On To The Berry Islands

November 1, 2015April 12, 2018 / kk42sealife / 12 Comments

October 31st

We woke to another day of clear, glassy water. Scott says its like boating in your friend’s infinity pool. With today being much calmer than yesterday, we can see the bottom very clearly. This video was taken in 20 feet of water!

Not your neighbor’s infinity pool (of course we wouldn’t really know for sure, having never been in an infinity pool)!!

Scott spent most of the day walking back and forth, staring in the water and remarking how calm it was and how he could still see the bottom. When he wasn’t walking back and forth, he spent time sitting out on the pulpit (his new favorite viewing spot).

We have had two fishing rods out each day, testing our luck. Late in the morning, we heard the whir of something on the line. Scott started to reel it in, and there was definitely resistance on the line…yay!…dinner! Alas, it was a barracuda. A big barracuda. Unfortunately, we weren’t going to take a chance on eating it. Barracuda usually carry a large amount of ciguatera, a toxin found in fish that feed along coral reefs. The fish cannot rid themselves of the toxin, and it accumulates gradually in the fish with age. It was a big guy. The lure in this video is nine inches!

So…we didn’t want to eat it, but also didn’t want to cut the line and lose our lure (not having an arsenal of these things). Scott did not want to get close to that mouth, so he used several long handled tools to get it off of the hook. It was quite a fight, as the thing was nasty and mad, but he came away with the lure! We called it a day, and brought the poles in.

We noticed that our little castaway birds were still with us, and later in the afternoon our stowaway numbers grew. A seagull decided to take a break and perch himself at the end of our paravane. Soon enough, there were five of them fighting for space. I roused Howard up from his travel sleep, and showed him what was going on. It was quite the sensory overload, and I was worried he might have a stroke. He settled into the port side pilot house window, to take it all in.

It became quite a loud, shrieking show, but the gulls finally left as we approached land. However, Howard started to look at the roof of the pilot house, thinking that they must have settled up there. God knows what will ensue when he goes out once we anchor. He’s likely to spend the rest of the night searching for them.

It was an enjoyable and eventful eight hour day, and we are now anchored in Bullock Harbour, off of Great Harbour Cay.

We plan to spend a few days here. Scott wants to snorkel near a submerged plane wreckage, and jump into a blue hole; both are right near us. There is a beach on the east side of the island that we want to check out, as well as a beach bar or two. Plenty to keep us occupied!

Catch of the day: Barracuda!

Here are photos from today’s journey. By the way…Happy Halloween!

“Shells Sink, Dreams Float. Life’s Good On Our Boat!”

The Great Bahama Banks

October 31, 2015April 12, 2018 / kk42sealife / Leave a comment

Friday, October 30th

We are crossing the Great Bahama Bank, on our way to the Berry Islands. The Great Bahama Bank is made up of limestone deposits that scientists believe was exposed to air during the last ice age (meaning it was dry land), when the sea level was substantially lower. Today, it’s total thickness is almost three miles. The shallow waters of the bank extend southeast from Miami, in a broad curve about 330 miles long between Cuba and Andros Island in the Bahamas. The waters of the Bahama Bank are very shallow, no more than 80 feet; we traveled in 10-20 feet of water most of yesterday. However, it’s edge drops off very quickly into deep, deep water. Basically, it’s a huge sandbar in the ocean.

Our ride was very comfortable. We saw one little boat on the horizon, but other than that, the banks were ours. With no boat traffic and calm waters, there was little to no navigation to do. Scott took a hour or so nap (not in the cock pit), and we puttered around doing random things.

The Berry Islands anchorage that we’re heading for is a 14 hour run, which we cannot make with daylight hours getting shorter. So after traveling for six hours, we anchored in 10 feet of water in the middle of the banks…in the middle of nowhere. I mean nowhere. Nothing in sight all around us, and nothing on the radar for 36 miles….no land, no boats, no markers…nothing. Here we are on the chart (yes, Kirk, this is your chart!).

And here are our surroundings at anchor.

By the way, we are officially in the Bermuda Triangle…

Once anchored, we discovered some stowaways on our rigging. Two small birds had hitched a ride with us! By the time we saw the birds, I’d already let Howard out and he was up on the flybridge. Sure enough, when I went up to check on him he was in full stalking mode. I was terrified that he’d go over board, leaping to get to one (when we were at our slip in Baltimore, Howard jumped off of our bow and onto a duck..that was in the water!). Thankfully, they eluded him, and we eventually lost sight of them. However, they may still be holed up somewhere, as it’s a long, long flight to land for them.

The water was glassy calm, and we could see clearly to the bottom. Scott finally got in the water for a bit, and also dove down to check the anchor.

We spent most of the late afternoon sitting on the swim platform, dangling our legs in the cool water, Scott enjoying his Bahamian mango rum. Being in the middle of nowhere provided great star gazing later in the evening, and we got a great view of the milky way.

Scott took a flashlight, and shined it down toward the water, off of our swim platform. It attracted lots of little crabs and some sizable fish.

In the middle of the night, big rolling swells woke us up. Scott’s theory was that we were feeling wakes from ships traveling overnight to get to their destination in the morning. He checked the radar, but nothing showed up around us for 36 miles. The rocking lasted for a few hours before settling down. It didn’t knock me out of bed, but I stayed clear of the edge!

Tomorrow, we’ll anchor off of Great Harbour Key, in the Berry Islands. Photos from today.

Catch of the day: Seaweed

“Shells Sink, Dreams Float. Life’s Good On Our Boat!”

Hel-LO Bahamas!!

October 30, 2015April 12, 2018 / kk42sealife / 2 Comments

After two frustrating, patient-testing weeks, we are in the Bahamas! We left our anchorage in Key Biscayne at 4:30 am yesterday. Waiting and delaying paid off. The winds and waters for our trip over were good, and we were lucky to dodge the many squalls that were in sight all around us as we crossed. A pretty sunrise greeted us in the gulf stream.

The day was mostly cloudy, but as we approached Bimini, the sun came out to welcome us!

We traveled through waters that were 2,600 feet deep! That’s approximately half a mile, and some of the deepest water we’ll travel in over the next few years. And, I watched NBC tv , clear as a bell,all the way to the channel!

It wasn’t dead calm, and with the possibility of having to pass through a squall line, we put the paravanes out as a proactive measure. Here’s what I’ve learned about the paravanes: they are great at keeping our roll down when we’re in bigger seas that I’m not comfortable with. However, to put them out or bring them in, you have to bring the boat to idle speed. So now your “in neutral” in the same waters that made you want to use the paravanes! It’s a race for Scott to get them in as fast as he can, while we roll and flop.

We always try to put them out before conditions get too bad, and ideally we pull them in when we’re already in a harbor, or when the waters have already calmed. That’s not always possible though. We need a certain amount of water depth to put them in or out, and sometimes there is too much boat traffic in a harbor or an entrance channel is too narrow. Overall though, the positives far outweigh the negatives. I’m so glad that we have them!

So back to yesterday. We put the paravanes out ahead of wind and squalls. The squalls missed us, but because they were in the area the winds and water picked up (winds also tend to pick up in the afternoon). We were rolling pretty good, and glad that we had the paravanes out, but the options for pulling them in were low. The harbor in Bimini had the room, but not the depth. So I had to do my best to keep the boat into the waves (to avoid flop and roll) while Scott brought the birds in. As the wind and waves pushed us sideways, I had to put the boat in gear and “goose” the gas.

Once that was done, we entered the channel while the current came out and the winds blew in. When the two oppose each other, it creates a washing machine effect. So we had to work a bit to get to the finish line, but it was worth it!

Scott put a line in the water as we traveled, hoping to catch us some dinner. He had me on watch, so he could keep an eye on the line, and be able to hear it if something caught. I went to see how things were going, and here’s what I found…

Seriously?!? This is fishing? Now I realize that Howard is an avid fisherman..

No luck yesterday, which is good for me, since I’m the one who has to clean and fillet it (still have to learn that)!

After tying up in our slip at Brown’s Marina, we unloaded our bikes and peddled to immigration, followed by customs. They both went off without a hitch, and we now have a 60 day permit for the Bahamas. After that, we headed to Batelco (Bahamas Telephone Company) to get a sim card for my phone, so we could use it for internet data. Turns out, can’t use my phone, so we bought a cheap one and put data on it. We can use this one now, as we travel to other countries.

Lastly, we went to the liquor store. There is a brand of rum here that you cannot get in the states, and Scott loves it. He bought two cases. Leaving only one bottle in stock between two stores; it took two trips on the bike. He purchased containers to bring with us, to act as rum tanks. They hold eleven bottles worth, needing far less storage! Now he’s set for his stay here. After that, back to mango rum withdrawal.

At our second stop for rum, I noticed a bottle opener tied to the checkout counter. The man in front of us bought two single bottles of beer, paid for them, opened them at the counter and headed out the door. As Scott was checking out, I decided that I too would like to take a single beer with me. I walked toward the refrigerated cases, but the woman behind the counter called out to me to get one out of the freezer. Freezer?! It was the size of a mini van, and full of beer. God bless her! My teeth hurt it was so cold! I was so happy, that I went back this morning, to get another before we left…and to get some pictures!

We gave Howard a chance to stretch his legs. He was anxious to get off the boat, once he realized that there was a pier next to us. I think he was eyeballing the boat next to us, and planning a boarding. He is now restricted to supervised outings with a leash, after his escape onto the 3 million dollar boat

By this time, we were starved. Big John’s was right next to our marina, so we walked over. Our dinner was terrific! Scott had grilled lobster sandwich, and I had fried snapper. Delicious!

We woke up to a beautiful Bimini sunrise.Today we’ll continue east, toward the Berry Islands.