Hey All,
It has been awhile and have a lot of catching up to do. Good thing Robin writes on our calendar and in her journal where we are everday.
On Mar. 22nd after spending a few days in Blackpoint and celebrating Corbett's birthday with Tortuga, SunCat, Sea Camp and Some Dream we headed back south. Sea Camp accompanied us and we stopped at a few snorkeling spots on the way to Galliot Cay, the others headed north. After good dinner Sea Camp decided it was time for them to start slowly heading back to Ft Pierce, Fl. The next morning we said our goodbyes and went a few miles south to Rudder Cut Cay then on March 24th we sailed for Calabash Bay, Long Island. Up early we continued on to Rum. No fish were harmed while underway!
Got into Rum Cay around 1300, that's 1pm for land lubbers, and pulled into the same slip we had last visit. It was kinda quite. Within the next 24hrs the place filled up with a flotilla of trawlers led by Wayne and Sharon on "My Sharonna". We had met them in Georgetown around Christmas and found that Wayne was a S. Cal. surfer. He did not bring a board and since Cookie Monster travels w/two we said that when he gets to Rum we will surf together. On Sun. Mar 27th after Robin returned from church about 15 of us at the marina piled into marina owner Bobby's boat and set out for a circumnavigation of Rum Cay. First stop was the ruins of an old village on the NW shore in Flamingo Bay. A large bay with many coral heads just below the surface. Bobby, knowing each one by name, calmly navigated to within 100ft of a sandy beach and dropped the hook. Some of us checked out the beach and ruins and others SUPed(stand up paddleboarded) . It was hard to imagine that this was a thriving settlement in the early 1900's. Completely overgrown and now home to the wild cattle roaming the island. Apparently there are good sources of fresh water for them in this area. Back on board Bobby was preparing the fresh conch salad that JJ(The Conch Master) just caught. As we munched on the conch salad, wahoo salad, prepared by Paul and Sue on "Independence" , and other snacks we motored on to Gin Hill. This is a great surf spot on the North Shore. Wind was from the SE which made for "offshore" conditions on the 5ft swell. Bobby, Wayne, and Corbett jumped off the boat after it anchored within 100yds of the break. This spot breaks about 1/2 mi off the beach and is only acessible by boat. Corbett forgot the board leashes and had to surf "old school" along w/Wayne. They both go back to the leashless days so not that big of a deal. After a fun 1 1/2 hr session we pulled anchor and continued east. It is a true wilderness feeling along this coast as there are no buildings, beautiful beaches, sheer cliffs, sea caves and more than a handful of deserted surf breaks. The wind direction was not cooperating and we motored on. Around the NE corner is a surf break called Gun Bay. Conditions were choppy but as we passed and looked back you could see the swell wrapping down this bay and could only imagine how good it can get! Bobby sights a humpback whale breaching about 2mi away. As we head towards it the breeching continues, probably more than one. They seemed to be moving faster and we could not catch them. Still it was a great sight even from a distance! Adjusting course we headed towards SE point. This is a relatively "shallow bank" area that juts out about 5mi ,and is a few miles wide, from the island. It stays at 100ft depths and then drops off to 6000ft in a matter of boat lenghts! Needless to say this makes for fantastic fishing as the food sources for big fish flow on and off these banks with the tide and north flowing current. Getting closer to shore on the south side there is a 30ft wide entrance of swift flowing water to the Salt Pond. The massive area behind it is full of mangroves, sand bars, lots of sea life and of course salt flats. These natural salt collectors were a large source of income back in the late 1800's-mid 1900's. We took our dinghy back to explore and found it quite fascinating. Bonefishing is reported to be world class, and some do it on SUP's! The water is so pure and it is home to many turtles and conch. Back to the marina after taking the shallow route through the coral heads that are so close together we avoided them with our dinghy! Bobby takes it in stride and barely squeaks his 35ft single engine boat through with a sly smile on his face!
On the surf front this would be the only day of surfable waves during our 9 day stay. For us there are so many other things to do such as snorkeling, renting an "off-road" golf cart bicycling around and of course Robin putting in her teaching at the school that time flew by! We went fishing one day with Bryan who keeps a boat at the marina. Caught a few yellowfin tuna. Made dinner for Bryan and Ben, a charter boat captain who lives on a 68ft sportfishing boat at the marina, at Bryan's home. Bryan, and his wife Cathy, have been on the island for 8+years and he fishes with a passion. He is originally from Parsippany Hills, NJ! Ben is a native from Eleuthra and has an extensive nautical background. He captained mailboats all over the Bahamas and has delivered all sorts of boats throughout the East Coast and Caribbean. Also he has a produce farm back in Eleuthra. He is a true ambassador for the Bahamian people with a personality second to none. His wife is a teacher on Eleuthra and will be moving back to her birthplace on Rum Cay to teach in Sept.
Well it was tough leaving and after saying our goodbyes to Bobby, Chris, Rasta, Harley, JJ, Paul, Sue and Ben we headed to Long Island.
During our visit there in Jan/Feb we along with Tortuga, SunCat and Two Of A Kind, anchored at Harvey's Bay and met Dan & Pam Deal who where born and raised here. A wonderful family and we immediately became friends. Dan is a lobster/conch fisherman and Pam works partime at the Beach Bungalow Bar, which we described in an earlier post. Dan's birthday is on March 29th and we decided to get together between his fishing trips and celebrate his and Corbett's birthdays. Robin baked a cake .
We made last minute flights from GeorgeTown back to NJ to celebrate our niece Molly and now nephew Clayton's wedding celebration on April 9th. Also throw in her Grandparents 50th anniversary. This was a covert operation and absolutley no one in NJ knew we were coming!
Just showed up at the party. It was great as everyone thought we were going to Skype them.
More to follow.....
