Hunting Goldfish and The Immigration Blues

February 23, 2005

Friday, February 18, 2005 - Children's Bay, Children's Bay Cay, Exumas
By Tom

We went back in to town early this morning in the hope against hope of getting our visas extended. Lo and behold they were actually open and we were greeted by a surly government worker who treated us a half step above criminals.

We tried to smile and be polite and in the end we got our extensions. With paper in hand I can now say she was a complete bitch. She definitely hasn't been to the all important tourism school that every restaurant, hotel, and bar employee we've met so far has.

We mailed a few letters, picked up one more piece of cheese at the supermarket and then we packed it in. We broke down the dinghy, loaded up the kayak and made our way out of George Town under spinnaker and main.

We lost the wind about an hour in and had to douse the spinnaker and motor sail up to Children's Bay. We had the hook down and the boat put to bed by 4 pm. We had grilled pork chops on the grill with rice and then watched Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back on the computer.

To bed by 8 pm.

Saturday, February 19, 2005 - Children's Bay, Children's Bay Cay, Exumas
By Tom

It was overcast and rainy almost all of today. We did very little other than read books and hide out below decks. I didn't even assemble the dinghy.

The ferret and I did manage to make bread this morning, but that was about the extent of our combined energies. My pulled muscles are getting better, but I am still pretty sore.

On the reading front (yes I can read) I got through two books today, The Cradle Will Fall and Pleading Guilty. Neither will make my must read lists.

The weather tomorrow is suppose to clear some, so hopefully we'll get some hunting in. It's been several days without any seafood product and Maggie is getting bitchy. More to follow

Sunday, February 20, 2005 - Children's Bay, Children's Bay Cay, Exumas
By Tom

I was up early this morning and because I didn't want to be up alone, I woke up the wicky. We chased each other around the cockpit until the sun came up and then I made a loaf of bread while she ate breakfast.

Once Amy woke, she and I had hash browns and coffee while the ferret slept in the spinnaker. Once dishes were done, we donned our snorkle gear and headed out.

Now, I don't want to point out the obvious, but what one of these fish doesn't belong? If you picked the micro-fish at the bottom, you are correct. The mighty hunter that shot this fish chooses to remain nameless, but next time she, I mean they, might want to find one a little bigger.

There were plenty of fish to shoot at, but we had a lot of problems with predators. First a pack of barracuda ranging from 2 feet up to 5 feet kept giving us the evil eye. I'd chase them off, but they would circle back after 5 minutes or so.

We were doing pretty well holding the barracuda off and shooting a few fish, but then a 6 or 7 foot grey shark showed up. We retreated to the dinghy and called it a day. In the end I got 2 Pigfish, 1 Schoolmaster Snapper, and 1 Nassau Grouper. Someone else shot a gold fish.

Back on board, I cleaned fish and then we took our weekly freshwater showers. In the afternoon we lounged about and I bitched and moaned about not being able to listen to the Daytona 500. We have Sirius satellite radio and Nascar is only on XM. I hate you XM.

This evening we had fried pork chops and a garden salad for dinner. Afterwards, we watched High Fidelity with John Cusak. I don't care for him, but he was pretty good in this movie.

We'll probably stay here tomorrow to go hunting again, and then pick up and head further north. We have gone as far south as we will this year. From here on out its onward and northward

Monday, February 21, 2005 - Leaf Cay, , Exumas
By Tom

Another day of hunting and the predators must have got the notice. We started off hunting over some scrub coral that Amy had said was in 12 feet of water, but when we got in, we found ourselves swimming in 25 - 30 feet. Hmmm.

My gentle readers probably do not realize the perils involved with hunting at +20 feet. Keep in mind we cannot hunt with scuba gear here in the Bahamas. I am able to get to 25 or 30 feet fairly easily, but once I get down there, I have precious little air left for hunting.

After several near misses and two escaped fishes, we moved back to yesterdays hunting grounds where we did quite well. Unfortunately, the predators were out in full force and I counted at least 15 barracuda ranging from 3 to 7 feet in length. They didn't act overtly threatening, but I got the sense they would eat us if they got the chance. I hate them.

We retired from hunting with only a single queen conch. The conch are large slug like creatures that live in large shells and move at the speed of plankton across the ocean floor. You only have to pick up them up from the bottom, so no spearing was involved.

We returned to the mother ship and placed our conch captive in a holding pen (an old laundry bag) four feet down into the water. The cleaning of the conch will wait til tomorrow.

We had a dinner of half of yesterdays fish lightly battered and fried with a fresh garden salad and bread. After dinner, it was the running of the ferrets and then to bed.

Tuesday, February 22, 2005 - Lee Stocking Island, , Exumas
By Tom

Wahoo ! I am a fishing God!

Fish will respect my Authoritay !

We went up to Leaf Cay, just north of Lee Stocking Island where Bruce and I had previous lobster success with the intention of doing some serious lobstering.

Our initial foray into open water proved difficult as there was a two knot current running. Two knots is enough speed to wash us out to sea pretty quickly, so we abandoned our lobster hunt and looked for calmer grounds.

We found some scrub coral in 15 feet and proceeded to enter the water. I was in 4 or 5 minutes when I spied a large Queen Trigger fish. I crept up on her and WHAMMO! Right through the gill plate. I secured her in the dinghy and re-entered the hunt.

While I was checking out another scrub mound, I heard Amy yell for me. I surfaced and saw her waving me over. When I swam to her, she pointed out our first visual contact with the ever elusive Hogfish. For the uninitiated, Hogfish are the prize of all reef fish and claim top dollar at the market.

This specimen was absolutely enormous! I cocked my spear, took a deep breath and dove. I got within 8 feet and the Hogfish was holding still trying to look invisible behind a single sea weed stalk that vaguely reminded me of Charlie Browns Christmas tree.

Can you say WHAAAAAAAAMOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO ? How about KAPPOWEEEEE ?

I think you can.

Merry Christmas fish. My spear hit him right in the gill plate and drove through the other side. He struggled mightily, but I used my flipper to beat him into submission. It took both Amy and I 2 minutes to get him up and into the dinghy. We ended up with a 9 pound, 30 inch Hogfish, which when cleaned yielded enough meat for 4 or 5 meals for the both of us. Yahoo!

After the Hogfish, we decided to pack it in even though we had only been hunting for 15 minutes. We have a do not kill more than we can eat policy on board.

Since we were done so early, we back tracked 2 miles to the Lee Stocking Marine Science Center and joined 15 other cruisers for the 3 pm tour of the facilities. The scientists were nice people, but the tour was kind of lame. I cannot recommend it.

For dinner we had Quick Marinade #3 from the Cruisers Hand Book of Fishing on 1/4 of our fresh Hogfish fillets on the grill with baked potatoes and it was quite good. Tomorrow we plan on heading offshore to Staniel Cay or Black Point Sound some 30 miles away. Hopefully the wind will materialize as advertised.

Wednesday, February 23, 2005 - Black Point Harbour, Great Guana Cay, Exumas
By Tom

We set sail early this morning with the intention of going offshore to Staniel Cay. We made it 2/3 of the way in dying wind. We decided to come back inside at Little Farmers Cay and then we sailed north 5 miles to Blackpoint Settlement.

The trip today was long and boring. No fish came to visit us while we were trolling along. Amy and I read books most of the way up while the auto pilot drove. When we got to Blackpoint, we assembled the dinghy and took a bag of trash to town. We also got five gallons of free RO water from a spigot in town.

Amy took an arm load of books to Lorraines Cafe for the book swap and while she swapped said books I fixed Loraine's computer. It was having virus related issues. Afterwards, Amy and I went across the street to the local bar for a beer or two.

Back on the mother ship, we had grill baked potatoes with grilled hogfish for dinner. We hope to make Staniel Cat tomorrow

Thursday, February 24, 2005 - Sampson Cay, Sampson Cay Marina, Exumas
By Tom

We left Blackpoint early this morning because the swell creeping around the boat made for an uncomfortable motion on the boat. We sailed slowly under head sail alone dead down wind. Our destination for today was Sampson Cay.

Sampson Cay is a private island that probably houses the nicest marina in the Exumas. Remember, we are cheap, so we anchored off the lovely little island and marina. Actually, on the way south earlier this year, I discovered that Sampson Cay has wireless internet available from the anchorage and that is why we are here.

After 4 hours of web browsing and catching up with the world, we went into the little club house at the marina for a beer and an order of cracked conch. The bar and restaurant are really nice, but mega expensive. I think our bill was $42 and this is one of those places in the Bahamas that adds 20% tip for you automatically. I think we'll pass on this place next time.

We had our third dinner in a row of Hogfish. We are now half way through that monster which is good because I am starting to have nightmares about Hogfish.

After dinner we did more web browsing before turning in for reading hour and then bed