...to the finale

We left Spanish Wells around 7:30 AM the next morning and headed for Chub Cay.  We opted to go to Chub Cay instead of Nassau because it reduced our trip by about 2.5-3 hours (25 miles). Chub Cay is one of the islands that make up the Berry Islands.  A couple of years ago, Chub Cay was virtually destroyed by Hurricane Matthew, but an investor came in and repaired the marina and the villas/homes on the property and helped turn this marina back into a high end establishment it was originally.  The marina is popular because it is located very close to the "tongue of the ocean", a very popular big game fishing ground.  This was the only marina that we have had floating docks during our entire trip – a rarity in the Bahamas and a treat for us as we didn't have to struggle to get off the boat.  We figured the additional cost of staying at the marina was worth the fuel we saved by not going to Nassau.  Plus we refueled in Spanish Wells which was the primary draw to go to Nassau.

We arrived to Chub Cay around 2:30 PM after a very rough passage, went to the pool and returned back to the boat for an early dinner, as we knew the next day would have an early start and be another long day.

At 7 AM the next morning, we headed to Cat Cay, a private island/marina just south of Bimini.  We decided to go to Cat Cay instead of Bimini (which is 8 miles north) because it would shave off an extra hour of travel time that day, then cut off another hour when we do the crossing back to the US.  Because of our speed, making hour cuts are helpful in both time and fuel consumption.  Also, since Cat Cay was south of Bimini the angle we would have to travel to return back to the US was reduced, so we weren't fighting the gulf stream current as much.

We arrived just after 4 PM.  Because we weren’t members of the yacht club, our access to the property was limited.  We took Sydney for a walk around the marina then headed back to the boat for a cocktail. 

The next morning, we planned to leave at 6 AM to head back to the US, as we were looking at a 12 hour haul across the Florida straits down to the lower keys, 5 of which would be fighting the direction of the gulf stream.  

We weren’t able to leave at 6 AM, as “first light” wasn’t bright enough yet.  We departed around 6:30 AM and enjoyed a great sunrise.

Even more spectacular was the reflection of the sunrise looking westward.  The picture below doesn't show the real beauty.

The water was like glass when we started.   Thunderstorms were building south of us, but we luckily left in time to avoid them.

On our way we hooked up another Mahi, but we weren’t able to bring it in, as it wouldn’t fit into the net the 2 times Dan grabbed it.  It finally broke lose.  Dan was very disappointed.  I was just glad I didn’t lose this one like I lost the first Mahi (waiting for a photo op).

We arrived to the FL coast around 3:30 PM, quickly added 120 gallons of fuel and headed for an anchorage on the gulf side of the bridge (89 miles from home).  We arrived to the anchorage at 7 PM.  We were exhausted after a very long day.

We woke the next morning and started our trek back to Marco by 6:15 AM.  The sun wasn't up quite yet.

We arrived in Marco by 4PM after a long day of travel.  All of us, especially Sydney, are happy to be home.  Even the Manatee’s in the canal met us.

Once again, the Bahamas treated us well.  We look forward to returning soon!

Trying out a new island chain…Eleuthera

We expected some larger seas as we left for Eleuthera on Friday morning.  The grip files (wind/wave/weather information files) were pretty accurate.  We experienced some very large (for us) swells, 4-5’s, from the south east.  The good part was that the interval (time between swells) was high, 8 seconds, so we were just rolling up and down the swells.

Once again, because we we were going at a slower rate of speed, we decided to drop a couple of lures in the water for our 5.5 hour trip.  About 3 hours in, one of lines started screaming (spooling)....fish on!!  Dan ran to the back, I ran to pull back the throttles of the boat, then ran back to bring in the other line, so it wouldn’t get tangled.  A very well orchestrated/disorganized/chaotic event.  Once I brought in the other line, I ran to straighten the boat out to make sure we were going bow into the waves.  At such a low speed, our stabilizers don’t work so well.   A couple of minutes in, I asked Dan if he saw it yet (meaning, had it jumped yet) and he said yes – it’s a Mahi!  Our boat is not designed to fish, driving the boat and catching fish are in 2 different areas.  The driver can't see or hear the person fishing (from the inside).

What’s hard to believe is that we were in 14,500 feet of water.  Usually they get caught in much, much shallower water.  Either way, Dan handed me the rod after a pretty good fight, he grabbed the net, I brought the Mahi close to the boat, it ran again, then I brought it back in again close enough for Dan to scoop it up into the net.

Dan was happy!  I was happy!  Sydney was hiding downstairs (because of our chaos)!  We finally caught a Mahi on the trip.

Eleuthera has beautiful waters with a bunch of coral heads.  Beautiful water means – many variations of water depth.  Add coral heads to that and you have navigation challenges.  

All of our guides and charts recommend hiring a local guide (pilot) to bring us through the waters over to where the marina in Harbour Island was located…so we did.  Woody – a local captain, met us outside of the narrow channel, boarded our boat, and drove the 5-6 miles of what is called the “devil’s backbone”.  We towed Woody’s boat during this passage.

When we were safely to our marina, Woody hopped back onto his boat, grabbed some homemade carrot cake, English muffins, and jam as a thanks for the business, and headed off.  This was a very interesting experience (and guy!).

We, by far, were the smallest live-a-board boat in the marina.  There were smaller boats than ours, but they were tenders (dingy’s) of the larger boats.  Not much smaller, I might add. 

This was the first time in a long time I was not embarrassed to go to the fishing table with my catch.  I was kinda proud (even though it was Dan’s catch). I even let some tourist kids take pictures of it as if it was their own...lol.

A local kid asked me if I wanted help cleaning it, which I promptly said yes.  I have only cleaned Mahi Mahi 3 times before and I didn’t want to waste any meat.  He did a good job!  4 dinners (8 servings) and a container of ceviche made with the loose ends.

By the time we arrived at the marina and cleaned the fish, it was time for dinner.  We ate at the Rock House and enjoyed a beautiful sunset.

The next day we wanted to take the dingy around the area to see the land from the waters perspective.  We tried to pass through to the Atlantic side, but the cuts were too shallow or WAY to rough for our dingy.  We ended up returning to the boat and renting a golf cart take us to the beach for lunch and to get familiar with the island.

We returned back to the boat and enjoyed a fresh Mahi Mahi dinner on the top of the boat.

Sunday we took the golf cart out again and went through most of the streets of the island.  The island is very populated in comparison to the other settlements we have visited.  What struck us as odd was the power plant that powered the entire island – a series of generators lined up in a large water front yard.  Most were on wheels.

Golf carts are the main form of transportation for the locals and the tourists.  Dan did well driving on the other side of the road and navigating the streets.  

He did get a tad frustrated at me with my less than stellar directions and navigation skills.  Not having live internet and adjusting google maps proved to a bit challenging for me.  He ended up doing both…LOL. (the above picture was before he realized my navigation skills)

We spent Sunday on the pink sand beach of Eleuthera.  I don’t think I have ever seen such perfect sand.  Soft, smooth, not sticky, and most important – cool to the touch. 

Sydney like the sand too…

We ended the night back at the resort and prepared for our Monday morning departure to Spanish Wells, Eleuthera (again to be escorted by Woody).  Spanish Wells is a small fishing village, much different that Harbour Island.  This island produces 75% of the lobster harvest each year for the Bahamas (60 of 80 million dollars).  We walked the streets and went to a local restaurant for lunch.  I have to say, I liked this settlement better than Harbour Island.  The locals were hard workers (fishermen), their houses/yards were very well taken care of, and everyone was extremely friendly and engaging.  Harbour Island was for tourists.  There was a big difference.  

We settled in for the night and prepared for our 65 mile trip to Chub Cay.

Powell Cay strikes again....

We waited out a morning rain storm before heading 18 miles from Green Turtle Cay to Powell Cay.  There was a quite a bit of cloud cover making anchoring a bit more challenging.  The sun helps us see the different waters colors, which helps us anchor in better/more secure areas.  Once we set anchor, I set the “snubber” which is a v-shaped line that gets tied off to 2 cleats and connects to the anchor chain.  These lines are partially wrapped around a large piece of rounded,very sturdy/strong rubber.  (me tying the snubber to the anchor chain)

In case a strong wind or wave comes while on anchor, the 2 rubber pieces help absorb the shock of our 58,000 lbs boat moving up, down and side-to-side.  In the prior storm at Powell Cay (3 years ago) our undersized snubber snapped under the pressure which caused us to buy a much larger one.  During that storm, we drug the anchor probably 100 feet because of the wind intensity and the location we set our anchor (grass - not good vs. sand - good).

We dropped the dingy in the water and Greg/Dan went back to the wreck so Greg could try his hand at spear fishing.  They snorkeled (didn't spear anything) the area for almost an hour while we waited on the hot dingy.  Sydney was less than thrilled.

The next day, we took Wendy/Greg back to the secluded island we found a couple weeks prior.  The water colors and beauty didn’t disappoint. 

That night (or should I say the next morning) a very strong wind came, putting those new/much larger snubbers to the test.  We woke up to the boat listing to the side as we were being swung around in the opposite direction with the anchor alarm sounding.  It got so intense, Dan started the engines just in case our anchor broke lose.  The day before, another boat anchored pretty close to us and of course, the wind was blowing in that exact direction.  The storm/wind lasted for about an hour, then finally calmed down.  Once again, Powell Cay gave us a good scare.  When we looked at the snubber the next morning – it was twisted and stretched out like silly putty, but in one piece.  (supposed to be solid, not twisted)

The line that wraps around the rubber piece was melted because of the friction/heat from the stress of the wind.  But – they worked as intended and provided us the energy absorption that we needed.  The anchor position the next morning was pristine, we didn’t budge.

The following day we headed to Guana Cay after trying our hand at trolling again.  This time, we did catch something, a Barracuda.  To Greg, it was like catching something a little better than a catfish in FL.  To me, it was like Greg catching a catfish in FL - negative 1.

We arrived to the Orchid Bay Marina in the early afternoon, walked the settlement, scoped out Nippers, the bar we were going to go the next day, and enjoyed a beautiful sunset and dinner on their outer dock of the marina.  Sydney joined the stray cats that wonder the property.

The next day we headed to Nippers.  This restaurant/bar is likely the most popular destination in the Abaco.  People (tourists and locals) come from all around the islands to enjoy very festive Sunday afternoons.  I would say a couple thousand people gather each Sunday there.  Most come by boat.  At one point, I counted 36 boats anchored off of the shore (on the Atlantic side).  This does not include the countless ferries that delivered people and the other completely full dock on the bay side. (the picture was taken early and doesn't do it justice)

The place filled up by 2 PM and it was wall to wall people.  Since the bar is located on the water, excess guests spill onto the sand and into the ocean.  Nippers reminded me of Stan’s in Goodland on a Sunday with the exception of the stunning water and landscape and the 2 pools (won't happen in America).

On our walk back to the boat, Wendy almost got run over by Justin Bieber driving a golf cart – our only celebrity citing of the trip.  He was on his way to Nippers for his afternoon of fun.

On Monday, we headed back to Marsh Harbor to drop off Wendy and Greg for their return home.  Our plan was to stay in Marsh Harbour for 1 night then continue on, but the remnants of tropical storm Beryl was heading in our direction.  We decided to stay there for 3 nights to let the bad weather/seas pass.

On Thursday morning, we headed 20 miles south to Little Harbour.  Little Harbour is known for Pete’s Pub and the metal work art collection that the founder of the area started.  It was pretty tough to get into this cove because of the depth, but we timed it perfectly to come in on a higher tide.  We grabbed a mooring ball with plans to stay the night.  Multiple turtles kept popping their heads up checking on us.

We went ashore for lunch and a couple cold beers.  We happened to arrive on the same day Boston Whaler was having an organized event. Probably 50 boats came into this little harbor.  It was a treat to see.

Apparently Dan had an intuition of what was about to hit.

Around 3 PM the skies turned dark, so we decided to head back to the boat.  The winds picked up quickly as we left the dingy dock.  We ended up helping a couple of boats grab mooring balls and rescuing 2 fly away paddle boards before returning to our boat.  The wind whipped us around in circles (again).  We are fairly certain we drug the mooring ball, as we were 50-75 feet closer to the shore when the storm ceased.  Dan, again, turned on the engines but this time was actively putting the boat in gear to relieve pressure on the mooring ball. I have never heard of a mooring ball drag.  Maybe our boat was too heavy.  Either way, our normal mooring ball sense of security was gone and we slept that night like we were on anchor.  We did enjoy a nice sunset though (from the inside, as the Noseeums were out in force).

The next morning, we packed up and headed to the Eleuthera island chain.

Elbow Cay to Green Turtle (again)

We spent 3 nights in Elbow Cay which allowed us to visit the famous (for the area) Tahiti Beach, for an afternoon.  We, like always, brought our chairs, umbrella, and Sydney. 

The next day we spent the afternoon in Hopetown visiting their famous lighthouse, one of the only kerosene powdered lighthouses remaining in the world. (as you can see, Dan is thrilled) 

This quaint settlement has cute brightly colored houses on the sound side and beautiful beaches on the other.

Our final day was spent again at Tahiti Beach after a quick trip to Fire Fly’s, an awesome bar situated in the middle of Elbow Cay that has fantastic water and is perfectly situated for sunsets.

The next morning we moved on the Green Turtle Cay.  We fished all of the way up to the our marina (4 hours) – which resulted in a slow ride enjoying the Atlantic ocean – meaning– no hits, no catches, only fishing.

We arrived at the Leeward Yacht Club, dropped the dingy in the water and went to find the Abaco pigs.  Just like in the Exumas from a couple of years ago, the Abaco has their own swimming pigs.  This better organized area had 20 or 30 baby piglets and probably 10-15 full grown females. 

We returned back to the resort to enjoy happy hour by the pool.

The next morning we hired a charter and went fishing with local experience.  

We attempted to troll with no success, then went deep reef fishing.  Ron, the captain, explained that the waters are warming and the larger game fish are going deeper and deeper to cooler waters (also explains why our trolling efforts haven't been successful).  A bit too far for our liking on this day. Instead we spent several hours on the deep reef catching Strawberry Grouper, Triggerfish, and Yellowtail snappers.   We all caught fish with less than average tackle.  I lucked out and grabbed the best of the broken rods with the strongest test.  Greg and Dan had partially broken rods and only 10 lbs test which proved to be too small for a lot of the fish that were lurking on the edge of the reef. 

The captain didn’t have plotted way points (specific fishing spots).  He picked spots by his experience and the colors of the water.  He knew when the fishing hole was dried up which prompted us to moved 200 yards in either direction to start catching again.  Finally, a couple of sharks found us and ended our day of fishing, so we headed in.  It was GREAT not to clean fish for once.  I observed and learned a couple new techniques along the way.  Overall, it was a great day of fishing.

Green Turtle Cay each year as an event to help fund the local schools and volunteer fire department, Cheeseburger in Paradise.  One of the reasons we tried to situate ourselves in Green Turtle Cay in early July was to attend this party.  It definitely didn’t disappoint.  There were probably close to 400-500 boats with well over 3k people on this small uninhabited island.  The larger boats formed a semi-circle around a large sandbar on Fowler's Cay, while the smaller boats tied up to each other on the perimeter. 

Since we came to the party on the dingy, we were able to maneuver ourselves close to shore in the middle of the action. We improvised and strapped an umbrella to the dingy for more shade.

The event offered “free” hot dogs and hamburgers along with beer.  The wait for food/drinks was well over an hour.  We were happy someone told us to bring our own.  Folks from all over the islands, including tourists came.  We didn’t realize what a big event this was going to be until we were there. (picture is of the line for a free hot dog)

We spent the 4^th of July on yet another beautiful beach and finished our day by the pool of the marina.

The next morning we headed to Powell Cay.