Seafood Harvesting or a Roach on My Bread

March 15 - 21, 2006

Wednesday, March 15, 2006 - Hamburger Beach Anchorage, George Town, Exumas
By Tom

I had morning volley ball (again) and Amy did her usual Yoga thing on the beach. Afterwards I used the parts sent from Ft. Lauderdale by Reggie to finally repair our head. Yeah!

Afterwards, I got in the water and worked on other few boat things before we suited up to head out fishing. Right off the bat, I hopped in the water and almost landed on a 10 or 12 foot shark of an indeterminate nature.

AHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!

Needless to say, I didn't stay in. I was back up and in the dinghy before Amy even had here fins on. We waited ten minutes and by the time we re-entered, he was gone. We swam around for 20 minutes but didn't see a single thing to shoot at.

We moved the dinghy a few miles away and tried again. Right off the bat I spied two lobsters doing their best "I am a rock" imitation. I snuck up behind the larger one and WHAMMO, we're having lobster for dinner. He was a rather large specimen at just over 4 pounds. We decided to call it quits with him and returned to the boat.

In the afternoon we attended a farewell happy hour for John and Mary on Johari. They are our Irish friends that we met last year. They are heading back north tomorrow, so this was the last hurrah so to speak.

Happy hour lasted until around 7 and then we returned home for grilled cheesies. To bed by 8:15

Thursday, March 16, 2006 - Hamburger Beach Anchorage, George Town, Exumas
By Tom

We saw the Johari's off this morning. Fair winds guys. I'm going to miss that whole kilt thing.

On today's chore list was trying to find the leak in the dinghy floor. Long time readers will know of my ongoing feud with our dinghy. Currently, our dinghy allows water in through it's bottom. This is not a good thing.

I took the dinghy to shore and removed the floor so I could look for the offending hole(s). I found and patched two, both of which, oddly enough, appear to be the exact size and diameter of lobster antennae.

Hmm, this could be the crafty crustaceans attempt at reaching beyond the grave.

I put the dinghy back together and re-launched it off the beach. Water is still getting in, but at a slower rate. We'll mark this one down as a draw. I hate my dinghy. I hate it so much.

With the dinghy done for the day, I returned to the beach for afternoon a round of 2 on 2 volley ball. A new guy showed up yesterday who is really good. It's a lot of fun to play someone who is better than you are. It kind of picks up your game.

While I played in the sand, Amy was back on board making chocolate chip cookies. I think she has perfected the recipe.

Dinner was a grilled snapper with rice and a vegetable medley. There was also a two drink minimum

Friday, March 17, 2006 - Hamburger Beach Anchorage, George Town, Exumas
By Tom

As I noted in my last log, this new guy named Juan (pronounced Yan) showed up to play 2 on 2 with us. I believe I mentioned he was real good. Now I know why.

It turns out Juan is from Austria and he played as a professional on the Austrian National team for 15 years. Can you say ringer? I think you can.

I think I've learned more about volley ball in the last three days than in the last three years. After he retired, he went on to be a volley ball trainer for several more years, so he has the whole teaching thing down pretty well.

Of course in typical Germanic fashion, he teaches like a cross between Hitler and some little old Catholic Nun with a long ruler and a hair trigger.

"You vill bump dis ball! Move ze feet! Ve have vays to make you! Whack! Whack!". You get the idea.

Oh, Eric if your reading this you probably felt the disturbance in the force. Juan is making us hit and chase short drops and dinks pretty much every other shot. Try to be strong.

Ok, enough of the action on the courts. I spent the afternoon finishing up another computer repair which in turn lead to another case of beer showing up on the back deck. I think I might have a real future in this beer for computer work thing.

Amy was more productive than me today. She started out with her 7 am yoga on the beach deal and then worked on some of her writing stuff for most of the afternoon. We had planned on going in to night 2 (out of 3) of the Bahamian music festival, but we ended up being too tired to wait for the 10 pm start time. Tomorrow is suppose to be the night when the headliners go on, so we'll probably take a nap so we can make it to that.

Dinner was pressure cooked lobster with french fries and fruit cups. Mila stole half of Amy's lobster while she wasn't looking and I got blamed for it. Damn you ferret!

Saturday, March 18, 2006 - Hamburger Beach Anchorage, George Town, Exumas
By Tom

Dawn broke to another beautiful day here in Georgetown. I don't know if I've mentioned it, but everyday here is pretty much perfect. 10 - 15 knots out of the east, 80 - 85 degrees and a few well spaced out puffy clouds. It's like living in an endless Corona commercial.

Amy was back at yoga this morning, so I supervised the running of the ferrets. Mila and Milo double teamed me and won 2 out of 3 falls. Afterwards, I split a grilled cheesie with them and we watched an early matinee showing of Taking Lives with Angelina Jolie. Milo really digs her.

In the afternoon we went hunting on the ocean side reefs outside the south entrance. I bagged a knob-headed Porgy and a Yellowfin Grouper. See supporting evidence at right.

Safely back on the mother ship, we rested and napped in anticipation of going in to the music festival tonight. More on that in tomorrow's edition.

Sunday, March 19, 2006 - Kids Cove, George Town, Exumas
By Tom

Last nights music festival was a lot of fun. The acts were great and I was really impressed by the level of professionalism the show had. Several big named acts came from Nassau to perform.

The most popular guy was the dude (I cannot remember his name) who sings a song about there being a roach on his bread. Call me stupid, but I assumed he was singing about growing up poor or something. Makes sense right?

Turns out if you have a roach on your bread, someone is messing around with your wife. I'm glad I asked and now you know too.

We didn't get in til 1 am, so we were pretty late getting up. I made it out of bed and to the volley ball court in time for our 1 pm games, but I was pretty tired and it showed.

Amy was finally awake by time I got back. We mostly hung out on the boat today and did little odds and ends. We made grilled grouper for dinner and then watched Finding Nemo on the big screen. Amy still cries when the fish get eaten which I find funny considering our choice of evening meals. She says I am an insensitive cretin. Hmm.

Monday, March 20, 2006 - Kids Cove, George Town, Exumas
By Tom

A cold front moved through last night and the wind howled for most of the day. We are safely tucked in Kidd's Cove, so we were spared the brunt of the waves.

I spent most of the morning ferrying water out to the mother ship 15 gallons at a time. What fun. Amy hit the grocery store so that we might keep starvation at bay.

We are thinking of taking an out island excursion before my parents arrive on April 1, but right now the weather isn't cooperating.

It was too rough to cross the harbour for afternoon volley ball, so we went into town and had a happy hour drink at the Peace and Plenty. Dinner was grilled Caribbean jerk lamb chops and baked potatoes.

Tuesday, March 21, 2006 - Hamburger Beach Anchorage, George Town, Exumas
By Tom

We moved the big boat back across the harbour to our personal little anchorage off of Hamburger Beach. I am still not sure why it's called Hamburger Beach as I have never seen nor have I had a hamburger on this beach. Perhaps they only come out at high tide or under the cover of darkness?

I spent a large portion of today trying to get pictures off of a fellow cruisers camera that is experiencing technical difficulties, but to no avail.

Damn you Sony! I hate being beaten down by the man.

I spent the rest of the afternoon trying to teach Milo to play fetch. He gets the retrieving part ok, but when he brings back the little ball he runs by me and tries to hide it so I cannot throw it again. We must be losing something in translation.

Amy read and worked on her computer today. I did manage to get her onto the beach for volley ball in the afternoon. She took some action shots of us playing which can be found over there. -->

In the evening we went over to the Moxies boat for dinner. Andy and Barbara are friends of ours from 2 years ago that we have been running into off and on since we started cruising. Another friend, Oliver off of Dejarlo, joined us. Dinner was pork chops and lots of gooey things that I wouldn't eat, but that Amy said were good.

We had a nice time and didn't get back to our boat until 11 pm.