The Final Stats...........

Well, it's hard to believe it's already over. What an incredible fishing trip/cruise. We traveled a total of 1733 nautical miles which equates to about 2000 statute miles in 46 days. We made 14 ports of call, 8 that we had never been to before. We spent every night at marinas except 2 nights on a mooring ball in Warderick Wells. We had intended to spend a few nights on the hook, but it just didn't work out. We were as far as 300 nm from the Florida coast. We put about 185 hours on FF III's engines during the trip and burned 2033 gallons of diesel. We consumed over 50 cases of beer and ate fish almost exclusively for the entire trip, most of which we caught. We sneaked in a hamburger or two and a pizza at Cape Eleuthra. We had our customary steak at Outback Steakhouse in Islamorada the night we arrived back in the US. We swam in a blue hole and visited the homeland, Morgan's Bluff, on Andros. We snorkeled where James Bond has snorkeled at Staniel Cay. We climbed to the highest point in the Bahamas, visited the Hermitage and caught 2 Blue Marlin at Cat Island. We saw Whales in the "Tongue of the Ocean" and in Exuma Sound. And, we finally caught a Grouper trolling in Bimini to just recall a few highlights. We're home in Missouri now and I am suffering from post-cruising depression. CJM keeps telling me she was ready to be home. She says, "We live in a great place, especially in the summer," and she is right. But, we spent 46 days in the Bahamas and visited many beautiful ports, harbors and beaches. The memory that sticks in my mind was at Bimini Blue Water Marina the day before we left. We were all cooling off in the pool and nearby was a shady area with a rope hammock. Sprawled out in the hammock with his feet crossed and "just a swingin" was our old fishing buddy Freddie. Not a care in the world, kicking back after a few hard days of fishing. Since I've been home the only thing on tv is the oil spill in the Gulf, the dispute between BHO and General McChrystal, unemployment, and the failing economy. Life shouldn't have to be this difficult.... So, I guess I will get my "big girl panties on" and deal with it. But remember, we aren't going to live forever, so we/you'd better go for it. I realize in these difficult times it probably doesn't make much sense to "go for it!" I will end our cruise with a favorite quote of mine from Mark Twain. "Twenty years from now, you will be more disappointed by the things you did not do than by the things you do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover." You can probably guess what I am thinking now. Bahamas Cruise 2011. It may be a little shorter next year as we will be busy in KC on May 14th and it will be hard to keep CJM (well, and me, too) away from Lola for that long, but I will be holding out for at least 30 days in the Abacos. Stay tuned for the planning and preparing during the next 11 months.

CTM

Who'd a thunk it........

Is it possible that Team Morgan & Stilley could have pulled it off? Biggest, or at least a tie for biggest Marlin, biggest Wahoo, and biggest Grouper. With that kind of luck they should have bought some lottery tickets on their way to the Bahamas. Team M & S joined us in Nassau and did about the reverse of Team L & K with the exception of adding Chub Cay. We traveled about 500 nautical miles with them as well. We had Hanky Pankies at Hank's Place, Rum Punches at the Poop Deck, Bimini Big Game Club, and Sherry's on the Beach. We listened to Stevie S's Band again without Stevie but with Mouse. We caught lots of fish, snorkeled for Conch, and fretted over the future of the Big 12. We ate lots of fish and fed them another 5 dozen Ballyhoo. Caldwell landed a big fish and then became one as he had to get the wire off the prop we backed over in the process of catching his Marlin. I am mostly surprised that Kate kept wearing that Kansas t-shirt at night. You would think after wiping my fishy hands on it every time I went in the cabin when she was not there she would have noticed the stench. I guess it just reminded her of Lawrence:) Oh well, no harm done and a GREAT time was had by all once again.

Group Two and Who's in 1st

It's been a while since they were with us, but I needed to post a final report on our second cruising group, Gary & Cindy P and Scott & Karen S....the P's & S's. We spent 10 days together in Georgetown and Cat Island. We only traveled 350 nautical miles or about 400 statute miles and most of that we were fishing. We had several good days and a few not so good. We polished off the beer we had brought with us and an additional 10 or 12 cases of Kalik Light. We cooked the beautiful Yellowfin Tuna and Mahi fillets The L's & K's left us a couple nights and cooked our own catch a couple nights. We of course had our catch cooked several nights along the way as well. The fish consumed 5 dozen Ballyhoo, 4# of Squid, and 20# of chum. We chilled out at Peace & Plenty, fed the Rays at Chat & Chill, and drove "off the charts" at Columbus Point. We climbed to the highest point in the Bahamas, 206 feet, and visited the Hermitage. We strolled on an eight mile long pink sand beach and a great time was had by all. We caught several nice Mahi up to 25 pounds and lots of reef fish. We held off a "Pirate of the Caribbean" in the form of a 400# White Tip Shark with our trusty 12 gauge shotgun! However, the most fun was the two Blue Marlin we caught and released. Sorry Jeannie and the rest of the First Group, the Second Group is now in the lead for overall biggest fish.

CTM

LAST DAY IN PARADISE :(

Since Monday was our last day in paradise we made a full day of it. First we threw the dinghy in and took a ride up to where there is a sunken airplane that missed the runway years ago and crashed...YIKES! CTM told Kate there probably weren't any skeletons left by now...YIKES AGAIN! I think he was kidding but nevertheless it gave me the creeps. The thought of no telling what kind of varmits were swimming around that wreckage coupled with the thought of an Indiana Jones experience...well, I opted to stay in the dinghy like a good Captain and make sure my passengers got back on board safe and sound :) On the way to the spot there were some storms off in the distance that added a little tension to the trip....

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CTM and Kate were the only brave souls...

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Little CTM decided to stay behind and be my my first mate and watch for sharks. Obviously he wasn't too worried about having to rescue his fiance from the sharks...he looks pretty laid back enjoying a cold Kalik, huh :)

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Kate loved loved loved the starfish...I think I heard her say, "We're not in Kansas anymore, Toto!" :)

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On the way back we stopped on a shallow sand bar and swam. Notice I even got my feet wet this time :)

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After the dinghy ride we rented a golf cart for a couple of hours to tour the island. We cruised up to see if we could find the illusive Sherry one last time and talk her in to one last conch salad! Bingo! And...it was DELISH!

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While CTM and I visited with Sherry, drank a rum punch, and ate some conch salad Caldwell and Kate took one last walk on the beach. Ummmm....what is going on here????

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Tuesday morning we kicked Caldwell and Kate off the boat around 8:30 since they were flying from Bimini and CTM and I headed for Islamorada. It was smoothe sailing all the way...no storms and dead calm...PHEW! Not so smoothe for Caldwell and Kate, however. They didn't get back to KC until 3:30 in the morning!!! What I want to know is WHO PICKED THEM UP?????

It was a heck of a 46 days but glad to be back on U.S. soil :) Have spent the last two days unpacking and cleaning the boat, doing laundry, and now packing again to head north. Catch you on the flip flop and SEE YOU SOON!!!!

CJM

YOU DECIDE.....

Biggest Wahoo....biggest Marlin....biggest Grouper ever on FF III.... Could it be because of??????

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Or....

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You decide....vote now!

CJM

Third Times A Charm.........

Third time Grouper trolling was a charm............well actually I think it is more like the 4th or 5th time, but 3rd with Freddie in Bimini.

We hooked up with our old fishing friend Freddie Rolle for a day of Grouper trolling and Conching. He showed up at the boat around 7:30 with 18 Horse Ballyhoo. Horse Hoos are BIG! We needed to rig up some rigs so Freddie and I went to work. The Cudas had destroyed most of our trolling feathers and I had found a couple in Georgetown but did not have them rigged yet. We also replaced the wire on our wire trolling rig as a lot of it had been lost during the last Marlin catch. We were ready to go in short order and headed out. We had just watched the episode of George Povoromo's World of Saltwater Fishing where he was at Bimini trolling for Grouper. George actually fished with very similar techniques as we had and along the very same waters. We trolled south along the rocks toward Cat Cay. Very early in the troll we had a monster hit on the wire line. Caldwell was up and started fighting the big fish. According to George, you should head the boat to deeper water when you get hooked up to make it harder for the fish to get to the bottom, so I told CJM to head out. We got in the rocks anyway and Freddie told me that was the wrong thing to do as it put slack in the line for the fish to get to the bottom. Freddie was right. With some great boat handling by CJM and some fancy work by Freddie we got the fish out of the rocks. The proof is in the picture.........a 25# Black Grouper. The biggest grouper ever on FF III.

From 2010_06_13

The rest of the story is we had to switch out the wire to one of the TLD 50's as we had serious reel trouble by the time we got the big fish in the boat. We caught a second big Grouper but on the mono rig this time. Not quite as big as the first but a nice 18-20# Black Grouper.

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We had 18 bites with our 18 Hoos, 5 or 6 Grouper bites and the rest Cudas. We kept a couple of the Cudas for the locals and have the Grouper fillets on ice. Here's a pic of Kate fighting a big Cuda....

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Another great day on an incredible, or as Herbstreet would say, "breathtaking" fishing trip.

On the way back Freddie took us to a grassy reef spot where we picked up a few Conchs....

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Freddie cleaned them on the way back and we now have the shells soaking in bleach to take home....

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We took 3 or 4 pounds to Bimini Big Game now known as Guy Harvey Outpost where they cooked them four different ways..."delish" as Jabet and CJM say....

CTM

BOAT CHORES & THE BEACH...TWO PEAS IN A POD :(

O.K.....by now you all know my dirty little secret...I HATE THE BEACH! Saturday we started the day with a little boat chore...CTM changed the impeller on the generator but did not solve the problem of too little water circulating. So....Caldwell had to go into the water AGAIN and check the pickup on the generator. He ended up using CTM's toothbrush to clean out the pickup and thankfully CTM had another toothbrush to take it's place. We all think that everyone should have a toothbrush in their tool box...which we now do! After a good breakfast and calling EVERY golf cart rental place in town to no avail we packed a cooler and walked over the hill to the beach. Even though I hate the beach I will admit it was beautiful!

From 2010_06_12

We enjoyed some fresh conch salad and cracked conch prepared by Sherry's Dad but never saw Sherry :( Cooked fresh mahi on the boat and had an early evening due to the fact that we had to get up at the crack of dawn to go fishing with Freddie :) Fishing has kind of become like a job....well, not really.... Catch you on the flip flop....

CJM

FRIDAY'S FISHING REPORT.....

We trolled south to Cat Cay to fish the reef. We got into "chicken" dolphin deluxe! At one time we had three on at the same time. Our favorite little "Chickenhawk" fighting a "chicken" dolphin....

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We are pretty sure that this is the smallest dolphin we have ever caught!!! Obviously this was one of the fish we released :)

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We ended up catching over 10 but only kept 3 of them for dinner. On the reef spot we easily caught a limit of Yellowtail Snapper in a short matter of time. CTM and Caldwell both caught Sharks...YIKES! Mr. Amberjack showed up to spoil our Yellowtail fishing but before long Caldwell hooked him and after he broke off we never saw him again :) We frogged our sides with fresh YT Snapper for dinner....

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On to Big John's.... Ummmm, what's going on here?

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Kate and our good friend Mouse....

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Kat, Mouse, & Me!

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Who is that old broad dancing with Mouse?

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Two peas in a pod....

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Sleeping in this morning and gonna take the day off to do some exploring and look up Sherry for some fresh conch salad :) Catch you on the flip flop!

CJM

WE PICKED THE POCKET!!!!

O.K...so Thursday we headed out for Bimini. We decided to fish the northern end of the "Pocket" in the Tongue of the Ocean ONE more time to see if we could break the curse of having NEVER caught anything except barracuda there....Well, folks, we BROKE THE CURSE!!!! About 3 miles before time to reel up and head west to Bimini it happened.....the TLD 50 in the shotgun position took off like a shotgun! I was driving, CTM was up above bending my ear about something, Kate was making sandwiches inside, and "Little CTM" was sitting on the back of the boat staring off into the wild blue yonder. In other words it caught us off guard and suddenly we had a Chinese fire drill going! CTM grabbed the rod and started hollering for me to back down on the fish because the spool was almost empty and to get the other FOUR lines reeled up! Well, I started backing down on the fish but unfortunately backed over the wire line and wrapped it up in the prop before we were able to get them all reeled up. After 45 minutes of cheerleading by Kate, coaching by CTM, and skillful driving on my part :)

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and wrestling the monster......

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Caldwell landed our THIRD Blue Marlin on FF III...a 250 + pounder!!!

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"Game ON, MDW & PJW!"

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And now for the THIRD time....

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Now that was all said and done there remained the issue of the wire line wrapped around the prop :( Caldwell graciously volunteered to dive down and get it out since he got to land the fish :) However, floating in 1000 feet of water there remained the issue of the thoughts of the Whitetip Shark that lurked around our marlin back at Cat Island! We had kept a close vigil while we were landing our marlin this time. Never did see one but were still concerned one might be cruising around. At one point, Kate and I started screaming that we saw something in the water and he had to scurry back on board! It was VERY nerve wracking for Mom and Kate (and Caldwell) and we were very relieved to finally have the wire line out of the prop and him back on board with all legs and arms intact!!!!

"Excessive celebration" AGAIN! We drank a gallon of Looper's Love Potion, took a dip in the pool, and had dinner at Bimini Big Game and more "foo foo" drinks! Yes, for those of you who know and love Big Game, IT IS OPEN AGAIN!!!!

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Heading out fishing today on our own and Freddie will join us on Sunday :) Catch you on the flip flop....

CJM

A STOPOVER FOR INFINITY.....

Wednesday we left Fresh Creek...just in time to avoid the 2010 Crab Fest. Actually it might have been fun but basically they kicked us out of the marina because they were going to be full. So...we tucked our tails and headed to Chub Cay. The "Pocket" in the Tongue of the Ocean has a reputation for producing Dolphin catches where they just become a nuisance....you know....they won't stay off of your line. Well, the only nuisances were the incessant weed lines that produced NOTHING! We are beginning to think this was all a big "to do about nothing" thing. We have now fished the "Pocket" in the Tongue not one, not two, but THREE times and all we caught were a bunch of Mr. Barry Cudas :(

From 2010_06_09

We headed into Chub just in time to avoid a big storm and took a dip in the "infinity" pool. It is the ONLY reason to stop over at Chub because the rates were out of this world....$4.35 per foot with a 40 foot minimum. Geez....this equated to almost $200 per night for a 35' x 15' space on the water. What the heck??????? We did enjoy the dip in the pool, however......

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Well, some of us enjoyed the dip...

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Since I hate the beach :) I sat by the pool while C, K, & CTM took a stroll on the beach...

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We had conch chowder, cracked conch, and fish alfredo for dinner. Caldwell had another "foo foo" drink....notice the little finger!

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We decided to head to Bimini on Thursday and called our good friend, Freddie Rolle, to make arrangements for some fishing with him. Will fish the "pocket" one more time before heading to Bimini.....stay tuned!!!! Catch you on the flip flop...

CJM

CAPTAIN RON AND HANKY PANKY.....

After the "excessive celebration" on Monday night we decided to take the day off on Tuesday and dinghy to the beach for some snorkeling. We decided to have some lunch for "foundation" as my good friend Carol always says. No sooner than we finished lunch and headed to the boat the skies opened up and it poured rain the rest of the afternoon. We watched "Captain Ron" for the 100th time and relaxed. When the rain finally moved out we loaded in the dinghy and went for a short cruise and then stopped by Hank's Place for a "Hanky Panky." Not sure about the recipe but it has many different kinds of rum..... Thank goodness we had money to pay!!!!!

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And now C & K have been "barred for life" from Hank's Place!!!

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Heading out to Chub Cay today....gonna fish our way there in the Tongue of the Ocean so stay tuned for a report later! Catch you on the flip flop....

CJM

5 MR. BARRY CUDAS....THEN WOO HOO!!!!

After the first night in town syndrome at Fresh Creek we kinda sorta slept in and got out around 10:00 :) We decided to head to the South Buoy where we saw Jimmy's boat "Last Mango" back in early May. Along the way and at the buoy we caught no less than 5 barracudas :(

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We were heading back north to Fresh Creek and trolling the edge....getting close to that 2 minute warning....and WHAM....the fight was on! Woo Hoo!!! It's was a Wahoo!!!

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Caldwell is now in 1st place in the Wahoo category with this 50 pounder...the largest one EVER on FF III!!!

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We shared fresh Wahoo with everyone at the marina...AND there was "excessive celebration" again :) Catch you on the flip flop....

CJM

Catch & Release...........are you kidding???

A little out of sequence but..... When we left Cat Island I asked Nate if he had 2 hours to fish on the way to Eleuthera what would he do. He said fish Alligator Point on Cat and then the Bridge between Little San Salvador and Eleuthera. The "Bridge" is really not a bridge but a reef about 50 feet underwater that runs for 6 or 8 miles between the 2 islands. The only signs of life we saw on Little San Sal was when a cruise ship was anchored there. We did as he suggested. Not a lot going on........only caught one nice YF Tuna. Nothing like yours, Jeannie, but dinner! The next day we fished the edge along the coast of Eleuthra and again the bite was slow. We did keep a couple YF Tuna and one BF Tuna. It is very difficult to tell the difference between the two when they are smaller fish. Big ones like the one Jeannie caught is obvious. The smaller version is a little tougher. Now that I have seen them side by side it is easy to see the yellow tip on their fins and tail that distinguish them. More sushi!

Now for the best day... We set out for the Bridge again. In the middle of the Bridge there is a little point that sticks out and it was loaded with fish. We had our normal spread out..........some rigged Hoos, a couple Billys and a Marlin lure out back. Long story short again, we caught 4 nice Wahoo and 3 really nice Mahi. We had 3 Wahoo on at once and got them all in.

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And the dirty part of the story is we released all the Dolphin and 2 of the Wahoo. You have got to be kidding!!! We had no room in our freezer and we had not really talked to anyone at the marina that we could give them to. Oh well, the Dolphin were all females and probably full of eggs, so we let them live on. Maybe the fishing Gods will shine on us next time out :)

CTM

FINALLY ARRIVED!!!!

Caldwell and Kate finally arrived around midnight on Saturday. They had a horendous day getting to Nassau....it all started out with bad weather in Chicago...figures....blame it on Chicago! Caldwell says that is another reason to HATE the Cubs! We got up early on Sunday and headed to Fresh Creek at Andros. Here are a couple of pics of us leaving Nassau Harbor....

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Fished our way to Andros and caught nothing except a couple of Mr. Barry Cudas:( More later...catch you on the flip flop!

CJM