Hello from Lynyard Cay. Even though we are back at Sea Spray I thought I would post this photo. At this point we are facing West at Lynyard Cay. The exact location would be something like N26 21.528 W76 59.155 if you want to plug that into Google Earth. We were fortunate to have some good people to travel with and one of the results was this great photo.
 Other than that I was able to get the recipe for the coconut cocktail. Ok, we did more than that like snorkeling etc..
 But to enjoy a coconut properly, husk it and shave off any excess fuzz so it does not make its way into the nut. Burly out one of the eyes until you are just about into the coconut water. Make sure the hole is just large enough to pass a funnel of your choice. When the whole is big enough push the funnel through the coconut meat opening up the inside. Fill it the rest of the way with Coconut Rum. This is not high powered stuff. Since there is quite a bit of coconut water inside the nut it gets watered down. Next put your finger over the hole after removing the funnel and shake vigorously.
 Leave it in a refrigerator for a couple of days, and then enjoy.

 I've also updated the photobucket at http://s252.photobucket.com/albums/hh40/danno53/Voyage0910/
 with some of the photos.

 It's been quite windy down here since we returned. Today it blew about 20 knots all day long today and there is no end in sight. In fact the wind is supposed to increase tomorrow.
 Here's a pretty good site that will give you an idea what the Atlantic is like just the other side of the berm to our stern.
 http://www.rockybay.com/webcam_page.htm
 The house is maybe a 1/4 mile North of where the marina is.

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.

Tsunami! Updated...

 Yesterday we were relaxing aboard Freedom in the afternoon since we had taken a good walk up the beach to "On Da Beach" for lunch. "On Da Beach" is a little bit North of the mid point between Sea Spray and Hope Town on Elbow Cay. It must have been a good day in everyone's mind since we met several additional folks we know that decided to walk down from Hope Town. All in all there were six of us from the marina and six staying in Hope Town on moorings or at other marinas. We all had a good lunch at this great place over looking the Atlantic on a blue sky day.
 During the walk back I picked up a rather green coconut since we had used up all we had. Deb has become very adept at working with coconut. She's crusting all sorts of things with coconut now, and believe me her menu is expanding nicely along with my waist. It's a challenge to remain at an acceptable weight when someone is cooking like this.
 Since the rest of the folks here at Sea Spray had not seen the approach I use to open up a coconut, I demonstrated the technique for everyone. Instead of using a machete I use a regular claw hammer. No, I don't pound the heck out of it with the hammer end. I use the claw to perforate the husk in a line from end to end. The pointy end of the coconut can be penetrated the furthest but one has to be careful not to sink the claw into the fat end too far or you will open the nut inside prematurely. After a couple of perforation lines have been made I use the claw to pull the husk away. Then I work around the husk with additional lines from the stem end down to the fat end removing a bit of the husk at a time.
 Once the nut is fully removed I scrape it off with a knife to prevent fuzz from getting into the milk and fruit I remove later. There are three eyes at the pointy end and depending on the ripeness they will be soft or hard. Drill a hole in an eye and drain the milk into a cup. If you don't have a 19.2 volt drill with a 1/2 bit a sharp pocket knife can be used to whittle your way through the shell of the nut.
 Next with the clean empty nut in hand I crack it open by delivering a sharp rap around the circumfrence until it falls into two pieces. There's a bit of a knack to this but after a couple of coconuts it gets easy.

 So where was I with this Tsunami deal.. Ah yes, during the relaxation after all of this, Deb comes down into the salon and says we're under a Tsunami watch! So I put CNN on while Deb hunted around on the net. In a few minutes we found that the watch was canceled before it got too far due to the type of quake that had occured. Shortly afterwards we were again alerted by people who were moving around the docks knocking on boats letting people know about the watch. Fortunately we were able to assure everyone that we had learned the watch was canceled.

 A while ago I posted an entry about fishing just outside the cays in about 200-500 feet of water. The drop off is quite steeep which led me to the very coarse depth estimate. I really should have taken more of these videos because there were times we were getting soaked, and times the waves stacked up on us. This video was taken while we were headed back to Hope Town going South off Man O War Cay.

  Trolling for Wahoo

 Enjoy the ride for what it is. I know we did! One wahoo, but that was enough for us.

Watch the footing par duex

 Friday we went out to Tahiti Beach and walked around a bit. Usually there isn't much to find here and that turned out to be the case on Friday as well. It's not unexpected since this beach is on the Sea Of Abaco where there is little wave action to bring shells to shore. In addition most of the Sea of Abaco is grassy unlike the environment many of the more desireable shells live in.
 So on the way back we cut across some vacant property and that's where I located my find of the day. A nail. Right up through my flip flop and into the ball of my right foot. It's not exactly conducive to walking so we took Saturday off. Besides after playing chase the Gecko we were not really in the mood for a walk anyway.

 Today the tide was with us being low at 10:30 or so. With that, off we went for the Atlantic side here by Sea Spray. We walked North looking over the tidal pools and sandy spots. Deb found some really good shells today and considers today the best day of shelling she's had so far.

 She also found a new friend in this octopus. She just about put her foot down on it without realizing it was there. They camafloge themselves so well they are difficult to see unless you are looking for them. It was stuck just about high and dry perhaps foraging around for some food. However it was still quite active and able to seek the water below. When I stood in front of it for the photos it pulled itself into a wad on a rock and did its best to dissappear into the back ground. From five or six feet I was hard pressed to locate it again even though I knew exactly where it was.

 Those Octupus are crafty critters. It pulled itself in, changed the texture of its skin, alterred its color and blended in.

Dealing with the chill in the Bahamas

 Ok everyone is getting a bit testy about the notion that we find it cool down here these days. Instead of talking about how cold it is I'll talk about how we cope with this frigid weather. Last night was no exception with regard to the chill. In search of a warm climate several boats worth of us managed to meander up to the Abaco Inn here on Elbow Cay. They have a fireplace and a good menu but additionally and more importantly we played chase the Gecko at the bar last night.
 Wha?
 Yes, chase the Gecko. No this is not an insurance commercial it's a drinking game. At the Abaco Inn they have a drink special menu board behind the bar. It's artfully hand painted and probably 3 feet wide and 2 feet high. It's nailed into the wall and several high intensity lights illuminate it thus warming it up at night. The by product of being able to read the sign because of all the light is that some Geckos walk out on to it at odd angles unmaintainable by humans. They walk down from the ceiling beams, and come out of cracks in the wall to get onto the menu and walk around all over it looking for bugs.
 But-
 They stop on the house drink names painted on the sign occassionally and well that's where the game starts. Where ever the Gecko stops, that's what you order. The game didn't last too long last night since the Geckos (two of them last night) were all over the place. George was tending and he had his hands full. In fact he chased one of the Geckos off the sign because he was being worked to much.

 Because I suggested the Gecko game, I have been branded "An Enabler" and thus people are going to be less likely to take me seriously. At some point I'll see if we can get a photo of the Gecko's.

 Today the day after was not bad because I will step on a Gecko before I let it get the best of me. Instead since the cold wind was still blowing I elected to make some Rosemary, Oregano and Basil infused "french" bread while I worked on various aspects of the boat. The oven warmed up the salon nicely but it was killer when it came out of the oven. Without question one half a loaf dissappeared immediately. At least by not being deep fried conch fritters we stand to fair better on the scale.

Watch where you step

Walking around on the beach at low tide is always interesting down here. The bottom is worn down rock intermixed with some sandy areas and the rocks offer the aquatic life plenty of opportunities to nest in. Here we have a young spotted moray eel. http://www.beautifuloceans.com/coral-reef-creatures/caribbean-creatures/spotted-moray-(gymnothorax-moringa).html Note that they grow to reach a length of 6 feet. Given we've almost stepped on a few of these we are hoping to prevent them from converting one of our feet into extra length that gets them to that 6 foot adult length. This little guy was probably about 2 feet long and it was ready for action. When I approached it with the camera it turned and looked me right in the eye.

 The water we found it in was a tidal pool about 2 feet across and perhaps a foot deep. The rock he was hiding under was just under the surface and a good place to put a foot down in the process of walking along the shore.

 We also had a shot at a good sized lobster on the walk but the antenae broke off before I could get it out of the water and it got away. But we know where they hang out now and it's only a matter of time before I get one or step on a moray trying to.

 I will say this much about the moray. The picture doesn't do the crite justice. When the sun is on them they have brilliant greens, pinks and silver. Their colors really pop in the sunlight. If you click on the photo and enlarge it you will get about 20 percent of the brilliance because it was cloudy today.

 On another note, who turned off the heat! Tonite it's under 60 down here!

Happy New Years and a new location

So New Years Eve morning at about 7 a.m. Joe knocks on the side of the boat and says let's go fishing. Understand that Joe is the sort of person that hauls a 14 foot alligator into a 14 foot Whaler. Ok? Mentallity reset? The man owns the South Carolina record for alligators. They have to be tied to the boat before you can kill them. Think about that. He related the experience in part by saying the beast was munching on the transom of the boat before they had it under control.
In full knowledge of this I move down the dock and hop into his home built 26 foot center console with a single 250 Yanmar. It's a good riding boat that plows through slop well. Having heard of his exploits with the alligator I elected to wear jeans and sneakers thinking there would be hooks lines and all sorts of stuff to deal with.
I was wrong.
We beat out of South Man of War for about 10 minutes and realised that the Atlantic was more than we were at that time. Water was rolling in at us and we were starting to slam so we headed back in. I got my swim suit on, you know, what I should have worn originally, since we were next going for lobster and conch on the inside. Along the way we picked up another boater and headed into the Sea of Abaco looking for lobster.
I managed to spear a small one and locate an immature conch we threw back. Never mind the nurse sharks near the lobster habitats they move off when you look at them funny. After an hour of so of this the tide run out the inlets abated and out we went. We found ourselves in about 6-8 trolling along looking for wahoo. Since Joe knew the ropes he managed all the fishing gear while I drove. Steve hung out and drank beer. Ok, he wasn't alone we all did. At 10 am we were drinking beer in 6-8 trolling for wahoo.
It was great. While we only managed to pull one in it served to make a meal for all of us and our families. Deb and I had the bonus of a lobster for use as an appetizer.
So after a morning of fishing we moved on to the evening of celebrating the New Year. Hope Town does it right. It might be small but they have all they need and more to make New Years Eve all it should be. After a great dinner with some great folks we did a bar hop around the island and then returned to Hope Town for dancing and the fireworks. All said and done it was a terrific evening capped off by a slow dink ride across Hope Town Harbour to Freedom.
Happy New Year!

And now we are at Sea Spray further South on Elbow Cay. Shelling today at low tide I almost had another lobster in a tidal pool but wound up with a piece of antenna instead.

Apologies for the webcam. Because of the way they sell wifi down here I cannot tie it into the router and let it upload photos to the website. Some day I'll get a 12v powered pan tilt and zoom webcam I can put anywhere on the boat. Hopefully next year before we get over here.