Lobster for Beer Scandal

August 30 - September 5, 2007

Thursday, August 30, 2007 - Hamburger Beach Anchorage, George Town, Exumas
By Tom

We woke up in the frosty coolness of air conditioning and Amy made the crew bacon, egg and cheesies on English muffins for breakfast.

Spirits were pretty low as no one, ferrets included, were excited about Amy's impending departure. The weasels huddled around Amy's feet in an attempt to keep her aboard, but the call of departure time was too much and around 11 am she and I removed the attached weasels, loaded her bag into the dinghy and headed to town.

We picked up a taxi at the market, said our good-byes and then in a flash, she was gone.

I stopped at the liquor store and picked up a 6 pack of the local brew before returning to the big boat. When I got home, I sat in the quietness with Milo and we shared a couple of beers. Neither one of us said too much.

Around 2 pm, Speedo Ed called and asked if I wanted to go hunting. In an effort to shake off the gloomies, I said yes despite of my broken digit. Ed picked me up and we hit the north side above Conch Cay.

Our first spot was in 40 feet of water over some isolated coral stumps and I spotted and speared a large Hogfish. The spear held long enough for me to yank him out from under a series of rocks, but on the way to the surface, the spear flopper broke and the Hogfish escaped. Damn you Hogfish!

For the record, Speedo Ed saw the events unfold and he too agreed that it would have been a nice sized specimen to take home.

We moved to a couple of different spots, eventually getting into water that was only 20 or 25 feet deep and I redeemed myself by snagging a 7 pound, 2 ounce Nassau grouper. He put up a good fight, but this time I was able to keep him speared and get him back to the dinghy.

As it turned out, the Nassau was the only thing we managed to apprehended before monsoon rain showers showed up, so it's probably good he was as large as he was. Once cleaned, Mr. Nassau yielded 10 individual servings.

Back on the boat, I cleaned up from hunting and then showered up before heading to St. Francis for Thursday night poker. We had 10 players, all at one table, and the game wasn't very good. I was out early and home by 9 pm where the weasels and I watched Heat with Al Pacino and Robert Dinero before turning in for the night

Friday, August 31, 2007 - Hamburger Beach Anchorage, George Town, Exumas
By Tom

I spoke to Amy late last night via the internet and she reported as making it to Mom and Dad's house without any problems, but the weasels and I are already counting down the days until she returns.

Without Amy here to dictate the flow of the morning rituals, the weasels and I kind of ad libbed things. We made 4 little pizzas on the grill that will serve as breakfast for the next four days. We also had a group shower in an effort to save fresh water.

Over pizza number 1, the three of us surfed the internet and answered fan mail until around noon when I donned my wet suit and headed out to the reefs. As I am anchored pretty far north, I chose to go out the north entrance and hunt up near Leaf Cay.

I spent 90 minutes swimming around and came home with 4 lobsters and 1 Margate. Two of the bugs and the fish ended up in our freezer, while the other two lobsters went towards increasing free trade agreements between the U.S. cruisers and the indigenous bar tending personnel. Basically, this means I gave Arlene two lobsters in return for a continued reduced bar bill pledge.

"I'm just implementing my own personal plan of deregulation Mr. President!"

Of course, if the owner finds out, this may turn out to be the next oil for food scandal, except this time it will be a lobster for beer affair. I'm sure you get the idea.

I was back on the boat by 4 pm and for thirty minutes I made a weak effort at scraping the bottom of the boat. I made it like 1/32nd of the way around before calling it quits. Mila joined me in the cockpit and we had a rum drink and watched the tourists go by.

Several of the tourists were more white then Mila and I find that extra scary.

Dinner was a large, fresh lobster split three ways served with garlic butter and potato wedges. Afterwards, I retired to my cabin to read while the weasels attempted to do the dishes by themselves.

Saturday, September 01, 2007 - Hamburger Beach Anchorage, George Town, Exumas
By Tom

I hooked up with Speedo Ed early this morning and we were out on the reef by 8:30 am. We weren't in the water 5 minutes when I speared a massive 4 pound lobster (whole body, not just the tail).

We fished 4 or 5 different spots over the course of 2 and a half hours and in the end, we had 4 lobsters (3 of which were huge) and 1 medium sized Nassau grouper. On the way back in to the harbour, we stopped by Wind Minstrel and Lattittude and gave them each a lobster.

Back on board Dream Catcher, I cleaned my share of the catch, showered and then joined the weasels for lunch. We shared a cold brew and a one day old pizza while watching 50 First Dates with Adam Sandler. I had seen the movie before, but the ferrets had not, so I didn't ruin the ending for them. Unfortunately, they fell asleep 15 minutes into the movie, so I watched the remainder by myself.

Around 5 pm, I headed up to St. Francis for Saturday night poker. We had 7 show up and I did not do very well. I guess my head just wasn't in the game.

I dinghied back to the boat and spoke to Amy over the internet. She is taking care of things back home, but is ready to come back. For dinner I cooked our last fillet mignon on the grill and ate it on a toasted bun.

To bed by 10 pm.

Sunday, September 02, 2007 - Hamburger Beach Anchorage, George Town, Exumas
By Tom

The weasels and I were up early this morning. After another breakfast pizza (#3 this time), I donned my wet suit bozo action figure attire and headed out to the reefs.

The weather was slightly overcast, but there was virtually no wind and visibility was excellent. I started off in 30 feet of water and slowly worked my way up to 10 feet. Along the way I collected three lobsters and a Hogfish.

I was back on the boat and cleaned up before noon. I took the dinghy into town and dropped off trash and picked up some water as well as dropped off a care package of half a Hogfish and another lobster for my favorite bar tender. I spent the remainder of the afternoon hiding from the sun in the cockpit reading a book.

At 5 pm I got online and talked to Amy back at my parents house. She is making great progress on her list of things to do and it looks like she will be done everything she needed by tomorrow, which is good because she flies back here at like 5 am Tuesday morning.

Dinner was barbecued lobster tail on the grill with a small portion of Hogfish and potato wedges. Mila had the fish while Fatso(Milo) tried to eat everything else.

We (me and the weasels) did the dishes and then watched a movie on the lap top. It was kind of a weird day today because although I was out and about I didn't talk to a single person. Hmm

Monday, September 03, 2007 - Hamburger Beach Anchorage, George Town, Exumas
By Tom

I tried to talk to Amy this morning, but the internet was down all day.

I spent the day cleaning up before Amy's return tomorrow. There wasn't too much of a mess, but I didn't want her coming home to a messy boat after having to deal with all of the madness of shopping in the U.S. on Labor day weekend.

Rain showers showed up in the early afternoon and I took advantage of the fresh water to scrub the deck. Someone turned off the showers after thirty minutes, so I only got half the boat done. Oh well, half a salt free boat is better then nothing.

In the evening I went up to St. Francis to play poker. We only had seven players and because the games were pretty quick, we ended up playing twice. I won the first game and finished second in the second.

Back on the boat, I did a final check for loose items to clean up before turning in. Tomorrow Amy comes home

Tuesday, September 04, 2007 - Kids Cove, George Town, Exumas
By Tom

I dove in this morning to clean the anchor rode as it had accumulated a fair amount of growth in the two weeks we've been anchored here. Once it was free of alternate life forms, I started the engines, raised the anchor and motored over to the town side of the harbour.

Amy is bringing lots of stuff back with her, and it's easier to get everything back to the boat if we only have to motor a couple hundred meters rather than the 4 kilometers across the harbour.

Once I got the anchor down, Bo from Free Spirit came by and dropped off his lap top. It hasn't been working correctly for some time, so I said I would take a look at it.

The weasels and I surfed the net a while and then around 3 pm Amy called from the taxi cab on the way back from the airport. I dinghied in to meet her and we loaded up her supplies and returned to the mother ship.

Among other things, Amy brought back 14 pounds of shrimp, 20 pounds of steaks and 10 pounds of cheese. All of these things were stored in the freezer and refrigerator and then we retired to the cockpit for a glass of wine to celebrate Amy's return.

The ferrets were both happy to see Amy and they both spent the entire afternoon trying to sit in her lap to prevent her from escaping again.

Around 6, I started the BBQ and grilled some shrimp and potatoes for dinner. Amy was tired from a long day of travel and so we turned in before 8.

Wednesday, September 05, 2007 - Kids Cove, George Town, Exumas
By Tom

The weasels woke me around 5 am demanding some of the blue berries that Amy brought back from the states. I played with them until 7:30 and then I took the dinghy in to the market to drop off trash and to get a six pack of diet Pepsi.

Properly caffinated, I worked in the cockpit putting some more of the things away that Amy brought back. She joined me around 10 am and I made us a couple of pieces of BBQ chicken for an early lunch snack.

Afterwards, I installed one of our new "anchor" lights on the stern rail. The light is actually one of those solar powered side walk lawn lamps that come in packs of 4 for 30 dollars from Home Depot. We've seen them on several boats before and they make great self tending anchor lights.

We have a normal mast head anchor light, but I rarely remember to turn it on as even though it's an energy efficient model, it still draws a continuous .6 amps. That doesn't sound like much, but it does add up over the course of a night.

The lawn torch is a simple, single LED in a plastic housing powered by a single, solar charged NICAD, AA battery. We tested one last night through this morning and after 12 hours of "on" time, it was still looking good.

Later in the afternoon, Speedo Ed stopped by to pick up a package that Amy brought for him and I swung by Bo's boat to return his now functioning lap top that I repaired this morning. Back on board, we went for a swim before a dinner of shrimp linguine.

After dinner we did the dishes, enjoyed a cocktail and then retired to our room to read until bedtime.