Moving about

 Last Tuesday on the 15th we looked at the weather forecasts and wondered if we would be able to get out on the Sea of Abaco with the dink. The wind was predicted to be out of the South East but clocking around to the North as the day progressed. After mulling over the choice between a walk and time in the dink we decided to go out in the dink and if it was rough we'd go up to Hope Town and walk around up there a while.
 Once out on the Sea we were treated to calm water and not having been along the West shore of Lubber's Quarters I stuck the nose of the dink at the North end and moved on. Once around the tip of the cay we were greeted by shallow clear water and a number of live shells going about their livelihood on the bottom. We could clearly see Tulips and a few conch. Given they were alive we left them alone and moved on. Eventually we ran into very shallow water so Deb had to move to the bow and I stood in the middle. With the engine set to the highest operational angle we were able to bounce along the bottom without grinding the propeller up.

 Eventually the water deepened and we made our way over to Witch point on the West shore of Abaco. There were several beaches over there and we spent some time scouring them for shells. It's been my experience that the shores of Abaco don't offer many shells of interest because there usually are no reefs encouraging their growth and this area lived up to that expectation. After a while we drove down to Snake Cay and looked at the water life under us. There are some really large spotted rays down there and they get close enough to warrant caution since we have seen them jump clear of the water several times. As our luck would have it the sun hid behind the few clouds in the area and this put an end to our viewing since the water is deeper here.

 Along the way back to Lubber's Deb took a sudden move to the starboard side of the dink when she saw a nice shark swimming along with us. Pleasant looking fish they are. Especially when their mouths are open and headed your way. Since we were going past Cracker P's on the way back to Sea Spray, and it was lunch time, well, we pulled in for a bite and the next episode of "Everyone Loves Tobi". "Dan just smile and nod ok?" Next time I'll bring my hearing aids but we may not laugh as much.
 Today it's February 18th and Freedom was tied up here at Sea Spray for over a month without moving. her bottom was starting to get shaggy with growth. Coincidentally the Royal Marsh Harbour Yacht Club was sponsoring a seminar on the passage to and cruising of the Central Bahamas. Since this is one of our goals we elected to move Freedom over to Boat Harbour at the Abaco Beach Resort for a night. Our membership in the club provided us with a docking discount so the pain of a daily fee was reduced a bit. It was worth it.

 We attended the seminar and picked up a number of pointers from several people that had experienced the trip to Eluethera and Exumas. Afterwards, we hooked up with the other members of the Club at 5 pm for the evening happy hour out on the peninsula. These people know how to make an hour happy. Everyone brings their own beverage and a snack. The picnic tables fill with goodies to munch on while chatting with friends. Having been reminded that our attendance was appropriate on the way back from town we picked up a pint of fresh conch salad from George the conch salad man. He hangs out at a small booth next to the Harbour View Marina and chops up conch. Darn good salad. It didn't last long on the table. A few of the ladies got together and made up conch fritters the likes of which we had never experienced. I'm hopeful we'll get the recipe for these but I suspect it's going to take some investment in beverages to loosen up the security system.

 Today we hauled out of Boat Harbour a well protected and high class facility, and made our way back to Sea Spray to finish our time here. Since we had not run Freedom in a while I opened her up and with a puff of black smoke she struggled up onto plane at 17 knots. Fully 2 knots less than what she normally can do with a full load. Certainly the growth on the bottom was holding her back. But the gauges looked good so we ran her at speed a couple of minutes before settling down into a casual 7 knots or so. Fortunately we left with some tide and ran fast because by the time we reached Porgee Rock we were stirring up sand as we traveled. Back in the slip we were happy to see most of the shag was gone.