed he would know better by looking at the weather. I passed my time reading another book and sketching Atlantis from our anchorage site. :)

Traveling To Nassau, New Providence

We traveled from Chub Cay to Nassau leaving Chub Cay at 9:15am and only later did I realize that I forgot to take a picture of our anchorage site. :( We had enough wind to put out both the mail and head sail, but there wasn't enough wind for us to turn off the engine. So we motor-sailed all the way down to Nassau. We had calm waters on the way down, which was nice. The wind was around 10 knots and we traveled on average 5 knots, with our fasted speed at 6 knots. The sails were nice to give us shade on the deck from the sun and to help propel us along with the engine. We didn't see any marine life during our trip down even though we trawled a line with the same skirt as when we caught the barracuda. When we got close enough to Nassau we pulled out our line and notice our bait and hook were gone! The line was severed clean and through that the bait was attached to previously, but we didn't hear or feel a thing. Granted the engine was on the whole time and is super loud, we were able to get the barracuda last time. We were disappointed that we could have caught a good sized fish, but we didn't even know we didn't have a hook or bait on the line for who knows how long. Oh well, it wasn't meant to be I suppose. We could see a storm going through New Providence as we were approaching, but luckily by the time we arrived the storm was not on that side of the island. After visiting Chub Cay, we could see how big the New Providence island was comparatively. We were going to the Nassau Yacht Haven Marina, but as we were approaching the two bridges we noticed a group of boats anchored out. Then I noticed a familiar boat and realized it was our friends Paul and Malinda from Daydream and then we also saw the Hungarian people we met from Bimini (who had a Golden Hind 31' as well) anchored nearby as well. So we just decided to anchor in between them instead of going to the marina. We chatted with both families/ couples until pretty late and got some really tasty burgers from the Green Parrot Bar & Grill, which was were the free dinghy dock was located. We found another Bahamian beer called Sands ($4.50), which is brewed in Freeport. JR liked this beer better than the Kalik's we got in Bimini. We stuffed ourselves with the delicious big burgers and fries (eh, soggy) for $11 (Naked Burger) and $13.75 (The Works Burger). It was pretty late after we ate so we turned in for the night and hoped our anchor holding was good enough as we were told that this anchorage was really bad due to the flat stone bottom with thin patches of sand and sea grass scattered about along with trash at the water bottom. Dan, the Hungarian, decided to tie lines to large objects like a engine or transmission to keep him from drifting or dragging anchor. Paul was able to find a couple of sandy patches to dig into.

Revisiting Nassau

We walked all around downtown in the tourist district and straw market and then walked all the way back and explored the other side of our anchorage to do a price comparison on different kinds of alcohol. We were informed of $3 bottles of rum here in Nassau and we looked all over for it, but we were unsuccessful. :( The cheapest bottle of rum we could find was just under $7. After we did our research on the liquor stores, we decided to get some lunch and ended up eating chicken nuggets from Wendy's!? We were sweating up a storm and needed some air conditioning along with standard fare to re-energize us for the long walk back to the boat. We were surprised to see it along with KFC across the street, but we welcomed it and got a Frosty to help cool us completely before heading back out into the stifling heat. We walked to the nearest grocery store called Super Value and picked up a few fresh veggies as we had run out while crossing the Great Bahama Bank. They had some vegetables that were reasonably priced and others were super expensive. We quickly walked through several isles to do some price checks and then checked out. We noticed they had some good deals on their meats (pork, chicken, steak) and the pork look really fresh so we couldn't resist and bought a package for dinner. We hurried back to the boat to make sure the food was kept a cool as possible and JR went to the fuel dock to get a bag of ice (small size was more than 7 or 8 lbs for $4) to make sure the food didn't spoil before we cooked it. When we returned to the boat we could see a big storm that had been brewing all morning was about to hit us. We got the boat ready for the rain and then decided impromptu to catch rain water to refill our water tanks. We ended up catching approximately 12 gallons of water, which is awesome because they charge (40-60 cents we hear) for potable water in Nassau and we haven't refilled our tanks since we left Miami. We both felt so much cleaner with the fresh water shower instead of the salt water showers we have been taking. Next time, we are going to have a water maker and shower aboard our boat to help us be self sufficient and not so reliant upon the marinas, which I suppose we haven't been to one since Miami either so that is good and helps with our budget allowing us to spend on different things like going out to eat or buying groceries and other stuff. Dan and his son, Yamesh (?), came by our boat to chat and take pics of our boat to help with improving theirs. I cooked the center cut pork loin chops and they were delicious! :) We savored each bite and enjoyed watching the movie, The Italian Job while we ate. Ahhh, this is the life. Good food, good company, good scenery, and good entertainment. :)

The next day in Nassau, we hung out on the boat for the morning due to the heat and then headed out in search for cheap alcohol, new zincs for our bilge keels, and some fresh foods for dinner. We walked a while down East Bay St. and picked up the zincs from a big marine store called Harbourside Marine, then we walked much further down until we found the shopping plaza with a grocery store called City Market. We also found a liquor store, which had some cheap wine ($5-6) and Old Nassau Rum ($9) so we picked up 4 bottles of wine and one of rum to try. Then we went to the City Market and found they had better prices for their fresh fruits and veggies than Super Value so I picked up a variety of fresh fruits and veggies (romaine lettuce, celery, limes, bananas, and mint). We also picked up some chicken to barbecue on the grill for dinner. We attempted to catch water again with another passing rain storm, but today the rain wasn't as long or as strong and so we only got a gallon of water total. We even pulled out our water catcher this time and installed in at the bow to help increase our collection, but it didn't work because the rain wasn't heavy enough. We enjoyed cooling off with the rain so that was nice after such a hot day. Too bad there was no wind really today to help give us power and to help keep us cool. Hopefully, we will be comfortable enough to sleep well.

Chub Cay

We stayed an extra night in Chub Cay due to weather predictions of the wind direction and speed for the day. We decided to take it easy and relax in the clear, cool waters of our anchorage. We enjoyed spending our day swimming around and collecting starfish and searching for conch that we could eat. Unfortunately, there were tons of starfish which meant that most of the conch shells we found were empty. By the afternoon, we had found only four young conchs and tons of starfish. I enjoyed diving down to collect them for a pic and liked all the various patterns and colors that each starfish had to make them an individual. However, they didn't have as brilliant colors and patterns outside of the water. I recalled the fact that starfish are very difficult to eradicate and found that when they are left out of water for a little while they lose their water and replace their cavities with air. Then when they are returned to the water, they actually float on the surface until the starfish decides to release the gas that has built up inside their bodies via pores in their arms to allow water to return into their body cavities, which results in them sinking to the bottom of the ocean or water. When we had the conch inside of a water bucket, we noticed some that would extend their eye stalks out of their shells and look out at us. It was really interesting to see them shrink quickly back inside their shell having the entire shell shake after the organism retracted or retreated into the safety of its shell. We even got to see almost the entire organism slink out of their shell and I was reminded of an alien face. I saw long eye stalks with a long nose-like protrusion from the center of their face, and a long scythe-like toe nail at the end of their foot. I never saw what conch looked like before and I was completely fascinated by them even with their thick, slimy, mucus excretions. I was able to see how long they actually are inside their shell and was amazed at how fast they move in and out of their shells. I was able to catch a little bit of this on video and even take some still shots, which I totally felt like it was a National Geographic moment. It was so cool! Later that day we saw two sting rays and a barracuda hanging out under our bow with a couple of fish following them for scraps. I was surprised to see them all together for such a long period of time, but then again I shouldn't have been too surprised as we had canned chicken for lunch and I poured the water in the can down the sink, hence chumming the waters for marine life to come thinking there was food around. We enjoyed our time being the only boat in the area, but when twilight comes we know that we have to retreat ourselves back into the cabin no matter how hot it is inside because of the bugs that come out to feed at that time. We had a very nice and relaxing day at the Chub Cay anchorage. We got the boat ready to leave the next day. It turns out that the prediction was incorrect and we would have been fine making our passage down to Nassau, but the next day was better due to a little wind to allow us to put out our sails and help us travel faster. On a different note, the mint plant that we bought back in Miami was out in the sun during our passage and doesn't look like it is going to make it after all. :(

Leaving Bimini on Saturday June 5th, 2010

We strapped down the boat after some breakfast and left Alice Town, North Bimini at 9:50am. We motored out of our anchorage and waved goodbye to the Hungarian family. Right as we were leaving the channel we saw a huge spotted eagle ray jump out of the water a couple times. It was so cool to see such a creature soar out of the water. We turned off our engine and put up our sails after we got away from all the wakes from the power

boats, but after only 2 hours or so we had to turn

our engine back on because the wind died. We ended up motoring the rest of the day and just anchored in the middle of the Great Bahama Bank (GBB) around 8:15pm. We traveled about 50 miles with an average speed of 4.5 knots using up 5 gallons of diesel. For most of the trip we were

alone with only a couple fast power boats passing us by during the day. Luckily, the GBB was really calm and the boat gently rocked us to sleep even with the stifling heat and a pesky mosquito that sneaked into our cabin to feast on us while we were unsuspecting. I used my mosquito net which made it even hotter in my berth, but it

stopped me from getting anymore bites through the night. Our cabin isn't big, but there are so many places a mosquito can hide it is ridiculous. We have had many search parties in the middle of the night to hunt down these pests and come up fruitless. I really don't like bugs and ones that suck my blood and poison me in the process are the worst, but I digress. The night in the GBB was quite pleasant and we turned on our anchor light just in case any boats passed us in the evening. I was craving some congee (rice porridge) so I cooked some up even with all the heat from the engine, but I had to eat it outside with a gentle breeze to keep me cool and to give time for the cabin to cool as well.

The next day we got up early and pulled up our anchor at 6:45am to set out through the Great Bahama Bank and into the Northwest Channel in the Atlantic Ocean. We saw tons of huge sea cucumbers littering the bottom of the GBB, which I had never seen so many before. It was funny to see these pickle shaped creatures of different colors all over the place. We were trawling a line with a pink and purple skirt as we were traversing the bank and not too long after (~2 hours) we found we had caught something. JR began to reel it in and I could see a good sized fish (3-3.5 ft) at the hook. When we got a good look at the fish we were disappointed because it was a

barracuda. We didn't want to cut the line so we kept the fish on it until it died (by drowning first and then using a billy club just for good measure) and then we pulled out the hook with much effort. After a little debating we decided to throw the fish back in the water due to our fear of mercury and ciguatera poisioning. I wanted to save the fish for bait, but we didn't have any ice or refrigeration so it wouldn't keep until we reached deeper waters. So in the end we threw the entire fish back into the water and about 5 minutes later JR saw a 4 ft. wide and 6 ft. long (not sure of the dimensions due to the depth of

the waters, which it could have been bigger) bull shark swim by. I was in the cabin washing the dishes so I didn't get to see it, but we are sure the shark called dibs on the barracuda we just

Bank to the Northwest Channel. It was really neat to be able to see the bottom of the ocean until the waters were just too deep and we could only see the blue waters. We keep out of the sun by putting up our bimini top at the bow so we could feel the slight breeze blowing to keep us cooler. We napped, chatted, read, and looked for marine life during our passage. We ended up traveling 45 miles in 10 hours and 16 minutes at an average of 4.5 knots using the engine the entire time due to the lack of wind.

tossed overboard. I am sure it could smell the fish as we used the gaff to pull it on deck. Later we saw several other marine animals including dolphins, flying fish, starfish, sea cucumbers, fish,

jellyfish, sea fans, and various species of coral.

The waters changed colors from a clear sea green to a more blue green color. We could see the drastic change in depth from the Great Bahama

We saw a flock of seagulls fishing with a big ball of fish near the surface of the water as we approached Chub Cay. We arrived in Chub Key and set our anchor at 5pm. Then we put on our bathing suits and jumped in the water to cool ourselves and relax. I put on my snorkel mask and did some under water investigations to make sure we had enough clearance under our keels, t

o check if the anchor was set properly, and to look at the the type of bottom to determine the holding. I also found a pretty big starfish and was able to retrieve him from the bottom to get a quick picture. The bottom was sand so we decided only one anchor was needed to be put out.

There wasn't much of a current here and not too much boat traffic, which is nice as we anchored near a beach and no other boats were around us. Later, there was a trawler near us that dropped their hook and ran a generator to keep up with their power consumption. We read in the Bahamas cruising guide book about a restaurant called the Harbor House and we decided to dinghy over to check it out. After we found it, we noticed there wasn't any customers and the staff was watching tv. So we walked to the bar to get some ice cold water and a few Goombay

Smash (Bacardi gold dark rum, Triple Sec, Coconut Rum, Sweet & Sour, Goombay punch, and

pineapple juice for $8.50). Then we ordered some conch fritters to try and they were pretty good but pricey at $8 for 7 pieces. The conch fritters we got back at Bimini were much better for their price, but these were more juicy.

We enjoyed watching the National Geographic channel, which we haven't seen in ages. It was a fitting episode about marine life as they talked about giant freshwater sting rays in Thailand. We paid our exorbitant bill and left the Harbor House disappointed as we were looking for a good burger and they served none. I would not recommend this place if you are on a budget because their meals were at least $21 for cracked conch and up for other random dishes including Bahamian paella, Hungarian Beef Goulash, Veal, and etc.

Chub Cay has a private island feeling because there is no town only the marina and resorts. The people who visit this island weren't friendly except one guy at the bar who was smashed and playing the piano rather poorly. When we got back to our dinghy we found several no-see-ums hitching a ride and having us for their dinner. We hurried on our boat and tried to get some relief from the bugs, but found after sitting for a couple minutes we were being attacked by mosquitoes. I retreated into the cabin while JR continued to get eaten alive outside where it was cooler. To our dismay we found the mosquito from the previous night was still in our cabin and wreaking havoc on our peace and supposed safe haven from insects. After a few failed attempts at killing the mosquito we decided to give up and turn in for the night. I know this bug will never leave with us to feast upon so we should expect it to have permanent residence in our cabin until we kill it.

Visiting Bimini

We enjoyed visiting Bimini with its clear seagreen waters (depending on the tides it may not be very clear) and meeting the friendly locals. We have utilized our time in the clear waters by cleaning our hull from any growth and barnacles that have attached to our bottom during our stay in Miami after we got Dan to clean our boat a few weeks ago. I am sorry to say he didn't do a good job because he was not thorough by omitting the propeller and the back sides of the bilge keels. I didn't expect him to have done a good job since he was only cleaning our boat for 40
mins. We are anchored in North Bimini across from Bimini Big Game Resort due to the lack of slips available due to the long weekend crowds that came over from South Florida to party and fish on their power boats. Bimini is the Deep Sea Fishing capital of the world because you can get to deep water very close to the coast of Bimini. We believe that every weekend is pretty busy here but this being Memorial Day weekend we saw tons of tourists. Most of the time we spent in the clear cool waters swimming and snorkeling or relaxing at the beach. We enjoyed eating local foods including the lobster and conch omelet at Captain Bob's ($12), conch fritters (8 for $3) at CJ's Deli & Snack Bar, Bimini bread ($3), Parmesan & Garlic Rolls ($1), Guava Danish ($2) and Oatmeal Raisin cookies ($0.50) at The Taste of Heaven Bakery and Souse House. Souse is a water based soup with chicken ($6/$8), sheep tongue, mutton ($7), etc. While stew is a flour based soup that is thicker. Of course we sampled the local brew of Kalik at The End of the World Bar and found it to be very refreshing on a hot summer day so we picked up 3 for $5.60 at the Butler Sands Liquor store and headed to the beach to enjoy it all. The sights, sounds, and tastes of Bimini have made us very content and we couldn't ask for more. Well maybe cheaper rum as the prices here are not cheaper than the U.S. :) But we did see Johnny Walker Blue (1 L) for $200, which I believe is a good price not that I have had any before. On a different note, we tried to visit the Shark Lab (Bimini Biological Field Station) but unfortunately the entire staff at the lab was busy tagging sharks for the entire week and so no one would be able to give us a tour. If I ever come back to Bimini this will be on my list of things to do. The lab is located on the southern part of South Bimini, which you will take a water taxi to get to the island from Alice Town, North Bimini and then take a bus down to the lab. Radio Beach has been a favorite spot of ours and we enjoy it even more when the crowds are gone allowing us to have the beach to ourselves. We walked down the beach to see the Gallant Lady ship wreck and also saw the remains of the small aircraft crash, which occurred recently. The pilot was known for flying low to scare the tourists on the beach and give his passengers a thrill (they paid for it), but the last time he didn't make it and several people were killed including the pilot, the passengers and some people on the beach.We met a Hungarian family who just recently purchased a Golden Hind 31' from Marathon andanchored near us in North Bimini. Their boat was built in 1970 and was the first model of the boat, while ours is the second model and built in 1977. Dan got it as a fixer-upper and so he came over with his son to check out our boat to see the differences. They plan to head down to the Exumas as well so we may see them again.The wildlife we have encountered have included many lizards, birds, fish, butterflies, a yellow spotted purple eel, coral, and hermit crabs. We are surprised to have seen so many dead conch shells strewn all over the land and waters of Bimini. I haven't seen many conch living around here, but if I were a conch I wouldn't venture out to where so many others have been killed. I will update this posting when I have more to write about.

We attempted to look for conch around the flats across from Alice Town/Weech's, but we had no luck in finding any living conch. We did see a couple of sting rays gliding in the shallow waters which made the trip to the flats worth while. We also went to Radio Beach to watch the sun set, but that was a bad idea due to all the mosquitoes and no-see-ums that left us covered in bug bites. We have learned our lesson and will stay on the boat during twilight hours from here on out. To help alleviate our itching and prevent further bites from the bugs we retreated into the ocean, which had pool like clarity and cool temperatures. We visited Sherri's on the beach to try the fried chicken and fries ($8), which I wouldn't recommend. We attempted to taste the Goombay Smash at the End of the World bar, but there was only a substitute bartender who didn't know how to make the drink. We enjoyed our time there anyways.