2010..........George Town, Long Island, Cat Island And The Turn Back West Toward Home :(

Elizabeth Harbour is said to be a beautiful and spacious sheltered basin attracting lots of cruising boats. The harbor lies between Stocking Island and Great Exuma Island. The Exuma Sound is just outside Stocking Island. George Town settlement is located just off the harbor on Great Exuma. It has everything, providing more concentrated facilities than anywhere else in the Exumas. We should arrive in Georgetown about Tuesday, May 18th. We hope to pick up a couple more victims, a.k.a. cruising companions, here and stay about 4 nights. There should be lots to do here and also a good spot to pick up provisions. Hopefully we can work in a couple days fishing here also.

About 20 miles East of George Town is Long Island. At the Northern end of Long Island is Cape Santa Maria. A few miles South of the Cape is Stella Maris Marina. Stella is the farthest point from home on our trip. It will give us access to the Sound and the Atlantic Ocean. Hopefully we can get protection from the wind for one or the other and should also provide some excellent reef fishing. Probably just stay a couple nights here and move on to Cat Island.

From 2010 2nd 3rd 4th Leg

Slightly Northwest of Long Island about 30 miles is Cat Island. The Southern tip of Cat Island is Hawk's Nest Point. There is a resort and marina there and the chart looks like a wonderland for fishing. Lots of reefs and easy access to the Sound and the Atlantic. This could be the spot for the big haul. We will probably stay 3 nights or so at Hawk's Nest Point. This is where we will say goodbye to our second set of cruisers for their return home. CJM and I will then head north toward Eleuthera for a few days before heading back toward Nassau.

Stay tuned....

CTM

2010..........Second Leg (Amended)

We plan on pulling out of Nassau around Sunday, May 9th. There is a cut that runs between Nassau and Paradise Island that allows you to head toward the Exumas without going around Paradise Island. The first waypoint outside New Providence is Porgee Rock. The course across the Great Bahama Bank is 136 degrees and about 30 miles to Highborne Cay. The marina at Highborne Cay is the first marina in the Exumas and the only one for several more miles. We will probably stay about three nights there allowing us some time to look around and fish the Northern end of Exuma Sound. Exuma Sound is the large body of water between the Exumas and Eleuthera. It should be protected from those prevailing winds from the East that time of year by Eleuthera. Hoping we can fill our fish boxes we will likely move on about Wednesday, May 12th.

From 2010 2nd 3rd 4th Leg

Next stop is Warderick Wells. This should be an easy cruise...about 21 miles, so CJM might even let me fish our way there since we will be running in the deep water, providing the winds aren't too much. If so, we can always run on the inside along the Bank. There are only moorings at Warderick Wells. No marina, restaurant, or lodging, but some great scenery. There is a park headquarters with trail maps, etc. for the visiting cruisers and I understand they have an afternoon "Happy Hour" which we will hopefully make. Maybe we can even have a big fish cookout for all the cruisers if our supplies are good. A couple nights on the hook and CJM and I will be ready for some electricity and running water so will likely pull out on Friday, May 14th for Staniel Cay.

Staniel Cay is a very easy run, about 16 miles down the Sound. Since we will have eaten most of our fresh fish supply at the park, CJM will likely let me fish our way to the next stop. Staniel Cay has 2 marinas, 3 stores, 2 restaurants and 3 bars where we can swill cold Kaliks while watching the cruisers come and go. Probably will want to stay 4 nights here to mostly sight see and chill. Staniel Cay is one of the most visited cays in the Exumas. Thunderball Cave is a favorite snorkeling site where the James Bond movie, Thunderball, was filmed. There is also a mooring available for our cruising partners, John & Lori, and maybe for us if we don't feel a need to stay at the marina every night. Will probably pull out on Tuesday, May 18th for Georgetown. This will be a longer run, about 50 miles, so not likely any fishing going on that day.

From 2010 2nd 3rd 4th Leg

More later....

CTM

2010..........First Leg (Amended)

(Had some problems with the chart photos on the previous post and CTM has been studying studying and studying the charts and books and wanted to amend his 2010 Exuma/Eluthera adventure itinerary. So here goes..... CJM)

Can't think of much else except cruising these days. Now that I have done it, nothing else seems to be enough. The real appeal of cruising is about provisioning the boat and shoving off in our "home" and moving to a new port when we feel like it. The unappealing part is coming home when you are out of money! Since we still have to work occasionally to support our cruising habit we must do a little planning ahead. None of these places or times are set in stone and we will make adjustments as we go. We do plan on picking up some deck hands along the way so therefore we need a few time lines.

We hope to leave a couple days after the "Blessing of the Fleet". The "Blessing" should be on April 24th next year and we will probably leave on Tuesday, April 27th. Should arrive in Islamorada on Wednesday afternoon. We will spend Thursday and Friday provisioning the boat and I'm thinking we will try to head out for the Bahamas on Saturday, May 1st. Leaving on Saturday this year will take the bad omen of beginning a cruise on Friday (per "An Embarrassment of Mangoes") off our backs.

First leg of the trip will again begin in Bimini. It's a 100 mile run there and should take about 5 hours. Can kick the trip off with a big Saturday night out at "Big John's". Maybe Stevie S will be out of the pen and playing music there again. This year I would like to stay 4 nights in Bimini and pull out on Wednesday for Chub Cay. This will allow us to fish our two "sure thing" reef spots and do a little off shore as well. We would also have a day to just hang out, see our favorite bar owner, Sherry, eat some conch salad, drink a few cold Kaliks at the "End of the World Bar" and do a little touring. Still think we need to buy the property the "Compleat Angler" was built on and rebuild it just as it was, only concrete this time. Either that or buy the "Bimini Big Game Club". May want to reread "Don't Stop the Carnival" first.

Chub is about a 75 mile run from Bimini. Probably only stay one night in Chub as it is very expensive. However, CJM says the infinity pool is awesome and worth the stop. We will then pull out early Thursday morning and fish our way down to Andros Lighthouse Marina at Fresh Creek. This should be a perfect time to fish the Tongue of the Ocean. The US Navy has a submarine base/test area there. There is supposed to be some fabulous Yellowfin Tuna fishing around the buoys. Probably stay three nights to allow for some kick ass fishing and maybe a day of touring. Our favorite Bimini guide, Freddy, also has a home on Andros. So...might hook up with Freddy there. Will pull out on Sunday and fish our way to Nassau. The run to Nassau is only 30 or 40 miles. This will be the logical place for our first cruising companions to catch a flight back to reality. Will probably only stay one night in Nassau. Can replenish supplies there before embarking into new territory of Eleuthera and the Exumas. Will begin the second leg of the cruise from there about May 9th.

Here's a picture of the chart showing where we're goin' and where we've been. However, a good navigator never says where he's goin' 'til he gets there. Indecision may or may not be my problem.....

From 2010 1st Leg

Stay tuned for "2010 Second Leg."

CTM

"THAT MAGICAL PIECE OF DEBRIS"

I guess I should say "magical pieces of debris," quoting Captain Skip Bradeen. We had some classic finds on this trip. Depending on how much time we had, we liked to start trolling in 300 feet of water and head for the humps, sea mounts, pinnacles, whatever you like to call them. It is amazing to me that you can be in 800 feet of water with a mountain that stands 400 feet or so and still have an affect on the fishing at the surface, but it does. There was a mass migration of sardines through our area on this trip which brought in birds from all over. We saw the largest presence of frigates or war birds that we have ever seen. Usually if you see one you get cold chills all over because he is usually on a big fish. This time we ran all over chasing large groups of birds, mostly frigates.

Most of the fish CJM and I caught before GP & CP got there were blackfin tuna and were pretty scattered. We had a few thin weed lines and lots of birds, but nothing magical. When the P's got there, our luck changed. Our first day we found an old tire floating with lots of barnacles and bait fish on it. We were fairly shallow, maybe 400 feet or so, and with each pass by (at least 19 by CJM's count) we caught something. Not always something we wanted, but something. We ended up with 4 Hoos, 4 Mahi, a Trippletail and a BF tuna. The best bait of the day was blue & white Billy Baits as when Kate & Cal were with us.

The next day was the best. We left a little earlier and didn't start fishing until we were almost at the hump and then trolled on out to about 24 miles off shore. We saw something just a little farther out from where we were and checked it out. It was a bucket in a pretty nice weed line. We immediately caught a nice Dolphin. A little past the bucket we found a blue barrel that was loaded with bait fish. The fight/bite was on. Every pass by we would catch from one to three fish. It was truly a "feeding frenzy". They were hitting everything we had out, but the best was probably a blue & mauve Billy and a rigged ballyhoo with orange skirt. The coolest catch of the day was next. We decided we had plenty of fish so thought we would back up to the barrel and try deep dropping some spoons. I have tried this a time or two before, but CJM had no confidence so we never did it very long and had not caught anything in the past. With GP by my side, CJM showed a little more tolerance for my theory and let us try it a little longer. Low and behold, we caught two very nice Wahoo. Along with reeling up the Hoos came a whole school of Mahi. We had a blast. We ended up keeping 2 or 3 Mahi off the barrel but caught several others. We also had something bite the hooks off GP's spoon. What a day!! (See CJM's picures in the previous post....the sink full of filets was from this day!)

After all the action we took the next day off. We then fished the next two days. We had very good luck those days also keeping all we could eat plus some. The baits and the routine were similar with similar results. Even dropped spoons another time or two, but no luck this time. By the way, if you are ever unsure about how sharp a Wahoo's teeth are and how hard they can bite, you need to check out the spoons we were using. There were gouges in these metal spoons as though you used a chisel on them. I never fail to be amazed at what I see out on the ocean. Besides all the fish, birds, etc., we were entertained and surprised by a couple fighter jets on a training mission. They were flying really low. After the first sonic boom CJM sent me below to make sure our engines hadn't exploded. Afer CP suggested we were hearing sonic booms we were relieved to know it wasn't pirates shooting at us. We had another real surprise.

Our last day out we had pretty rough seas. Had caught a few fish but had decided not to go out too far when a boat approached us. We steered away but it kept coming toward us. Thinking "pirates" again they pulled along side and stopped. The captain told us there was a weedline about 3 miles out. I about fell out of my chair. Usually when other captains get that close they are trying to steal a school of fish from us. I guess all captains aren't a#$h&%es!

Another great trip. Can't wait until the next.

CTM

"AN EMBARRASSMENT OF MAHI, WAHOO, & BLACKFIN"

For those of you who have read the book....you will understand without any explanation of quantity of our catch. For those of you who haven't here goes.....

We fished offshore 4 of the last 5 days the Petersons were with us in Islamorada. Caught a total of 1 trippletail, 25 mahi, 5 blackfin tuna, and 6 wahoo. Now....this is what we kept. We threw back tons of skipjack tuna, bonita, schoolie mahi and toward the end even some mahi that measured! We sort of cringed when we did that but since we had close to 60 pounds of filets already we kept repeating, "How many do we really need?" Not sure who we were trying to convince!

I think this trip we saw some of the most unusual things we have ever seen. Apparently there were schools of sardines moving though our area and the frigate bird action was unreal. The sardines were balled up in schools that looked like a big green wad of snot just under the surface and the frigates were having a "feeding frenzy!" It was awesome! Something you would see in a Guy Harvey painting. And....when we cleaned some of the nice blackfin we caught around this sardine/frigate action they were filled with sardines. Here is a sampling of pics for your enjoyment!



To make a really long story short....we had a FABULOUS fishing trip, drank lots of Bud Select, MGD 64, Michelob Ultra, Bud Light Lime, rum and diet coke, rum and fruit punch, rum and lemonade, vodka tonics, margaritas, and pina coladas. Just before going through security at the airport in Key West there was a warning about swine flu and the symptoms. We all died laughing because we had played so hard the last 8 days that at one time or another I think we had all experienced these symptoms! As they say in the Keys....."We were salt cured on the outside and pickled on the inside!" It was time to go home.....

CJM
p.s. I will let CTM elaborate on the fishing details next....

ONE DAY AT MM 0...ALL WE COULD TAKE!

We picked up our good friends, the Petersons, in Key West last Tuesday. (Having so much fun haven't had time to post!) Naturally we spent the rest of the day doing what you do in Key West.....rum at happy hour at Cypress House, then on to Mallory Square for some entertainment by street performers while sipping rum (CTM got to be part of the show), some rum while listening to Cuban music, and finishing out the evening with more rum at Irish Kevin's. Those of you who know us have heard the story about being thrown out of Irish Kevin's at Thanksgiving I'm sure. I swore I would never darken their door again. But, just couldn't resist the music and it was a hoppin' place so it was our last stop (thank goodness) before heading back to Dave's. Did I mention eating anywhere??? O.K...now I know what the problem was...... Wednesday we had lunch at B.O.'s Fish Wagon before heading over to Schooner Wharf Bar for our Michael McCloud fix. We were told that B.O.'s 70th birthday was the day before and there had been a private celebration. A few minutes after we sat down we heard a guy say to the gal behind the counter, "I woke up this morning and there were women all around me." Tim and I about broke our necks to see who's familar voice it was. Well, guess who? PAT DAILEY!!!! He then mosied on down the street. He had come down for B.O.'s birthday party. We have actually seen him at B.O.'s a couple of times before, one time with Roger and Lanell. If you get a chance, be sure to ask Lanell about getting "up close and personal" with Pat! We made a quick stop at Margaritaville for a few purchases before heading back north to Islamorada.

From 2009-09-19, Feeding Frenzy in Boat Yard and Blackfin

From 2009-09-19, Feeding Frenzy in Boat Yard and Blackfin

Fishing report next.....and what a fishing report we have!!!!! Catch you on the flip flop....

CJM

OH DEAR....

I just checked the National Hurriacane Center website and there is a big orange blob out there.....will have to keep watch on it.... Don't like it when they are orange.....

FISHING REPORT.....

O.K....so after all of the boat waxing and repairs and a/c repair we got to go fishing. The first day (Friday) was sort of ho hum.....we caught a ton of skipjack tuna but nothing to eat. Skipjack tuna have a real strong taste so nobody here keeps them or eats them. According to our "Sport Fish of Florida" book the food value says, "Dark flesh...good but not to most tastes." However, when we were in Tobago they wouldn't let Tim and Dr. Geroff throw anything back so we had to eat them. In Tobago they put enough curry on them so you can't taste the fish so it works. We don't care for curry and don't have any in our spice rack so back in the drink the skipjack went. Saturday we pulled out fairly early hoping to find some mahi. We ended up with a nice catch of blackfin tuna. Blackfin is sushi grade tuna so they are AWESOME! Here is a pic.....

From 2009-09-13, Feeding Frenzy in Boat Yard and Blackfin

Today (Sunday) we kind of slept in. After the Mizzou win CTM was so pumped he couldn't go to sleep until well after midnight so early fishing was not gonna happen. We headed out around 10:30. The seas were choppy so we had high hopes of a dolphin catch. Captain Skip Bradeen says you need some "chop" in order to catch dolphin. Well.....it turned to be more than "chop!" When we were heading out a storm blew up behind us. We just kept heading out and outran it. O.K....we were thinking we were good to go. However, we have XM weather on our GPS and we continued to watch the storms blow up and they were all between us and home. As Roger Long would say....GEEZ! After trolling for a few hours and dodging storms and no catch we saw an opening between two storms and decided to make a run for it. We were headed toward the Channel 5 Bridge and couldn't see it so we kind of hung out until we saw a break and headed in. Nothing but rain. We could hear thunder but couldn't see any lightening so that was a good thing. And....wouldn't you know it....we are now back in safe and sound and sitting on the porch having cocktails and all of the weather has moved on and it is beautiful and sunny! Figures.....

CJM

O.K ......NO A/C AND WELL OVER 50 YEARS OLD DO NOT MIX!

This is UNBELIEVABLE!!!! When we arrived on Wednesday we had NO a/c in the condo! Yikes! When you are WELL over 50 no a/c just doesn't work. I called as soon as we got here (like 6p.m. ish) and low and behold someone answered and said they would be out first thing the next day. O.K....that worked for me. I had to spend only one night under the ceiling fan with the door open, which in Keys heat doesn't really help too much. Thankfully there was a decent breeze. Anyway, less than 24 hours and$221 later we were back in business....PHEW! O.K....so we spent the rest of that day waxing the boat in the boat yard and got it finally put in the water late on Thursday. Well, when we got it in the water guess what.....the a/c in the master stateroom DID NOT WORK! How can this be??? It must be some kind of conspiracy I am thinking! We determined that for some reason the water was not circulating through it and cooling it off so it kept shutting down. To make a long story short...two hours of tinkering with it it is now up and running. PHEW AGAIN! I maintain something crawled up in that drainage hole and built a nest while it was in the boat yard and CTM says it could have just been an air vapor lock in the line. Either way we now have a/c in the boat again and CTM saved us a $221 (or probably more) service call! You know that BOAT saying...Break Out Another Thousand.....

Gone fishin' in my NOW air conditioned Feeding Frenzy III!

CJM

WHERE ARE ALL THE MATES?

Isn't the Captain supposed to be sitting back and drinking beer and shouting orders to the mates? Where are you, Caldwell, Matt, and Gabe?

From Recently Updated

From Recently Updated

CJM

Trying To Reason With Hurricane Season..........

Another hurricane season is upon us. It begins June 1 and goes through November 30. The past few years it has always seemed worse towards the end of the season..... October and November. Last year hurricane Ike was heading directly for Islamorada in early September and we were in Missouri. As a last ditch effort to keep FF III safe, we searched around and found a captain who would take her to a marina where she could be pulled out and blocked up. About the time we got the boat moved Ike made a turn to the southeast and missed us. WHEW! However, the captain charged us $500 to move the boat about 10 miles and the marina charged us $500 to store the boat for a week. The boat got a small chip on a corner of the transom, a small scratch on the side, and the captain decided he needed the generator on for some reason and started it without the water turned on and burned up the impeller. So...this year we decided to pull it for safe keeping from mid August to the end of October. It will cost about the same as last year but a lot more coverage. So here is what she looks like out of the water.

From 2009-08-26

From 2009-08-26

Sad :(

CTM & CJM

The "Curse of the Jayhawk"

We took Thursday, August 13th, off from fishing as our Bahamas cruising buddies, John & Lori, sailed down from Miami and anchored up near Lorelei. They had just spent 10 days or so in Bimini. We enjoyed having some of our previous days catch cooked at Lorelei and listened to Steve Webb sing his Captain Morgan song for us. Decided to all go fishing the next day. Friday morning CJM picked up the Pomeroys while I got the boat ready. We headed out by 10AM or so and decided to start trolling in 300 feet of water or so as it was pretty rough, 3-5 foot seas and 10-15 knot winds. Found a weed line about 500 feet deep and trolled along it. It was a little scattered and very hard to follow into the sun so CJM soon had me take the wheel. Lots of birds working and sure enough we found some Mahi. One small one first that we had to measure. It was about 22 inches to the fork of the tail and they have to be 20 inches. We were hoping for at least a couple more so we would have enough for dinner. Still on the same weed line but had found a concentration of weeds and a little more debris. This time we hooked 3 fish at once and it was ON! Bigger fish too. John & Lori each had a fish, there was one more hooked but in the rod holder and I cleared the 4th line while CJM kept us out of tangles and trouble. We got John's in first and then he picked up the 3rd line and started working on it. We got all three in. Good job by all. We trolled around the same debris a couple more times and caught one other nice Mahi and had another bite or two that we didn't get. We caught most of the fish on rigged ballyhoo and a couple on Billy baits. We decided to start trolling in and again saw some birds working, probably on Tuna and sure enough, we hooked a really nice Blackfin Tuna. Lori handled this one and decided after landing it that she might need to start working out with weights if she was going to be doing much of that. All in all another great day of fishing in the Keys!

From John & Lori Dolphin & Tuna

By the way, the "Curse of the Jayhawk" seems to be real. In May we did not catch a Mahi while Scott Stinson was on the boat but had a great catch the very next day out after he left. And, the same when Kate was here..........only one little Mahi until the next day out after she left. Both of them being KU grads is the only explanation I can think of! Until next time....

CTM

And That's No Bull (And Cow)!!!!!

We took the rest of the day Tuesday, the 11th of August, off after Caldwell and Kate headed north in order to catch up on some laundry, boat chores, shopping, etc. When Wednesday rolled around CTM had had enough of the land lubber routine and was having the DF's bad so we decided to get up early Wednesday morning and head back out to the 409 Hump for another round of Blackfin Tuna fun. Lightly blackened Blackfin tuna barely seared for dinner sounded yummy so off we went. Well, what a difference a couple of days can make....no Blackfin....even with tons of birds working. O.K., we decided, let's head farther out into deeper water and see if we can find the Mahi (our favorite as far as fishing goes). We headed due south. After a while I told CTM that we were going to be in Cuba soon if we didn't turn around. Well, maybe a slight exaggeration but we were out about 28 miles. So....CTM at the helm and CJM relaxing in the back with a cold Bud Select we made a big sweeping turn to head in. That's when CTM spotted a flock of birds in a "feeding frenzy!" When we got to the birds he saw two streaks of blue and green headed to the baits....."FISH ON! TWO FISH ON!" We hooked both fish and the fight was on. It was a little like a Chinese fire drill in the cockpit of FF III...lots of yelling and screaming and ultimately high fiving! WE LANDED THEM BOTH!!!!! I got the bull and CTM got the cow. Ahhhhhhhh....kind of sad that we ruined that couple's day but I had to think of it like if we had only caught one of them that the mate left behind would have mourned itself to death so it was a dirty job but we had to catch them BOTH! Instead of lightly blackened barely seared Blackfin we had a huge platter full of Mahi deep fried in Andy's Seasoning. No problem with not being the BIGGEST LOSER at the next Fat Club Meeting!!!!!




CJM

Fishing In The Keys (Finally!)

This is our first fishing trip since the Bahamas in May and first time fishing the Keys since Friday the 13th of March and only the second time fishing here since January. Had a couple new fishermen along, Caldwell & Kate. Caldwell not new to fishing with us just new to fishing on Feeding Frenzy III.

Got in really late on Wednesday night, August 5th, around 2:00 AM. Did not get a very early start on Thursday as we had to get the boat all ready to go and pick up some supplies, so it was early afternoon before we got out. A little rough, seas about 3-5 feet with 10-15 knot winds. Trolled out only to around 500 feet of water. Very slow bite for us, only caught one little skinny Barracuda. Still nice to get out and stretch our sea legs and knock the barnacles off of the bottom.

Friday , August 7th, we got out early, before 8 AM, and went to the reef for a while. Searched high and low for some structure and found a small patch and anchored up. Anchoring is always an issue....especially if you are trying to set your boat over a small patch of structure in 50 or so feet of water and 2-4 foot seas. Having 2 Captains on board also does not help. After a couple tries, we thought we were set on the structure. Got the chum out and the current was working good and running off the stern of the boat. Had a little action early. Kate caught what we think was in the Triggerfish family but not sure. Maybe Dr. Geroff can advise us. Cal caught a nice Gray Snapper and we caught a couple more small Yellowtail Snappers. Decided we had drifted off our spot so pulled up the anchor and went offshore for a little while. Saw some small weeds and a few birds, but no fish. Added some Lobster tails from Mr. Lobster, the fish market/marina across the canal from us and cooked in.

From Caldwell & Kate Islamorada

Saturday, August 8th, we decided to do some lobstering ourselves. We turned right out of our canal and found some clear water near some rocky shores, thinking there might be some bugs around. Kate & Cal donned their snorkeling gear and hit the water. They found an abandoned lobster trap which was loaded with Lobster. Thinking they were going to die if left in the trap they decided to free them and if any happened to be big enough, they might slip in our fish box. You see, it is illegal to take Lobsters from anything man made that you find in the ocean. It must be from natural structure. Oh well, the only one we thought would measure slipped through Cal's hands and got away. No Lobsters, but fun to watch them wrestle with the trap. From there we stopped by Alligator Light House, a marine sanctuary, for a Little snorkeling. It is illegal to take anything from there, but OK to look at. They even have mooring balls inside the sanctuary so you don't anchor on the coral reef. Kate & Cal hit the water again and saw hundreds of fish but were soon run out of the water by hundreds of jelly fish. Not sure why they were there. We have not encountered that before in that area. Making a full day of it we went fishing from there. We trolled out in deeper water this time. Caught a nice Dolphin along some scattered weeds. Then we had a good bite from a 20# Wahoo and the fight was on. Caldell wrestled him in and after a couple of stabs at him, I was able to sink the gaff in him. How sweet it was. And........how delicious it was cooked by Chef Lupe at Lazy Day's restaurant. Kate said she thinks it is her new favorite fish! CJM learned a valuable lesson about picture taking....don't take the camera out of the cool cabin into the sweltering heat of the Florida Keys in August.... As you can see the lens fogged up so the picture of the wahoo and dolphin are a little on the hazy side, but hopefully you will get the idea!



Sunday, August 9th, one of Caldwell's fraternity buddies, Mike Delano and his wife Mary joined us. They all had breakfast at Mangrove Mike's while CJM and I readied the boat. We got out by 10AM or so. We decided to head way off shore this time and try for some Blackfin Tuna on the hump. It was the wildest feeding frenzy of birds and bait fish I think I have ever seen there. I think Kate said she saw 12 Frigates (war birds) at one time. The bite was fast and furious. We had three fish on at once several times. Everyone got in on the action. The girls were both worn down from fighting fish by the end of the day and the rest of us were in about the same shape. We kept 10 very nice Blackfins and threw back at least as many Bonitas and smaller Blackfins. And what troopers Mary & Mike were. Mary got sick on the way out, but it soon passed after we "patched" her and also helped when we got into the fish. All of the "ocean motion" caught up to Mike near the end of the day, but he survived. All in all it was a GREAT day! By the way the bait of the day was a blue & white or silver Billy Bait.

From Cal, Kate, Mike, Mary...Blackfin

Monday, August 10th, we decided to take the day off from fishing and go shopping and happy houring. Caldwell and Kate then left on Tuesday, the 11th. More later on our adventures after they headed north......



CTM

THE ACORN DOESN'T FALL FAR FROM THE TREE!!!!

Congratulations to the Smokin' Sparks!!!!! First place in pork, 2nd in sausage, 3rd in ribs, and SECOND PLACE OVERALL in the KC Corporate Challenge in KC over the weekend!!!!!

A COUPLE OF OLD PIRATES!!!!

When we were headed to Islamorada for Seaschool back in March we went via Fort Myers to catch Pat Dailey at the Laugh In Comedy Cafe. Managed to get up close and personal afterwards!!!

CJM

Just a Reference For Our "Next Time" And Maybe Yours....

South Bimini: Bimini Sands Marina, 242-347-3500, www.biminisands.com
Slip rental $1.10/foot/night
50A electric service $10.00/night
Water No Charge But Normally 20 cents/gallon

Grand Bahama: Old Bahama Bay Marina, 242-350-6500, www.oldbahamabay.com
Slip rental $2.80/foot/night, $2.40 for four nights or more
50A electric service $20.00/night
Water $10.00/day

Grand Cay, Abacos: Rosie's Place, 242-353-1200
Slip rental $1.00/foot/night
50A electric service $10.00/night
Water 25 cents/gallon

Green Turtle Cay, Abacos: Bluff House Marina, 242-365-4247, www.BluffHouse.com
Slip rental $1.40/foot/night
50A electric service & water $25.00/night

Great Abaco Island: Marsh Harbour Marina & Jib Room, 242-367-2700
Slip rental $1.15/foot/night, 10% discount Boat US member
50A electric service 55 cents/kilowatt hour
Water $5.00/day

Elbow Cay, Abacos: Hope Town Hideways Marina, 242-366-0224
Slip rental $1.25/foot/night
50A electric service $20.00/night
Water 25 cents/gallon

Great Abaco Island: Little Harbour, Pete's Pub, 242-366-3503, www.petespub.com
Mooring $15.00/night
Electric service & water not available

Great Harbour Cay, Berry Islands: Great Harbour Marina, 242-367-8005
Slip rental $1.20/foot/night
50A electric service 70 cents/kilowatt hour
Water 35 cents/gallon

North Bimini: Bimini Blue Water Marina, 242-347-3166
Slip rental $1.00/foot/night
50A electric service $10.00/night
Water 50 cents/gallon

OUT OF THE CLOSET AND DOIN' THE DANCE!!!!

Yup....it is now official....my Captain's License in "in the mail"!!!! I don't have to endure any more of those...."Well, that's why I am a Captain and you are not," comments from CTM! Or, "Do Captains scream when they are in 12 foot seas? That's probably why you aren't a Captain!" Well, I will probably continue to scream when in 12 foot seas...or maybe a REAL Captain should think twice before going fishing in 12 foot seas?????? Phew....it's been a long road!

CJM (FINALLY)

FOR REVIEW!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Woo Hoo...my Captain's application has now moved to the next level..."For Review!" Gotta go...heading to the closet to practice my Captain's Dance!!!!!

ACJM

The Stats

Here are the stats on the cruise. The trip was 1019 nautical miles long (about 1200 statute miles). We cruised about 100 hours with an average speed of 10 knots. About two thirds of this was just cruising from port to port and one third was fishing. I'm not real thrilled about the ratio, but Mariah would not cooperate. It took about 1500 gallons of fuel. We spent 30 nights on the boat. 28 of them were at 8 different marinas and 2 nights were on a mooring (anchor). It took 25 cases of beer (we had some help drinking the beer), a 12 pack of diet coke, 2 regular cokes (for Freddy) and about 30 gallons of water for drinking, making coffee, etc. For fishing we used 6 dozen ballyhoo, 6 pounds of squid, 60 pounds of chum, numerous hooks, sinkers, etc. on the reef, 3 Billy Baits were lost and we broke one rod. We reef fished 5 times, 3 of which were fantastic. We fished offshore 6 times and only got skunked once. We cooked fish on FF III that we caught 8 times and had our catch cooked 5 times in restaurants. We had only one major mechanical problem if you don't count the toilet holding tank situation and the little hole in the water pain in the @#%. We did have to pump up the dinghy 9 times. We went to many interesting bars and restaurants. We witnessed a wedding and got in the middle of a Hooter's photo shoot. We walked on many uninhabited beaches and visited many quiet harbours. All in all a good time was had by all and no one got hurt or sick.

Still No Captain's Dance....

Well, as you can imagine I have been wrestling with the U. S. Coast Guard over the two issues...a passport photo and sea service forms. As it turns out when you get a TWIC card (which I have in my wallet) the Coast Guard just uploads your photo from the TSA for your Captain's License. For some reason they said my photo was NOT in the system....hummmmmm...and that I should call the TSA and ask them to upload my photo. I faxed a copy of my TWIC card to the Coast Guard AND called the TSA to ask them to upload my photo into the system. Naturally the TSA acted like they had no idea what I was asking them to do (this after being passed along to three different people)! The second issue of the sea service form was they wanted me to fax them the Articles of Incorporation for Pontiac Boat Dock, Inc. since on one of my sea service forms I had listed Pontiac Boat Dock, Inc. as the owner of the vessel there at Pontiac Cove I had been on. Now, keep in mind, they NEVER asked CTM for any of this........hummmmmmm... O.K...so I faxed them the Articles. I got an e-mail from the Coast Guard last night that said the photo issue had been resolved and they could now (miraculously) upload my photo but since Joe Morgan was the original incorporator of Pontiac Boat Dock, Inc. he would need to sign my sea service forms!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Now....if the vessel I had been on was owned by the Ford Corporation would they want Henry Ford to sign my form???????? I toyed with the idea of just signing "Joe Morgan" to the form and be done with it rather than try to explain that he has been DECEASED SINCE 1983! Naturally, I took the upper road and am NOW trying to convince them that ALREADY CTM and I ARE the owners of PBD, Inc. and that asking me to send them the Articles of Incorporation wouldn't show them anything about me (I wanted to say, "I told you so" pretty bad). Again, I am trying to cooperate and be as nice as I can (working pretty hard at that) so my application doesn't get shoved to the bottom of the pile. I have been secretly practicing that Captain's Dance behind closed doors and am cocked and primed for the day when I can do it! Stay tuned!!!!

A HARROWING CROSSING!!!!!!

We got up on Saturday and checked out wind (you know...lick your finger and hold it up in the air) and weather predictions and it looked like the wind was calmer than the day before but would be even calmer on Sunday. Since the previous fishing day was really rough wind wise and Sunday looked even better than Saturday I was leaning toward "hanging out" one more day in Bimini and looking up Sherry for some conch salad. (We did make it back up to her place Friday evening for a drink and a hug but no conch salad.) Well, CTM doesn't "hang out" very well and I could see the darned handwriting on the wall. There were a couple of fellows from Miami that were in a smaller boat than ours and were heading out. We asked them to call us back on the VHF and give us sea conditions. I was secretly hoping for "NO WAY!" But, shortly they called back and said (as they say in the Bahamas), "NO PROBLEM!" Darn! We scurried around and packed up, paid up, and headed out. NO PROBLEM my - - - !!!!! Soon we saw that it was going to be a loooooong day because we were heading straight into the wind and Gulfstream. To make matters worse the storms soon fired up when it was too late to turn around. At one point I suggested to CTM that we "PUT ON OUR LIFE JACKETS!!!" and "WHERE IS THE DITCH BAG?????" Rain, wind, lightning, and at one point we even saw a TORNADO hanging from the clouds!!!!! I'm pretty sure that I have a ruptured disc from that 9 hours of pounding!!! If you look close at the GPS screen you will see FF III right in the middle!



Well, obviously we made it back and we are fine. We crawled out of the boat, showered, went out for some red meat, and were in bed by 8:00 p.m.! Doing laundry, packing, cleaning, and heading north soon. Might just "hang out" today and might go for one last day of fishing. Oh dear, I can see that darned handwriting on the wall!!! Catch you on the flip flop.

ACJM

The one that got away....

I know it is going to sound like a fish story, but I am going to tell it anyway. The weather for the next few days looked about the same, winds 10 to 15 knots from the west/southwest. No need to make the crossing today so decided to stay another day and go fishing with Freddy. ACJM got a picture of Freddy when he stopped by the night before to check out my tackle as usual. I have trolled for Grouper with him before and wanted to try it again. We rigged up several large lead headed feathers with ballyhoo and a few skirted ballyhooo for Dolphin. For the Grouper we troll in about 30 or 40 feet of water along the rocks from just South of South Bimini to Cat Cay. The rig consists of 40 to 60 pound class tackle with a 1 to 2 pound trolling lead followed by a 15 feet long, 400 pound shock leader, then the bait rigged with 150 pound wire leader and a 10/0 hook. We trolled along for 10 miles or so and had three good hits. Two were thought to be Grouper and the other thought to be a Cuda. Freddy said you could tell the difference as the Cuda's usually only got part of the bait that they bit off or the bait would be all scarred up and the Grouper somehow could peel the whole bait off the hook without getting hooked himself. Time to try for a Dolphin or Wahoo a little farther offshore. We left one of the deep rigs out for a Wahoo and put a skirted ballyhoo and Billy Bait out for Dolphin. Caught a nice Dolphin, 10 or 12 pounds and a really big Cuda which Freddy wanted to keep. Here comes the fish story. The water was a lot rougher than we had thought it was going to be so I relieved ACJM at the wheel and she stayed below with Freddy. I am sure she now knows his life story, that is if she could understand him. I saw a Frigate bird acting kind of funny ahead so speeded up to catch up to it and check it out. First pass by and nothing happened. Normally we stay with these birds for a few passes before we give up, but I was going to have to turn back into the wind to go by him again. I almost didn't, but thought I would since there was not much else going on. Second pass was much different. The Big Bull Dolphin hit our 60 pound rig with a skirted ballyhoo and took off. ACJM did not want to reel him in, so by the time she and I switched places, the fish had peeled out about 300 yards of line with the drag set down pretty good on him. It was more than I could handle standing up in the rough seas so I fought the fish from our fighting chair (compliments of COL). We battled for it seemed like hours but was more like 20 or 30 minutes. When ACJM saw him from the bridge she said "Oh my God that is the biggest Dolphin I have ever seen." I agreed. Finally after a couple late runs I got him to the back of the boat and told Freddy I did not think we had a big enough gaff. I might have been right. Freddy got a couple shots at him with the gaff and missed. The Big Bull made one more run under the boat and before I could say forward, he cut himself off on the rudder. It truly was by far the biggest Dolphin I have ever seen or have had hooked. We had our hand on the leader so it would be called an official catch but that is not much consolation. Freddy said it weighed around 50 or 60 pounds. Having the thrill of victory taken from us, we trolled our way back in and gave up for the day. It was the biggest fish we have ever fought on Feeding Frenzy except for GP's 200 pound Blue Marlin.

I could not sleep very well that night. I kept going over and over the scenario in my head. If Freddy could have stuck him with the gaff, or if I could have stood up and moved him away from the back of the boat, or if ACJM could have anticipated his lunge and moved the boat forward we might have gotten him. I had put the bait on the rod when we started trolling it as I always do, just clip the lure leader to the line. Freddy told me afterwards he always uses a shock leader even without the trolling weight so you have a heavy leader you can grab and apply more pressure on the fish when he gets close to the boat. A lot of ifs ands or buts went through my head that night, but the fact is, you can't catch them all. It will take a while to get over this one, but I will and I will get my chance again.

CTM

Two "Little Holes in the Water"

We arrived in Bimini shortly after John & Lori did on Wednesday afternoon. We got the boats all situated and decided to take a dip in the pool or should I say bath. After a 70 or 80 mile run across salt water, and water costing 50 cents a gallon at Bimini Blue Water Marina, I truly mean bathing in the pool. We decided to eat in so we cooked some of the Mahi we had caught the day before in Great Harbour on the back of FF III. For the next day's adventure, John & Lori's last day, we took a dinghy ride in the back country to snorkel around a sunken DC3 jet that John knew about. We struck out across the bay following them as they knew the way. Our little hole in the water is still not running great and ACJM kept saying we need to turn around and go back as it turned out to be a lot farther than we thought. I just told her "they will come back and tow us in if we break down". They kept getting a little farther and farther ahead until it looked like they stopped. We finally caught up to them and their motor, a 9.9 Hp Merc, quit running on them. We both pulled the cord until we were worn out and it would run a minute or two then die again. I checked John's gas tank and it smelled like varnish. I think it was the same gas that was in it when he bought the motor. He switched to our tank and after a few times sputtering it ran for a short time. We ended up towing them in and then they towed us for the last little bit. We thought his motor would pull the two boats in better than our little 5 Hp that was not running so good. By the way I am going to take it back to Roger Lee and ask for a refund since he checked it out for me before the trip. We didn't get to see the DC3 but we did spend a little time on a shallow sand bar checking out the shells, etc. That evening we stopped by Sherry's new/old place up on the hill above the beach but she was not there. We checked out the beach and decided to have dinner at Captain Bob's. Captain Bob's is a local breakfast & lunch place that GP & CP have dined in a few times. Since Bimini Big Game Club is closed up tight now, Captain Bob's is offering dinner also. They put tablecloths on the tables and really welcomed us in for dinner. We said "goodbye" to John & Lori even though John said he would see us in the morning. Lori said, "John hates goodbyes" and so do we. They were gone early on Friday before we got up.....



CTM

Why we carry a ditch bag & dinghy on FF III...

We were hanging out at Pete's Pub in Little Harbour when John heard on the VHF radio a Mayday call from a boat in distress. You see all communications with the marinas, restaurants, taxi cabs, preachers, etc. in the Abacos are by VHF radio. They all monitor certain channels, but channel 16 is the emergency channel as it is at home. Pete's Pub has one hanging above the bar and that is how we called in for a mooring buoy and that is how we heard the Mayday call. It was from a 90 feet long yacht that had caught on fire a few miles offshore and 6 people were in the water. A guy dressed like Roger & Josh when PPVFD is on a call came up to the bar with a radio in his hand and said they were bringing the passengers to Little Harbor. He told us you could see the smoke just over the hill from the bar. Sure enough, you could. The view was beautiful other than the smoke you can see in the picture coming from the burning vessel. They diverted the passengers to Marsh Harbour as the tide was down and they could not get into Little Harbour. We didn't get to see the people or the boat itself, but it still made us uneasy knowing it could happen to us too. We carry our dinghy to use for fun, but also for a life boat and we have a ditch bag with all the essentials, life jackets, portable GPS, flares, flashlight, water, etc. to throw in it when we have to abandon ship. Hope I never have to use it.

Leaving Hope Town : (

Caught some neat pictures of Nanita and a last look at the Hope Town Lighthouse as we headed for Little Harbor and Pete's Pub (previous post).



ACJM

The Honeymoon.....

The next few posts are a little out of sequence, but we have some time to catch up so here we go....

The day after the wedding in Hope Town was very stormy and rainy but we managed to hitch a ride (see pics of CTM & John in the back of the pickup truck!) to the south end of the island for a change of scenery and lunch. As you can see from the pictures the seas were not wanting to cooperate with a departure from Hope Town or for fishing offshore at Elbow Cay (supposedly a GREAT spot). So...we made the best of it....drank some rum and managed to get in the middle of a photo shoot at the Hope Town Harbor Lodge for Hooters! Now, even with John on his honeymoon and Tim under the watchful eye of his "ball and chain" they managed to get up close and personal with a couple of Hooter Girls! (See pics...) CTM says that since there wasn't time for a bachelor party BEFORE the wedding it was his duty as Best Man to take care of his obligation one way or another. Seemed like the perfect opportunity to get that out of the way when the Hooter Girls showed up!



Catch you on the flip flop....

ACJM

I Cry FOUL!!!!!!

O.K....so here's the story on the status of our Captain's license..... We overnighted our applications to the U. S. Coast Guard in the same envelope on April 16th. There is a way you can go online to the National Maritime Center's website and check the status of your application. So...naturally...every day since April 16th I have been checking on both. They went through some processes early on to be checked for completeness, etc. and the last time they made any progress was on April 30th. Since then the status has been "awaiting assignment to a qualifications evaluator." A couple of days ago I checked and mine said..."awaiting information".... This means "what?" I am thinking. So when I clicked on what they were "awaiting" it said a passport size photo and my sea service forms (which, of course, I sent and were a mirror image of CTM's). Prior to submitting our applications I checked both with our Seaschool coordinator AND the U. S. Coast Guard to see if we did need to include a passport size photo and were told "no" by both since we now have TWIC cards (security clearances through the TSA)! That's another whole story..... We DIDN'T include passport size photos with our apps. The other "awaiting info" item is my sea service forms, which were of course submitted and a mirror image of CTM's. O.K....so you are wondering why I am referring to you know who as CTM???? When I checked his application status it said it has been "ISSUED"!!!!!! What??????????? How can this be???????? When I informed him of the FOUL that has just been committed he does the little Captain Dance (you've seen Caldwell do it many times) and said to me, "YOU MAY CALL ME CAPTAIN NOW!" Well, how do you think THAT went over?????? I e-mailed the NMC and pointed out the error of their ways but do you think I have heard from them??? NO! Now that we are back (and the Gulfstream crossing is ANOTHER story coming soon) I plan to give them a call on Monday and see what's up. Lori, my sailboat friend, said since it was the government it would be better to comply with their requests than to argue with them because my app would just get shoved to the bottom of the pile. If they have lost my sea service forms I don't have a problem resubmitting them but I will NOT send them a passport size photo since it is NOT required!!!! CTM says it is because I am a woman...but I am not even going to go there! I maintain we got two different "qualifications evaluators" and OBVIOUSLY mine is new and does NOT know his/her _ _ _ from a hole in the ground! Stay tuned for the continuing saga of "When Will ACJM Get To Do The Captain's Dance?"

ACJM (STILL)

Day 30 & Peanuts, Popcorn, & Beer

It's Saturday morning and day number 30 on Feeding Frenzy in Bimini and we are down to one jar of peanuts, popcorn, and we're almost out of beer so it's time to head home! The weather looks questionable but we are going to give it a whirl. There have been major thunderstorms popping up later in the day so we hope to get back before that happens. So....Jabet & Caldwell, if you should get a call from the U. S. Coast Guard asking if it is possible that our EPIRB is going off somewhere between Bimini and the U.S. say, "YES"!!!! Catch you on the flip flop.

ACJM & CTM (There's a story here so stay tuned!!!!)

It's Five O'Clock Somewhere in Bimini!

It's Friday night in Bimini...the boats are rolling in...gonna look up Sherry for some conch salad and maybe head to Big John's later for some rum! More later...lots to tell about our fishing today and our dinghy experience yesterday with John & Lori before they headed out early this morning for Miami. Gotta go....Don Lorenzo is calling! Catch you on the flip flop!!!!

ACJM

Billy is Back!

The run from Little Harbour to Great Harbour with a little fishing along the way was a very full day. Needless to say we were a little slow getting around the next morning. By the time we got out on the water it was nearly noon. It is about 7 miles to deep water from the marina. The water surrounding the Berry Islands is amazingly clear. The seven mile run is in water around 10 feet deep, but it looks like it is 1 or 2 feet deep. We had creeped in the day before so we knew the trail was clear on the way out. There was a big cruise ship anchored just off shore and their tender was ferrying passengers to and from their private island. We started trolling the usual rigged ballyhoos and a deep rig and left the Billy Baits out of the pattern. We found a slick and a decent weedline so started following it. It was right along the edge and really looked fishy. We didn't get a strike for a few minutes so I pulled out the trusty old Billy and next thing I know we had a nice mahi in the box. We had a half dozen or so bite offs with the ballyhoo rigs and landed 2 big cudas on the Billys. Only one mahi, but enough for a fish fry on the back of FF III.

We are now in Bimini and getting ready for a dinghy day to investigate some of the back country. We did hook up with our old fishing buddy, Freddy Rolle, and plan on fishing with him Friday. Gonna try trolling for those big Grouper so stay tuned for the results.

ACTM

Great Harbour....In Retrospect.....

We are now in Bimini as our last stop-over before heading back to Islamorada. But, I want to tell of our experience at Great Harbor in the Berry Islands. After we left Little Harbor in the Abacos we fished our way and made the run over to Great Harbor on Monday, about 75 miles. We arrived there around 5:00 p.m. and it is truly in the middle of nowhere! We began calling the marina as soon as we thought they were within VHF range...no answer. We continued to call as we approached and even gave them a call on our Bahamas cell phone. NOBODY HOME!!!! To make a really long story short....we just pulled in and I yelled at a young fellow cleaning fish and he told us there wasn't anybody around and we could just pull in anywhere. Now, mind you this is Monday of Memorial and obviously they don't give a hoot about Memorial Day weekend cause it was Deadsville! After we got settled we managed to find the bar (surprise..surprise)! It turned out to be a great little place and we ate fresh cracked conch and had rum (surprise ..surprise AGAIN)! The next morning when someone did finally show up at the office we checked in and I asked about internet access. She told us to walk down about 100 yards past the bar and there is a chair sitting by the phone booth next to a vacant building.....you can get the internet there she thinks! I asked if we needed a password to get on and she just laughed and said, "No. We don't even know really where the signal is coming from but I've been told you can get on the internet there." Sure enough we made our way down there to check e-mail and IT WORKED!!!! We opted to bypass any posts to our blog while in Great Harbor since you kind of had to balance the laptop on your lap and hold your mouth just right in order to get a signal. I suggested we just wait until we get to Bimini and catch up on everything here. Well, surprise, surprise! When we got all hooked up at the marina and asked about internet access we were told it was down AND had been for a couple of days AND didn't know when it would be working again AND if we really needed to get on we could walk down about a mile to the Batelco office and could probably get on there!!!!! I about had a MELTDOWN!!!!
The internet is obviously working today and we had a good day.....much more later.....catch you on the flip flop!

ACJM

Hole In The Wall.......

Not just for Butch & Sundance.

We said good bye to Little Harbour early Monday morning. The winds have finally laid down. We wrestled the little hole in the water back on the bow of FF as we don't think we will be using it anymore on the trip unless FF sinks. So, with everything stowed away anticipating still some pretty big rollers we headed out. We were to report in to the 2 sailboats leaving yesterday morning also, one being John & Lori and the other some new friends we met, Bruce & Stephanie on Island Time. The tide was nearly at high and the depths were around 5 feet in the channel so they both decided to wait a little longer and then follow us out. We decided the best route for us and to experience another new port was to head to Great Harbour in the Berry Islands. We ran about 30 miles south along the coast of Great Abaco to the southeastern most point called Hole In The Wall. There is actually a fairly protected anchorage there but more importantly there is a point that jutts out into the ocean similar to the saddle area on Bull Shoals only the water here starts at about 100 feet and drops to 1000 feet almost instantly. From studying the chart it looked like a sure thing for fish. I convinced ACJM that we had made good time and we could maybe troll along this area for a little while and then reel up and run on in to Great Harbour, about 50 miles away. About as soon as we got to the edge we put out the baits and caught our first Mahi. It was a nice one, about 12 pounds. We continued to troll along the edge and landed one more nice fish and had 3 good strikes that got off. I'm sure we could have loaded the boat, but ACJM keep looking at the clock, so we reeled up and headed on. Too bad this spot is so far from anywhere, but I will remember it for the next time we pass by. By the way the bait of choice was a rigged ballyhoo and we caught the fish between 10 AM and noon.



ACTM

p.s. ACJM added some pictures to the "One Particular Harbour" post in case you have already read it...scroll down to see the added pics.

One Particular Harbor.....

We have been on the hook now for two days! This is something different for us. Had to run our generator and am sure all of these sail boaters will be GLAD when we pull out! We have been in a neat place....Little Harbor. The only thing here is a little beach bar and gallery called "Pete's Pub and Gallery". Truly a cool little place on the beach....good food and beverage! The Pub and Gallery are owned by Peter Johnston. He is the son of Randolph and Margo Johnston who moved here in the 50's. Randolph who died in late 1992 was an internationally known artist renowned for his lost wax casting in bronze. Saturday night at Pete's was a hoot....two guys playing hand saws provided the entertainment. The bar is literally shaped like the bow of a boat sitting in the sand. This is truly "one particular harbor!" Every evening boats come rolling in and fill up the anchor balls. Last night we were sereneded at sunset by a lady playing a bagpipe on her boat. Then others blew their conch horns.



We hate to go but it is time to head west! The seas have been very angry but we are hoping and think today will be a little better. It will be a 30 mile run south before we can make the turn to the west so an east or wide wind that we have had would NOT be a good thing. At the turn, depending on the seas, we will either turn due west and head toward Great Harbor in the Berry Islands for a stopover or head southwest to Chub Cay for a couple of days of fishing in the Tongue of the Ocean. ACTM has NOT handled NOT being able to fish very well....so hopefully we will get to do a little in the next few days. One side note is that we are 220 miles from Islamorada as the crow flies and have travelled 650 miles so far!!! Wowsa! Have a wonderful Memorial Day and catch you on the flip flop!

ACJM

p.s. My first great niece, Chaney Luna Werner, was born yesterday morning in St. Louis. The really cool part was that within 2 hours of her birth I was looking at a picture of her while sitting on my boat in Little Harbor, Abaco!!! Congrats to Megan and Patrick...can't wait to pinch her little cheeks!!!

Headin' Out!

We have toured the lighthouse, married off our two good friends, eaten in every restaurant, drank in every bar, lost a flip flop in a storm, broke my sunglasses so it's time to move on! We finally got a slight break in the weather today so we are leaving Hope Town and heading south to Little Harbor. The only catch is that there is NO marina and we will be anchored out for 2 - 3 days. We'll see how that goes..... Not sure about internet so if you don't hear from us for a couple of days don't think anything about it. Miss being with all of our friends for this holiday weekend but will be heading home soon. Actually, we will make the turn when we leave Little Harbor and be heading west so slowly but surely making our way back toward home. Catch you on the flip flop....

ACJM

Dum...Dum...DaDum!!!!!

O.K....they FINALLY did it! John and Lori, at 1600 hours on May 21, 2009 were joined in holy matrimony on the sailing vessel Nanita (belonging to them, of course)! The day started out with rain, thunderstorms, and wind! It continued until just slightly before the wedding. Lori, the free spirit, was bound and determined to have the ceremony on the bow of Nanita and John, Mr. Conservative, thought perhaps in the cabin where we would all avoid getting wet should be the place. Well....you know who won that argument (not really an argument) don't you? Minutes before the ceremony was to begin, the skies lightened, the rain stopped, and we walked to the bow of the boat for the ceremony. It was absolutely beautiful!!!! Now...every day at 8:15 there is a 45 minute "Cruiser Net" on VHF Channel 68 and Patty, who operates the net, made the announcement that John and Lori would be getting married at 1600 hours. So...amazingly, there were lots of people on their boats watching and photographing the event! When it was obvious that they were "man and wife"....you know the kiss...people starting honking their horns, blowing conch horns, and shouting! It was AWESOME!!!!! CONGRATULATIONS to John and Lori! We wish them smooth sailing and "following seas!"

ACJM & ACTM

Hope Town Lighthouse

Wednesday we climbed to the top of the Hope Town Lighthouse....here are some stats on it. The lighthouse was built in 1864 and is one of only three in the world with kerosene powered lights (all three are in the Bahamas). The large Fresnel lens floats in a bath of mercury and generates a light that is visible for more than 20 miles. Anybody that has read "A Salty Piece of Land"...the main character, Tully Mars, joined Capt. Cleopatra Highbourne on a mission to find a Fresnel lens for a lighthouse she wanted to refub in the Bahamas!
It is a mechanically operated lighthouse powered by a "grandfather's clock" type chain mechanism with pirate cannon balls as the powering weights. It stands guard over Elbow Cay's harbor. It is 120 feet tall and has 101 steps to the top (yes, we got our cardio workout on that one)! The mantle for the kerosene light looks barely larger than a Coleman type lantern! Someone climbs to the top at dark and lights the lantern and has to manually wind it every two hours to maintain the sequence of 5 white flashes every 15 seconds. Talk about labor intensive!!!!

Here's a link to a full story and history of the Hope Town Lighthouse in case any of you history buffs are interested.....

http://www.go-abacos.com/news/whatson/whatson_lighth.html

"The wind is blowin' harder now, 50 knots or thereabouts...

.........there's whitecaps on the ocean and I'm watching for waterspouts." LITERALLY!(This emphasis added by ACJM)




And, that's about the size of it. We rode out a tropical storm last year in Islamorada after our August Bahamas cruise. It was the worst wind I have ever been in and it went on all night long. It was gusting to 50-60 mph which equates to 42-50 knots. Yesterday here in Hope Town we just beat the storm back to FF after lunch at Captain Jacks. It continued to build through the afternoon with a few openings to look outside and adjust the lines. Just before dark I added an additional line across the next slip into the wind to help with what we thought was coming. It was a fairly uneventful night. The usual slapping of the water on the hull of the boat. The usual squeaking of the boat against the fenders and the sound of the lines tightening on the cleats. Just about daylight it seemed as though the winds had died to little or nothing. Almost no slapping of the waves, etc. All at once it hit. The howling of the wind in the outriggers and across the curtains raised me out of bed to check it out. The winds were roaring. I'm guessing 30-40 knots and gusting higher. The whitecaps in the marina were more than I would have wanted most times at home. The rain poured and the wind continued for 3 hours or so. It is now 10:15 AM and the sun is peaking through and the rain seems to be about over. The wind is still blowing but I think manageable in the little hole in the water so we can venture out for lunch on the other side........and maybe a few cocktails. ACJM says more than a few cocktails after riding out that storm! Adding a few pics of the storm from inside and outside the boat......

Another hole in the water!

One of the definitions of a boat is "a hole in the water you can pour money into". Well, being in the marina business most of my life I have had a lot of holes in the water. Some a lot bigger than the others. On our blue water cruising adventures we usually throw our inflatable dinghy on the bow of the Feeding Frenzy, mainly to be used as a life boat. Before our September cruise we noticed it had a leak in the air deck floor. A couple of our cruisers, Matt & Gabe, patched it just before we left but it did not hold. We took it along anyway as the air deck just makes it easier to stand up in and if the FF sinks and we are all stranded in this little dinghy, we probably won't be standing up much but be on our hands and knees praying. Before leaving on this trip I checked and found that the patch M & G had put on was in fact leaking. Being sure they had done something wrong I took their patch off and replaced it with a bigger patch, followed all the instructions on the glue and checked it for a leak before leaving and it held. This trip we decided to bring along our little 5Hp Mercury outboard as we thought we would be using it to dinghy around in the islands. We could have used it a place or two before now but managed with the help of our cruising partners John & Lori. We are now in Hope Town on Elbow Cay. The marinas are on the North side of the island by the lighthouse and the rest of the town, restaurants and bars are on the South side. The only way to get there is by dinghy. So, yesterday ACJM and I decided to put the old dinghy in the water. Well, the floor was leaking again around my patch. Oh well, just get out the pump and blow it up every morning. We threw the trustworthy Mercury on the boat and with only 2 pulls it started purring like a kitten. We loaded our cooler and headed for Nanita to visit our friends. After just pulling out of the marina the motor died and would not start. We drifted in to a pier and I checked the fuel line, etc. About all I can do and everything seemed OK so I rowed the boat back to our slip. I tried it again and it started. Ran great tied up to the dock. We took off again and it died in about the same place. Our friends came by and we used their fuel tank and it seemed to run better but not wide open. We decided to try it again and it worked. We did not go over an idle, but putted across to Nanita for a cocktail and then on to a restaurant & bar for dinner. We made an early evening of it and it got us home. Today we ran across the bay again, still at an idle and made it just fine. ACJM won't let me open it up, but I may slip out and try it this afternoon if the rain ever quits. At least it is not a very big hole in the water.

STRANDED IN HOPE TOWN!

We made it to Hope Town yesterday from Marsh Harbor. So...we now have some new territory to explore. That's a good thing because the wind prediction for the next few days is 25 - 30 knots with seas building to 12' - 18'!!!! YIKES!!!! So....we are going to be stranded in Hope Town for a few days. That's o.k. cause John and Lori are FINALLY going to tie the knot on Nanita on Thursday. So...they/we will have a couple of days to prepare for the big event. They have asked ACTM and me to stand up for them! Too cool, huh! They actually had to head back over to Marsh Harbor on the ferry boat this morning because they found out they couldn't get the marriage license here....only in Marsh Harbor! We will be holding our breath that they can accomplish the task as this will be the THIRD time they have tried to get the license! In Green Turtle Cay we loaded up on the golf cart with all of their paperwork in John's briefcase and headed over to the Administrative Office. The ONLY guy that can issue the license was "off the island for a week"! So ACTM and I will do some exploring while they are gone to Marsh Harbor and have a slide show presentation of what we find later on. Catch you on the flip flop and stay tuned for the continuing saga of "When and Where Will John and Lori Get Their Marriage License?"

UFO?????

We passed by this "thing" while fishing today. Just wondering if anybody has any idea what this Unidentified Floating Object might be??????

Almost got my Whaler!

While we docked at The Bluff House Marina in Green Turtle Cay, I got up one morning and looked out to see if there was anything going on and noticed a small Boston Whaler floating beside our boat under the main walkway for the marina. It looked as though it might have been placed there intentionally as it had a line going into the water from the stern which looked as though it might have been an anchor. Well, ever since we took the Reef Dancer home, I have been saying to ACJM that I wanted to get a small Boston Whaler with a 30Hp motor or so for running around in the back country and "Booze Cruising". Something small enough that we could park it in our slip behind Feeding Frenzy and if we had motor trouble, I could pull it off and take it home to get worked on or just put another engine on. The main reason I have wanted a Boston Whaler specifically is obvious, so I could say "I may not have the biggest boat in the marina, but I have a whaler for a dinghy". Which of course would be true. As most of you know, I am stealing the line from a Pat Dailey song, but it fits. Unfortunately soon after I noticed the boat there, a lady was calling on the VHF radio saying has anyone seen her lost dinghy, a small BW. Well, being the honest guy I am, I called her and reported it found. She came shortly thereafter and retrieved her boat and when she returned to her other boat she announced to all those monitoring the radio what a great thing I had done. Another good deed, it is time for some good luck fishing now.



This brings me to part 2 of the story. Friday night was a big night here at Marsh Harbour Marina. A fund raiser for a local community thing while celebrating the big uneventful move here, then running into the ex Mizzou coach. So, we were a little overserved and did not do much on Saturday but when I heard ACJM say we might go fishing Sunday, I perked up. We decided to leave early as the winds were supposed to build in the afternoon. The winds were still blowing from the East so we made our way to the ocean through a cut by Man-o-war Cay then trolled North towards Logerhead Channel. We used the same technique as before, zig-zagging in and out from 300 to 1500 feet deep. When we had almost made it to the end of our loop, we crossed an area that was a deep canyon called "Tuna Row" which ran from about 1000 feet deep up to 300 feet and that's where we got the hit. Wrestling a nice fish in in those seas was quite a task for just the two of us. ACJM let me make one more pass by the same spot and we caught another fish. First fish about 11:00 and the second about 11:30. So much for that early morning fishing. I'm sure another pass would have produced another hit, but I had all the rough stuff I wanted also. I definitely will hit that spot one more time before we leave here though. Maybe that good deed did pay off.

"OH DEAR...OH DEAR", I said!

It's Sunday at Marsh Harbour...the wind was predicted to be 10-15 knots toady with "only" 5 - 7 foot seas so we decided to go fishing this morning. O.K....I was going to be a good sport so I said, "let's go" even though 5 - 7 foot seas didn't sound too appealing! We left out at 7:30 this morning but had to run by another marina for ice because our marina didn't open until 11:00 (Jabet...what do you think about that...11:00 on Sunday????). We were out in the Atlantic Ocean by 8:30. "OH DEAR...OH DEAR...OH DEAR", I shouted several times! Well, since my kids are reading this and also not to risk getting thrown off of blogspot.com I won't tell you the REAL words I was shouting! There were 7 - 11 foot swells EASY! Sitting in the back of the boat I would just watch the swells coming toward us and was thinking, "Perfect Storm...Perfect Storm"! Now...it was a brilliant sunny day but the wind has been blowing hard for 3 or 4 days so the seas were VERY rough. Now for the really GOOD part....we caught 2 nice mahi mahi, dorado, or dolphin...take your pick of names. After 2 fish I suggested to ACTM, "How many do we really need?" So we headed back in and were back at the marina by 1:00. We just finished frying up more than we could eat in a week but when it's fresh you just have to do it! It is Five O'Clock Somewhere in Marsh Harbor but after "frogging our sides" and showers we will probably go to bed and watch a movie. John & Lori moved over to Hope Town today and we will move there tomorrow. Winds are to be 15 - 20 knots but it is only about 5 miles through the Sea of Abaco so don't anticipate any problem. Will catch you on the flip flop when we get to Hope Town!

Remember Woody? And I'm Not Talkin' Woodpecker....

For those of you that are Mizzou fans....it's a small world! Last night we ran into Woody Widenhofer's offensive coordinator at the bar! He spotted ACTM with his Missouri Tiger tee on and invited us to join them. They live on their sailboat FULL TIME and have for 2 1/2 years! They basically sold everything (put a few things in storage) and took to the sea. WOW...what an adventure they have had.

As They Say In The Bahamas....NO PROBLEM!

After a relatively sleepless night Thursday knowing we were pulling out Friday morning and going to navigate the "most treacherous pass in the Abacos" I am happy to report it was a BIG TO DO ABOUT NOTHING! It was really rough and we were rockin' and rollin' but made it just fine. We reported the conditions to John and Lori as we went though and they decided to pull up stake and head to Marsh Harbor as well. We arrived in Marsh Harbour around 10:30 and they arrived around 3:00. The wind forecast is NOT good so might be here for a few days...20-25 knots and seas 8 - 11 feet!!!! YIKES!!! We are glad we moved yesterday because now we have a whole other island to explore! Licking our wounds this morning from that, as I say, "first night in town syndrome"! Catch you on the flip flop!

O.K.....enough is enough...let's go!

We spent Thursday touring Green Turtle Cay. The winds have continued to increase so fishing offshore has been out of the question. We have now been at Green Turtle Cay since Sunday and ACTM is like a caged tiger! The wind forecast is for continually increasing winds through the next few days so we are going to try to make it to Marsh Harbor today if we can for a change of scenery. Otherwise, we will be stuck here and we've "been here and done this" so time to move on. The tricky part is going through what is called Whale Cay Channel....very narrow between rocks and goes out into the ocean. So...with just the right wind conditions we are told and have been reading that it can be impassable. The bad thing is that it is the only way to get to Marsh Harbor. You have to go through Whale Cay Channel, out into the ocean for about 3 miles, and back into the Sea of Abaco. Once we get back into the Sea of Abaco it should be fine. The ocean part is short and ACTM says that we can stand ANYTHING for 3 miles! So....we'll see. Might end up right back here if the pass looks too treacherous! Yikes!!! John and Lori have opted to hang here and wait out the wind as they are in a sailboat and don't have enought HP to power through the pass. So...we said goodbye to them for now. Will hook up with them on down the road somewhere. Will catch you on the flip flop and hopefully be reporting in from Marsh Harbor later today or tomorrow!

We needed a Prince!

After a couple days of island hopping and beaching it, I was ready to wet a line again. Unfortunately we waited just long enough for the wind to kick up. We are now docked at The Bluff House Marina on Green Turtle Cay. Green Turtle Cay is an out island, across the Sea of Abaco from Great Abaco Island. Great Abaco Island stretches about 100 miles long, mostly North & South and we are about 1/3 of the way down from the North end. The closest access to the Atlantic is about 8 miles South through Whale Cay Channel. It is the most treacherous channel in the Abacos. With the wind at 15 to 20 knots we were a little spooked but made our way through the cut without any problem. With the wind ripping out of the Southeast we decided to fish our way so we would have "following seas" back to the North to Powell Cay Channel which was about 18 miles. The bed sheets were really flying and the waves off our stern caused a lot of heaving and yawing (terms we learned in Seaschool). We trolled from 300 to 2500 feet of water catching only one Cuda about 15# and had another hit or two but that was it. Can't have a banner day every day. We were told later that there was a report of a good Dolphin catch earlier in the day, but did not see any birds working and no floating magical piece of debris. They say the Dolphin continuously eat and gain an inch or two in size per month, so I guess maybe they will be bigger the next day we can get on them.