Turning the Corner

March 16 - 22, 2008

Sunday, March 16, 2008 - Hog Cay (south), Hog Cay, Jumentos
By Tom

The incredibly calm weather we've been having continued this morning. According to the weather reports, some time this afternoon the wind will return and build to 25 knots by tomorrow morning. Faced with the forecast, George and I couldn't resist one more day of diving, so he picked me up at 8:30 and out we went.

There was a very pronounced swell outside on the ocean that made diving somewhat difficult. We struggled through two lumpy sites collecting one lobster before calling it quits on the outside and moving back inside the cut.

We re-anchored the dinghy on the south side of Hog Cay just above the current racing out the cut. We hunted a large 400 square foot of coral and rock in about 10 to 12 feet of water. The protection of the rock jetty took care of the swells and with calmer water came much improved visibility.

I found four lobsters over the course of the next twenty minutes and took the largest two as my own. The smaller spuds were left unharmed as they just weren't big enough to justify killing. While floating around, a medium sized hog fish made the mistake of crossing my path and he too joined my spiney friends in the bucket in George's dinghy.

We hunted for another 15 minutes or so and then called it a day. Final tally for today's outing was 3 lobsters, 1 hog fish and 1 school master snapper. George dropped me off on his way home and I set about cleaning the catch. Once everything was done and clean, I took a fresh water shower off the back of the boat.

Once I was salt free, I actually broke out a fresh (really clean) pair of shorts and t-shirt. Hopefully they'll make it back to Salt Pond later this week where we need to do the accumulated laundry from the last month.

Around noon, the twelve year old Australian boy, Sam, from another catamaran here in the anchorage came by to play with the weasels. He hung out with me and Amy for an hour and then his dad returned to pick him up. The weasels enjoyed having someone to play with and you can see said boy, side right.

In the afternoon I listened to the Nascar race in Bristol Tennessee while Amy read books. I took a brief break from the race to join George on a little conch quest here in the anchorage behind our boats. We each gathered 4 of the slimy beasties in about 10 minutes and then we returned to our individual boats to clean them.

Around 5 the race ended and I fired up the grill. Dinner was barbecued, bacon wrapped mutton snapper steaks with garlic bread and a small side salad. It was quite good and only a small portion of the mega sized mutton was left over.

For the record, the salad consumed the last of our fresh veggies and Amy pouted about it all through dinner.

Anyhow, post dinner we cleaned the dishes and then watched the sunset. The weasels and I lounged in the cockpit watching the moon come up for half an hour and then we called it a day at the ultra late hour of 7:30pm and joined Amy up front to read books.

Monday, March 17, 2008 - Hog Cay (south), Hog Cay, Jumentos
By Tom

The forecast wind showed up last night around midnight. By first light this morning it was blowing a solid 25 knots with gusts higher. As soon as it was safe to do so, we upped anchor and moved the boat right up onto the beach to try and maximize the protection afforded by the island.

After re-anchoring, Amy made us breakfast hash browns and then I took the dinghy over to Chris's boat Coan to score 15 gallons of fresh water. Chris is a single hander on board a 52 foot Saleen power yacht and he has a water maker that makes like 500 gallons a day. We were talking in town the other day and he mentioned we could swing by and get as much as we needed, so I decided to take him up on it. Of course I also took him half a grouper I caught the other day as well as a lobster tail, so it sort of worked out pretty well for him too.

Back on the boat, I added the water to our tank. As I was finishing, George from Sequel came by and invited us over to his boat at 2 pm to play games with him and Julie and another boat named Trumpeter. Amy and I got cleaned up and at the appointed time we dinghied over to Sequel.

We played a game called Sequence with the boys against the girls and the girls won the best 2 out of 3. Afterwards, we played a dice game called Farkle and this time the boys won in a landslide. We hung out with friends until 4 and returned home. The wind was really kicking up, so we backed out of plans for a beach bonfire this evening and took our dinghy and engine out of the water for safe keeping.

Dinner was fish tacos and then the crew settled in to watch Crazy Beautiful on the laptop. To bed in the howling wind around 8 pm.

Tuesday, March 18, 2008 - Hog Cay (south), Hog Cay, Jumentos
By Tom

The wind continued to howl all day and we didn't even attempt to launch the dinghy or go ashore as it was extremely rough.

After a leisurely breakfast of bacon egg and cheesies, we both spent an hour straightening the inside of the boat. Around 11 or so Amy went up front to read a book and I spent three hours programming on my laptop.

We got back together around 2 or so and made pressure cooker ribs. They were ok, but not great. I blame the quality (or lack there of) of the meat cut. It was mostly fat and gristle and I don't care how you cook them, they still taste like fat and gristle.

After cleaning up from ribs we watched the movie Chocolat with Johnny Depp and Juliette Binochet. We've already seen it about forty times or so, but it still gave us something to do.

The movie was over around 6:30 at which time I fired up the grill and prepped a quarter of the tiger grouper I shot the other day. Joining the grouper action on the grill were a small, butterflied lobster tail and a single potato cut into six pieces length wise. Amy cut up the last of her fresh carrots and put them in a tin foil package and they too joined in the grill action.

With the wind still blowing 25 knots, it took quite a while for everything to cook, but after thirty minutes we were ready. The food was simple, but good and there were no left overs. Sometimes I wonder if there are no left overs because the food was that good or if because after eight years of cooking for two on the boat I am finally zeroing in on the proper portion sizes.

Nah, it must be the high quality cooking.

Anyway, after dinner we played with the weasels in the salon for an hour and then retired to our cabin to read and sleep. Tomorrow we plan on moving the boat northward in preparation for jumping to Water Cay on Thursday and then Salt Pond on Friday.

Wednesday, March 19, 2008 - Buena Vista (western), Buena Vista Cay, Jumentos
By Tom

We awoke to blustery conditions. The wind was out of the south east hovering around 22 and gusting to 30. After listening to the weather dude and having breakfast, we decided to move the boat up to Buena Vista Cay, some 15 miles to the north in anticipation of jumping to Water Cay tomorrow.

As we left the harbour I couldn't help but think that we've turned the corner and from here on out, we are working our way back towards the U.S. . I know it's still 5 or 6 weeks away, but somehow knowing that we are only getting closer to home from here on out makes it feel different.

Anyhow, with so much wind, we opted to sail under 70% of the head sail only. Even with such a small sail plan, we still screamed along at 7 and 8 knots. Since we were in the lee of the barrier islands, the trip was relatively calm. With all of the spear fishing going on lately, we opted not to deploy any of the fish whackers for today's trip.

By noon we cruised in to the harbour at Buena Vista and parked just inside Sequel right off the beach. There was a little bit of surge wrapping around the bottom of the island, but it was tolerable. We spent the afternoon on the boat as launching the dinghy in such high winds is always a challenge and we plan on heading north at first light anyway.

Anyhow, the weasels and I watched movies during the afternoon in the salon while Amy napped up front. For dinner I cooked grouper on the grill along with a side of potato wedges. Dinner was over by 6:15 and after a quick clean up, we turned in by 7 pm in anticipation of a long sail tomorrow.

Thursday, March 20, 2008 - Fishermans Anchorage, Water Cay, Jumentos
By Tom

Today was a long day. Me and the weasels were up at 5 am, they to run and me to eat and catch the weather dude. The moon set, the sun came up and we got underway, all by the ripe hour of 6:10 am.

The wind was from directly behind, so we started out with the full head sail and turned our nose north. We were making a respectable 5.5 to 6 knots until about 10 am when the wind sort of went flat. This was not supposed to happen until tonight, so we gave it another hour, but the wind refused to come back.

We rounded up into the wind and put the main sail up before falling back on course. The wind was down to 10 knots and directly down hill we could only manage 4 to 4.5 knots of boat speed. The navigation computer reported that we'd still make Water Cay in the northern Jumentos by 3 pm, so we drifted on with our current sail plan rather than raise the spinnaker.

Amy offered to babysit the auto pilot, but as it was pretty lumpy, I decided to stay at the helm. I cannot go below decks and read when it's rough. Amy has no problems with the sea state and so she promptly took me up on my offer and went below. She said it was to read, but I found her two hours later catching some Z's on the salon couch with both weasels wrapped up beside her.

Anyhow, I woke Mila and she came out in the cockpit to keep me company. The two of us enjoyed a beautiful sunny afternoon on the water. We caught 11 fish on our way up here, 7 of which were barracudas and were thrown back. We also caught two bar jacks and a horse eye snapper which we released as well. The only fish I kept today was another 8 pound mutton snapper for me and Amy and one small yellow tail that I cut up and fed to the weasels fresh. I cleaned the snapper and put all the meat into the small refrigerator-freezer as our additional freezer unit is stuffed full.

After the mutton snapper was cleaned and stowed, I put the fishing lines away as there just isn't any more room on board and none of our friends were sailing to Water Cay with us. Without fishing to hold my interest, I washed the blood off the white weasel (she was stained bright red) and then I tried to teach them both how to work the auto pilot computer. Unfortunately, all they managed to do was eat the rubber cover off of part of the "Turn Left 10 Degrees" button and so I must conclude that weasels may not be cut out for navigational duty.

Around 2 pm, Water Cay appeared on the horizon and by 3 pm we were dropping sails and firing up the engines to motor into the anchorage. Amy woke up and helped get the hook set a few minutes later. After a late lunch of mutton snapper, I launched the dinghy and headed out to a nearby reef to inspect the denizens.

I saw the usual cast of fishy characters. Two groupers came out to say hello and I swam around with them for a little while. They were unusually tame, but I did them no harm. While we were swimming past a coral head, however, the groupers introduced me to their neighborhood friend Mr. Lobster, who unfortunately did not meet such a happy end. By the way, guess what we had for dinner?

I returned home after an hour of swimming and Amy started the grill while I showered off the salt and lobster grime. Once clean I joined Amy on deck for a glass of white wine and a nicely grilled lobster tail served with some melted butter and home made bread.

While we were eating dinner, three other cruising boats showed up from the north and anchored nearby. I didn't know any of them and we were too tired to try and make friends. Sorry guys, maybe tomorrow?

Anyhow, we watched the sun go down and the full moon come up. By 8:15 we were completely tired and we called it a day.

Friday, March 21, 2008 - Eva Cay, Salt Pond, Long Island
By Tom

We were underway again by 8 am. There was a light easterly wind that propelled us at a whopping 3 knots for about four hours before disappearing completely.

We started the engines and motored the next four hours over to Salt Pond, Long Island. On the way we passed ten cruising boats heading the other direction. I guess the migration back to the states is officially under way.

We arrived off of Lobster Hole Point by 2 o'clock and thirty minutes later we had the anchor down right next to George and Julie (Sequel) who called us to tell us that pretty much the entire town is shut down for the holiday. I hate to admit it but I actually had to as what holiday it was. Turns out it's Easter.

I hate Easter in the Bahamas. For whatever reason, on Easter no business in the Bahamas can sell a beer before 6 pm. Well, we have been under beer drought emergency conditions for over two weeks here on Team Dream Catcher and I was in no mood to wait. Fortunately, the clocks at the Long Island Breeze Bar and Grill still run on GMT and so by 1 pm local boat time I was in the "beer zone". God save the Queen! I love GMT.

While enjoying European time differences, we also did two loads of laundry in the sparkling, brand new facilities at the "Breeze". The owner sat and talked to us for about half an hour and we enjoyed hearing his stories about what trying to build a new business in the Bahamas is like. He also told us about a pool party he is having tomorrow and asked us to spread the word to the other cruisers in the harbour. I suspect we will be coming back tomorrow to play in the pool and score some conch fritters.

We returned to the boat around 8 pm and called it a day. See you tomorrow.

Saturday, March 22, 2008 - Eva Cay, Salt Pond, Long Island
By Tom

We slept in this morning and no one was up until 8 am when the ferrets attacked our bed in search of food. Little weasel sand paper noses forced us out of bed and Amy made the crew sausage and eggs-a-moobie muffins.

Well fed I took two big bags of garbage a shore and met up with Dwight at 9:30 for a ride down to the bank and the liquor store. Beer emergency averted!

Dwight is the guy I gave my wind surfer to a couple of weeks ago and he said if I ever needd a ride somewhere on the island to get in touch with him. Well, I was able to call a friend of a fired of a friend of his and by 9:35 Dwight and his buddy met me in the parking lot at the dinghy dock.

Dwight got me down island to the bank, the liquor store and back to my dinghy by 10:30 and I was back on the big boat unloading supplies shortly there after. Around noon we took the dinghy into town and hit both grocery stores. One hundred and twenty dollars later, we were stocked up on what ever it was we needed and we returned to the boat to unload.

On the way home, George on Trumpeter waved us over and gave Amy a bag of ten or twelve books that they had finished with. Once we stowed everything on the big boat, Amy returned to Trumpeter with her own bag of read books. Book swap complete!

Amy spent the afternoon reading and I surfed the internet. A little after 3 we went in to listen to the DJ play Bahamian music at Long Island Breezes with Sequel and Dragonfly. It was the first time in recorded history that I have seen a Bahamian DJ play his music at the appropriate volume. I mean you could actually hear the person sitting next to you and hold a conversation with the group at your table. Hmm, what a novel concept.

Anyhow, we whiled away the afternoon sitting under an umbrella and sharing a couple of beers with George, Julie, Al and Jill. Julie brought her dice with her and the six of us played Farkle and the boys handed the girls a total thrashing.

Around 5:30 the party had wound down so we returned to our dinghies and then back to our boats. We had munched on pizza slices at the pool party so we weren't too hungry. To hold off starvation, I steamed up some lobster knuckles that I had been saving from our trip to Duncantown. I was able to eat about three, so the other twenty or so are now packed into the fridge awaiting someone to pick them clean.

We stayed up and watched the sunset and then Amy turned in for the evening with her book while the weasels and I watched Tears of the Sun with Bruce Willis.