Note: As you will read below, we had hoped to post this update from Normans Cay on June 9th, but when we got to the Beach Club we were informed that their Internet had been struck by lightning a few weeks prior. Such is life in the islands, mon!
Good day faithful readers, it's me the Captain. I have decided to give the Admiral a much needed break from writing the blog update, so bear with me as I take you through our past 12 days aboard L2S.
On Friday the 29th of May, as promised, Paul & Doug on "1/2 Off" picked me up about 10:00 and I was off on another adventure to fish and snorkel an area about 35 miles southwest of Staniel Cay. Paul's new Intrepid off-shore fishing boat is a showpiece complete with all the bells & whistles. With twin 250hp Yamahas, state of the art GPS & chartplotter, autopilot, bow-thruster, trim-tabs, and Sirrius radio on board we cruised about 35 mph to our first stop to snorkel. There is a shallow coral reef in about 15 feet of water just before you reach the Tongue of the Ocean that is pristine and rarely visited by anybody because of its remote location about half way between Staniel Cay to the east and Andros to the west.
After donning our snorkel gear and getting out our spear guns we were ready to find some fresh grouper for dinner later that night. Well, our luck was not so good, Paul ended up following a nice grouper for what he said felt like "27 miles" but the fish stayed just out of range of his spear. Meanwhile Doug & I found a nice grouper that we hit three times with our spears but the bugger found a cave in the reef and got away from us before we could get to it. After spending an hour in the water with no more luck we decided it was time to grab a bite of lunch {thanks Monica} and head out into the Tongue to see if we could do better with our fishing rods.
"Off Island" with "1/2 Off" tied along side.
Doug takes the controls of "1/2 Off" while...
Paul takes a nap on the way to our diving spot.
Getting ready to snorkel around Boobie Rocks.
As we headed to our next stop I was amazed at how quickly the bottom goes from 20 feet on the Bahama Bank to over 3500 feet in the Tongue of the Ocean in a matter of a mile, quite the underwater canyon! Paul and Doug knew of a buoy (more like a 15 x 15 platform)that the Navy uses for its submarine radar systems that is literally anchored in 4000' feet of water, imagine stringing that cable to the bottom of the ocean floor! Like the snorkel area we had just come from. this buoy area is very remote and rarely fished by anybody. Because of its remote location the floating platform acts a fish magnet beyond belief.
When we arrived the birds were feeding, always a good sign, and it wasn't long until we had our first Mahi-mahi on board. Since Paul & Doug just needed enough fish for dinner they were ready to head back after just one fish. Well, after I whined about going back so soon they gave in and made one more pass around the buoy, I just couldn't believe that they would go 80 miles round trip for one fish? Besides that, I was in high-octane fishing mode and wanted to catch more fish knowing that there were some fellow boaters back in the anchorage that would LOVE fresh Mahi for dinner.
We made one more pass around the buoy and hooked up again to a nice Mahi. As we were reeling it in the sharks started chasing the Mahi and it was leaping out of the water to avoid being eaten by them, there must have been 20 or 30 sharks that were hanging around the buoy just looking for their next meal! Just as we were about to land the second Mahi another Mahi started following the hooked one and I yelled to Doug, "Get another line in the water and see if we can get a double-hook-up." Sure enough Doug pitched the bait into the water and the Mahi swam over and took the bait. "Double-hook-up" I yelled and a few moments later we had a total of three Mahi on board! As much as I hated to leave and head back to the boat we now had plenty of fish for the entire gang.
Another Mahi-mahi gets ready to "come aboard!"
Doug gets ready to bring one on board while Paul watches.
The Captain enjoying his time reeling one in.
The fruits of our labor!
Heading back in from our fishing trip Doug & Paul were not looking forward to cleaning the fish so I happily volunteered to do the job, it was the least I could do after spending a wonderful day on the water with them. Thanks again guys, it was truly one of the best highlights of this year's trip to the Exumas!!!
After Paul & Doug dropped me off I radioed "In Your Dreams", "Freyja", and "WhatDazeIt?", who had just arrived from Black Point and told them to stop by the boat with some Ziplocs as I had plenty of fish for them from the day's adventure...needless to say it didn't take them long to show up!
After cleaning the fish and getting myself cleaned up we were off to "Off Island" for a wonderful dinner of pan seared Mahi, fresh bread & salad, and outstanding red & white wine. It was great to catch up with Doug, Paul, and Monica and we truly enjoyed another great evening aboard Paul's beautiful yacht. Doug has even made us an offer to fly his plane to Knoxville this fall when we are there, pick us up, and then fly us back to his home in the Ashville, NC area to spend a few days with he and his family. Count on us calling you Doug, it sounds like a great time!
Paul & Monica preparing our night's feast while...
Brenda & Doug enjoy the sunset view from "Off Island."
The salon inside "Off Island;" quite nice isn't it?
Saturday morning around 4:00 a.m. one of the dreaded thunderstorms from the west hit us in the anchorage, never a fun time. The rain hit, winds were clocked at 40mph, and it didn't take long for the waves to build and make for a VERY stressful time. The anchor held, the storm blew through, the Captain de-stressed, and we were both back in bed by 5:30 a..m. safe & sound...God I hate those storms when I live on a boat!
We woke later that morning to warm & muggy temps, pulled the anchor and headed over to Sampson Cay Marina to take on water and a little fuel. After having three of us on board the previous week, and this being the last water stop until we got back to the states, we figured we might as well top off the water tanks. I also wanted to take on about a 100 gallons of fuel as I have been having a problem with one fuel tank and didn't want to chance running out of fuel before we arrived back in the states, that would NOT be fun.
After leaving the marina we headed north to the Pipe Creek area and found a nice anchorage where we would spend the next three nights. "Freyja" and "WhatDazeIt?" had also moved and were now anchored in Pipe Creek After the previous night's storm "In Your Dreams" decided to spend a few days north of us at Compass Cay Marina. About 3:00 p.m. all of us met at a beautiful sandy lagoon on Joe Cay and enjoyed happy hour floating around in the warm water and discussing that morning's rough weather.
While we were enjoying happy hour "1/2 Off" motored through our area and had MORE fresh fish for us, seems they went back out to the Tongue to fish again and had good luck. I swear that buoy in the Tongue must be some kind of fish-magnet! That evening "Freyja" invited us over for a fresh Mahi dinner (go figure!) and a great evening on the back of their sailboat, thanks you two it was very yummy!
Sunday morning Tom & Jackie from "In Your Dreams" and I went for a long hike on the Sound side of Thomas Cay. We didn't find a bunch of treasures but we did find a small beach where we were lucky enough to pick up two pockets full of blue sea glass, a much sought-after color for sea glass collectors. Right as we were finishing up our hike the clouds opened up and it began to rain...again. It continued to rain off & on all day so happy hour was cancelled and everybody spent the day on board reading and relaxing.
The Pipe Creek Yacht Club, anyone can be a member!
Tom ("In Your Dreams") stalking bonefish on the flats around Pipe Creek.
Monday morning we awoke to more clouds and some drizzle but decided to pull the anchor anyway and head north to the mooring field at Cambridge Cay. The trip took about 1.5 hours and the entire time we were watching a very black cloud creep our way asking ourselves "would we make it to the mooring ball before the storm hit?" With luck the storm hit us a few minutes after we got attached to the ball, it was close but we made it. The rain & wind stopped about 4:00 p.m. and the Admiral and I took a dinghy trip over to O'Briens Cay where we found a very nice half-moon beach.
While we were beach combing we found a number of heart beans, hamburger beans, and even a sea purse bean. These beans, or seeds, wash up on the shore from areas as far away as South America and Africa, some of them are quite beautiful and are used to make jewelry. Those of us who collect them are referred to as "Beaners", did you just learn something new?
The Admiral searches the coastline of O'Briens Cay for treasures.
Searching, searching, searching.
"Look at the tiny sea biscuit I found, honey!"
"Freyja" arrived in the mooring field shortly before we returned from our dinghy adventure, they had decided to hang in Pipe Creek and wait out the storm that had hit all of us earlier that morning. We had "Freyja" over for a chicken & mushroom dinner later that night and introduced them to the game "Catch Phrase". I think a good time was had by all, even though I don't think Jack was very impressed with the game??
Tuesday morning dawned calm & sunny - yeah! I went back over to hike the rocky shores of O'Briens Cay to see if I could find more treasures and returned with more fishing net floats and other miscellaneous surprises. It's amazing all the interesting things a person can find that have washed up on the shores over the years, if sea beans can wash in from all over the world you can imagine the other "stuff" that finds its way to the shores of the Exumas.
We had happy hour with Susan & Jack on a nice sandy point and then went to "Freyja" for a wonderful dinner of sweet potato encrusted Mahi-mahi. After dinner we played more Catch Phrase and enjoyed Brenda's homemade orange-glazed banana nut bread that she had baked earlier in the day. As much as I hate to admit it, the girls kicked the boys butts in Catch Phrase four games to one!
Wednesday morning was sunny again and "WhatDazeIt?" arrived in the mooring field mid-morning. Bruce & Sheila on "Bahama Star", who were in the area and we had been talking to on the VHF radio, picked us up on their sailboat about 3:00 p.m. and took us with their charter guests back over to Compass Cay. The charter guests wanted to see Rachel's Bubble Bath so Bahama Star's first mate Eric took the guests to the beach via their dinghy while Bruce & Sheila and Brenda & I caught up on our travels this past year.
Sheila, Eric, and Bruce ham it up on "Bahama Star".
Heading to Rachel's Bubble Bath aboard "Bahama Star".
Captain Bruce meets Troll.
After returning to the Cambridge mooring field "Bahama Star" took a mooring and returned us back to L2S, but not before inviting us back over for dinner. "WhatDazeIt?" and "Freyja" also stopped by "Bahama Star" for a visit & tour and Mike & Mary brought along M.E. & H.I.D., both of which were quite the hit with the charter guests. We decided to decline the dinner invitation, they seemed busy enough with their "paying" guests, but we promised we would dinghy back over for after-dinner entertainment.
By the time we returned to "Bahama Star" the singing & dancing had already began. We promptly poured ourselves some rum punch and joined in the festivities. Brenda became quite enamoured with "Bahama Star's" young first mate Eric and later informed me that "If I was 20 years younger...!" I have to admit he was quite the handsome stud and it was fun watching the wife flirt with this young "Captain Ron"!
I finally got the Admiral back to the boat about 11:30, much to her disappointment. ;-) Thanks again Bruce & Sheila for a great evening aboard your sailboat, I hope we didn't keep the other boaters up too late with all our singing & dancing.
Bruce showing off his dinner masterpiece, while first mate Nicki looks on.
Another rainy & stormy looking morning on Thursday. We left Cambridge saying our goodbyes to "WhatDazeIt?" as this was the last time we would see them until sometime later this fall on the river systems. Our destination was Exuma Park headquarters at Warderick Wells so we could update the blog and spend some time hiking and snorkeling the area. "Freyja" left Cambridge with us and followed us out the narrow cut to the south. We had an uneventful trip in the rain & drizzle and arrived shortly after noon in the park. It continued to drizzle all afternoon but stopped around 4:00 and the sun tried to peak out.
The boaters in the mooring field organized a happy hour social on the porch at park headquarters which began around 5:00. It was a great group of about 20 folks and the appetizers were outstanding, in fact all the food was so good we just decided to make a dinner out of the snacks.....as did other boaters. We retired to the boat and watched "Walk the Line" on DVD, which we had borrowed from "Freyja."
Boaters' social at the Exumas Land & Sea Park headquarters.
Susan gets her dog-fix at the social.
Early Friday morning the wind picked up again but the rain held off and we awoke to beautiful sunny skies. I spent the morning changing the oil in the engines and replacing the engine zincs on the motors and generator. While I was doing that Brenda worked on updating the blog from Cathy's visit, an update that took her over six hours by the time she got all the pictures posted! However, we were able to get an Internet signal while we were on the mooring ball so the Admiral enjoyed not having to leave the boat for this update.
The wind picked up in the afternoon so we moved to another mooring ball that was more protected from the southerly wind. We invited "Freyja" over for dinner where we enjoyed Susan's homemade margaritas and Brenda's Burrito Casserole, both were muy bueno! In addition, Susan brought over some incedible baked bread that we enjoyed over the next few days. After dinner we conned Jack into another few rounds of Catch Phrase which kept us up until after 11:00. Jack, don't forget about the "Little Japanese men in black suits along with orange things that swim in the water and suck air!" a.k.a - "Ninja Turtles" :-)
Michelle works the phone and radios at park headquarters, love those volunteers!
Susan & Jack dinghy over to L2S for a visit.
Once again early Saturday morning we were awakened around 5:00 a.m. to thunder, which meant more rain & wind. However this time we were tied to a mooring ball so let it blow baby blow, there was no need to worry as I sat on the flybridge and enjoyed the light show. Went back to bed for a while after the storm let up and then awoke around 8:00 to beautiful sunny skies...yahoo!
As you can tell by now we have not had the greatest weather this year. Last year we had two small sprinkles and only one storm to deal with the entire trip. In the past three weeks we've had one storm after another with lightning in the skies every night and mostly cloudy skies at least part of every day. The nights have been pretty stressful; however, it's still paradise and we are living each day to its fullest.
Around 11:00 "1/2 Off" stopped by the mooring field to see us, they had been fishing out in the Tongue again and brought us MORE fish. Needless to say our freezer is now full of Mahi and we appreciate Doug & Paul keeping us fed these past eight days!. After "1/2 Off" left the Admiral & I took a hike back to Boo-Boo Hill to see the new signs that have been put up since we were there last. "In Your Dreams", "Tide "Hiker", "Rickshaw", "Dual Dreams", "Freyja", and "September Song" had all put up their works of art.
Back up on Boo-Boo Hill.
L2S in the anchorage at Warderick Wells.
Low tide was around 1:30 p.m. so the Captain, along with Jack & Susan, grabbed the snorkle gear and dove the reef that is located just off the mooring field. Exuma Park is a no-take zone, which means there is no fishing, lobstering, conching, or removal of any type of sealife. Therefore you see unbelievable amounts of fish & sealife. Every reef has lobster on it, some of those guys are HUGE. And when I say HUGE I'm talking lobster that would feed two people each, I'm sure some of those lobster must weigh over ten pounds! I must have counted 30+ lobster in 45 minuets of snorkeling...now where did I put that drawn butter!
Late that afternoon we took "Freyja" to one of our favorite beaches, Naked Beach, where we enjoyed a sunny & rain-free afternoon hanging out in this beautiful part of the world. As we dinghed back from Naked Beach we stopped by and saw Steve & Diane aboard "Aurora", they had just made a long run from Nassau and were worn out so we only talked for a few moments.
Exuma Park also hosts (they provide ice which is great) a social every Saturday evening so it was back over to the beach for a continued happy hour following Naked Beach. Everybody brings a little snack and it's amazing the boaters you meet who know boaters you know. We even met a couple who knew Mo ("MOTU")and were in the same harbor as her when she lost her sailboat to Hurricaine Ivan in Grenada in 2004...small world out here on the water!
A Bananaquit comes aboard L2S for a little sugar.
The Admiral prepares spinach cheese swirls for the Saturday evening social.
L2S introduces "Freyja" to Naked Beach.
Jack taking his evening dip while Susan looks on.
We woke Sunday morning to cloudy skies and noticed we had some rain overnight, go figure. Our plan for the day was to leave Warderick Wells and the park headquarters and head north to Hawksbill Cay. We got underway around 9:30 for the two hour trip. We had clouds & rain most of the way and decided to go ahead and take a mooring ball.
Shortly after we got tied up a smaller powerboat pulled in front of us and anchored. He had a loud generator that kept running & running, finally I went over and asked him if he was going to run his generator all day? He informed me that he was having issues with his batteries and that he had to run it 20 out of 24 hours a day. Since I didn't want to listen to this noise all day we came off the mooring ball and went on down the beach and anchored, it was nice to have quiet again! We then went for a walk on the beach and enjoyed the sun that finally came out.
Later that afternoon "Freyja" and L2S went to find a beach where we could have happy hour and collect wood for a fire. We had decided the previous day that we wanted to roast hot dogs and have s'mores Sunday night and watch the full moon rise. We then took the dinghy on to the north end of Hawksbill Cay which has to be one of the most beautiful places in the entire Exumas chain, don't miss it if you get down here!
Enjoying a nice afternoon on Hawksbill Cay.
Photos of the northern end of Hawksbill Cay, so VERY beautiful!
After visiting the north end we went back to our boats, collected our evening dinner & drinks and went back to the beach we had found earlier. The hot dogs, s'mores, and fire were most enjoyed by all of us, the only disappointment was that it was cloudy so we missed the full moon.
Jack & Susan get ready for the evening hotdog roast & fire.
Brenda gets ready to make a true "white man's fire!"
By early Monday morning the wind had shifted to the south and our anchorage at Hawksbill had become rather "rolly" and uncomfortable. L2S and "Freyja" pulled anchor and decided that we would head on up to the cut at Normans where we knew it would be calm and sure enough, it was. Later on Monday we went to the beach for happy hour and fed the seagulls while we enjoyed a very nice & sunny afternoon. Monday night we did dinner on the boat, watched a little "Sopranos" on the DVD, and then hit the hay early.
Enjoying another beautiful beach on Boot Cay as the seagulls look on.
"Freyja" at anchor in Normans Cut.
It is now Tuesday, June 9th, and we spent the morning on the dinghies exploring the pond on Normans Cay at high tide with Jack & Susan. It is a very beautiful place, similar in some ways to the north end of Hawksbill, and we even found a few conch that we plan on cleaning so Susan can make one or more of her conch specialties (she has many). After our dinghy trip Jack & Susan came over for breakfast enchiladas and mimosas. Thanks for the champagne, Susan!
Fresh conch for dinner tonight!
A few shots of the area between Boot Cay and Normans Pond.
As soon as the Admiral proofs my blog update and we clean the conch, we will head over to the Beach Club where they have Internet, have a cold Kalik or two and update the blog. This will be the last blog update until we reach Florida as we hope to make the crossing around the 16th, weather permitting. We will send out a group e-mail letting many of you know we are back safe & sound in the good ol' USA.
Even though the weather has been unsettled this trip it has been a wonderful time revisiting this special place and seeing all the special folks along the way. Hope all is well with each and everyone of you! Cap'n T
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