Cruising Abaco Bahamas 2011 :)

Even though I have been going over and over an itinerary for "Bahamas Cruise 2011" in my mind it is time to get serious and put it in black and white. Caldwell and Kate are getting married on May 14th and we plan on leaving a few days after the wedding....maybe around Tuesday, May 17th. We should arrive in Islamorada on the 18th. With any luck, and weather permitting, we will be ready to blast off for Bimini by Saturday the 21st, just in time to party at Big John's to kick the trip off right. A quick synopsis of the entire loop will be beginning in Islamorada, clearing customs in Bimini, heading northeast to the West End of Grand Bahama, then looping around the Abacos, a stopover on the northern end of Eleuthera, and a brief stop in the Berry Islands, then back to Bimini, and home to Islamorada. This is approximately a 650 nautical mile loop. Most of the hops between islands are very short when in the Abacos. The ports of call, sort of in order, that we will likely stop at are as follows: Bimini, West End, Grand Cay, Spanish Cay, Green Turtle Cay, Treasure Cay, Great Guana Cay, Marsh Harbour, Man o War Cay, Hope Town, Little Harbour, North Eleuthera, Sandy Point, Great Harbour, then back to Bimini. We plan to be back to Islamorada near the end of June and then back to Pontiac just in time for the fireworks. I will be working on some real timelines, so stay tuned.

CTM

Do you guys fish anymore?

Seems like the only posts on our blog these days are about working on boats and partying. The camera is usually ready to go for that nonsense but what about a fish picture? Well, not a lot going on this time of year so we might as well be doing maintenance and drinking beer. We did however get out a few days and here is a short summary. We were able to get offshore four times this trip. Although Dolphin fishing is not very good in the fall and winter, we always have a lure or two out that might catch one. We also now always include a deep running lure on a wire line for a shot at a Wahoo or big Dolphin and we also run a "Big" lure in the shotgun for a shot at something "Big". The reports were that a few Mahi were being caught in the 200-400 feet of water range. We found scattered weeds most of the time and a couple really nice skinny weedlines with assorted debris in them. The first trip out we caught 2 really nice Mahi on a barrel in a weedline. It had more fish on it, but we could not get another bite. We dropped spoons, jigs and chunks along side and trolled about every variety we could think of and nothing worked. We had enough for dinner about 3 nights so that was good. The next trip out we found similar floating debris and caught one decent fish. The third trip we were skunked. The next to the last day in town was a light wind day so we decided to try it one more time. We found some really scattered weeds at about 350 feet of water. We decided to troll on out towards the hump and try the weeds later. Soon after pulling away from the weeds we picked up a nice Mahi on a Billy bait on one of the riggers. We continued on out and caught a second fish the same way. We found nothing on the hump so decided to make our way back in. When we got to the 350 feet mark the weeds were gone. At about 300 feet we decided to reel up. I had everything in except the deep rig with a large rigged ballyhoo on it. We found the weeds. They had drifted in to about 200 feet of water and formed a great weedline. We immediately had a hit and caught a really nice fish about 15 pounds. With all our tackle now in the boat and the daylight going faster now with daylight savings time we trolled just the deep rig a few more minutes and went in. Not a great catching trip overall, but we got to stretch a few lines and spend some time on the ocean and have fresh fish several nights from our catches. On our last night in town our cruising companions John & Lori drove down from Miami. After a few cocktails on the porch we went to Lazy Days where they "cooked our catch" of fresh Mahi and yes, had a few more cocktails! Not too shabby!

From My Documents

CTM

MAIDEN VOYAGE.....

After we returned to Islamorada and licked our wounds for a day from Meeting of the Minds...we FINALLY got our new "baby" in the water. YEAH BABY...maiden voyage up to Lorelei for Happy Hour!!!!

A HAPPY CTM!

From 2010-11-11

YES, IT RUNS FAST!!!!

From 2010-11-11

HAPPY HOUR OVER...BUT STILL HAPPY!!!!

From 2010-11-11

T/T FEEDING FRENZY III PUT TO BED....

From 2010-11-11

Catch you on the flip flop....

CJM

TWO NIGHT RULE.....

After spending not one, not two, not three, BUT FOUR nights in Key West we now have a new "Two Night Rule." I told CTM that even if I beg to stay more than 2 nights in Key West....JUST SAY NO! Here are some more photos of Meeting of the Minds.....

BEACH BASH ON SATURDAY :)

From 2010-11-11

ANOTHER SATURDAY AFTERNOON WITH JIM MORRIS :)

From 2010-11-11

HOWARD LIVINGSTON AND THE MILE MARKER 24 BAND MAKING MARGARITAS WITH HIS JOHNSON OUTBOARD MOTOR HE HAS CONVERTED TO A BLENDER....(A side note....CTM purchased an old 1958 Johnson outboard motor about a month ago :) CP, get ready and put some salt on your margarita glass!!)

From 2010-11-11

COULDN'T HELP BUT NOTICE THE NAME ON THE DANCER....25 YEARS FROM NOW??????

From 2010-11-11

HOWARD IS PRETTY LUCKY...HE HAS TWO LOLAS!!!

From 2010-11-11

Catch you on the flip flop....

CJM

WALL OF FAME

We have been in Key West since Wednesday :) Wow! It is a dirty job but someone has to do it!!! We are here for the Meeting of the Minds....annual Parrot Head convention. While shopping in the Mini Mart I was able to grab a photo for my "Wall of Fame" with Jimmy's favorite "Sista" Miss Lucy Anne Buffett!

From 2010-11-06

And...here's the Street Fest....they block off Duval Street in front of Margaritaville for this....IMAGINE THAT!!!

From 2010-11-06

We polished off a few drinks and finished our day at Schooner Wharf Bar while listening to our favorite entertainer....Mr. Jim Morris and the Big Bamboo Band!

From 2010-11-06

Unfortunately we had to report to our shift on security detail at 8:00 a.m. this morning! What the heck???? Who is up at 8:00 a.m. in Key West????? Now we know....NOBODY BUT US!!!!!

Catch you on the flip flop....

CJM

"WHALER FOR A DINGHY"

"I may not have the biggest boat in the marina but I've got a Whaler for a dinghy!" If I have heard this Pat Dailey quote once I have heard it one thousand times!!! CTM has been on a mission for the past 3 years to find a little Boston Whaler for back country fishing and bar hopping. He has dragged me all over the place looking at used Whalers. This latest "dragging" started with the rental car screw up. Yes, when we got to the rental car counter in Fort Lauderdale they did not have the economy (meaning cheapest) car I had booked. So....they gave us a brand new Tahoe that only had 400 miles on it and still has that new car smell! The first thing CTM did when we walked out to get it was look to see if it had a hitch....IT DID!!! I could see that his cogs were turning and I could see some more "dragging" in my future. When we went to the Fort Lauderdale Boat Show last weekend we went via Miami Lakes to look at a Whaler CTM had spotted on Craig's List. Well, it was PERFECT so we bought it! Here is our new baby "T/T Feeding Frenzy III."

From My Documents

One of our stipulations was that Carlos, now the previous owner, meet us in Florida City (northern end of the Keys) so we could avoid towing her through Miami. He graciously agreed! So....we met him at 10:00 a.m. in the Wal Mart parking lot in Florida City, did a little shopping at Wal Mart for Whaler supplies, stopped by West Marine for more Whaler supplies, stopped by Eye Catcher Signs so she could officially get her name, stopped at Caribe for more Whaler supplies, dropped her at Sandy Cove Marina for safe keeping until Sunday, threw our clothes together to head to Key West for Meeting of the Minds (more on this later), stopped in Marathon at the Department of Revenue and did all of the paperwork, stopped at No Name Pub for some shrimp pizza and a couple of celebratory beers, and then on to Key West to drink 25 celebratory rum drinks and catch Jim Morris at Hogsbreath!!! Phew!!!!! What a day!

We have been in Key West now for two days and spending the morning licking our wounds. Will be here until Sunday when we will head back up to normalcy and to pick up our new baby. We ALMOST miss our new baby as much as Lola Bean....NOT!!!!! Catch you on the flip flop....

CJM

TUNA BITES......

There is nothing better than fresh lightly seared tuna as an appetizer. Well....we caught a nice Blackfin Tuna but unfortunately a Shark was holding on to our tuna when we got him to the boat :( Mr. Shark got his "tuna bites" and we didn't!!!!!!

From 2010-11-02

Another reason in a LONG list why I don't like to swim in the ocean!!!!
Catch you on the flip flop....

CJM

B.O.A.T.

For you boaters...you know what B.O.A.T stands for.... So in an effort to save on maintenance CTM has spent a couple of days working on Feeding Frenzy III. The first thing we noticed after being away for 2 1/2 months is that the boat had an odor inside. We discovered that the bilge pump had burned out so there was stagnent water down in the bilge....YISH!!!! It was kind of like performing a medical precedure.....CTM was the doctor and I was the nurse :) I did a lot of fetchin', wipin', and soothin'! Only a couple of hours and $100 later we were back in business. Now...on to changing the oil. My cogs were turning for a post on this blog while this was all going on and obviously I needed some photos of the process. Here is CTM's "quit screwing around and hand me that wrench" look!!!!

From 2010-11-02

Now that's a lot of oil!!!!!

From 2010-11-02

Ahhhhh.....mission accomplished....time for a cold beer!!!!!

From 2010-11-02

Catch you on the flip flop.....

CJM