TWENTY FIVE TIMES TWO!

Tuesday CTM, The Donkey Master, The Spaniard, and I went fishing while Leann and Jeannie decided to spend the day relaxing. I cried because the boys made me go with them :) We caught 4 nice Blackfin Tuna and the boys cried when I made them reel up early so we could get back early to celebrate Leann's milestone birthday :) Let me just say....she is two hot 25 year olds wrapped up into one! We celebrated at "A Touch of Class" but all agreed Leann has a whole lot more than "a touch"!

From 2011-06-08

Complete with "Happy Birthday to You", cake, and candles....

From 2011-06-08

HAPPY TWENTY FIVE TIMES TWO TRIPS AROUND THE SUN, LEANN!!!!!!

Catch you on the flip flop.....

CJM

STUMPY STUMPY HE'S OUR MAN.....

They say a picture is worth a thousand words so here is a sampling of our day with Captain Stumpy.....

Dr. K doing what he does best....quizzing Stumpy on the way to the reef spot :)

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Jeannie was the first to reel in a big Mutton....

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Followed by Dave....

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This Yellow Jack almost pulled Leann overboard....

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Nice Nassau Grouper, CTM!

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Three Amigos, Musketeers, or Stooges....you decide!

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A good time was had by all! Catch you on the flip flop....

CJM

QUICK UPDATE.....

Saturday we loaded up and moved to Treasure Cay and spent the day getting settled. It is a beautiful resort/marina but I can report the internet is incredibly sketchy and poor here :( I can generally pick it up if I sit up on the bridge, hold my laptop at a 45 degree angle up in the air and wiggle my nose a few times :)

I picked up some kind of Bahamian bug a couple of days ago that involved fever, chills, nausea, several trips to the "head", and several hours in bed. But, I can report that I am back to 100% this morning:)

Yesterday, we did manage to head out to troll for a few hours. We caught 2 really nice Blackfin Tuna so had fresh sushi....delish! The boys fired up the charcoal grill at their Marina View Villa (pictures to come) and grilled the remainder of the Ono, Mahi, and Tuna. So...our cupboards are bare and we are now under pressure to catch fish again. The winds have FINALLY layed and we are heading out with "Stumpy" today...our new found Bahamian guide :) So....hopefully fishing report and pics later:)....internet permitting:(

My thoughts will be with Caldwell and Kate today as they wing their way to Belize for the first leg of their honeymoon:) CTM and I are looking forward to their arrival in Marsh Harbor in one week for the second leg!

Catch you on the flip flop....

CJM

GRUNTS AND GRITS, LEANN?????

I would venture that Leann's answer to that question would be an emphatic NO!!!! We had our first crisis on Feeding Frenzy III on Friday :(

The day started as usual with the six of us sitting around the table having coffee and trying to decide what to do with the wind even blowing harder than the day before. We decided to head over to Man-O-War Cay and do some trolling for Muttons and then anchor up off of Dickie's Cay for some Snapper. No luck trolling so we quickly found a spot out of the wind at Dickie's and anchored. Nothing...... Finally Leann caught a Grunt! Oh...RELIEF...we didn't get skunked!!!! CTM being the good mate took her fish off the hook. He was a feisty little Grunt all the while grunting and groaning and wanting to go back home :) In a last ditch effort to save himself the little Grunt wriggled right out of CTM's clutch and fell straight to the bottom of the boat via Leann's foot. In a freakish accident a barb off of the little fellow's back went into the top of Leann's foot and was sticking out the bottom :( IS THERE A DOCTOR IN THE HOUSE (or on the boat as was the case)?????? Not only did we have a doctor (The Donkey Master), but a nurse (Miss Jeannie), and an Air Evac exec (Don Julio the Spaniard). The Donkey Master's assessment was that surgery would be required! Now, we have carried lidocaine, needles, bandages, pain pills, antibiotics, sutures and all sorts of medical supplies thinking at some point in the heat of the battle wrestling a ginormous Mahi or Wahoo someone would get hooked or sliced. Who would have thought a freakish accident involving a 1 pound Grunt would require pulling out our stash!

OUCH!!!!!

From 2011-06-03

It was like an E.R. in the cabin....

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Leann reported, "IT'S ALL GOOD!" when the surgery was done....

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We pulled up the anchor and headed to Hope Town for a tetanus shot to complete her treatment but found their vaccine had expired :( Today we actually move to Treasure Cay where there is another clinic. Hopefully we can get her shot there :)

So...do you think Leann would like a serving of Grunts and Grits for breakfast this morning? :) I have to hurry up and delete all of these pictures as at some point I think I overheard the Donkey Master ask if anyone knew Johnny Cochran's phone number! But, after removing the barb, the Donkey Master slipped one of CTM's socks over Leann's foot to hold the bandage in place so we would have to say, "If the sock doesn't fit....you must acquit!!!" :):)

Catch you on the flip flop....

CJM

THURSDAY FISHING REPORT.....

The wind was still blowing but we had fiddled and dinked to the point of fiddling and dinking no more so we decided....what the heck....let's give it a whirl. It was very rough but we had a successful day. One nice Dolphin, two Wahoo (the big one got away!) 2 Blackfin Tuna (a couple more big ones got away!).

From 2011-06-03

Chef Dave a/k/a the "Donkey Master" :) cooked again. We had Tuna sushi with wasabi and soy, blackened Mahi, and blackened Ono. Yum-O!

Catch you on the flip flop....

CJM

ANOTHER TRIP AROUND THE SUN.....

"The winds are blower harder now 50 knots (well 20) or thereabouts!" I think I already used this phrase but it seems appropriate again. The winds have been blowing hard since we arrived in Hope Town...hence no offshore fishing yet. We did manage to troll inside the Sea of Abaco and caught another mutton....

From 2011-06-02

We think Dave made a record catch....the smallest yellowtail snapper on the Feeding Frenzy III!

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Hummmm...is this why we always hold our fish close to the camera? :)

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We celebrated Don's "52nd trip around the sun" in style....birthday cake and all....

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Wednesday was a "Road Trip." We ferried over to Marsh Harbor and rented a car. Over 100 miles later we had visited a remote beach....

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Stopped for a cold Kalik at a "real" Bahamian bar. Caldwell, look closely at the television....you can even watch Spongebob Squarepants in the Bahamas :)

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And....we watched several ants carry a dead cockroach (or some kind of varmit) off the bar in the "real" Bahamian bar. Obviously we are easily entertained :)

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CTM wants to make Pontiac Cove a "chain" by purchasing this 4 slip marina in the middle of nowhere :)

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We stopped at Pete's Pub on the way back for a "Little Harbour Blaster"....

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Grabbed some conch salad in Marsh Harbor and caught the last ferry boat back to Hope Town....

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PHEW!!!!!

Going to give the offshore fishing a whirl today so fishing report later. Catch you on the flip flop....

CJM

Week Number 2

We are in Hope Town. We have now traveled 408 miles. We left last Friday and traveled 88 miles across the Little Bahama Bank. Most of the time we were in water 10 to 15 feet deep. The paper charts depths are in meters. It always spooks me a little when I look at this crossing and all I see for depths are 2's and 3's and 4's. There are a few 5's and way too many 1's as well. We were tied up at the Old Bahama Bay fuel dock when they opened at 7:00 as the tides were falling and we wanted to get across the channel beginning at Indian Rock before low tide. There is a narrow, unmarked cut through to the Little Bahama Bank that at low tide is 4 to 7 feet deep. We were on edge as we ran this 5 mile stretch to reach the bank which is still only 6 or 8 feet deep for another 5 miles or so. From that point on it was a pretty relaxing ride to Spanish Cay. We spent only one night at Spanish Cay. We missed it the last time in the Abacos and found it to be a pretty neat stopover. It was private but now open to the public. It is owned by some Texans. They have a 5000 feet long landing strip that they fly in and out from. They have one of the most well stocked ship's stores we have found. They had a nice restaurant and bar at the marina and a newly re-opened one called Wrecker's just over the hill, right on the ocean. We cooked some of our Mahi on the back of our boat that night and pulled out for Hope Town the next day to join up with the Looper's and Kinscherf's. The weather was much better on Saturday so we pulled out on the Atlantic side and got to fish most of the 50 mile run to Hope Town :):)

We only troll 2 or 3 lines when it is just the two of us, or I guess I should say CJM only let's me troll that many lines. We had a trusty Billy Bait, a rigged ballyhoo on the surface and one a little deeper on the wire. We no sooner had started trolling and we had a hit on the wire. A nice Wahoo:) Boy was this going to be a good day. Well, about 4 or so hours later and a couple small Blackfin Tunas and we were at Hope Town. What a disappointment:( However, enough to eat:)

The winds have been 15 to 20 since arriving in Hope Town so we have not been offshore yet. We have trolled a little in the Sea of Abaco and caught a couple nice Mutton Snappers and some assorted other snappers. Also fished a little deep hole just outside Hope Town and caught some Gray Snappers and with a small Yellowtail for bait and a balloon for a bobber we hooked what we think was a pretty good size Grouper but could not get it out of the rocks.

Some touring of Hope Town and a phenomenal tour of the lighthouse and week two is complete. I think we are going to put our big girl panties on and go offshore tomorrow then moving to Treasure Cay on Saturday. Treasure is another stop we missed last time in the Abacos so we are looking forward to it.