Homeward Bound

Our stay in Powell Cay was short lived.  We made it over on Saturday afternoon, anchored, and prepared ourselves for a couple night stay.  The weather wasn't the best, but this island had good potential for good snorkeling and fishing.  Dan dove the anchor and was a bit less than satisfied with the holding, but thought it was ok.

That night brought again, a very strong storm with very strong winds that made our anchor alarm sound again.  This time - it was real - and we drug the anchor over 100 yards - which was pretty concerning.  You worry about hitting other anchored boats around you, the shore line, or other obscurities in the water.  We were lucky that the wind direction pushed us away from the shore and away from the boat next to us.

We (the 3 of us) spent the next morning on a small hike on a pre-defined path that let us see the cove from above.

After getting back to the boat and looking at the weather conditions, we decided to keep moving on to a mid-way point between where we were and West End - called Great Sale Cay.  We took a slow, 45 mile ride and anchored there over night so we could take another slow, 45 mile ride over to West End on Monday.

We headed out at sunrise on Monday morning to West End as all of our weather files said the crossing through the Gulf looked good between Monday - Wednesday.  Our intention was to stay overnight at West End and leave for FL on Tuesday.  

The trip was less than uneventful - as we planned.  On our way to West End, we found ourselves surrounded by very close thunderstorms - which surrounded us for almost 30 minutes with no way to escape.  Before, we were able to dodged the storms.  This time there was no where to go.  

Once we arrived to West End, the weather was clear, the weather files said it was should be a good crossing, Dan and I were already in - "let's get home" mode - and we decided to not stop in West End, but to go straight through to FL.

Mistake #1 - Don't trust weather files alone.

Mistake #2 - If the trip looks hairy 15 minutes in of a 5 hour ride - re-evaluate going

Mistake #3 - Make sure everything inside the vessel is secure

The ride over was much less than pleasant.  Those nice seas in the forecast were scrabbled up with a slight northerly wind - which made the ocean feel like a washing machine. Dan and I stood (with Sydney in the backpack) for 5 hours - inside the cabin - holding on - trying to navigate through these waters.  Our 70 lbs. life raft in the non-skid bag was sliding across the floor like a ball.  All furniture and anything remotely not tied down was in a new place when we arrived in FL (on the floor, across the room).  The inside cabin was a huge mess.  Needless to say - we arrived.  Dan did a GREAT job in getting us to FL safely.  I cannot tell you how glad I was to be tied up to the dock.  (As you can see - there are no pictures of this day or event - no hands were free to take pictures.)

We moved on to Islamorada the next day and stayed at a marina that I confirmed was deep enough for our boat.  Thank goodness I did this confirmation with Dan standing next to me (it would have been my fault).  We pulled in, tied up to the dock that the Dockmaster said was deep enough for our boat.  About 2 hours before low tide, I went outside to take Sydney for a walk, pulled the line to get us closer to the side, and found ourselves stuck in the mud.  A 54,000 lbs boat, stuck in the mud.  That's really not a good thing for anything below the water line.  When the tide rose, we floated again, but now needed to wait until a higher tide the next day to depart.  Dan was less  than happy.

Well, we made it safely back to Marco around 4PM on Wednesday, a couple days sooner than our original plan. 

We learned a great deal on our 3 week trip.  We learned that a 3 week trip is not enough when it takes 4 days to arrive and 4 days to come home. We learned what the boat can handle and what it can't.  That a boating vacation is a bit more work than having someone serve you on a beach. We learned how to spot coral heads and shallows, how to visually read the water depths by color, and how to anchor in preparation for large storms.  Most importantly, we learned to take advantage of being so fortunate that we were able to enjoy this adventure.

We had a great time experiencing different settlements, fishing, snorkeling, taking rides on the dingy, enjoying sunsets and moon rises.  We look forward to our next adventure on Summer Chaser - as our collective dream - is the chase summer around the world.

Back on Anchor...

Our time in Great Guana Cay was spent as our other days, walking into town, going to the grocery store to see how much they don't have, and fishing/snorkeling in the morning.

The grocery store had great fresh white bread, the harbor had some very nice vessels in it,

and the town had 3 restaurants, one of which is known for their Sunday antics, properly named - Nippers. The lady at the marina recommended this restaurant and sent us on our way with 2 cautions.  Don't take a dip in the pool (hmmm??) and to watch out for the Nipper (namesake drink of the restaurant).  That 3 of these caused a lady to fall off the dock a couple days past.  They were great - and - we didn't fall off the dock.

We went on a mild Monday, but could tell this restaurant on this scarcely populated island (under 150 residents) is the place to be on a Sunday.  We could also tell this was not the USA, as this restaurant/bar had swimming pools for patrons to use during their Sunday-Funday.  The cracked lobster there was great (fried lobster).

The rest of our time was spent cruising around in the dingy, finding fishing spots and catching little snappers.  Once again, while cleaning my little fish at the fish cleaning station, an island fishing guide came in with his own catch of the day (he didn't have a charter so he fishes to sell the fish to the local restaurants).  This time, instead of being intimidated by the nice tunas he brought in, I asked to buy them from him.  I bought 10 lions (2.5 tunas).  We have been enjoying them ever since.  Now, that's fishing!!

We moved on to Manjack Cay to anchor for a couple of nights.  We anchored with 3 other sales boats for the 1st night.  There was a large storm upon our arrival for which I was manning the anchor and Dan was inside directing me (guess who was getting drenched) and another large storm in the middle of the night that made the boat swing into an "alarm" zone which caused Dan to stay up 1/2 the night to watch the boat direction.  All was good.

We went snorkeling again.

Dan seems to attract animals while snorkeling.  Yesterday, he attracted AGAIN a 3 foot Barracuda that insisted on following him during his swim, a 4 foot shark, and a string ray.  All of these animals are very curious.  They are interested in you and what you are doing - which can make for an uncomfortable swim if you think they view you as prey.

 Saturday we are making our way over to Powell Cay for another couple nights at anchor and likely going to start our trip homeward, as the weather for the crossing (back through the gulf stream) looks good on Tuesday/Wednesday.

Hope Town to Great Guana Cay

We stayed in Hope Town for 3 nights.  This settlement was much busier than Green Turtle Cay - they had 2 gift shops on this island and 3 grocery stores where were were able to find the lone container of wasabi that I unfortunately forgot at home to eat with our 2nd dinner of tuna.

Each of the 2 mornings we took the dingy out to snorkel and fish.  There were a bunch of coral heads and reefs right off the coast.

Dan would jump into the water at each of our fishing spots and look for fish.  After our 3rd and final stop of the day, he finally caught his 1st fish by spear.  

He brought the fish to the boat where I put the it in the bucket with the 2 other fish I had caught earlier. He swam away to look for more.  In my attempt to keep the fish fresh, I dipped the bucket into the water to refresh the water and his very nice fish jumped out.  That was one of the hardest things I have had to tell Dan during this entire trip.  He was pretty bummed.  I was bummed because that fish was the perfect size for the Cuban potato/onion/fish dish I love.

We went to town later that day, narrowly avoided lightening on our way to lunch, and enjoyed walking around town.

We left for Great Guana Cay on Monday, were we again tried our hand again at deep sea fishing (over 1400 ft deep).  It took much longer this time, but we did bring in a nice Barracuda.

 

I (with help from the local guy at the fish cleaning station) was able to cut the Barracuda into several nice steaks and 2 nice fillets.  I read that if the flies came to the meat - it was good.  If they don't, throw it out.  The flies loved it - so we kept it and fried up one of the steaks for appetizer (Dan's dad is getting the rest - upon request).  It was delicious.  This was the 1st time I have eaten Barracuda and was surprised at how good it was.  Dan's family has been eating them for years.

We ended the day with a Mia Tia and a great sunset.

Could there be fish in our future...

Dan and I spent our last day on Green Turtle Cay looking for a "better" beach location.

We found one - one the other side of the island.

On our way there, with our beach gear in tow, we saw fish running on the side of the boat next to a reef.  We quickly turned the dingy around, went back to the main boat to drop off our beach gear, retrieved our fishing gear, and left again.

We fished by the reef for a couple of hours and caught a handful of Snapper - only one keeper.  After stopping by the beach for a quick drink and snack, we headed back to the dock so I could clean my catch.

I cleaned my little Snapper (not even picture worthy) next to the guy who was cleaning his 20 lbs Mahi Mahi.  I don't think I have ever cleaned a fish so fast - as it was almost embarrassing that I would clean that size fish on the fish cleaning station that the game fish boats use.

We headed out to Hopetown the next day.  Since we had to pass into the Atlantic Ocean to get where we were going, Dan suggested we put the fishing rods in the water while making the couple mile pass.  Dan rigged them up (one with a frozen Ballyhoo and one with a Ballyhoo lure), slowed our speed slightly and we threw the trolling lines in the water.  Finally, my rod holders got some use.

After about 30 minutes - one rod got hit and the line started to spool.  Dan slowed the boat down and made sure it was in auto-pilot while I started to fight the fish.  He came to the other rod to bring it in to avoid tangling and his line got hit as well.  We both had Big Eye Tunas (Ahi) on the line.  He caught the big one, I caught the smaller one.  Not quite as big as "Wicked Tuna" big - but big for us.

We made it to Hopetown around 4:30PM - docked the boat and headed over to clean the fish. This time, I wasn't embarrassed at the fish cleaning station.  Thanks to YouTube I watched how to clean Tuna properly.  The Snappers waiting below the cleaning station where huge and aggressively eating the scraps.  If I could only catch one of those!!!

I prepared seared Tuna and rice for dinner - along with a side of the Conch Salad I bought off the guy at the end of the dock.  What a great dinner!!

Beach Day - Green Turtle Cay

Dan and I spent the morning preparing for the next week - as our plans to be on anchor for the next 4 days have changed because of the direction of the wind.  All of the spots that we pre-selected have southern exposure - which is the same direction as the prevailing winds.

We headed out to find a good location to spend a couple of hours on the beach.  It wasn't too hard to find.

Sydney took a swim...

...then found a cool place underneath my chair to take a quick siesta.  She was so tired that she didn't notice the clump of sand on her nose.

We spent a couple of hours hanging out, then headed to "town" for lunch.  We read on blogs and in some guides that we researched - this "take-away" location is one of the best places to get food on the island.  We found it to be a little shack in the middle of a neighborhood. We had steamed pork with peas and rice and fried fish.  Both were outstanding.  We just went up - ordered - and sat on some benches and talked to some locals for about an hour.

Our day was full and well spent enjoying the local food, a nice sunset and the local band that claims to be the #1 band in the nation (they are the only band on the island).

Green Turtle Cay Marina

We arrived at Green Turtle Cay about noon - right at high tide - as we are only able to enter this inlet on a rising tide.  The trip over was very rough - for a pass between islands - on the other side of the pass the seas were 5-6 feet - something we didn't feel comfortable traveling in.

Dan was pretty nervous about docking the boat in the high winds - as our last Key West high wind adventure resulted in a nice size hole in the side of the boat.  He did great - had full control of the boat while docking.  The morning of anxiety was all for not.

We dropped the dingy in the water in the Marina and headed over to the "settlement".  I wouldn't necessarily call it a town - but it has some restaurants, tiny grocery stores, and other town like establishments that qualify it as a settlement - not town.

We took the dingy around the island the next morning to find a spot for the next day to hang out, as Tuesday was designated as "work day".  We saw a huge sting ray in the water which glided away when we approached.

Our view - while working was great.  We were able to watch the traffic of the harbor while answering emails and doing some of our normal tasks.  This was much better than having a view of the parking lot.

We finished our work day, prepared a Margarita, then headed out for a great dinner.

1st Nights on Anchor

This trip has been full of new experiences.  After leaving the West End, we traveled for 70 miles to Angelfish Point/Crab Cay were we found a great spot to anchor for a couple of nights.  Our 1st test of water colors/danger was upon us.  We came into a cove that was plenty deep on the charts, but deceiving to the eye.  The colors of the water changes quickly based on depth and clarity.

Many times I thought we were coming up on impassible areas but Dan re-assured me we were plenty deep based off of his electronics.  We found a great location and set the anchor.  Upon our arrival, a 2.5-3 ft Barracuda greeted our boat as a welcome into his cove.

To make sure we were set, Dan dove the anchor while Sydney and I watched on.  On the way over to the anchor, he picked up and showed us a huge star fish - bigger than I have ever seen.

After settling in, we dropped the dinghy and went for a ride.  I kindly requested Dan stick his head in the water (with a mask on) to look for Conch while I drove the boat.  He reluctantly did as I requested and saw nothing.  We stopped at the beach to let Sydney run and there they were - the Conch.  We collected 10 - decided to only bring back the 3 largest ones.

Before I left, I watched several YouTube videos on how to clean/cook these animals.  After an hour of cleaning and pounding the heck out of the meat - it was ready. I made Conch salad and sautéed Conch.  The Conch Salad was less than desirable - as the textures was something close to cartilage.  The sautéed Conch was much better and tasty.

On day 2 - the winds started to pick up - so we decided to fish a little in the back waters from the dingy - something - close to what we do in Florida.  We saw several sharks (a couple large) and a bunch of fish in and around where we anchored and went fishing.  The water was so clear - they looked at us, while we were "hunting" them.  We caught 4 snappers (Dan caught 3), I cleaned them, and made ceviche - which was great.  Of course, there was only enough for appetizers.

On Monday, we headed to Green Turtle Cay to stay at the Marina for a couple of days - as the winds and swells have picked up and seeking shelter is more important than enjoying the tranquility of that very cool cove.