Ruth-Dec 1st

is the most amazing experience to look up and see literally
hundreds of bright stars in my field of vision. It is easy to get lost
in this multitude of magnificence. It is equally amazing to dive and
look down and see hundreds of fish. Beautiful, bright fish. Schools
upon schools of striped, fluorescent blue, yellow, silver and red
fish. Swimming and swirling beneath me, curious and unafraid. A very
comforting feeling. This, I experience almost on a daily basis. The
wind, the water, the sun, the life of the sea. The clouds, the stars,
the people. Everything and everyone so refreshing. So revitalizing.
The taste of salt on my lips and in my mouth has so quickly turned
from a foreign feeling to a comforting one. So many people we meet are
friendly, kind, thoughtful, GIVING.
Two days ago (hard to measure, since two days feels like a week), we
docked our boat for a few hours at the Great Harbor Marina at Great
Harbor Cay expecting to pay for water and a hardware part for our
broken grill with what little money we had. By the time we would have
typically left the marina, we had gotten a ride all afternoon from
some homeowners on the island helping us with our errands, the marina
captain told us we could stay a few nights for free and gave us free
water and showers, and traveling fisherman hooked us up with POUNDS of
freshly cut steaks of wahoo! The following day, those same homeowners
(Patty, John, and Bonnie) stopped by our boat and invited us to the
'Beach Club' for drinks. They introduced us to their friends, who were
all wonderful people. They picked up our tab before we could get
theirs. AND they invited us over for dinner. Since our grill was
broken at the time, we were able to cook some of the fish at their
house and they provided numerous side dishes and drinks. It was
incredible. It was like Thanksgiving. We had fried Wahoo marinated in
two different sauces (garlic & herb and mesquite & lime), salad, stir
fry vegetables, hardboiled eggs, and CANABA ROOT, which was made like
mashed potatoes but is seriously way WAY better and probably one of
the best things I've ever eaten IN MY LIFE.
The people of the Bahamas are so friendly and giving! On Frazer's Hog
we ran into a couple guys who had caught about six of seven large
conch. After seeing us hack away at our tiny conch (which was to be
our dinner), they called us over and showed us the best way to pull
the conch from their shell. That was nice enough, but they didn't stop
there. They proceeded to actually make us an entire conch salad…lime
juice, lemon juice, onions, green peppers, salt, hot peppers, and
all! It was the most tender conch I have had so far! They even shared
their Jamaican weed with us (which needless to say, if you're from the
States, you cannot FATHOM the awesomeness of this Jamaican grown bud!)
In ADDITION, they wanted to see if their extra BaTelCo card would fit
in Jack's phone – meaning we would have been able to have cell phone
service anywhere in the Bahamas! Unfortunately the card didn't fit
because of the phone brand. But these guys just wanted to give it to
us, free of any charge. They shared so much of what they had, in
return for NotHiNG. What badasses. Seriously, Bahamians kiiiinda rock.

Today, we left the harbor to check out two wrecks. The first was a
shipwreck 4 miles north of the harbor. We dinghy'd over to that one
and took pics. The corrosion was atrocious. We don't know the history,
though we'd like to find out. The second expedition was a plane
wreck!! It was fully sunk! It was phenomenal! The wings were still
fully attached as well as many of the other plane parts. The propeller
was stellar. It was a haven for mad amounts of fish, including these
light blue/aqua type fish that I don't know the name of but would like
to find out. Beautiful. Jack saw an angel fish! Red and white striped.
I almost ran into a small jellyfish on my way back to the boat.
Exciting! I love snorkeling sooo much It is freedom! Tomorrow we are
planning on snorkeling this reef near where we are anchored. We are on
the south side of great stirrup cay. It is supposed to be great for
lobstering.
Oh, I saw my first sharks the other day! They were Nersharks, the
harmless ones, bottom feeders, although they have been known to bite
when prodded with (of course who wouldn't bite when prodded)> But
seriously, they were BEAUTIFUL! Tanned colored, and fairly big!
Biggest fish I've ever seen so far, at least. Longest maybe seven feet
long? I saw at least twelve of them swimming around the dock at the
marina near dusk. Late afternoon and dusk is when the sharks like to
eat so we will stay away from reefs around that time. Excited for
tomorrow! Snorkeling will be the ultimate, hopefully I will run on the
island? I will have to dingy in though, so we'll see. The other half
of the day we plan on sailing south along the outside of the berry
islands, in the deep water of the ocean. Maybe we will troll…we have
P-LENTY of wahoo bait given to us as a gift specifically for bait so
that should be great for pulling up a large fish! Yay! This is the
sweetest and the best. I'm so happy and seriously Jack is the SHIT
cause he spent so much time trying to fix our propane valve that broke
because the tiller whapped it hard in strong winds. And he did it! He
never gave up , try after try, when the glue didn't work , nor the
Teflon, or the JB Weld, nor the fiberglass…then he finally sawed the
pipe and clamped it on to the propane tank tube. Man, he is the shit.
Tonight he cooked up some of our gift wahoo…I don't know how he
seasoned it but it was the tastiest, most tender, fish I've ever had!
The thickest and purest piece of meat I've ever had. He sautéed onions
and green peppers and threw them on top, and added corn on the side.
Oh man, that man can cook. And fix things! My man! I am so fortunate
to be sitting here on a beautiful cozy boat, our wonderful home, with
a belly full of pure fresh ocean fish, listening to the halyard
occasionally slap the mast in the wind and the vhf cord strike back
and forth inside the mast. It has become such a beautiful sound to me.
A lullaby to fall asleep to as the water sways the boat, rocking us to
sleep! Stars shining celestially above me, snorkel gear and wetsuits
in the cockpit waiting to be used tomorrow, towel hanging, drying.
Wonderful Jack asleep on the comfy foam cushions we made our bed.
Plenty of water, plenty of food, plenty of gas, full battery, plans to
go to Nassau soon. I feel very free!