RUTH'S CATCH UP BLOG, 3/25/2008

The Longest Game of Catch-Up Ever Played

You, the reader, may have read of these events via Jack's blogs. But
now it's MY turn to tell you how it REALLY happened……

TUESDAY 3/25

It's evening. Johnny and I are loungin' here at our new anchorage,
listening to Bluegrass, smokin' some green grass, and bloggin it up
the ass. I just posted to my desktop the picture my dad emailed me
titled "The Ultimate Peep Show"…you know, the one of the Peeps
marshmallow chicks checkin out the pink 'mellow bunnies at the strip
show. That picture is hilarious! (Thanks Dad!)
My parents recently called the Coast Guard because they had become
increasingly worried when they hadn't heard from us in two weeks.
Although their concern is very sweet and much appreciated, fortunately
we are fine and simply have had no access to the internet or phone for
awhile. Just so word is clear, we are very safe and doing very fine,
couldn't be happier! I'm sorry you were so worried and hope that
you'll remember that in most parts of the Bahamas, there is no access
to the internet. We have good access to food, water, fuel, land, and
shelter, but not always phone and internet. I love you all so much.
Please don't worry!

Now…………
It's ketchup time! Speaking of that, I had some on my cracked conch
earlier at The Blue Room, a restaurant where we enjoyed lunch earlier.
A few days ago I ordered a conch burger for lunch at Sammy's. It was
one of the most amazing burgers these savory buds have tasted! Right
now we are anchored at Governor's Harbor, the former capital of the
Bahamas. A few days ago we were anchored at Rock Sound, host of the
Homecoming Festival that took place this past weekend. But instead of
going backwards, I'll start from last week and work my way up. We have
had some remarkable adventures this month!

One of our last days at Hawk's Nest, the southern tip of Cat Island,
Jack and I took the boat to about 30 – 40 feet so that he could SCUBA
dive. The plan was that I would drive the boat around trailing Jack
behind me, holding onto the dinghy, masked face down, clutching the
spear and searching for a decent piece of coral or rock where a lot of
fish life may be lurking and smirking. When he found what he thought
looked like a promising thought, he would signal for me to slow and
then he would drop down. Meanwhile I would face the boat into the wind
and stay a close but safe distance away. We, of course, used the dive
flag. The first time Jack dropped down, I spun the boat quickly
around, my eyes leaving the flag for a mere second before realigning
my gaze on the spot where it was. It was gone. My eyes must have
nearly popped out of my head straining to see where it may have
fallen. The waves at the time were steep and rolling at about three to
four feet. My searching and straining eyes finally caught a glimpse of
the bright orange color floating barely on top of the water on its
side. The buoy had fallen down! With the wind and the waves, the
wavering orange spot was disappearing and reappearing. I began honking
the horn on the boat in hopes that Jack would hear it and come to the
surface. Finally the dreaded moment came where a wave covered the
sight of the flag, and suddenly I couldn't find it. My eyes swept the
water like a firefighter's hose thoroughly sprays an out of control
fire. Without the flag I would have no clue where Jack was, if he was
alright, if the current had swept him away… At the same time, it
would
be dangerous for me to drive too close to the spot where I thought he
might be underwater. I honked the horn continuously for over a minute
(which to my increasingly panicked self felt like an eternity) before
Jack emerged. He hadn't heard me honking but had realized on his own
that the flag had fallen under the water, because the line to which it
is attached didn't unravel fast enough as he descended.
Once we got that problem squared away, it was off to the races!
Usually Jack stayed under for about ten minutes. Sometimes he came
back up with nothing, sometimes with a handful of really nice shells.
He probably dipped under around seven times. His second to last drop
down was exciting. As I was waited, controlling the boat as the wind
and waves persistently tried to turn it, he emerged holding the spear
high over his head. Sliding back and forth on the spear was the slick
gray body of a big fish flopping to and fro with the beat of the
waves! I flew as quick as I could over to where he was, took the spear
and the fish out of the water, dropped its body in a bucket, and we
headed away from the spot in search of a new area. It's wise to move
to a new spot because sharks will track the smell of the fish blood.
After the final drop Jack came up yelling "Baracuda!" so again I
zipped over fast as I could to get Jack out of the water. Baracudas
are attracted to all things shiny, such as the spear or the shiny
metal on the scuba tank or B.C. vest.
The fish turned out to be a parrot fish, which was easy to label for
reasons I'm sure you can guess. It was incredible the resemblance of
the beak-like face of the fish and the colors that squiggled over and
encircled it! And boy, did it taste quite parrot-like! Haha, just
kidding. It was some real good fish though. Nothing like the
wholesome, pure white meat of a fresh fish!
The following day we decided to fish the drop-off before heading north
to New Bight. The drop-off is a point in the water where the dept
drops suddenly from around 90 to over 500 feet. This is where the
fishies like to play,, and we wanted in on the fun. During the hour
trip it took to get out there, Jack rigged up this incredible system
of lures. He hooked ten or so lures on an 80 lb test line, wrapped
them around a Pringles can, and after lowering the lures into the
water, attach the line to the downrigger which would pull it down 300
feet. Unfortunately we weren't out for an hour before the line began
to drag. Without the aid of the depth sounder, which had stopped
working, we had driven the boat into 90 feet of water. The weight of
the downrigger became caught deep under a rock and just as we realized
what was happening, the line snapped, taking the weight and all our
lures with it. Hahaha we are so amateur!!
After our misadventure we motor-sailed north, headed for New Bight. It
felt as though a front were coming in. The winds were strong and cold,
maybe 15 knots. The waves were increasingly kicking it up a notch. We
made it there in a few hours, heeling steadily with the reefed main
and the full jib and a low boost from the motor. We anchored right
around sunset, parking close to shore and endured a semi-rocky night.
In the distance I could just make out The Hermitage, the former
residence of the beloved Father Jerome. The explorer charts make a
real big deal out of this guy.
By morning the waves had increased still. The winds were about 15 from
the southwest. We dinghy'd onto shore to explore. Jack made a quick
phone call to his mom from a payphone off of shore with a phone card
we had purchased at Hawk's Nest. Not too far from where we were stood
the crumbling ruins of an old mansion. A typical mansion for the
islands would be a 50 x 50 two story house made of concrete. The
ruins were very interesting and we snapped a lot of shots like
crocodiles snapping at the raw chicken dangling from Steve-O's
underwear. The flowers and vegetation were lovely! Very picturesque.
Next door to the old mansion sat a smaller rundown building with a
floor completely buried by piles upon piles of old glass bottles. We
spent a bit of time bottle hunting for the most unique looking
antique. We plundered until we had a backpack full of precious loot!
Jack thought we should ask the people whose house sat in front of the
bottle ruins if it would be okay that we take the bottles. No one was
home so we asked about the homeowners at the Blue Bird Restaurant
across the street. The people there told us to knock back in about an
hour and a half, so we left our bag with them and headed toward The
Hermitage.
The walk was roughly a good mile uphill, and it was definitely worth
the trek. The building (built in 1630?) was in amazing shape because
of good upkeep. On our way up the steepest part of the climb were
stone monuments of the Stations of the Cross. The house was very
interesting, containing a secret passageway, small personal chapel,
and a small living room with a tiny hearth. It was very, very cozy.
Even I had to bend over to walk through the rooms and crouch to get
through the doorways!
On our way back from the Hermitage we passed a brush fire, its smoke
blinding us for a few hundred feet. We took off toward the restaurant
and sat around drinking Kalicks and playing Dominoes before splitting
a meal. We met the homeowners across the street, who said it was
perfectly fine if we wanted to take some of the old glass bottles. The
wind was steadily picking up, as were the waves, so we hopped back on
the boat and immediately took off north to Fernandez Bay, where there
would be better shelter from the wind. We motor-sailed with the jib
fully out. On the way Jack saw a shark fin slice in and out of the
water!
Arriving just before sunset, we anchored inside the mouth of a very
narrow creek. We dinghy'd into shore to check out the resort and see
what they had to offer internet-wise. We discovered the dinners were
$40 a pop – yikes. We had a drink while loading up our computers
only
to discover the internet connection was terribly slow and eventually
non-existent. While we were poking around, however, a man came up to
me and asked if we had gotten dinner here tonight. When I replied that
no, in fact, we hadn't, he invited Jack and I over to him and his
wife's rental cottage for dinner. It was their last night there and
they needed to clear out their fridge and had no one to eat with. It
turns out his wife sent him over to find us; we had said hello to her
on the beach earlier and had a quick chat. We were delighted to be fed
and, although by the time we made it over to their place they had
already eaten, they reheated the food without question and served us a
five course thanksgiving-like meal! It turns out they are from
Kalamazoo and still live in the area! We had a lot to talk about that
evening. They were a very nice couple. I forget their names, but I'm
sure Jack has written them down! They showed us around the resort
cottages, which were very interesting and decorated with relics from
old shipwrecks! Their neighbors, who had already gone, left behind a
fridge full of food which they insisted we take with us back on the
boat! They gave us milk, eggs, bread, beer, celery, cheese coffee,
sugar, pancake mix, and a bunch of other random items!
During the night, while we were sleeping, the current swung the boat
around and beached us as the tide shrank. While I slept Jack spent two
hours jumping in and out of the water, setting anchors so that he
could pull us back into the deeper water. When I awoke to find what
was going on, I put on my rain gear and got out to help. I cranked in
the lines using winches while Jack worked on removing tension from the
lines in the water and continuously resetting the three anchors. Two
hours later we had gotten ourselves free and were floating in deep
enough water to relax for the night. We set three anchors (two off
each sides of the stern, one off the bow) so that the situation
wouldn't happen again.
The remainder of our days at Fernandez Bay were somewhat ho-hum. The
cold front was passing and the wind had clocked to the northeast so we
left that awful shallow creek and tucked into the northeast corner of
the Bay. This new anchorage was closer to the resort. We killed time
during the rain reading and going into the resort to use the internet
(which had revived itself since that one night). We even spent twelve
dollars on a hamburger (each!) just so we could sit and post blogs,
email our fam, and the like. The burger, by the way, was a puny hunk
of balled up beef probably worth three bucks. As we were leaving the
resort to settle in the boat for the night, we met a couple named
Dennis and Doris who were on the boat "Magic" anchored close to us. I
forgot to mention our jib had acquired a small tear near the top of
the seam (oh I mean, near the head of the luff) on our way from Hawk's
Nest to New Bight. Dennis offered to provide us with a hunk of sail
cloth to fix it. Everyone is so extremely nice, laid-back, and giving!
Everyone here – Bahamians or boaters – treat us like family,
sometimes
even better!

WED, 3/12

The following morning Dennis dropped off the sail cloth, Jack hooked
up a system of table cloths to catch the rain water, and I biked three
and a half miles to the grocery store, pedaling back with the dry bag
heavy and STUFFED with goods. We planned to move and anchor four miles
north to where a road on the protected side led to the west side
(ocean side) where there was an abundance of reefs. The road was near
a restaurant called the Fish Fry and we thought it'd be nice to catch
a bite there after Jack snorkeled the reefs for lobster (I still
wasn't going into the water at this point because of my burns). During
the four mile trip I drove slowly over roughly 15 feet of water
passing over coral heads while Jack, clinging to the dinghy with his
snorkel gear and spear,, scanned the bottom for life. This is how he
found the Parrott Fish. We had finally figured out a good system! The
first drop down was unsuccessful, but the second time Jack descended
over a huge chunk of rock and speared a good sized fish! The thing is,
old fish-face swam himself into a crevasse of the rock and fit himself
snuggly inside, so that even though it was speared, Jack could not
pull him out! Jack free-dove at least 15 times in 13 feet of water to
wrestle with this fish! It got to the point where I just threw out the
anchor close by so that if by some chance sharks came Jack could
quickly get out. At last, Jack emerged with the fish!! At first I
thought he had actually speared a shark because the fish had a thick,
sharp dorsal fin sticking up high. As he brought it closer to the
boat, however, the "fin" (which turns out is a bone) lowered itself
down until it was almost tucked away inside the fish. It was
brilliant! I was very excited for Jack and his valiant effort and took
many pictures.
We arrived at our anchorage, and found that Dennis and Doris had the
same idea and were planning on checking out the Fish Fry themselves.
When they stopped by on their dinghy to say hello, we invited them
over for our own little fish fry. We all agreed that we would cook
out and hang out on their boat later on (theirs was, of course a
bigger boat). They both recognized the fish Jack speared as an Ocean
Trigger Fish. It was a bizarre fish! Its dorsal and underbelly fins
were actually bone that it was able to tuck in or stick out at will.
This was how it was able to trap itself inside the rock! I offered to
gut and scale the fish, only to discover it had no scales! Its skin
had a sandpaper-like texture and was as tough as sheet metal! It was a
difficult task (imagine trying to cut through sheet metal with a
fillet knife!) I couldn't even cut off the fins because of the
thickness of the bone. I finally managed to slice through half of the
fish, aiming for a nice thick fillet, but was having a bit of a
struggle butchering through the other half when Jack offered to help.
It took one of us to hold the fish, the other to saw away at it. In
the end we cropped out two HUGE fillets! Just enough for four people
to stuff themselves silly!
We took a break to head into land and hiked about a two-mile trail
that led us to the west side. The ocean as a whole was calm, but the
many reefs along the bottom caused long, lines of breakers stretching
out along almost the entire three-mile beach and continuing at least a
mile out. Jack took a thoughtful gaze into the waves and boldly
proceeded to gear up into his snorkel outfit. I kept in eye on him as
he swam and dove around in and out of waves with the spear. He didn't
have any luck, and commented afterwards that the open ocean, breaking
waves, and thought of dangerous fish life had made the expedition an
intimidating one. During our walk back, the sun began to set, filling
the sky with the most brilliant and breath-taking colors. Orange had
as sharp and bright a glow as fire! The intimate swirls of pink and
purple clouds intermingling with the baby blue of the sky kept us
entertained the whole walk back. Midway we scavenged an abandoned
cherry tomato farm. Most of the hundreds of tomatoes had rotted into
mush but we were able to find a pocketful of ready-to-eat ones.
After getting back, we moved the boat and anchored closer to where
Dennis and Doris were so it would be easier for us to row over. I
brought over the fish which I had marinated in a sort of lime
juice/chipolte mix and Jack brought over a tupperware of cookie batter
he had made that included oats and chocolate chips. (He had made a
big, DELICIOUS pancake cookie the other night! I mean, DEELISH!) The
evening was very chill. Doris and Dennis are real easy-going people.
We all talked about where we're from and how we are able to be doing
what we're doing. They told us about their sons, one a professional
snowboarder, and the other a skater in living in Cali. Tight. They
grilled the big fillets and there was more than enough to go around.
Doris had made coleslaw and potato salad to go with it. It was a
spectacular meal! We baked up the cookies in their oven and the entire
batch made its way into our tummies. Doris made sure we didn't leave
without a large chunk of carrot cake that she made. The next day I
had it for breakfast. What an awesome life.

THURS, 3/13
We awoke to the feeling of being sloshed back and forth like goldfish
in a moving van. The wind had picked up hard from the west (which is
unusual) and the water was rough-housing us again. We moved quickly up
to Bennett's Harbor (this is still on Cat Island). Although windy, it
was a beautiful day! Sun was shining bright, had The Rhyme blaring on
the XM, carrot cake for your mind, and sails up and running. We made
it there in no time and tucked into a shallow (not TOO shallow) creek
that was FULL of shipwrecks!! The creek stretched far into the island
and had a deep channel in the center in which we dropped two anchors
this time (learning our lesson from the Fernandez Bay creek!) The
anchorage was PERFECT. Poor Dennis and Doris, who had made it to
Bennett's a couple of hours ahead of us, were forced to anchor outside
the creek where the west wind waves were beating into them like mad.
We went to land and walked around in search of an outlet where Jack
could plug in his circular saw. We wanted to cut up a two by four in
order to make additional shelves to hold my computer and the piles of
books and magazines we had floating around the boat. A guy named Ducky
who owned his own restaurant (Ducky's) let us plug in, cut the wood,
and keep the saw at his place while we explored this part of the
island. We passed a run-down auto shop, plenty of abandoned homes, a
basketball hoop made from the pole of a tree, more abandoned ruins,
and a convenience store that hardly had anything in stock and whose
owner, during out conversation, would loosely toss her trash and
chicken bones out the window into a trash bin located outside and
underneath it). We finally ended up at a "restaurant," which was
really someone's home who cooked for us out of her tiny kitchen and
served drinks. It was wonderful! She made us fried snapper with
homemade salads (green, potato, and coleslaw) AND fries. Doris and
Dennis were hanging out there also, along with a few Bahamians, among
them Joshua, who showed us around the island the next day hoping we
would invest in a building project he had started but wasn't able to
finish without financial backing. So far, all he had been able to
complete was a crumbling concrete foundation with a floor of loose
rocks. We went along mainly to see if he had anything to offer us in
terms of a small piece of land with ruins it. He did, in fact, but
because of the complications of ownership it didn't seem likely that
we would have much of a chance of having it sold to us (like most of
the old properties here).
Joshua and his wife recognized me as being the one riding my bike
around with the heavy backpack full of groceries a few days back.
Whenever I have gone running on any of the inhabited islands, for the
remainder of the day or for our stay I am always recognized!
Before the leaving the "restaurant" that night we made sure to order
homemade bread from an old woman named Margaret across the street.
She was the sweetest woman, with a soft smile and a kindness in her
voice. Later back at the boat, we threw the body of the Trigger Fish
over the side in hopes that sharks would come and take a bite like
they did with the head of the Red Snapper at Hog's Cay. Sure enough a
shark did pay us a visit that night! Every time it took a bite out of
the fish, its tail would whap the side of the boat -- hard! We'd hear
this splash and simultaneously feel and hear this loud thump smacking
the boat, and we'd race outside to catch it on film! This happened
three times, but every time we clamored into the cockpit we scared it
away. We weren't able to get it on video like the other shark but we
caught a few glimpses of it as it swam away. It was a grayish color
and about six feet in length with sharp teeth. (haha) After the first
attack we pulled the fish out of the water only to discover the only
thing left was most of its head! That's a BIG bite!!!

FRIDAY 3/14
At 10AM Joshua picked us up and showed us around as I've mentioned.
We rode around in the back of his pickup with Kendrick – a total
Biggie Smalls look alike and someone who works for Joshua. Joshua's
wife and son were up in front. On one of their properties his wife
showed me her garden. The garden was not something that she attended
to, but rather a patch of dry soil where she planted seeds and sat
back to watch the magic. All in the same patch of soil were growing
corn, carrots, pumpkin, watermelon, collared greens, cabbage, coconut,
a type of red bean, sweet potatoes, and although I forget the rest
there was much more! Isn't that fantastic that all these fruits and
vegetables can grow in the area with no maintenance? Niiiice.
On the drive back I spotted a bald eagle perched in a tree! When we
got back to the boat we decided to snorkel the two biggest wrecks in
the creek. At first I paddled around in the dinghy while Jack
snorkeled, but the day was so gorgeous and the water was just CALLING
out to me! So despite my burns, I put on a wetsuit and went
snorkeling!! And boy, was I glad I did! It was fantastic! First of
all, refreshing to be back in the game. Secondly, the wrecks were
substantial and full of fish life. One was a wooden fishing boat and
the other a big wooden sailboat with the wooden mast stretched out
across the ocean bottom. We could hear the sailboat creaking steadily
underwater as the current pushed against the structure. We saw a field
of jellyfish chilling on the sandy bottom (we didn't realize they were
even there until we disturbed some of them when kicking our fins too
close to the bottom!) And shooting back and forth, in and out of the
creek, were a pair of large eagle rays! Jack took many pictures of the
rays, the fish, and the wrecks with our underwater camera.
Since the wrecks contained a few decent-sized fish (i.e. dinner),
Jack and I conjured up a plan to try to snag them with a net. Jack
cut away the thick rope that was netted around an old buoy and we
secured in with heavy empty conch shells over one of the holes in the
deck that the fish liked to swim in and out of. Our plan was that one
of us would chase the fish into the net while the other would swipe
the net closed once the fish were inside. It took some time to set up
and by the time we did, we had scared all the fish away. So we left
the trap in place and decided we would sneak up on them the following
day.
In the evening we met a German couple who had come into the creek on
their catamaran. Their names were Dieter and Astrid. I've met so many
Germans on this trip! And every time I meet one I think of how fun it
would be to have Caroline around and listen to them converse in
German! Well anyway, Dieter and Astrid were very cool and we had a
good long political chat.
I want to note I was very happy to see Dennis and Doris pull their
boat out of the relentless waves of the harbor into the mouth of the
creek that day. I'm sure they got a longed-for good night's rest!

SATURDAY 3/15
. Saturday morning I ran about 3 miles in the sweltering red-hot sun.
I could actually smell the burnt skin on my arms baking! It kind of
smelled like chicken actually. Tasty, fried chicken. Yes, I was
wearing sunscreen. No, I don't put sunscreen on my fried chicken.
Anymore.
The ocean was smooth as glass so we agreed to take advantage of the
great weather to head over to Little San Salvador, our next
destination between Cat Island and Eleuthra. Before leaving, we put
on our snorkeling gear and checked out the fish trap we had set up the
day before. Either the holes of the net were larger than we thought or
the fish were smaller than we thought, but regardless the fish were
swimming in and out of the holes of the net with ease, making it
impossible to catch one.
We jumped out the water and didn't waste any time. The wind blew
slightly from the southwest and with us heading west it made for very
smooth sailing! I fully hoisted both of the sails and Jack set the
tiller tamer to keep us on course. The water was so smooth and the
breeze so steady that he never had to adjust the tiller once it was
set! We put on the "punk rock" station on the XM and read magazines
for a couple hours as we sailed. We munched on apples, carrots, and
corned beef sandwiches. The sun shimmered on the water's surface,
sparkling so bright I had to squint my eyes at the reflection! It was
a gorgeous and easy sail!
At about an hour away from Lil' San – and also an hour from sundown
–
we stopped at a long series of rocks called, well, Long Rocks. Since
the wind had been blowing from the southwest all day, it was DEAD CALM
on the North side, which rarely ever happens (wind is usually blowing
from somewhere out of the north down here). Jack immediately realized
it would be a great place to look for lobsters because he figured
hardly anyone would be able to dive that spot due to the rarity of
calmness on the north side. We brought the boat around to the north of
the rocks and anchored using an old grapnel anchor that Jack picked
out of one of the shipwrecks (perfect for coral bottoms). As predicted
the coral was amazingly lush and full of fish life! As soon as I
jumped in the water I saw big rainbow colored trigger fish, among many
other kinds of fish. Some of the sea fans were at least five feet
tall! They all leaned beautifully to one side as the current swept
against them. Some of the fans were a deep purple and some were a
vivid yellow, but all were intricately threaded with a complex, unique
design of cobweb-like veins. I dove six feet to pick up a small
purple fan that was lying flat on the bottom, un-rooted. I plan to
give it to someone in my family. Right then, after I picked it up, I
spotted something BIG in the water in the distance. It was definitely
a long fish, maybe four to six feet, creeping along very, very slowly
in a position so that it could see me. It stayed at a depth of about
four feet in what I'm guessing was 15 feet of water. It was a bit too
far to completely make out, but I literally think it may have been a
shark. I didn't waste one second! I turned around toward the rock and
kicked my legs slowly but so forcefully that I was out of breath for
minutes after I made it there.
Right before I dove for the sea fan, Jack called out to me that he
had found a lobster! It was our first spotting and we've been looking
this entire trip! The lobster had made a cozy home under a large piece
of coral so big he couldn't be reached just by sticking your hand
inside. For maybe fifteen minutes Jack and I worked this thing. First
I swam halfway into a big gap in the rock scaring the lobster deeper
inside, while Jack waited at a smaller hole on the other side with the
spear. Then we switched places and Jack swam into the big gap with
the spear and I waited on the other side, ready to dive down, grab
hold of the sucker when he backed out of the hole, and pull him out.
The current was a bit strong and it took a decent amount of energy to
control my position. When I finally saw the lobster back out of the
small hole I was SHOCKED at how big its tail was! This was the King
Lobster!! I realized it was way too fat to even make it through the
hole, but I dove down a few times anyway and attempted get a good hold
on it, hoping I could maybe force it out or at least hold it still
while Jack came around and speared it. The couple of times I managed
to grab the king, it was so strong it pulled out from my grip! One
time I managed to grab onto its antenna and it pulled away so hard
that the antenna pulled right off! In the midst of one of the
struggles my arm scrapped against some fire coral, which caused a
small amount of irritation and burning for about a half hour
afterwards.
At last a new method was needed. Jack spotted the lobster through a
tiny hole near the bottom of the coral, shot the spear through the
hole, and hit the lobster! Immediately it started running away and the
entire spear was almost taken into the hole with it! I grabbed the end
of the spear and held tight while Jack moved around to the big hole,
dove, reached in and, as I pushed the spear forward, with effort
grabbed hold of old lobsty! Jack had to exert great effort to hold
Lobsty down! It was a very strong creature made mostly of muscle (mmm,
tasty morsels of muscle…) While Jack held Lobsty with TWO HANDS, I
attempted to stab him in the head with the spear. But the shell of the
beast was too hard and wouldn't crack. Jack suggested I find a rock to
beat in the top of the spear as he held it. I frantically searched the
surface of Long Rock but it is coral rock and there were no loose
rocks laying around. Even if there were loose pieces they wouldn't
have been study enough to do the job. Finally I realized I might find
a rock under water so I dove down, spun my head to and fro, spotted a
pile of rocks that had been rounded out by the erosion of waves. I
scooped one up and brought it down to the top of the spear with no
avail. Eventually Jack used his brute strength to force the spear into
Lobsty's head. It was a sudden death.
To our luck there was not a trace of blood, so we decided it would be
safe to swim back to the boat despite my possible sighting of a shark
earlier. I swam ahead on the lookout and Jack brought up the rear
carrying Lobsty on the spear partly out of the water, just in case.
Swimming like that must have been a task for Jack because Lobsty was
heavy! Later on, using dive weights, we figured he was probably around
6 lbs.
Six succulent pounds of deliciousness.
All in all, we made six big meals out of the meat! We were even able
to get a large amount of meat out of the legs and the antenna because
they were so big. That night, after Jack played a hand of cards with
it, we steamed him and dipped the tail meat in melted butter. Um…YUM.
Other meals included Lobster dip and a lobster alfredo sauce Jack
made from a can of evaporated milk, cheddar cheese, lobster of course,
and the rest is magic cuz it was soooo good!
We fell asleep listening to old time radio suspense stories on Sonic
Theater via the XM. I love closing my eyes and imagining the scenes! I
love it even more when they run into my dreams.

SUNDAY 3/16
Wow. Another beautiful day at another beautiful anchorage. At Little
San Salvador we were the only boat there. Many boaters bypass this
island because it is on the small side and cannot offer protection for
bigger boats with deeper drafts. We were hoping to stay here during
the upcoming cold front and find refuge in a creek that runs into the
middle of the island. I have become a big fan of creeks these days.
Today became somewhat of a "music day." Jack took the dinghy and the
grapnel anchor to snorkel some of the nearby coral heads while I
worked on some songs I had written on my computer. I got some writing
done as well as some recording, but most of the time I worked on
mixing specific tracks. It was a very satisfying time. I love
indulging myself in this stuff!
Later on, I snorkeled while Jack worked on some tunes he had
orchestrated using Garage Band. The coral heads were surprisingly dark
and had a lifeless look. They were large yet there was hardly a fish
to be seen. At one point I spotted a decent sized Nassau Grouper, but
by the time I fetched the spear from the boat it had darted underneath
the coral.
That night we listened to a radio program called American Routes,
which took us down the
roads of the dirty south – the roads of Louisiana to be exact! The
program focused on the music of New Orleans, which really took us
back. There was also a sort of interview/investigative show about a
kidnapping that occurred around the 50s in which the mother who
reclaimed the child wasn't the original parent. It was a very
captivating show!
We decided that we'd spend the following day snorkeling two nearby
shipwrecks that we discovered on the charts. Tomorrow night a cold
front with 30 knot winds from the southwest would be approaching. We
knew we had until tomorrow night to find a good spot to be anchored
during the front.
P.S. My skin is doing very well. I have a few blisters on my back,
scabs on
my arm, and my side - where I experienced the deepest burn - is like
leather...but no pain and just a slight itchiness on my side. Some of
the burn marks on my back have turned into white skin and the parts
lagging behind are in a state of redness. Actually the sun is terrible
for it, and the salt water is WONDERFUL for it. For instance, the
burns on my back are healing very nicely, but those on my arms and
legs, especially my arms, (the parts most exposed to the sun) are
lagging way behind in their recovery. The salt cauterized the skin
right
away and every time I go into the water my skin looks every bit
better.

MONDAY 3/17
The day was perfect for snorkeling! The ocean was glass and the sun
shining bright. We motored around some of the cays near Lil' San to
see if we could find any promising coral. I had never seen the ocean
so calm! The entire horizon was dead flat! We moved on with our plans
to snorkel the wrecks because we figured there'd be a better chance of
fish life there. The first shipwreck must have been washed away or
blown apart from wind/weather. There was absolutely nothing in the
water where the chart said it would be. Jack mentioned he had seen
pieces of wood where he was snorkeling yesterday so we guessed those
may have been part of the wreck.
We headed around to the south side of the island in search of wreck
#2 – a huge success! The ship was BIG! It had probably been one
hundred feet long at one time. About sixty feet of it was under water
and it was broken in two, making a large "L" shape. It was down about
ten or twelve feet. It was also turned upside down which was really
cool visually, but it meant that most of the fish life was hidden
underneath. I swam around with the spear, but we didn't find anything
big enough to be worth spearing. Jack took mucho pictures. The whole
scene was incredible! Swimming and swirling around this rusty monster!
I free dove many times to try to get a peak into the darker crevasses
looking for fish but was unsuccessful in my hunt. Before getting back
on the boat Jack and I spent a few minutes practicing our free diving
in about ten to twelve feet of water. I am getting better at it but my
lung capacity is extremely weak! I also need to improve my timing when
popping my ears. By the time we were through my ears were so sore!
We continued along the southern coast of the island, wrapped around,
and anchored at west bay where a gigantic cruise ship was sitting. It
was MONSTROUS! Maybe eight stories tall, not including the fly bridge.
It looked like most of its passengers were enjoying the water and the
beach. We anchored far out of its way, ate crackers and lobster dip I
had made for lunch, and took a nap. When we awoke all of the
vacationers from the cruise were boarding. We were disappointed
because we were hoping to meet some new people and ask them about
their experiences. We nonetheless hopped on land and scoped out the
abandoned scene, picking up on the way all the litter – plastic bags
and plastic containers mostly – that had accumulated on the beach.
The
place had just about everything – including about twenty three-walled
huts on the beach with an air conditioner! Can you imagine that
waste?? There were tiki bars and water slides, all types of water
sports available, food and gift shops, blah-dee, blah-dee, blah you
get the picture. Unfortunately when we inquired about the set up to
the manager he was a bit unfriendly and unwelcome to us. We considered
hitting up the party scene the next day when the new cruise ship came
in, pretend we were part of it, and load our bellies full of beers n'
good eatin's. But alas, with the cold front approaching and a serene
as hell ocean before us we decided to cut over to Eleuthra Island so
that we wouldn't have to wait three to four extremely boring days
outside the beach where everyone else is having fun.
I had never seen such a huge expanse of ocean so DEAD CALM. It was
unbelievable! We arrived at the southern tip of Eleuthra at night,
using the depth sounder to detect not only the dpeth but the contour
of the bottom as well. Within minutes of throwing out the anchor we
hauled it right back in and moved to another spot because we
discovered we were right outside the designated trash burning site
where (yet another) cruiseline burns all their guests trash (including
plastics and the like). Yay cruisies. The smell was pretty horrible.
Jack's asthma started acting up within minutes of being in the area.


TUESDAY 3/18
The front hit over night The day, though sunny and not a drop of
rain, brought 25 mph winds. We were pretty protected so we kept
traveling north to Davis Harbor Marina to refill on water and gas.
While waiting around for the gas truck to come, Jack met Ben, a
seemingly influential guy on the islands. Ben drove us around the
nearby towns, took us to his house and best of all took us to his
fishing hole! The hole is a salt pond that Ben breeds fish in. Of what
we saw, he has Nassau Grouper, Strawberry Grouper, Rainbow Trigger
fish, and one Yamora, the "sucker fish," the ones who ride under the
bellies of sharks and feed off their scraps. Not many people, he said,
knew of the hole. If they did, they'd take his fish, he insisted. I've
never seen so many big fish at one time! There must have been about
twenty or thirty there. Ben threw in his fish guts from yesterday's
catch and the fish went rabid, jumping over and nipping each other for
a bite of the goods. Ben also shared with us a few pieces of round
fruit, called Sapadillas. We pulled over the side of the road and
picked them right off the tree! He made sure we had plenty to take
back to the boat with us! He also drove us to Rock Sound, the town
where the Homecoming Festival was taking place that upcoming weekend.
There he took us to the bank, the hardware, and on the way back the
bar. Ben was a super nice guy. Even though he said he'd be at the
festival, we didn't see him there and haven't seen him since.
Hopefully we'll see him again while we're here on the Eleuthra.

WEDNESDAY 3/19
We spent the night anchored outside of Davis Harbor Marina. In the
morning three Bahamian teens stopped by asking if we had any live bait
to spare. We did not. They were very nice dudes though and they ended
up coming back asking for hooks. Hooks and snacks. We threw them some
pretzels and Oreos as well as five small hooks and a couple medium
sized hooks. Since stopping by the first time they had caught about
eight fish. We bought four off of them. One was a very small grunt and
the rest were good sized meaty meat-heads! These kids were super
awesome and very positive. We took their picture while one of them
stuck his arms up in the air, a fish in each hand, standing up in the
moving boat, yelling "Viva Bahamas!" It was great! AND SO TRUE. Viva
Bahamas is the life.
I thought those cats were pretty brave for being out there fishing
and spearing because the front had hit and the water was churned up, a
steady gust of air spreading the water apaaaaart. It was picking up
steadily so we headed for the next protected bay – Rock Sound. We
also
wanted to be around for the Festival. I gutted and scaled all four of
the fish on the way. I started this activity off by accidentally
dropping our precious Bucket in the water! This is referring to our
one and only "everything" bucket that we use for dishes, keeping and
cleaning fish, washing the cockpit, etc. Hahaha we spent at least a
half hour trying to get this bucket out of the water! Chapter 1: Thank
god it floats. Chapter 2: the force and choppiness of the waves on the
bucket plus the force of the wind pushing the boat equals multiple
attempts (total: 9?) to save the bucket. Chapter 3: Yay! Time to get
down n' dirty with the fish guts!
On the way we saw a huge bald eagle carrying a fish in its talons! It
was AMAZING. It flew right in front of the boat!!! Magestic!!!
We motor sailed with the jib for a few miles north until we came to a
point named Cape Eleuthra. We turned around the point and due to the
width of rock sound bay, the fetch was 9 miles long, causing the waves
to have built up to at most 6 feet. The waves immediately started
tossing us around, splashing visions of the gulf stream into my mind.
For hours that seemed like days, we were thrown around banging
against, through, and into waves. It was a fairly shallow bay too
which caused the waves to be high and steep.
After that terrible battle, we hunkered downvclose to shore.
Everything in the boat was sopping wet. I mean, drenched. There was a
deep puddle on the floor. The cool thing though was that Jack and I
got straight to work going through the usual drying routines. Whereas
the first time we had to clean out a wet boat it took us an hour or
more, this time it took us ten minutes even though the boat was in one
of the wettest conditions its ever been. We've finally got our
methods down! It was truly a sweet accomplishment and we rewarded
ourselves by wandering into town and eating at Sammy's, a local
restaurant.