Chapter 12 ( Off to the Exuma's, Fish, Fish and More Fish)

Chapter 12 (Off to the Exuma's, Fish,Fish and More Fish!) We ended up having a fantastic time at Cape Eleuthra after our terrifying start! We met several other boaters both power fishing boaters and sailors. Eleuthra is a very popular place for fishermen. We met so many that had an abundant supply of fish that everyday we were receiving a large bag of fish. We met Tom and Margaret from Stuart Florida. They gave us Wahoo steaks and let us borrow their bikes for a day. We were able to cover a larger area of the Cape of Eleuthra.

We left Cape Eleuthra on April 18th at about 10 AM, and headed South to the Exuma's. It was supposed to be a mild day of wind about 15-20 knots of wind. It started out with winds about 8 knots across Exuma sound in about 4,000 foot of water. We were able to put out our Main and the Genoa for a good sail. Because of the direction we were headed it made for a slightly bumpy, uncomfortable sail but we both got used to it. About half way there the winds picked up to about 20 knots and it got ROUGH, and the College students on Spring break returned. We have a new appreciation for the Gordon Lightfoot lyrics "does anyone know where the love of GOD goes when the waves turn the minutes to hours?" While sailing, we put out 2 fishing rods with Rigged Ballyhoo (Frozen fish about 8 inches in length). When we were approaching Highbourne Cay and the Highbourne cut, there was a shelf of water around 700 foot of water, we tacked and heard the classic "ZZZZZZZZ of the fishing rod" and ended up hooking a fish. Because of the wind and the sails it took several minutes to get control of the boat. Steve had a lot of work to get things under control. Mean while I picked up the fishing rod to try and manage the fish. We had no idea what it was at that point but knew it was very large. Up until now we had mostly caught Barracuda on the deep water trips. Our fishing rods have 20 pound test and Steve has modified them to be deep water rods. Once the boat was as stable as we could imagine, I was exhausted and Steve took over on the Rod. We ended up having to turn the boat and chase the fish several times when he would make another run for it to get line back into the reel. After about 45 minutes to an hour we finally had the fish to a place that we could see it was a large Dolphin,(Mahi-Mahi or Dorado in different areas of the world). We wanted to do everything possible to land this guy but really thought it would be impossible. We really needed a 3rd person at that time to help out. When we got him to the boat, we used our Gaff hook and it took both of us to get him on board. This is the largest Ocean fish we have ever caught. He was easily 35 pounds. The poor guy was exhausted when he was first landed. We knew we could not prepare the fish on board because of the rocking of the boat, not safe with large sharp knives! We decided to tie up the tail and boy were we glad we did. He started flipping and trying his best to escape. We managed to contain him, although I am not sure how and get the boat turned around and enter the Highbourne cut to get to our anchorage.

The Highbourne cut is another one of these tricky cuts that have strong tidal current, wind and wave cautions. We made it through just fine, turned the corner and were very surprised to see the number of boats anchored on the west side of Highbourne Cay. It is one of the few cuts into the Exuma's and is a favorite stopping point for boaters going in any direction between, New Providence, Eleuthra and the Exuma's. So, it took about an hour from the time we entered through the cut and made it to our anchorage. I kept pouring sea water over our "Catch of the day" to keep him wet and try to preserve some of the beautiful color that he had. Once we got the boat anchored, Steve went to work washing off the stern deck. We had blood spattered every where and this big beautiful fish to prepare. Once we had all of our pictures taken, he went to work cutting it up. Just as he was tossing the carcass of the fish overboard, he hit the back of a huge nurse shark with it. We then suddenly realized that we had not one, but 4 huge nurses, about 7 foot and 200 pounds each! The Sharks kept circling our boat and tearing up the carcass. We figure they got a scent of it as we came through the cut and followed us to our anchorage. We ended up staying at this anchorage for 3 nights to wait for the weather to allow us to make our next crossing. We saw several sharks in this bay, and therefore decided not to swim at this anchorage like usual. Amazing how a few sharks change your desire to swim or snorkel? When we started this Blog, I mentioned that I thought we would be eating Fish or lobster at least 5-7 times per week. I had to make some changes back then due to the lack of fish caught. However, since leaving Marsh Harbor, between fish caught and Fish given to us, we are eating fish more than once a day. It has been wonderful. We went ashore to the Highbourne Marina to walk and provision. While there we watched the fishermen cleaning their catch and t one point saw at least 50 of the sharks we had under our boat, both Nurse Sharks, reef sharks and Bull Sharks . Not too far south of us is a Cay called Normans Cay, where they have one of the largest breeding grounds for Hammer head shark! We didn't see any of these though! The next day, April 19th was Lillie's birthday 56th birthday! What a beautiful relaxing place to celebrate a birthday. Again, with the fantastic cell coverage with T Mobile, I received many wonderful wishes from friends and family. We relaxed in the hammocks off of the Stern, walked the beaches, went ashore and achieved a new record in our Smash Ball game of 208 volley's. Life is much simpler on the boat. Steve fixed me an amazing meal with Spaghetti and Mahi-Mahi and cupcakes for desert!

While on the Island we ended up breaking our Smash Ball record 2 more times. We first made it to 228 and then 248! We will be ready for the Smash Ball Olympics! So, Steve has been studying the Wind and Weather each day for several hours. He is trying to coordinate our trip home with the most favorable wind and weather. It really has proven to be quite stressful for him to make all of the right decisions. He listens to Chris Parker each morning (Mon-Sat), on his SSB radio, the marine equivalent of Ham radio. Chris Parker broadcasts out of Florida for his subscribers, trying to navigate on the Ocean (We don't subscribe). He gives thorough weather reports and addresses the concerns of those trying to make crossings. Many times we can listen to the advise that he gives to subscribers going the same direction as us. If we were cruising full-time we might subscribe, we can definitely see it as a benefit! We decided the best way to work our way back is to head North West to New Providence. As we left the Exuma's we had good winds out of the South East. We needed to cross a very shallow area between the "Yellow and the White banks". We ended up seeing depths of 15-20 feet. Though we were not anticipating as rough a ride, we prepared the cabin better against the "Wild Spring Breakers", and it turned out to be rougher than we thought so we were glad we had! The charts mentioned we could see rising coral heads and depths of less than 5 feet, so much better than we were expecting. We had sails up most of the way and really had a great time! New Providence is the Island, home to the Capitol of Nassau. We have heard many (Some good some bad) stories of Cruisers going this route. As you can imagine, it is a big City with Big City problems. We stayed in a slip at Nassau Harbor Marina, to wait out the pending thunderstorms predicted with lightning and rain. We don't want to be out on anchor with our giant Lightning Rod (aluminum mast) in the sky! Nassau Harbor Marina is a moderately priced Marina, Close to good shopping and has good reviews on good security. We will pay $1.75 per foot per night. With Showers, unlimited water and Electricity. Peter, the Dock Master is a very nice guy and made our landing very pleasant. Great communication on the radio and even though winds were pretty strong, all went well. The Atlantis Marina which is beautiful is $6.00 per foot per night and they don't accept boats smaller than 55 feet long. This is not the peaceful, quiet anchorage we have been used to; sirens and emergency vehicles off and on. When we first walked out onto the streets of Nassau, we were shocked to see a big City on an Island. The first thing we saw was a "Starbucks" . We are hoping to post our blog today with good internet and maybe a few pictures! We will hopefully if weather forecasted stays the same, sail out of here in the morning, (On Monday) and head North for the Berry Islands for our next Anchorage as we make our way back to Florida!