Barracuda Prices in the Free Market Economy

February 10 - 16, 2008

Sunday, February 10, 2008 - Thompson Bay, Salt Pond, Long Island
By Tom

We were up and fed by 7 am this morning. We had expected there to be wind to sail, but we awoke to flat calm and decided to make the best of it by taking the big boat out around the north corner of Long Island and do some trolling.

We dragged our full compliment of 6 fish whackers and were rewarded with two small tuna and one small wahoo. One of the tuna was sacrificed for a fresh sashimi lunch and the other one joined the 8 single servings of wahoo in our freezer. Take it from me, it's wall to wall fish in the freezer right now.

With no more room at the inn, we raised our mainsail in the 5 knots of wind and pointed our nose south towards Thompson Bay, some 25 miles away. After an hour of drifting along at 2.5 knots, the wind began to fill in and we were able to set the head sail and average a respectable 4.5 knots in 7 - 8 knots true.

Even though there isn't room on board for any more seafood right now, I ran one fish whacker on the surface the whole way down. We were on the shallow banks, but I thought we might be able to score a mutton snapper or maybe a yellow jack, but all we caught were two barracuda which we released into the wild.

We rounded up into Thompson Bay at 2:15 pm and by 3pm the hook was down and we were relaxing below decks. For the record, there are currently 23 cruising boats anchored here in the harbour.

For dinner I made bourbon chicken and rice. Amy added some sort of vegetable medley that I didn't inquire as to its original pieces and parts. Afterwards, we listened to the satellite radio until 8 pm and retired to our cabin to read books.

Monday, February 11, 2008 - Thompson Bay, Salt Pond, Long Island
By Tom

The wind was howling this morning and by 9 am torrential rains showed up to join in. Needless to say it wasn't the nicest weather we've had lately and we spent all morning cooped up on the boat reading books and playing computer games.

Around 1 the rain let up and Amy helped me launch the dinghy. I gathered our trash and took it over to the dinghy dock for disposal. While there, the skies opened back up and I took shelter under an abandoned barn roof with several other cruisers for the twenty minutes that the rain continued.

Once it stopped, I walked the quarter of a mile or so up to the grocery store where I scored some fresh veggies for Amy and an ice cream sandwich for myself. Back on the boat we stored our supplies and then took fresh water showers. Once clean we piled back into the dingy and went in to Tryphena's place for a cold beer.

Nothing has changed in the year since we've seen her last and after thirty minutes we ran out of things to say, so we paid for our drinks and walked back to the dinghy. Once there, we decided to head over to a new place called Parrots of the Caribbean which just opened up and is accessible by dinghy from the north end of the main anchorage here.

We pulled up on to their beach and walked in where we were greeted by Katrina who is the bar tender and wait staff. She was very friendly and stood behind her small bar talking to us about things on the island. We each had another drink and split a plate of chicken wings which were excellent.

After an hour of hanging out at Parrot's we pushed back off the beach and returned home just in time to get rained on again. We pulled the dinghy up into the davits and then hid inside the big boat trying to stay dry. The weather forecast calls for more of the same tomorrow, so we probably won't be doing too much until it clears up some.

Tuesday, February 12, 2008 - Eva Cay, Salt Pond, Long Island
By Tom

The wind pushed down to the south east and left our anchorage extremely rolly by first light this morning. As soon as the weather guy was done his report, we upped anchor and sailed three miles to the south behind Eva Cay which is still technically in Thompson Bay, but which I consider a different anchorage.

We were followed by at least another 10 boats or so and once we got into the lee of Eva Cay, we found that it was much more comfortable. Remember, we are all about comfort here at Team Dream Catcher.

Once the boat was settled, we made breakfast and then spent two hours doing boat chores. Mine included adjusting fluid levels on the big boat motors and tightening the inner fore stay. Amy's included cleaning the ferret room.

Since this was a new anchorage for us I did my obligatory check for wifi access points and I was surprised to find one that was open. It also had an excellent signal and made for some fast web browsing. I took advantage of the connection to catch up on email, update the website and research a couple of programming issues I have been having.

By noon we were hanging out reading books and around 2 pm Amy made us little pizzas for a late lunch. The wind was blowing 20 - 25 all day so we made no attempt to even get off the boat. Around dinner time we made some popcorn and continued reading right up until 8 pm and bedtime.

The wind is supposed to settle down by tomorrow afternoon, so hopefully we'll have more to report.

Wednesday, February 13, 2008 - Eva Cay, Salt Pond, Long Island
By Tom

The wind never slowed down and continued to blow over 20 knots all day. We were kept boat bound most of the day and we amused ourselves reading books, surfing the internet and doing odd boat jobs.

The ferrets put in an appearance around 10 am, which is late for them, but I forgot to lock them away last night so they played in the sink and my rain coat through out the night and didn't get any sleep until around 3 am this morning.

Just to let you know how bored we were today, I have posted my latest t-shirt design in the picture section side right. There is some guy who comes to Georgetown every year and while there he holds a 2 hour talk about the stramatalites over on the ocean side of Stocking Island. Apparently this is one of the largest colonies of stramatalites in the world.

Anyway, I've always thought it was pretty funny that people show up to look at these plant thingies that grow in the high tide, so I decided to make a t-shirt to commemorate this years talk. Like I said, we were pretty bored today.

Around 2 pm Bryan from Tonga Time called us on the radio and invited us over to his boat to have dinner with him and Charlene as well as two other boats, Saranade and New Moon.

Amy made some chocolate chip cookies to take over and I grabbed some of our Mahi out of the freezer. Bryan cooked the fish and a pork tenderloin on the grill and Charlene added a salad and some green beans. Saranade (Sara and Monty) brought home made bread and New Moon (Spence and Dale) made some sort of desert that I didn't partake in, but that was reported as being excellent.

As an interesting aside, Sara and Monty are the people who put out the Explorer Chart Books that everyone in the Bahamas uses for navigation. We had met them before, but this was the first time we really got to sit down and talk with them one on one. They have been coming down to the Bahamas for 25 years or so and they had lots of good stories to tell.

Dinner was great fun and we stayed until 7:30 before returning home to our boat and heading to bed.

Thursday, February 14, 2008 - Thompson Bay, Salt Pond, Long Island
By Tom

We awoke to find that the wind had completely died out. With the weather forecast predicting that the wind would re-emerge from the north before sunset, we motored the big boat the 3 miles back to where were anchored a few days ago.

We had the hook down by 9 am and after saying good bye to Brian and Charlene on Tonga Time we headed into town to hit the marine store and the grocery stand. Tonga Time decided to motor north today and stage to sail back to Georgetown on Friday. We thought about going with them, but the wind forecast for tomorrow says it should be a spinnaker run to the same spot so we opted to wait a day.

Anyhow, we tied up to the fisherman's dock and walked the half mile down the road to the marine store. Six cars passed us while we walking (3 going our way) and we had 4 offers for rides, but we politely declined as my mother taught me to never take rides or candy from strangers.

Ok, just kidding, we actually just wanted to enjoy the walk, but it sounds better when I tell it the other way.

Twenty minutes later we arrived at the store and although we were the only customers there, the lone lady clerk allowed us to spend thirty minutes perusing her wares. I was shocked and amazed when we got to the fishing lure section and found that they had the super secret Williamson Live Ballyhoo Combo lure in stock and ready for my fishing pleasure!

Last week when we spoke with our friend Mick on Escargo just before we got run over by the water spout, he said that he was no longer using live bait and had instead switched to this specific lure. Mick is way obsessive compulsive and if he says something about fishing, you can rest assured that he has researched it for days or even weeks. Trust me, when it comes to fishing, Mick is money.

Having said all that, when I saw the lure just hanging there on the shelf I quickly apprehended him for the ultra low price of $18.95. Ok, so it's not exactly cheap, but if it works like Mick says, it will be a good investment. Of course if it doesn't, I may beat Mick to death with it, but thats another story for another day.

We loaded our new lure into our backpack and hiked back past the fisherman's wharf and up to the grocery store on the hill. There we managed to purchase 40 dollars worth of vegetables and orange juice, which joined our fishing lure in the aforementioned pack.

And in what will surely go down as the oddest impulse-buy-check-out-line purchase of all time, we spent an additional 30 bucks for a 6 pound block of mozzarella that was just being unpacked from its shipping carton to assume its rightful place in the deli cooler.

See, we go through a lot of mozzarella here at Team Dream Catcher and when we learned that we could get it for a measly 5 dollars a pound, we just couldn't resist. In G'Town, we pay almost 18 bucks a pound for the same product, so we're definitely saving some serious cash here.

Anyway, we returned to the dinghy with our purchases and then back to the mother ship where we stowed the groceries and vacuum sealed the block of cheese into 6 separate 1 pound portions and placed them in the freezer. Amy swears you can freeze cheese, but I am sceptical. I guess we'll see.

Once the groceries were stowed, we took our one load of dirty laundry and dinghied over to Parrots of the Caribbean for lunch and a little laundry action. While my swim trunks tumbled along side Amy's unmentionables, we had a dozen chicken wings and some fries. The food was excellent and there were no leftovers.

Two hours later we returned to the boat with clean clothes and full bellies. At 5 pm, we got a call on the VHF from Sam the Skull (formerly Johari) as they dropped anchor right next to us. John and his wife Barb are Scottish and they recently bought the twin to our boat Dream Catcher. We've known them for several years and really like hanging out with them.

John gave us the hard sell to meet up with them on the beach at 5:30 for an impromptu Valentines Day cruisers potluck. Amy and I hadn't planned on going, but with the addition of the Johari's, we couldn't resist. Lest you think we are beach potluck snobs, we had planned on not attending due to the reported mosquito infestation (in light winds) at the designated beach for the happy hour festivities.

I can say with all degree of certainty that the reports were accurate. The bugs were in fact so bad, that we stayed only a half an hour before retreating to our boat and the safety of our strictly enforced zero tolerance bug policy.

We weren't hungry for dinner, so instead we opted to watch The Man Who Cried starring Christina Ricci and Johnny Depp. It didn't suck, which for any film with Johnny Depp in it is saying something. To bed by 8:30 as tomorrow we move on.

Friday, February 15, 2008 - West Anchorage, Hog Cay, Long Island
By Tom

I was up in time to listen to the weather dude this morning and with my two weasel assistants we were able to accurately transcribe the weather forecast for the next several days. Today sounded like a winner and as such, I forced the Amy unit to pry herself from underneath the covers and join me in the cockpit to help raise the anchor and set the sails.

By 7:45 we were under spinnaker and main sail rocketing north at speeds between 6.5 and 8.5 knots in 11 to 13 knots true. Once safely on course, Amy dropped down to the galley and made us breakfast grilled cheesies. The weasels had to make do with weasel chow and some fresh cut bananas as we are currently rationing our fresh bread.

While Amy slaved away at breakfast, I deployed my entire fish whacking arsenal. We sailed north with no less than 6 lines and 10 lures being drug behind us. An ignorant display of fishing prowess to be sure, but there you have it. Subtlety has never been my strong point.

Anyhow, as we were within three miles of Long Island the whole day, we never got in to more than 20 feet of water, but we still managed to snag one large mutton snapper (8 pounds), two inedible sandtile fish, 2 small yellow tail snappers and a 4 foot barracuda.

Mr. Mutton made his way to our frozen goods section and Mr. Barry got sliced and diced for our friend Arlene at the Chat and Chill, but all other specimens were returned to the wild unharmed. For the record, this trip has produced almost 20 pounds (32 fillets) of barracuda for Arlene.

Of course, only God and the Chat and Chill accountant know how much savings in the beer budget that will translate to for Team Dream Catcher, but such is life in the free market economy.

We did not use our new lure today as it is intended for pelagic, deep water fish that would no sooner show up in the twenty feet we were in today than they would on the dark side of the moon, but rest assured, we have a full test planned for tomorrow.

So we had planned on anchoring in Calabash Bay, but when we got up there, the swell wrapping around the top of Long Island proved to be untenable and we had to back track two miles to Hog Cay, just south of Joe's Sound where we dropped the hook in the lee of the island in 7 feet of water.

After a quick swim out to check the set of the anchor, I swam to a nearby reef and procured a tasty lobster morsel who joined us for a hogfish and pasta dinner. Quite tasty indeed.

Unfortunately, Milo ate too much lobster and subsequently spent the rest of the evening lying belly up on the salon table looking rather constipated. I am sorry to have to report that here, but I do feel better having shared my pain.

After dinner, we watched another beautiful sunset and then retired to our cabin to read books until 8 pm and bedtime. Tomorrow we plan on heading back to G'Town one last time. Stay tuned for a full report on our new fishing lure and it's heroic exploits on the deep water trip home

Saturday, February 16, 2008 - Hamburger Beach Anchorage, George Town, Exumas
By Tom

I was up at 5 am and playing with the weasels shortly there after. Amy woke up after the weather dude finished his broadcast and by 7:30 we upped anchor, raised the sails and headed out towards Georgetown.

It was a light wind day and we only averaged 5 knots on our way across the Exumas Sound. I ran the full compliment of fish whackers, but we only caught one fish, a 3 foot mahi. We cleaned Mrs. Mahi (yes, you can tell them apart) while under way and by the time we reached the harbour portions of her were sizzling on the grill for lunch.

We arrived in our usual spot off of Hamburger Beach and dropped the hook around noon. I quickly assembled the dinghy and raced in to play ball with the guys. Amy chose to stay aboard and take a nap in preparation for the Saturday night ARG (Alcohol Research Group) meeting.

The games were great and we had 10 players show up. Brian (Tonga Time) and I ended up partnered and we pretty much dominated, finishing an undefeated 7 - 0. Post ball I hung out with some of the guys for a beer and caught up on whats been going on in the harbour during our absence.

Ollie (Dejarlo) told me his tale about recovering the dead guy from the caves where he drowned when his oxygen tank ran out. It was pretty spooky and I feel bad for Ollie having to do it.

Anyhow, I returned to the boat around 3 pm and cleaned off. While changing clothes, Ben from Wander Twins showed up and introduced himself. He has been an internet stalker for the last couple of years and we've exchanged emails several times in the past. He and his wife and two twin girls arrived yesterday in their 44 foot power cat and are anchored near us off the monument beach.

Ben was only able to stay a few minutes, but we made plans to get together during the next couple of days to hang out and share a few beers.

At 4:30 we headed in to the ARG meeting and the was quite an impressive turn out. We met several new friends and caught up with lots of old ones over the course of three hours. By 7:30 it was just me and Amy and Toby and Donna left on our own beach. We hung out together for another half hour and then returned home.

The weasels were waiting up for us and after a few treats and the evening running of the ferrets we retired to our cabin to read books for twelve minutes before falling to sleep.