A little time on the hook

 Braving the shallow waters between Elbow Cay and Lubbers Quarters Cay we headed South for Lynyard Cay. A few of us here at Sea Spray were getting a bad case of cabin fever and since the weather was predicted to be good for the next couple of days we all headed out. Lynyard Cay is not much of anything besides a way station people choose to anchor at over night while traveling South to Eluthera and the Exumas. However nearby there is good snorkeling at Sandy Cay and there is also Pete's Pub. If the weather is right these are both an easy dink from the anchorage.
 The picture at the right was taken just off Lubbers Quarters Cay near Cracker P's while we were headed South. As you can see someone did not time the tide too well and they left some tracks in the bottom. There were several paths like this carved into the bottom in this area so as with us (see last year's blog on Pete's Pub) this area has made itself known to someone's propellors. We were lucky last year as the top few inches of the bottom is relatively loose.
 Moving further South into the Sea of Abaco headed for the Tiloo Bank. At our leisurely pace of about 8 knots we were treated to the view of some spotted rays, a bull shark chasing snapper right off our starboard side and a nurse shark laying on the bottom. If you look at the paths "Lynyard to Sea Spray" under the this link http://home.roadrunner.com/~danmapes/Voyage0910.kmz with Internet Explorer and Google Earth, you will see how we had to head South West to avoid the bank which is quite shallow. Some people thought the alternative path over that bank was acceptable but realised upon approach that the longer path around the bank was a better choice. Having been around this bank last year we elected to stick with our plan and take the deep draft route. By the way, that only supports about 10 feet of draft. After picking our way through the passage on the South end of the bank we found ourselves at the North Bar inlet in flat calm water. This was a welcome change from our first experience with this inlet that had us in 6-8 feet of confused seas.

 Shortly after we arrived at Lynyard Cay and dropped the hooks. After a few minutes and some lunch we all set off in the dinks for Sandy Cay. See the track called "Lynyard Cay Dink One". Sadly the Google Earth imagry for this area is lacking so you cannot get a good idea of what it was like. Suffice it to say the water was flat calm and clear with almost 80 to 100 feet of visability. We snorkeled over the reef and in the 20 feet of water to the east side of the reef by the cay.

 The diversity of the fish was a welcome treat for the eye. There was plenty of color! There were several kinds of Angels, Parrots, Tangs, Turtles, Rays, Grouper and etc.. Even a baracuda. But no more sharks thankfully.
 Back at the boats later on we had appetisers that turned out to be dinner they were so good. Afterwards we all crashed for the evening. In the morning we set off in the dinks again looking for a blue hole in the Bight of Old Robinson but struck out. However, we did manage to come across a pod of dolphins in shallow water. There were three of them and it was amazing how quickly they could move away from us with merely a couple of flips of their flukes. There were also more rays and turtles to be seen and quite frequently.

 Next we hit Pete's pub for a brew and some T shirts and thence back to the boats for lunch. After lunch we tried to snorkel Sandy Cay but by now the wind had kicked up from the South and given the long fetch leading up to the Cay we had about 2 feet of chop when we arrived so snorkeling was out for the uninitiated.
 Given the rough water we gave it up and went crashing back to the boats. In the morning we bailed out before the bad weather had a chance to set in. But we were not quite early enough. Crossing North Bar we had swells coming in from the east and about a foot of chop from the South on top of that making for a bit of roll on the way back to Tiloo Bank. Once around the bank things laid down well providing a smooth ride back to Sea Spray.

 All in all it was a pleasant trip with everyone having a good time snorkeling at Sandy Cay. In fact one of the crew mentioned this was what they came to the Bahamas for. Some of us might think his real reason was hacking up coconuts and drinking rum out of them but he was insistent that snorkeling was the real reason.
 I'm going to have to try out his recipe. We invited him to happy hour the other night but he proclaimed that he only needed a half an hour to be happy with one of those coconuts.