Bug boat be gone

December 8, 2015

In years past, we have always teased that if we get skunked fishing, we would have to eat Top Ramen for dinner. This year we have seen dozens and dozens of lobsters, groupers, trigger fish, and conch and have made no attempt to shoot them with anything but a camera. That is because we have planned meal after meal and have not had the energy to prepare the meal and end up eating Top Ramen or something even simpler. We have stayed at Manjack because John has not wanted to get too far away from Green Turtle where we can procure medicine or he could go in to the clinic if needed.

guess what this is

The clinic is staffed by a nurse who gathers information and then faxes the information to a Dr.  The Dr. then makes a recommendation for treatment and faxes orders back. We have been treated twice at the island clinics. Once two years ago when John had a leg wound that got infected and three weeks ago when I went in for this same illness that John now has. Both times we were treated immediately, professionally, and the cost was very low (extremely low if you compare it to the U.S.). The biggest problem I have is that the nurses are still very subservient to the Dr. so I can’t tell her what I have and how I want it treated (which 30 years of critical care nursing allows me to do in the U.S.), because she just tells me “we’ll see what the Dr. says”. I also don’t get to talk to the Dr. in person so I can’t tell him/her my diagnosis or treatment either. If I come away without the proper treatment for the problem, then the trip to the clinic was worthless. John and I are extremely reluctant to go to the Dr. even when we are back in the U.S. because 99% of the time, it can be handled at home. However, we aren’t foolish either. If you have strept throat, you need an antibiotic. If you don’t have the right antibiotic, you need to get it. If you go to the clinic and walk away without the right antibiotic, then you should have stayed home and continued the homeopathic cures you have been trying.

Is there a Dr. in the house?

Last night John said he wanted to go in to the clinic so you know he must have been feeling very bad. This morning when he woke up he say’s “let’s move to Crab Cay”. Crab Cay is about 5 hours from Green Turtle Cay. We did some morning chores and hung around long enough to make sure he was not just showing bravado, but really feeling better, then motorsailed to Crab Cay. Within minutes of anchoring, he took a nap. I think he really does feel better, but so do I and my energy level is still pretty low. 

I pretty much know all the great lobster holes near Crab Cay, but we still have two in the freezer and it makes no sense at all to fill the freezer with stuff you can get every day. I do want to get wet and get some exercise and possibly get some pictures for the blog so I don my wetsuit and go looking for action. The visibility is poor so pictures are out, but I do get to swim against the current so I am getting exercise. Then John says “we could have lobster tortellini for dinner” and wham..1 of three (because Kiwi gets her own now). Then home for a very nice dinner of lobster tortellini and the first episode of Sons of Anarchy. 

Chicken parmasean meatballs

We have done a bit of complaining about the weather, but truth be told, it has not been the weather that has prohibited us from our usual activities. It has been a bit windier, but the wind generator is working well.  The sky has been more overcast than not which has caused us to use our generator more as the solar panels haven’t been able to keep up with our energy usage. It has rained some off and on, but that has allowed us to keep up on the laundry and take hot showers. Overall, our biggest limiting factor so far this year has been our energy level. I also need to remind myself that poor weather here still means I am in a bathing suit most of the day and not in snow boots.

Come on out Kiwi

Kiwi seems to be starting to relax more and spend more time with us instead of her hiding spots. She is becoming a lobster monster and greets us when we return to the boat with the dinghy. She expects that we have brought her something. She chases the bat moths in the cockpit at night and sometimes even lovingly brings one into the cabin to show us what a great hunter she is. It is a bit hard to sleep with a 6” moth fluttering about your head and a cat flying about the room trying to capture it. 

Still looking forward to improved health so we can socialize, play cards and games, get seaglass, have picnics and bonfires. Anxious to set up our own golf course and play some golf. We definitely want to do some SCUBA diving and take long walks on dirty scavenger beaches.

Also looking forward to the guests that will be coming.

Snot and Cooties

Our pot of gold is just around the corner

December 3, 2015

So…… if your looking for fun in the sun and stories about 14# lobsters, you might want to skip this blog and wait for the next update. Unfortunately, this one is more about snot and cooties (this time John) and animal (Kiwi) behavior.

In the last update, Kathi was starting to feel better again and John started feeling punk. We were anchored at Manjack, trying to get our game on. As I improved, John declined. John was the great provider of lobster, hot tea, broth, and comfort when I just wanted to sleep or sit in the dinghy and watch. Now it was John’s turn to be comforted. We went to the ocean side and everything was too stirred up and visibility was zilch so we went to the north shores of Manjack Bay and it was my job to fetch us dinner. John had no desire to get in the water from an energy standpoint nor a comfort standpoint. Unfortunately, I shot a grouper that got caught between two coral heads and needed John’s assistance to bring home the bacon. Grudgingly, John helped me get our nights meal back to the dinghy and I continued to hunt for lobster appetizers. Once we got our groceries, we were both spent. I was determined not to relapse and John was determined not to get sicker. We were both so tired, we put the lobster and fish in the freezer and had broth and went to bed.

Stubborn folks move - We have a break in the weather and we are sitting here taking naps every two hours.  We sleep 18-20 hours a day. We have got to move. Moving will cure us. So we go into Green Turtle Cay to get rid of trash and buy some fresh tomatoes for pico-de-gallo to  have fish tacos. We moved again and anchored at No Name Cay so we could find octopus and seaglass. By the time we anchored, we were spent and ate broth and slept.

John continued to get sicker, but his theory is “all medicine does is inhibit your bodies own abilities to fight off infection”. So he is gargling with hot salt water every 2 hours and having me put a syringe full of hot salt water up his nose to “wash his sinuses”. He is miserable with sinus headache, soar throat, persistent cough and mucous from every orifice above his Adams apple. I however am feeling better and am now anxious to kill something and eat it. John took me out and I was able to get a few lobster and found a good bed of conch. Of course, neither of us have the energy to clean conch, but we marked it on the GPS for future hunts. I have a weeks worth of menus and I chose something grand as all we have eaten for the past month, or so it seems, is broth. Once again, our energy levels are zapped and all I can muster up is some steamed lobster and mac and cheese. Even the “wild” pigs and their cute little piglets can’t draw us out to take some pictures for the blog. 

The winds are in our favor to go to the outside of No Name and do some seaglass hunting, but John has finally gotten sick enough to want to go to Green Turtle and get some medicine. We go into Green Turtle and then return to Manjack due to forecasted winds and rain for the next 5 days. 

At least the sunsets are beautiful

Immediately upon anchoring at Manjack, we go snorkeling on the outside and find hoards of lobster condos.  We only take two and finally take the grouper from the freezer and have fish tacos and fresh pico-de-gallo. John is starting to feel better and it is the first time since we left the U.S. that John and I are sleeping in the same bed. I didn’t want him to get sick and then he didn’t want me to relapse AND it is difficult to get a good night sleep when one partner is coughing all night. It is one thing to have one partner ill and another well, and one can take care of another. Quite another thing to have both ill and not be able to provide comfort for either. Which brings me to animal (Kiwi) behavior………..

Cool Eagle cloud

In the last blog, Kiwi was “making some adjustments”. To tell the truth, I was thinking of leaving her as pig food on No Name Cay. She literally screams from the time we go to bed to the time we wake up. I admit, there was no bed time, eat time, move time, or any time since we have been here, but she was driving us crazy.  Last night when we slept together, she snuggled up between us and slept all night long. I think she just thought it was wrong for us to be in separate beds. Thinking about it, she would run from me (and scream) and then to John (and scream) and she could not figure out why we were not together. In the mean time, while she is trying to escape her HELL, she has found every tiny hidey hole on the boat (see liquid cat on YOU TUBE) and managed to hide the squeaky mouse that we bought for her before we left the U.S. because …well you know….she doesn’t have 5 million toys and a cat tree and scratch rugs over 75% of the boat and a railing of yarn and a jumpy window already…… and she has managed to hide this squeaky mouse where human hands cannot retrieve it, so whenever the boat makes any kind of movement..like when we motor, or sail, or the wind blows, or when it rains, or when it is calm or wheneverthefuck we are on the boat, we hear squeaky mouse. Hopefully, as with all of us, squeaky mouse has a limited life. As for Kiwi, well we will see tonight, because John has taken a nap and I think he is feeling better. I have spaghetti with lobster/parmesean/meatballs planned. Tomorrow, pizza Friday, with lobster on tai sauce. It is so very calm outside with a very light rain. We are very blessed that it has rained all day and again our tanks are full and we have both enjoyed a very long hot shower and filled our wetsuit rinse buckets and have all the laundry done. LIFE IS GOOD.

No Name Cay is a nice pleasant anchorage in good weather just south of Green Turtle Cay.  On the outside (the Atlantic Side, as opposed to the inside, the Sea of Abaco side) are some beautiful reefs very close to shore and some very nice spots to find seaglass.  When we first came here years ago, we took our cat, Indi, for a walk on the beach.  To our surprise, a rather large boar came trotting up to say hello.  Indi cowered down by a tree while the pig put its large muzzle down and sniffed her.  Fortunately she did not react and the pig soon moved on to asking us if we had any food.  We were unsure how wild the pig was so we moved quickly down the beach and the pig went in search of food elsewhere.  Well, it appears as if the locals have turned the island into a pig retreat.  Last year we noted about 5 pigs on the island and this year… we saw 7 pigs and 9 or 10 piglets on the beach.  Signs on the beach say “Bring food and water.”  We wonder how often a pig roast occurs…