Back in the Ditch

We spent our last afternoon in Fort Pierce watching the "weighing in" process of the local fishing tournament - now for those of you that know me, this may seem unbelievable. In fact before we started fishing over in the Bahamas, just the thought of this would have been akin to watching glue dry for me - but I've got to tell you, we had a blast!!

Stephanie, Bob and Doug at the fish tournament

Each of the entered boats comes in to the dock and brings in their biggest fish which is hoisted up by the tail and weighed in front of a crowd of cheering spectators (most with adult beverages in hand - what do you think I would do this completely sober??) The tournament got off to a slow start as the first boat in had a mahi weighing only 3.8 pounds - I think they took his diaper off right before the weighing in ceremony (seriously though it was caught by a junior angler who was very excited about his catch so we clapped appropriately to encourage the young tyke)! Things started to heat up as the afternoon went on and more and more boats were pulling in - all boats had to be in the harbor before 4:30 to count for the tournament. One boat pulled in and had a 20 something pound mahi which was the biggest at the time - but we all knew we were in for a treat when the angler told us that was just the baby!!! Sure enough out of a fishing cooler bag the same boat hauled a 46.6 pound bull dolphin that was the largest fish I've seen outside of an aquarium (well maybe not, but he sure was huge!!!) The crowd went wild - us included - that mahi could have filled our freezer!!

46.6 pound bull mahi

The tournament was for mahi, kingfish and grouper - most of the fish were mahi but there were a few kingfish and grouper among the early contestants. Then one of the boats came in with a big kingfish (actually king mackeral) - talk about another big fish! But one of the highlights of the afternoon was when a lady angler came in with another huge kingfish - she could barely hold it up - it won second place in the kingfish category but first in the lady anglers category by a ton - you go girl!!!

You go girl!!

Of course just as the last flurry of boats was coming in, Mother Nature had to play the party pooper as the skies just opened up. Nothing much to do except hit the tiki bars (there are two at Fort Pierce - did I say I love this marina and little town??) We hit the first one but so did most everyone else since it was closer - yeah like we might have gotten a beer in about 1/2 hour if we were lucky given the poor bartender's deer in the headlights look. So we made a dash for it and made it to the midway tent where we tried to hunker down for another break in the rain - just picture 60 people huddled under one little tent trying to stay dry (wasn't working!) and then a large, obnoxious guy joins the crowd puffing away on a fat, smelly stogey. Yup - we left shortly thereafter - I think it was just after someone had nicely asked him to put his cigar out and he responded with "Make my day...." - welcome back to the States!!

So despite the rain, we made a dive for the other tiki bar where we happily sat in our wet clothes ( I had been standing on the side of the tent where the rain was coming from so I truly looked like the saggy diaper that leaked baby or that I needed to invest in depends - can you say soaked!) drinking cold adult beverages and eating wonderful appetizers!!! Sometimes you really just have to take what life hands you and make the most of it! We munched on conch fritters, calamari and coconut shrimp - what a great dinner!!! We opted for an early night (and hot showers to get rid of the chill) since we planned on getting an early start the next morning! But not before Bob had to show us what a conch really looked like (he and Stephanie are making a horn and had bought a big live conch in Nassau which you have to freeze and then pull the conch out) - that is one ugly looking crustacean - glad I'm not back in the Bahamas (not really!!!) or I'd have to seriously think about eating all that conch!!!

Bob considers eating the conch...

Yesterday morning the weather was looking "iffy" - they were calling for lots of thunderstorms in the afternoon so we opted to ride on the inside making a quick anchorage a viable option. Yes - we are back in the Ditch (also called the ICW or the Intracoastal Waterway) - home of the always brown ugly water! God I miss the Bahamas - last night I even had to go back and look at a bunch of our pictures - oh to be back in that crystal clear turquoise water!!! The south/central Florida ICW on a Sunday is also home to every yahoo who owns a boat or waverunner - can honestly say I didn't miss that either!! For once the weathermen got the forecast right - around 2:00 the clouds and the rain started rolling in along with the thunder and lightning. First we tried to outrun it by heading north (yeah right - as if we could outrun a bug let alone a 12 mile wide storm...)

Running into the storm

So then when that wasn't looking too good, and we actually found ourselves in the very center of a particularly loud and bright thunderstorm (think lightning crashing on all sides of the boat), we turned tail and headed south to try and get out of the worst of it!! Thunderstorms are just no fun when you're on the water....the boat kitties were OK until a double thunder boomer nearly broke their eardrums (OK maybe it wasn't quite that bad!) but they definitely needed some love from mom before they would go back to sleep. We finally dropped anchor in the lee of one of the bridges to pick up some protection and there rode out the rest of the storm - by about 8:00 pm it was completely calm and still - I guess you could call it the calm "after" the storm - we'll take it!!!

Not only are we back in the land of brown water but we are also back in the land of bugs - we didn't see many at all (and none until the last couple days we were over hiking in the Berry Islands) in the Bahamas which was great. The other day as we were sitting topsides in Fort Pierce we were descended on by these little black and red bugs that all seemed to be attached butt to butt with another bug - OK kinky! I told Doug I felt like we were in a pay by the hour bug motel - turns out they are love bugs (no you just can't make this up!!) and are everywhere down here - even out on the water. So our flybridge now resembles the love bug cemetery - but at least over here water is free so we'll be able to clean off the boat!!! Gotta look on the bright side of things! And on the bright side, the ICW is also where lots of dolphin will come and play right along side your boat - we had a bunch of them welcoming us back to the States as they jumped, and dove and rolled onto their backs in our wake!!!



Today we got an early start and are cruising up the ICW again - more thunderstorms predicted for this afternoon although they aren't supposed to be as bad as yesterday. We are currently passing Cape Canaveral and are trying to get as far north as we can - there's just not that much we want to stop and see on the east coast of FL until we get up to St. Augustine which we are hoping to make by tomorrow afternoon. There we will stay a couple days and enjoy a wonderful little town that we didn't have nearly enough time to explore on the way down!! Part of the fun of this trip back up to the Chesapeake is that we know there are places we want to go back to and spend more time and we are still traveling with September Song who has spent more time along the ICW than us so we can compare favorites spots!!! They have a home in Georgia (although they live on the boat) so we are looking forward to seeing Georgia (which we spent almost no time in on the way down) through their eyes!!!

Click here to see a Google map of our Eau Gallie Bridge location

Back to "Civilization"

We are back in the States and I can honestly say after just two days back that "civilization" is highly over-rated!!! Sure there are some nice things about being back: free wifi (mostly), free water...OK give me a minute, I'm thinking....but there are lots of negatives too: no more crystal clear gin colored water where you can see the bottom (and your anchor and sea biscuits, star fish and sharks!); no more super friendly people going out of their way to make sure you had fun on their island home; no more freshly baked coconut bread that you bought out of someone's kitchen; no more wide open places where maybe 10 people, a couple dogs, a few chickens and a handful of goats lived; no more rugged nature hikes with laughing gulls and geckos as your only companions: and no more getting your provisions at the blue, pink or yellow family stores where what you could get depended on if the mail boat had arrived (now many of you might think this is a positive to civilization, but trust me, no Winn Dixie or Publix has anywhere near the character and ability to make you smile like those places did!)

We spent our last day in the Bahamas hanging around the beautiful pool at the Grand Bahama Yacht Club - we fully intended to chill there for a couple hours and then head over to the local beach but once we got there and sunk down into the wrought iron, cushioned lounge chairs...it was over...we were there for the day, especially once we realized they had a very kewl bar where we could order cold Kaliks and even lunch if we so choose (we did!) For most of the day we had this wonderful slice of paradise all to ourselves (September Song and the Gypsies) and Mother Nature even cooperated by letting the sun come out to play for most of the day!!!

Doug lounging poolside

We lounged around the pool soaking up the rays and relaxing most of the day, taking a break only to head up to the bar (which was shaped like the bow of a boat complete with a mermaid figure head!) to have the BEST sandwich of the entire trip - a grilled grouper reuben with cole slaw not sauerkraut (very important substitution in my mind!!!) and shoestring fries!! Can it get any better than that...I don't think so!!!

The two Admirals and the Mermaid!

Everyone had the Grouper Reuben

The next morning bright and early (can you say 6:00 AM??), we lit up the engines and were on our way out of the marina. The crossing from Port Lucaya on Grand Bahama Island to Lake Worth, FL was about 11 hours so we really needed to get an early start - unfortunately we were greeted with big rolling seas when we got out of the channel -UGH!! No way were we going to do 11 hours in that - but we had a fallback...we would head towards West End at the tip of Grand Bahama Island and see if the seas calmed down some before deciding whether to cross or not. "Luckily" (and I use that term loosely because I could have easily done another day .... or month ... or even year in the Bahamas!!!) the seas flattened out somewhat and we decided to head west. The crossing was mostly uneventful (yes that means we got skunked fishing ...nothing, nada....) and we pulled into the Lake Worth inlet and anchored around 5:00 pm. As we pulled in, what ran through my mind was that there were too many boats, too many people, too many houses - just too much of everything - we radioed September Song and mentioned that there was supposed to be a good weather window the next day if we wanted to head back!!!! Oh if we only could..... The biggest thing that struck me though was that the water as we anchored was brown, muddy and you couldn't begin to see the bottom even though we were only in 11 feet of water... obviously we were no longer in the land of that wonderful turquoise blue, gin clear water!!! Honey, take me back......

We had to check in with Customs and Immigration within 15 minutes of our anchoring....oh did I mention, too much regulation and bureaucracy!!! Since we had thought to be gone longer, we had not signed up for the local boater program before we left so the next morning we had to drop the dink and dinghy over to the Customs building. We had to find a dinghy dock to tie up to (and for the mere fee of $10.65 - I kid you not) we had the privilege of dealing with a very rude dock manager and locking up our dinghy for the 1/2 hour it would take us to find the Customs building and check back in to the States). Of course the Customs building turned out to be right next to the marina, but you couldn't get there from here...the marina was completely fenced in (as were all the other surrounding buildings - good to see we had landed in a safe place...West Palm Beach for gosh sake and it felt like Fort Knox...) Did I mention too many fences??? Anyways after clearing in we headed back to the boat and despite some iffy weather (having no real desire to hang in Lake Worth or Palm Beach), September Song and Gypsies decided to head out again and go fishing!!!

Off to Fort Pierce we went hitting the deep water so we could drop some lines...for all the good it did us! Actually about 4 hours into the trip I snagged a mahi and got him all the way up to the swim platform where he made one last valiant effort and as we were hauling him into the boat, he managed to free himself from the lure and leap from the swim platform back into the sea, never to be seen again...at least he'll have a great story to tell his kids about how he saved himself from the jaws of certain death...but we were back to being skunked! Just then though as if to ease my grief over the "one that got away" a whole pod of little dolphins surrounded our boat doing backflips and other amazing water acrobatics - OK I just had to smile!!! It was like they were playing just for us - I have missed the dolphins - nurse sharks and rays just look mean, they don't do any tricks (score one for the States I guess).

After the mahi debacle, we felt the wind shift 180 degrees and pick up (lots!!!) - ruh roh (as our friend Diane on Aurora would say) - we were about to head into a massive squall line!! I have never before seen storm clouds like this - it was like looking at a black radioactive mushroom cloud with stalactites hanging down from the bottom reaches. Luckily we could see which way it was moving on our radar so we collectively hit the afterburners (OK we went 8.5 knots not 7.5) and turned hard to port to try and outrun the storm (let's be real, we can't outrun a seagull let alone a storm so we were just hoping to sneak behind it into Fort Pierce) - and we did - just barely!!!

Rain clouds off our starboard side

The clouds we were trying to outrun

We moved down to the helm station as the wind gusts reached about 38 knots and huge rain drops the size of hail started to fall - luckily our strategy paid off though as we were able to reach the Fort Pierce inlet before the heavy stuff came down!!! We thought about anchoring and even checked out a couple spots but one was too crowded already and one offered no protection from the approaching weather, so discretion being the better part of valor, we headed into the City Marina.

There is an unbelievable current that rips through the Fort Pierce City Marina (our last time here was memorable on that account!!) so we were choosing the lesser of two evils or so we thought....but we managed to get into our slip (a masterful docking feat by Doug was beautiful to watch!!) and even have a coldie up on the flybridge with Bob and Stephanie before the skies opened up and the heavy stuff came down!! Perfect timing to take showers and get ready for a night up at the tiki bar at the head of the docks!!! Making the most of the situation (as we always do), we had a wonderful dinner listening to a great reggae band (OK one more thing that was fun being back in the States - we didn't hear much live music in the Bahamas - where we were, the iguanas,geckos and hutias just have no rhythm!!) As we sat looking out at the water, the rain stopped and we were treated to an amazing double rainbow...we think it was Mother Nature's way of welcoming us back!!

Dinner at the Tiki Bar

Reggae Band at the Tiki Bar

Double Rainbow

This morning we headed off to the Farmer's Market that they have here in Fort Pierce every Saturday morning down along the waterfront - how kewl!!

We were greeted by a rainbow as we arrived at the farmers market

They had a wonderful little band playing,

The Band

lots of gorgeous fresh fruits and veggies (OK score another for the States) and heavenly smelling food (good thing we didn't have breakfast before we came!!!)

Bob and Stephanie buy veggies at the farmers market

Doug enjoys his fresh coffee at the farmers market

What to have, what to have!!! Shopping came first as we filled our backpacks with cheap, fresh veggies, fruits and spice plants, homemade breads and really inexpensive seafoods (yes Drew, Uncle Doug got lots of oysters and was wishing you were here to shuck them for him!!) - then it was time for breakfast (humongous egg, cheese and meat sandwiches on grilled croissants and sweet rolls (YUM!!!) which we ate overlooking the ICW. Then we had to walk over to the craft tents where we bought more reggae beads (can you ever have enough?) and Doug finally found the shark tooth earring he's been searching all over for!! - my jewelry used to be gold and gems, now it's wooden beads and hemp (guess our perspective has changed a little huh?? but no complaining here!) We walked around the town to get our appetites back so we could hit the tents for lunch on the way back - can you say jerk chix and pork on sticks!!! What a fun morning for locals and boaters alike. Now we are sitting back on the boats watching yet another biblical thunder and lightning storm...but that's OK, we have to work up our appetite again before we hit the tiki bar for adult beverages and reggae music again tonight! And if we wake up in the morning and don't feel like heading north, the sign here tells us that the Bahamas are only 80 miles away - don't we know it!!!

Bahamas - 80 miles!

Click here to see a Google map of our location in Fort Pierce

Bye Bahamas...We've Loved You

Well this is very weird since this may be my last post from the Bahamas (at least for this trip) since we are hoping to cross back to Florida tomorrow - I say hoping because Mother Nature always has the last say on our plans. Given that this is a 10-12 hour trip across wide open and really, really deep water, we pay even more attention to the weather for this crossing than we usually do (and that's saying something as we get up every morning early to hear the weather forecast!!) As I write this, we are sitting at a marina in Lucaya on Grand Bahama Island and I am looking out at the harbor watching it rain while the sun is shining brightly and there is a huge rainbow stretching across the channel - very kewl sight!!

Rainbow over Port Lucaya

It will be very hard to say goodbye to the Bahamas tomorrow - in fact we've already postponed our journey home by a day (I really needed one last Bahamian beach day!!) We've had a ton of fun while we've been over here and the past week while we have been cruising the Berry Islands was no exception - I know if you've been reading this blog you have a sense of how much fun we've been having!! We anchored at Soldier Cay in the Berry Islands for several days hoping to meet up with our friends Di and Steve on Aurora - they have just crossed from the US so we had hoped to meet them coming while we were going - so to speak. The weather wasn't very cooperative as we had one squall and thunderstorm after another - I don't think I've ever seen so many thunderstorms in my whole life as I have the past couple weeks!! Maybe it's just been that when you are on a boat, you are particularly sensitive to lightning!! One afternoon we even all got bundled up in our foul weather gear, hopped in Half Note and knowing that we were probably being idiots, we headed off for Little Harbor where Aurora was moored. Of course within a few minutes we were soaked, the waves and wind pounding us...but that didn't stop us - however, the fact that it was too cloudy for Half Note's GPS to pick up signal and the impending threat of even more and heavier rain did...so we turned around and headed back to our boats...bummed but knowing it had been the smart thing to do (since when are we smart you might ask??)

Despite the weather, you can't keep this crew down...so the next day we hopped in Hobos and headed on in to the Beach at Soldier Cay to explore. The landscape of the island was very funky - there was a beautiful beach at one end, very rocky shores at the other and then some really different trees behind the beach (think Charlie Brown's christmas tree with only a couple branches!)

Trees on Soldier Cay

We apparently stumbled onto a nesting site for some very perturbed laughing gulls - they lay their eggs right in the rocks - who started to dive bomb us as we got closer...we took the hint and left them alone. By the time we got back from our walk on the beach, Hobos was full of water from waves crashing over her stern - time to head back to Gypsies I guess. Later that afternoon (after several more squalls ripped through the anchorage), we saw a break in the clouds and made tracks to the island to do some more exploring. No sooner had we landed on the beach when Bob came by in Half Note wanting to explore some of the surrounding islands. Kewl....

So we brought Hobos back and hopped into Half Note for one of our better exploration days - the Berry Islands are largely uninhabited cays with amazing cliffs and caves along their coasts.

The coast of Hoffmans Cay

Kewl limestone cliffs
Underwater caves

More limestone cliffs

Because the wind was howling from the west, we had the rare opportunity to head on the outside of the islands - usually the wind is out of the east so it is too rough. But the rough water means that all of the rocky coast of the cays were filled with unbelievable caves and cliffs carved out of limestone. We stopped at one and climbed the cliffs to see spectacular vistas!! We found a trail through the woods, which I am incapable of not following to see where it will lead....on we went through this wild trail searching for the pond that the charts all said was there (we never found it) until we could stand the mosquitos no more (our first experience with mosquitos or any other bugs really on the islands - I think all the rain brought them out in force!!!) But along the way we got to see a ton of really large hermit crabs "racing" down the hills - more like a free fall at times - and we saw a huge land crab (very ugly with bug out like eyes!)

Hermit Crab

Back in Half Note for more exploring - we hit several great reefs with the looky bucket and then went in search of the Blue Hole on Hoffmans Cay. We found the beach supposedly right near it and then found the little half-hidden trail. Braving the skeeters once again we set off and this time we found what we were looking for - Eureka!

The Blue Hole is a perfectly round large hole cut out of the limestone and surrounded by vegetation - it just appears in the middle of nowhere and is reportedly over 600 feet deep. We tossed several rocks in to see how deep it was but we lost sight of them well before they hit the bottom! Doug found a little trail that brought us down to the water's edge - under a huge ledge of rock where there were caves carved out of the stone. The "roof" was full of stalagtites and other crazy stone formations that you had to duck under and around to walk around the Hole. It was eerily still there except for the callings of a couple tree frogs (we think - at least that's what we told ourselves they were) - and we saw several fish swimming past us in the Hole. We were running late so no time for swimming but.....later!

Bob and Tammy by the Blue Hole

We had such an amazing day, we decided to stay for one more day so we could explore some more and hopefully meet up with Aurora!!! Of course we had more squalls that night and the next morning which quelled our plans to move the big boats down closer to the Blue Hole...but that didn't stop us! We hopped in our dinghies around noon and motored back along the coast and to the Blue Hole so Stephanie could see it! This time I got to go swimming (along with Cassie and Godiva!!!) - it was very strange swimming in something that deep - you just knew the loch ness monster or a close cousin was going to swim up and bite you in the butt at any second!!!! The water was crystal clear and very warm in some places and then very cool in others - obviously fed by some underwater spring or something - way KEWL!!!!

Tammy swimming in the Blue Hole

The mosquitos drove us off again and this time we were off to meet up with Steve and Di on Aurora, Mike and Allison on Pokey and Dennis and Nellie on Dennel (who were all traveling together)!! We came around Devil's Cay and there ahead of us was an armada of 3 dinghies roaring at us - it could be no other. We made our way to a beautiful beach on Big Gaulding Cay and there proceeded to have a wonderful beach reunion!!! Cassie and Godiva even got to meet a new friend Tango on Pokey - Cassie tried to teach her how to swim while Godiva enjoyed having 10 of us to throw her ball. It was great to finally catch up with all those guys - we are so jealous that they are just starting their trip here in the Bahamas while ours is coming to an end....at least for this year. But we know we'll all catch back up over in the States for more fun and games!!

Dennis, Stephanie, Di, Allison, Bob, Steve and Doug

The whole gang except Tammy, the photographer

Allison, Bob (hidden) Mike, Steve, Dennis, Godiva and Doug

The next day we headed out early for the 10 hour trip across the Northwest Providence Channel for Lucaya on Grand Bahama Island - the day was glorious with flat seas, calm winds and sunshine!! (at least until we saw the waterspout off our starboard beam - yikes!)

Waterspout

The lines went into the water as soon as we hit the deep stuff and Gypsies had a great fishing day!!! I caught a 36 inch mahi (now I ask you, how come all the mahi in the Bahamas are 36 inches??? maybe it just seems that way!)

The new Mahi Slayer!

and Doug caught 2 tuna (a blackfin and a skipjack - although they looked exactly alike)!!! YIPPPEEE!!! Can I tell you how much fun that was - there's nothing quite like the adrenaline rush of hearing that fishing line zing when there's a fish on!! Towards the end of the trip I even had a marlin (or something huge like that) on my line but unfortunately we don't have the tackle to be able to land something like that. I did get to see him jump clear out of the water on his tail several times before he took my line and lure!!! Boy what a sight, what a thrill!! It was September Song's turn to get skunked (boy we've been there, done that) which stinks but the good thing about buddy boating is that all it takes is for one of us to catch something and no one eats hotdogs that night!! Actually by the time we got to the marina and had cleaned the fish it was about 7:00 pm so we decided to put all the fish in the fridge and have someone else cook for us that night. We took the little water shuttle over to Port Lucaya where there are lots of little shops and restaurants. We zeroed in on Rum Runners (do you wonder why) and had some great cracked conch (can we ever get enough??) and some cold Kaliks (or Goombay Smashes in Stephanie's case)!

Dinner at Rum Runners

Yesterday we caught up on boat chores and emails and blogs as we have FREE wifi!!!! and we can even get it from our boats - we know we're back in civilization (which has some positives, but lots of negatives too!!) The afternoon we spent walking around Port Lucaya's shops and straw market - of course we got our cold Kalik fix as well as September Song's and Doug's ice cream fix!!!



Last night was the big sushi/fish grill on Gypsies - Bob, Stephanie and Doug (I only eat cooked fish) had a sushi taste-off - black fin tuna vs skipjack tuna - think everyone came out a winner as the plate swiftly disappeared (but not before we found out that both Puss and Boots are big sushi eaters too!!! I think we've created a couple monsters - Bootsie woke me up this morning screaming for some more sushi - luckily I put aside a couple small pieces!!) Then it was on to the main course - grilled skipjack in a lime rum sauce vs. grilled mahi in a citrus dill sauce.....YUM!! By the time the rum and chocolate cheesecake came out, I had no business eating another bite...not that that stopped me of course!!

Today we are hoping to do one last Bahamian beach/chill day - do you think Mother Nature can at least give us that?? We'll see although the rain has stopped and the sun is currently out - but there are lots of clouds too in the sky. No matter what happens with the weather, I'm sure we'll manage to have one more day of fun in this Bahamian paradise!!

Click here to see a Google map of our location on Grand Bahama Island.

Goodbye Exumas, Hello Berrys

Well we have left the Exumas and while it was a sad day, we know we have many more adventures and great new places to find! But not before we revisit some of our favorite places on the way back - after biblical thunder and lightning storms Monday night (great while we were out on anchor at Rose Island - NOT), on Tuesday morning (I checked a calendar because I rarely know what day it is anymore) we headed into the Nassau Harbor Club and were greeted by a smiling Peter who was there to help with our lines. It was actually fun returning to a port we'd already been through because we knew exactly what we wanted to do. The cats as you can see are also very at home here in Nassau - can they look any more relaxed or cuter???

"More mahi, please"

Boy, that cruising is tiring!

After filling up with a little fuel, September Song and Gypsies went off to do some shopping - hitting the marine stores (always the first place we go), the liquor store and the grocery store! After provisioning it was off to Potter's Cay to get our conch fix - the little shacks they have along the harbor sell conch just about any way you want it (our favorite is cracked conch) and they cut the conch out of the shell once you order so you know it's fresh!!! We wanted to go back to Tall Boy's Shack but they had sent the oil out to get cleaned and we were told it would be an hour - no worries mon (although we should have realized we are on island time mon). So we walked along the docks and were fascinated to see all the activity - we were told that the mail boats leave on Wednesday to deliver mail and other goods to the outer islands so Tuesday everyone brings all the supplies down to the docks to load onto the boats. As we saw in the Exumas, the islands are very dependent on these mail boats - everything on the islands gets imported from Nassau - and sometimes the boats come on the day they are supposed to and sometimes not, sometimes they contain the mail and what the islanders need and sometimes not. We still haven't found Stephanie and Bob's mail that they had shipped form the States over 8 weeks ago (we think that one's a lost cause!!) We saw everything being loaded on the boats from mattresses and appliances to food and booze - one particular pallet we saw containing cases of Bacardi and Corona we told them we would be happy to have them load on Gypsies - we weren't too far down the dock!!!

I'm sure the dinghy is "very safe"!

Interesting variety of stuff!

Now this is more like it! "Please load this directly onto Gypsies!"

On our way back to Tall Boys we saw this great funky bar called Big Daddy's Seaside Lounge and of course had to stop in for a cold Kalik - how could we possibly not!!!

Big Daddy's Seaside Lounge

Then it was on to fisherman's row where Stephanie was in search of a really large conch (stop it - it was to make a horn...) She found a beauty at one of the stalls!

Stephanie and Tammy surveying the conch stalls

Then it was finally on to Tall Boy's but the oil wasn't back - just another 20 minutes mon...I don't think so! So we wandered the shacks passing some great veggie stands as we went - the Bahamian women can be shy but this lady obviously didn't want her picture taken!

Don't take my picture, mon!

So we found another hopping shack (we learned to hit the shacks where there are lots of people - the food is better!) and ordered our cracked conch and conch fritters and of course a couple cold Kaliks.

McKenzie's Conch Stand

We hung out and chatted with some locals as we waited for our order which was fantastic!! Fresh conch is something I will definitely miss - but then again there will be lots to miss once we leave the Bahamas!! That afternoon we hung out by the pool (for old times sake - that's what we did every afternoon we were there before) and in that tradition, we demolished a key lime pie poolside (hold the plates just pass the pie and give us each a fork!!) Can't believe we ate the whole thing!!!

Click here to see a Google map of our Nassau location.

The next morning after lots of boat chores we headed out through Nassau Harbor, past all the cruise ships, headed for Frazers Hog Cay in the Berry Islands in search of Herbie's rum punch!! Excitement was in the air as we had a long run and we were out of the Park so the dolphin slayers could fish!!! Bummer - they got skunked!! But we pulled up to the dock at the Berry Islands Club and Herbie was filleting a beautiful mahi which turned out to be our dinner for the evening anyways! On the dock we were entertained by 3 nurse sharks and 2 reef sharks that were in a feeding frenzy as Herbie would toss the mahi skin and carcass in the water. Several of the sharks had remoras attached to them (a type of fish that has almost like suction cups for feet that attach themselves to a shark or ray and eat what falls from the shark's mouth...very weird sight!)

Nurse Shark

We also saw a bunch of lionfish around the docks which are poisonous - we all agreed that there would be no swimming that evening although we did try a little cast fishing off the dock and the boats trying to land some of the snapper floating around the docks - Stephanie caught a couple little ones but had to throw them back (although Bootsie tried to convince her otherwise). That evening, sporting bright Hawaiian shirts (Bob looks great in colors!!), we dined on conch fritters and mahi along with several of Herbie's killer rum punches, after which Stephanie gave Herbie a little computer tutorial while we watched Weekend at Bernie's on the TV (juvenile I know but very funny!)

Bob and Doug enjoy Herbie's Rum Punch

Herbie's conch fritters rival his rum punches

Click here to see a Google map of our Frazers Hog Cay location.

The next morning we were off again - this time to head somewhere new - we were going to drop anchor further up in the Berry Islands off Soldier Cay. But the real excitement of the day was that the dolphin slayers got a chance to redeem themselves - we could fish the whole way! No sooner had the poles gone in the water when we heard Bob exclaim "fish on" - unfortunately it was a barracuda and went back over the side. Bob did manage to grab a small blackfin tuna, but he and I both lost "the big ones" - mine took the lure and everything - huge bummer!!

As we made the turn into our anchorage Doug smelled something in the engine room and we immediately had to shut down our starboard engine as coolant was spewing out and causing smoke as it hit the hot engines. UGH - I really hate having to moor or anchor on one engine, but at least we had the place to ourselves. We got the hook down and Bob came over to help - the boys got it fixed (at least temporarily) so we'll be good to go again when we want - it's great to travel with friends!! Especially when they save you from having to eat hot dogs because you were skunked fishing again - September Song had us over for fresh tuna sushi and tuna steaks on the grill!!! Boy was that blackfin tuna good!!! We all sat out on the foredeck having cinnamon pinwheels (my grandmother's recipe) and glasses of rum under the stars - now that's the way to finish off a great day!

The next morning we were off to explore the Berry Islands in the family car - Hobos and Half Note have a date with the dogs to explore and find lots of beaches!!

Click here to see a Google map of our Soldier Cay location.