Out and About

 With some more of this Bahamian good weather several of us decided that cruising down a little past Snake Cay and then back into the shallows to a blue hole was a good idea. The Sea of Abaco was calm and with an invitation to ride with Bill and Carol we grabbed our snorkel gear and headed out in their Carolina Skiff joined by Dave and Carol in their skiff.  

 The intended destination is a tide restricted area. That is to say, you had best time your arrival with high tide or you will be hauling the dink out over very shallow water, if you can! While we had some concerns about getting in and out of the snorkel site, we pressed on churning up some sand every now and then. After about 10 minutes of poking around we arrived at the blue hole where Dave and I pulled on our dive suits and jumped in. The water started out quite clear but with all of our movement it clouded up a bit but regardless it was still quite scenic. Deb and Carol used look buckets and watched us as I free dived into the hole and Dave used his Hookah. Some day I'm going to have to piece together one of these rigs because they can save a mess of cash spent on bottom cleaning. Instead of paying a diver every time the bottom needs a little scrubbing I can don the gear and hop in myself. Brownie puts together a good rig, but the system can be pieced together using components much more economically.
 Anyway, the blue hole was actually quite deep. I was able to get down about 15 feet or so but Bill's depth sounder indicated it was actually much deeper than this. Perhaps almost 60 feet. Given it was lined with ledges full of fish I didn't have to go far or risk being trapped to enjoy the experience. Since Deb's dad has had very sad experience cave diving we've taken a lesson from this and always elected not to penetrate anything while diving. Besides I was on my lung capacity and that is not what it once was.
 Eventually we realised that the tide was shifting to the outbound direction and it was time to haul anchor and move on. Since we still had good sunlight and some tide I suggested that we check out the passages behind Snake Cay to see if we could spot some of the spotted Rays. Within a couple of minutes we were there and spotting rays with wingspans exceeding 3 feet. A school of 6 or so led us out of the area and back into the Sea of Abaco for our return North which took us to Lubbers Quarters and Lubbers Landing where we discovered a different sort of blue hole. It comes in a canning jar and consists of rum, coconut rum, blue curacao, some ginger beer and a twist of lime. Very refreshing and they go down too easily!
   And then it was Saturday. Now it was time to hop the ferry provided by Froggie's Dive shop over to Man O War so we could take in the flea market. As you look at the photo on the left consider that, as opposed to all of the other Cays in the Abacos, Man O War is a dry Cay. That's right they do not serve or sell alcohol there. Given this fact the reason the cart was hanging off the wall remains a mystery to us. As we were walking along we heard a cart start up and all sorts of commotion ensued. Fortunately the cart stopped in time and did not fall several feet into the water. Perhaps there were people sitting on the bench seat at the rear of the cart providing a counter balance keeping the cart from falling. Whatever the reason for salvation it was resolved with some friendly hands pulling the cart back onto the parking area. Perhaps this was an accident caused by unfriendly shifters on carts that are not very positive with regard to the selection of forward and reverse.
 Speaking of forward and reverse, something that does not have much control or ability to reverse met us as we motored along in the White Sound entrance channel. It was a rather large float plane leaving the Abaco Inn. When it turned on it's landing lights I stood up and waved for all I was worth. Some of us have had the experience of meeting a float plane on the Rondout Creek in Kingston NY when it was on final and there was no action to take but SCRAM! Fortunately in this case, we all had plenty of time to take action because the plane was in the process of leaving the Abaco Inn, not landing. To his credit the captain held up so we could race into the channel towards Sea Spray and get out of his way. Once we were past he throttled up a bit and moved out onto the Sea of Abaco where he took off. I believe the plane was making a ferry run for "Music Doing Good" at the Hope Town Harbour Lodge as there were additional planes carrying the musicians landing today. This is yet another good example of the way folks down here contribute to Every Child Counts on a regular basis. Next week, I believe the function is benefiting Hope Town Fire and Rescue.

 Cool.