The Decks Run Red with the Blood of the Non-Believers !

May 3 - 9, 2006

Wednesday, May 03, 2006 - Royal Island, , Eleuthra
By Tom

Don picked me up in his dinghy this morning and we took all of our water jugs to the boat ramp here at the settlement on Current Island. Someone (Sandi) said there was drinkable water available for free at the dock. Well, suffice it to say that both Don and I agreed that the water tasted like ass and as such, we didn't get any. Sandi may have defective taste buds.

After the water trip, we picked up the anchor and motor sailed through the cut. On the other side we retracted the engines and sailed north towards Royal Island. About half way there, the starboard side fish whacker started peeling off line.

When the dust cleared we landed a nice five pound Mutton Snapper. Sweeet. We like Mutton Snappers.

We tacked our way back and forth up to the cut into Royal Island and dropped the hook in ten feet of water. Anam Cara followed us in. There are currently sixteen boats here waiting for a window to sail across to the Abacos.

In the afternoon Anam Cara came over for grilled Snapper and potato wedges with corn bread. Another good meal. Tomorrow we may head up to Spanish Wells for fuel and water

Thursday, May 04, 2006 - Royal Island, , Eleuthra
By Tom

We decided to take our boat up to Spanish Wells, a whopping five miles away. We would have taken a mooring ball up there for the day, but they are full up. Anam Cara dinghied over with all of their containers as well and we drug their dinghy along behind us.

The four of us enjoyed a pleasant motor in flat calm conditions. We tied up to the fuel dock at Pinders Grocery and Hardware Store. We took 39.5 gallons of fuel at a cost of 189 dollars. We also took on 100 gallons of water which was free.

After Don and Sandi filled their containers, we all filed into the grocery store for fresh stuff. We stowed the stuff on our boat and then the four of us walked through the town. We stopped at the phone office to make calls home and then we splurged for lunch at Teen World.

Amy and I had a pizza while Don and Sandi had some sort of sub sandwiches. We returned to the boat and then cast off for the return trip to Royal Island. We re-anchored the boat without difficulty and mostly just spent the rest of the afternoon lounging about. It looks like tomorrow we can head out for the Abacos

Friday, May 05, 2006 - Tom Curry Point, Little Harbour, Abacos
By Tom

And we're off!

We raised anchor at 5:45 am in order to have sufficient light to reach the Abacos under sail at speeds as slow as 3.25 knots overall.

We started off sailing under main and spinnaker, then spinnaker alone as we headed dead down wind. After about 2 hours, we were averaging 2 knots, so we resorted to motor sailing with both engines and the main and genoa. The ocean was pretty calm. We had 6 inch chop on top of 4 or 5 foot rollers on a 12 second interval. All in all a nice run.

19 other boats left today for this crossing. We fished the whole way and managed to land our biggest Mahi to date. This female dolphin weighed in at 16 pounds and 42.5 inches in length. We actually had to catch her twice as right after this picture she jumped off the gaff and back into the water.

Fortunately for us, the lure was still attached, so all I had to do was reel her in a second time and then gaff her again. She did not go quietly and as the second picture shows the cockpit looks like we were trying to slaughter a pig.

In the end, we got 28 single servings from the fish. It then took 90 minutes to clean the boat up. Oh well, such is life in the fast lane.

The rest of the trip passed without incident. We were able to sail the last few miles in as the breeze finally filled in. We decided to forego the mooring field in Little Harbour with that moron Bob and instead we anchored outside the cut just behind Tom Curry Point. By sundown we had 8 other boats anchored here with us.

The Anam Cara's and the Act III's (Neil and Elizabeth) also made the trip up today. They both arrived shortly after us and anchored nearby. We also saw several of the boats that we met in Governors Harbour and since the weather is supposed to be calm tomorrow, I have been guilted into leading a spear fishing expedition on the nearby reef.

Dinner was fresh caught Mahi, done Italian style with steamed rice and homemade bread with New Zealand butter. Most excellent.

By the way, we have internet again here in the Abacos and on a whim I checked Giant Supermarkets back home and found that frozen Mahi Mahi is currently selling for $24.95 a pound. At that rate our fish today is worth just over 250 dollars. Sweeeet!

Saturday, May 06, 2006 - Tom Curry Point, Little Harbour, Abacos
By Tom

We awoke to almost no wind and flat calm waters. Several of the other boats in the anchorage came by to see if we were going to go spear fishing. We agreed to mass at 10:30 here at the mother ship.

Breakfast was sauteed Mahi Mahi sandwiches. Amy did her yoga thing on the fore deck and I cleaned and assembled our dive gear.

At the appointed time, we met the other hunters and headed out onto the reef. A couple of the guys with us had never hunted before, so I tried to give a few pointers and to show them what fish are edible and what fish are not. I don't know if it helped or not.

Right off the bat, Amy spotted a few really big fish she thought were Amber Jacks. She called me over and pointed them out. I dove down after one and cornered him under a reef ledge. Whammo ! Unfortunately, it didn't look much like an Amber Jack. I threw him in the dinghy for later identification and we swam on. I saw several more of these guys, but since we didn't know what they were, we didn't shoot any more.

In the end Amy and I didn't take any other fish as they just weren't big enough to justify shooting since we have a fridge full of mahi back on the boat. I did help Sandi off of Anam Cara recover a Queen Trigger she injured from underneath a rock hole. I basically had to go down and grab the sucker by the tail and pry him out of his hole. It took three tries, but in the end I got him.

After about two hours, we were tired and called it a day. In the afternoon, Amy and I went into Pete's Pub with Don. We had a few beers and people watched before returning to our boats. Amy and I had Creole Mahi with assorted fruits on the side. It's hard to do anything wrong with Mahi and this dish turned out excellent as well.

Amy turned in around 8 pm and the ferrets and I stayed up and watched 50 First Dates with Adam Sandler for the 4th time. It was still pretty funny.

P.S. - It turns out the fish I shot was a Bermuda Chub, which is listed as edible, but not recommended. Sorry dude, my bad.

Sunday, May 07, 2006 - Outside Hopetown, Hopetown, Abacos
By Tom

We left our anchorage at 6:30 am this morning under spinnaker bound for Hopetown. We averaged a whopping 4 knots and had to gybe the sail twice, but it was an enjoyable ride on a flat calm Abaco sea.

We ended up anchoring outside the harbour here rather than pay 15 bucks for a mooring ball inside. I guess we're cheap, but I like to think we stayed outside so we could avoid the weekend tourist crowd. Sounds good anyway.

After we got the hook down, we dinghied in to town for potatoes, whiskey and hamburger patties. Admittedly, an odd collection.

Afterwards, we grabbed a beer at a local water front place and returned to the boat. We had an early afternoon round of breakfast tacos before retiring for the afternoon to read and compute.

Around 5 pm, we decided to pick up the anchor and move over to Marsh Harbour. We got half way there when Don and Sandi called us and convinced us to stop at the anchorage they were in. So here we sit.

Monday, May 08, 2006 - Marsh Harbour, Marsh Harbour, Abacos
By Tom

We moved into Marsh Harbour this morning right after sun-up. Well, I moved the boat and the rest of the crew slept in. I had to drop the anchor twice to get it to hold, but now we're dug in well.

Don and Sandi followed us in. There must be thirty or forty boats currently here. After the morning net we dinghied over to the local marina to do laundry. Afterwards, we returned the clothes to the boat and then dinghied into Solomons grocery store.

It was quite a shock to see an American style grocery store. We stocked up on some fresh veggies and I splurged on a ten dollar steak. By the time we finished running around it was dinner time. I had steak.

Tuesday, May 09, 2006 - Marsh Harbour, Marsh Harbour, Abacos
By Tom

We awoke to another day in Marsh Harbour. We hooked up with Don and Sandi this morning and went into town to run a few errands. Both we and the Anam Cara's hit up the hardware store for more fishing lures.

Back on the boat, Amy and I did a few odd jobs and then just sort of hung out. Later, we ran into Elizabeth and Neil off of Act III. They and the Anam Cara's came over for happy hour and Amy made chicken quesadillas. They were quite good.

Tomorrow we are planning on heading out to do some deep sea fishing on our way north. I think we are going to head out the cut north of Man-O-War Cay and sail on the outside up to Greene Turtle. We'll wait to see if the wind shows up.