Angel Fish Point/Crab Cay

We headed approximately 50 miles south to our next destination, Angel Fish Point/Crab Cay.  Instead of traveling on the inside of the scatter islands, we hopped over to the ocean side to do some trolling on the way down.   We put all 3 rods in the water with a mixed allotment of lures and bait (cedar plug, ballyhoo with color skirts, and just a straight Mahi Mahi jig).  We trolled for 4 hours with no hits or catches.  We brought all of the lines back in, as one of the two opportunities to cut back over to the island side (because of the reef) was upon us.  Dan then decided to enter the southern cut instead of the northern cut because trying to navigate through the spotted coral heads would have been challenging.  This added another hour to our trip so he put the rods back in the water. 

Because I am always attentive, I sat back with rods while he drove (inside with A/C, sitting/laying on the couch with the door cracked so I could hear the reel spooling).  Just as my eyes closed for a quick nap, one of the lines hit.  I jumped up, yelled “fish on”, Dan slowed the boat to idle, put it in auto pilot and came back to reel in the other line.  I reeled up a small Wahoo (4 decent size filet).  I was so happy to catch it, I forgot to take a picture. 

Once we arrived to Angel Fish Point/Crab Cay, we anchored, Dan dove the anchor to make sure it was secure, I watched a uTube video of how to clean a Wahoo, and proceeded to clean the fish while he rinsed down the boat. We enjoyed the Wahoo for dinner that night.  The next day, I made the rest into a fish dip/spread.  Both were delicious. (Dan diving the anchor)

We spent two nights in Angel Fish Cay, a small, well protected cove in central Abacos.  The first night we were alone, the second night three other boats joined us.  

We spent Monday fishing a wreck in the back waters, where Dan speared two fish and I caught one.  Sydney, of course, “has to” go fishing with us.  She goes crazy and tries to bite each fish that comes on-board, then stares and barks into the bucket until I yell at her to stop. (Sydney waiting patiently to go fishing)

We spent part of the afternoon sitting in the crystal clear water off of a rocky beach and enjoying the last sunset in this location.

After dinner, Dan noticed the generator running hot.  He turned it off, checked and emptied the strainer that was filled with sea grass, and started it back up again.  It continued to get even hotter.  So we again, turned it off and he started down a “troubleshooting path”.  If you know Dan, he spent his career around computers and IT.  His mindset when dealing with almost any issue/task is to troubleshoot/think step by step, from easiest to hardest, what could be causing the issue at hand.  Boating is no different.  After checking the “easy” stuff, he moved on to check/replace the impeller, which was fine.  Again, turned the generator back on and the temp went up another 20 degrees (over 200).  Dan believed that the sea-cock (mechanism that allows water to come into the boat to cool the generator) malfunctioned, as he was able to move a normally stiff valve almost freely and when the sea strainer cap was opened, no water came in.  It was either a massive blockage and/or the sea-cock broke in the closed position.  The only thing left for Dan to do was to dive the boat, check for a blockage and see if he could manually open the seacock from underneath.  If that didn’t work, we would have to take the boat 50 miles to the nearest hauling yard to get the issue addressed, as we aren’t able to run the generator without this cooling water flow.  After a couple of hours of trying to fix it, we decided turn in for the evening with no generator (meaning - no AC and limited power for the freezers/frigs, etc).  Those brand new/heavy batteries I helped Dan install before we left, saved our food.  The inverter batteries gave us, collectively, over 8 hours of power to keep our refrigerator and freezers going until 4:40 AM when I heard the boat go completely silent.

 

I slept on the couch next to the door and Dan slept outside of the front bench, as it was too warm to sleep downstairs. Thank goodness for a decent breeze and bug repellent wipes.

We both got up around 5:30 AM, talked about our options and waited for the sun to rise enough for Dan to dive the boat. By 6:15 AM (pre-dawn) there was enough light to go in.  He went down with a screw driver, flashlight (in a water sealed bag), a wire hanger, and a canister of spare air (super mini scuba tank that gives him about 30-40 breathes). He discovered that the through hole was in fact jammed with sea grass and the sea-cock was stuck open, not closed.  Being stuck open is good to run the generator, but not so good if something fails inside of the engine room and we are not able to close it (we could sink if we can’t close this hole in case of an emergency).  The likelihood of that happening is very low, but still possible.    After about an hour, he was able to dislodge the blockage from both underneath and inside of the boat and the generator was again running at a normal temperature.   Dan’s patience, troubleshooting skills, and step by step logical solution seeking skills, fixed our issue.  Once again, I am truly impressed.

While he was fixing our vacation altering problems, I was handing him tools and taking sunrise pictures.  Our next stop will be Powell Cay, which is about 9 miles away.