"IF A MAN JUST HAD A CENTER CONSOLE!"

Dave and Leann arrived and the wind continued to blow and it continued to rain so we decided to show them all of the Happy Hours on Harbour Island :)  At one of the marinas the boys spotted this and declared in unison, "IF A MAN JUST HAD A CENTER CONSOLE!"  (This one's for you...GP!)

52 rod holders, 1050 HP, 42 feet long and 12 feet wide, weighs more than Feeding Frenzy III, two 50 gallon live wells, 600 gallons fuel capacity......'NUF SAID :)

Catch you on the flip flop....

CJM

LET THE PARTY BEGIN :)

Our cohorts in crime showed up Tuesday afternoon.....

The wind continued to blow 20+ knots so Wednesday we rented a golf cart and went exploring.  First stop was lunch at Ma Ruby's.  According to local chit chat Jimmy Buffett wrote the song "Cheeseburger in Paradise" at Ma Ruby's.  Guess what we all had for lunch! 

Wow!  I can see why Jimmy was inspired to write the song at Ma Ruby's!!!!  And.....here's the one and only MA RUBY!!!!!

We hit every Happy Hour on Harbour Island, were in bed by dark, and up early Thursday to await the arrival of more cohorts!  Catch you on the flip flop......

CJM

TOES IN THE WATER......

"I got my toes in the water...ass in the sand (well, I refused to sit down because, as Lola would say....I didn't want all of that sand in my booty!), not a worry in the world, a cold beer in my hand.....life is good today....life is good today!"

You all know my dirty little secret about hating the beach.....well, this one might just make me change my mind.  A three mile pink sand beach.  Look close at this picture and you can see the tiny pieces of pink coral in the sand....hence the "pink sand beach!" 

Now, that's what you call a deserted beach......

Looking north......



And now south....

Bahamian pedicure.....CHECK!!!! Catch you on the flip flop....

CJM

KNOT MY VALENTINE

After getting the FF III all rinsed down and situated, we had a couple coldies on the back of the boat. Valentine's Marina had an interesting looking bar/restaurant near by so we decided, it's Friday night on Harbour Island, let's check it out. There was no one there. Wonder why? Well, after checking out the menu, beers were $6.50 and rum drinks were $12.00 and food was out of sight. So, one beer and a light snack and it was off to bed.  We would "KNOT" BE EATING/DRINKING AT VALENTINE'S AGAIN!!!!

Saturday morning CJM said, "Let's get the bikes out and go exploring. There must be some better "locals" bars around."  So she got out the map.....

Eureka, we found it!!!! Fresh conch salad $10.00, cracked conch or fish fingers $12.00 and 3 for $5 Kaliks across the street at the liquor store. We returned for Happy Hour from 5 to 7 for 3 for $5 Sands.

CJM in training for the MOTM bike ride......

 Got to practice biking under the influence, you know. No worries, we got home safe and sound :)

CTM

ROLLERS

We had great plans of leaving Bimini and heading for Port Lucaya for a night or two and fish the rich waters of the Northwest Providence Channel east and maybe even get to fish Hole in the Wall (now Gap in the Wall). Kind of fish and cruise our way to Harbour Island. Well, old "Mariah" would not stand for it. The wind continues to blow like crazy. We had what looked like 3 days of calm seas to make our way rather quickly to Eleuthera so we pulled out of Bimini a day early and headed across the Grand Bahama Bank.

The wind had supposedly layed down so we took off. Well, very shortly we figured out it had not. You wouldn't think if the water is only 15 feet deep for 86 miles that the waves could build that high. Well they weren't 10 feet but they were big enough and right on the nose. We backed off to about 10 knots and trudged across the bank for about the worst 8 hours spent on our boat. Great Harbour was a wonderful sight. So now we were 107 miles from Harbour Island and had two days to get there. So, we went fishing. Of course, we were exhausted from the previous day, so we didn't get out until 9 or 10. And, with another long day ahead of us tomorrow, we came in early as well. We had a little excitement following a Frigate bird around but couldn't get what he was following to bite.

Ok, so now we were heading across some new territory. We had traveled from Great Abaco to Great Harbour before, but the run on to North Eleuthera was new. You travel along the Great Bahama Canyon. The depth in meters is more than 5000 which is about 3 miles deep. Well let me tell you, even if the wind is zero, there are BIG swells. ROLLERS. They had to be 8 to 10 feet but the wavelength was such that we could run 20 to 22 knots. Occasionally we would face one that looked like those in the Perfect Storm. I don't think Six Flags has anything on them. About half way there we were about 7 or 8 miles from Hole in the Wall. There's a light house on the tip of the land. I think I could barely make it out as we passed by. All I could think of was that once again I was cruising past some of the most fertile fishing waters in the Bahamas and no time to fish. About 15 miles from Eleuthera we picked up some birds working on our radar ( I've been working on that for a while now). We got our spread out similar to what we used in Bimini fishing for marlin with of course a Billy Bait out as well. We made a few passes through and got a double hook up. Both seemed to be pretty good fish. By the time CJM got down one was off (the biggest one of course) so she took the pole and I reeled in the other baits and handled the boat. A few minutes later we landed a very nice Yellowfin Tuna. A couple more passes produced a nice Blackfin Tuna. One YF in the box and we became tuna snobs. We threw the BF back and reeled up.

We were still 15 miles from Eleuthera so we decided to run in to the edge and fish around a couple points that jutt out from the shore. There was a lot of bird and baitfish action. The waters looked just right for the catching, but the only obliger was a pretty big Cuda. With an unfamiliar entrance and not very well marked path to the marina, we reeled up and headed in. The passage was uneventful. We were soon tied up and rinsed off and having a cold one. A guy walked by and said we had a nice LITTLE boat. "That little boat is just right for two people". He was right, once again we are about the smallest boat in the marina. Oh well, the same size fish will look bigger laying on a smaller boat.

Three large fishing boats came in after us. One had a Wahoo and two really nice Dolphin. Another had a couple smaller Dolphin and a couple ok Blackfin Tuna. The other had a mess of Yellowtail Snappers. It seemed the best catches of the day were around Hole in the Wall, but on some floating debris near there. The wind is going to blow for a few days now, so time to rest up and be ready when our crew gets here.

CTM

THURSDAY FISHING......

We arrived at Great Harbour Marina on Wednesday, got situated, and gave the boat a good soaping since she was COVERED with salt water.   This marina was the one a few years ago we showed up on Monday of Memorial Day weekend and there was nobody to be found.  And....back then you had to "walk down by the vacant building and sit in the chair by the abandoned phone booth" to get the internet.  This time we were pleasantly surprised to find the best internet we have had sitting right on the boat AND several boats in the marina and dock hands that wouldn't let me carry ice and were always there to greet you when coming in :)  Their customer service was GREAT!  (Jabet, take note :) )   We headed out fishing fairly early on Thursday.  The advice by the dockmaster was to "go around by the cruise ships and troll the edge."   Obviously it was the cruiser's "beach day" as once we rounded the corner we could see two ginormous cruise ships with tenders running to and from the ships....

We took the advice of the dockmaster and trolled the edge on past the ships and even went deeper a few times.  We did manage to catch a skinny little Mr. Barry Cuda but otherwise NOTHING!  When we were getting close to reeling up we spotted a school of dolphin....Flipper not Mahi.....and this Frigate bird circling....

Still NOTHING!!!!  Oh well...the beer was cold and the seas were calm so it was a GOOD DAY!!!!  Catch you on the flip flop.....

CJM

MY LAST RODEO

Wednesday we said "goodbye" to Bimini and our good friend J.R. and everyone at the marina.  Interestingly enough Freddie was not there to say "bon voyage."  He typically showed up at the marina around 6:30 every day but this day he did not make it....hmmmmm.....  Well, I am not good at saying "goodbye" so I totally get it :)  

The storms were already beginning to fire up but it looked as if we could get out of Bimini Harbor and head north and ultimately east we could outrun them :(  We had planned to head north to Great Isaac and do some trolling on the way but with the weather situation as it was we decided to hightail it east as soon as we cleared the island of Bimini.  At first it didn't seem so bad, but as the day progressed it got worse and worse.   Somebody missed that forecast :(  We were crossing the Great Bahama Bank and it is shallow.  Our theory has always been....how high can the waves get when it is only 30 or so feet deep?  Well.....let me answer that.....  I was chanting the entire way...."THIS IS MY LAST RODEO.....THIS IS MY LAST RODEO!!!!"  I honestly thought that if I could ever get my feet on solid ground again I would NEVER set foot on the Feeding Frenzy III again!!!  I guess it is kind of like having a baby....you have to forget just how bad delivery is or you would never have another baby.  And....well, I have two kids so there you have it :)

Catch you on the flip flop.....

CJM

RAINY DAYS AND MONDAYS ALWAYS GET ME DOWN.......

Monday we took a day off due to windy conditions and to rest.  Tuesday ended up being a windy/stormy day.....

This day gave us a day to study the weather and we determined that we had a 3-day window of opportunity to get to Harbour Island before the weather would begin to deteriorate again.  So....that being said, we made the decision to move to Great Harbour in the Berry Islands on Wednesday.  We studied the wind and weather and it appeared that the conditions would improve as the day went on so we decided to head out early.  Stay tuned for THAT report :(  Catch you on the flip flop....

CJM

ANOTHER FISHING LESSON......

We have fished for about everything here in Bimini except for Blue Marlin. The Big Game Club billfish tournament was just finishing up and they had caught and released a few so we decided to try it. I had talked to Freddie about it a couple times and decided to see how the "old schoolers" would fish for them. Of course as with everything we fish for with him, he wanted to rig up some horse Ballyhoos.  We also found a couple Spanish Mackeral. We rigged everything with wire and skirts except the Mackeral which we rigged naked (we weren't naked, the bait was without a skirt). We ran out to about 800 feet of water and started trolling. We put the naked Mackerals on the Penn 80's on the riggers and the rigged Hoos on the TLD 50's on the corners on flatline clips. We immediately had a couple chicken Dolphin playing with our baits so we put out a Billy Bait on the shotgun position from the bridge. We had a couple hits, thought to be Wahoo because the way the baits were bitten off which by the way finished off our naked Mackerals. Then we had a slammer Dolphin, as big as any we have seen or caught hit one of our baits but spit the hook after the first jump. I think I heard Freddie say s#%t a couple times after that miss. After quite a discussion on how to proceed we finally understood what Freddie wanted us to do. The plan was to troll west weaving back and forth about 15 or 20 degrees either way for a while, then turn and head back to shore weaving back and forth as well. The idea is to troll across the Gulf Stream. Sure enough, the master was right. At about 11 o'clock, a Marlin  jumped and struck the port rigger bait. No hook up, then he struck the starboard rigger, no hook up. We brought in the starboard bait which was "old lucky" (a black and purple Moldcraft lure) rigged with a Hoo and replaced it with one rigged with a black and purple skirt. No sooner did we get it out and the Marlin was back. He attacked the bait once, no luck, then he boiled at it a second time, no luck, but the third time was the charm. FISH ON. I took the pole and was settled into the fighting chair for a long battle. Freddie just about had the rest of the lines in and CJM was reeling in the shotgun when the big guy made a move towards the boat and spit the hook. I think everyone said s#%t a few times after that. We had a few more hits, at least one we thought was a billfish by the way the bait was kind of skinned on the sides, but no more hook ups. On about our last pass inward toward shore we saw a couple birds working and sure enough they were on some nice sized Blackfin Tuna. We had one hit a rigger bait and a second one hit the shotgun. It was like a Chinese fire drill with Freddie and me holding a rod with a fish on in one hand and trying to reel in one of the other lines with the other hand. We got it all done and the fish in.  We headed in, cleaned up the boat, and seared some fresh Blackfin Tuna for dinner....

We mixed up some wasabi and soy and it was DELISH!  (This line was CJM's :) ) 

CTM

LAUNDRY DAY.....

When CTM mounted these rods in the salon I was not happy :(  But, now I have found a new use for them :)

Catch you on the fip flop....

CJM

A PICTURE IS WORTH A THOUSAND WORDS :)

Friday's fishing report....

Plus 18 Yellowtail Snappers....'nuf said!!!!!! :)  Catch you on the flip flop....

CJM

CTM....MY HERO!!!!

Unlike the trip from h--l we had going home, the flights back to Bimini were all on time and without incident.  We actually departed Fort Lauderdale and arrived in Bimini a few minutes early :)  After clearing customs, a short taxi ride and water taxi ride it was oh so good to be back in Bimini once again!!!  As we were pulling our suitcases down the street J.R. saw us coming and greeted us with a handshake and a hug and as always....a really big smile!  Yes, it felt like we were home!!!!  It was really really good to lay eyes on the ole Feeding Frenzy III once again.  Freddie showed up within minutes of our arrival and announced he had washed her down in anticipation of our arrival.  She was fresh and clean thanks to Freddie :)  We got out the bikes and rode to Stuart's for conch salad and a cold Kalik and ended up at Sherry's for cracked conch and lobster and of course....a Gombay Smash!  Since we had been up since 3:00 a.m. we muddled our way back down the hill and hit the hay early.  Thursday we slept in then CTM crawled into the basement to continue working on our engine issue.  He took the fuel pickup line loose and on the recommendation of our good friend and captain of the Captain Cadillac, Billy Chapman, blew the line out with a scuba tank we had on board.  Once it was all hooked back up we decided to take a test drive.   Well, all I can say is.....CTM....MY HERO!!!!  Once again we are back to 100%!  The seas were calm and we had a cooler full of cold beer so we looked at each other with a sigh of relief and said, "LET'S GO FISHING!"   The fishing report isn't as good as the engine news.....2 Mr. Barry Cudas.....but we enjoyed the sunshine, cold beer, and calm seas :)  

We are heading out this morning to grouper troll and bottom fish with Freddie.  Stay tuned for the fishing report!  Catch you on the flip flop......

CJM

WHERE WE STAND

We are back in Missouri now after a fairly eventful month in Islamorada/Bimini. The projects we undertook on the boat prior to the crossing seem to have been a success. The bottom job still looks good. When we have been able to open up the boat, it seems to be really moving through the water with little effort. The trim tabs are both still working. The new valves (sea cocks) are opening and closing as they should. We flushed the engines with fresh water before we left and they seemed to work perfectly. I have not seen any drips around any of the new hoses we replaced. The caulking job seems to be holding up as well. The new little "classic" dinghy we purchased just before leaving is still holding air and so far doesn't have any varmints living in it. The only bad thing is it is made from dark gray material, trimmed in black rubber. It is leaving black marks everywhere, but they will come off. The reel overhaul I did to our new wire line rig was successful. It did take a few adjustments along the way as we used it and a little help from some forums (chat rooms) to get it put together correctly. The rest of the tackle seems to be fine. We have used almost all of the rigs without any failures. And, the bait supply is holding out. The only glitch is the fuel supply to the port engine. We have the problem narrowed down to the fuel pickup. I currently have the engine and generator pickups switched and both are working fine. The generator does not require as much fuel as the engine, so it works on the bad pickup. The only problem is it runs out at a quarter tank which could limit our range should we decide to make a really long run some day. Our plans are to blow out the fuel pickup to try and dislodge any debris and hopefully it will break it up and allow it to run on through the lines and be picked up by the filters. We will add some algaecide to the fuel as well to help if the problem is algae. We chose not to do this just prior to leaving as it was really windy and we did not want to wrestle stowing all our gear and cleaning the boat up again, so that will be the first order of business when we return.

We did find some time for fun. Sherry was of course happy to see us. She fed us several nights. We ran in to Millie at Big John's. Dave will remember her as the waitress at the End of the World Bar who was so nice to him when we were there Wahoo fishing. We had conch and lobster salads several times at Stuart's. And, the Bimini bread and banana bread from the bakery was very tasty. Stevie S is out of jail now and playing again at Big John's. We caught a little of his show one night. The CD release party with Jim Morris was a lot of fun. As for fishing, well it has been a lot better. We were able to catch a couple nice dolphin, a nice grouper, a tuna, several trigger fish and some snappers to eat on, but no really great catches. The wind was not our friend.

The official stats are as follows. We left Islamorada, crossed the Gulf Stream and arrived in Bimini on April 13th. We fished four days with Freddie, one afternoon with Larry and Laurie only and one afternoon by ourselves. We ran 326 nautical miles total in 40 hours of cruising time and burned about 400 gallons of fuel, 10 of which probably ran out the overflow. We had our own fish to eat most nights but did sneak in a couple burgers along the way. We consumed 2 1/2 bottles of rum, 14 bottles of wine and 11 cases of beer, not counting what we got in bars.....we obviously had some help in this department :)  So you can see, some fun was had. Only 2 weeks now until part 2 and I just heard snow is possible the next couple days. I can't believe old Feeding Frenzy III is sitting in the Bahamas just chomping at the bit to go fishing and I may be shoveling snow tomorrow:(