NO NAME CAY

Nice set of tails

We moved to No Name Cay the next afternoon after the wind had settled down.  We enjoy being at No Name Cay because you can find lobster on the inside (Sea of Abaco side) and if the weather cooperates you can get to the outside (Atlantic Ocean side) for some beautiful reefs close to shore, lobster, fish, and seaglass.  That first day we hunted the inside and got 4 lobster. 

On Monday we were joined by our friends on Second Sojourn and Annabella.  We went hunting with Gary from Second Sojourn but were unable to get to the outside because the seas were still stirred up from the previous windy days.  Gary found a nice lobster hole and we took back 6 lobster.  That evening Annabella hosted everyone for cocktails.  We’ve decided to stay at No Name Cay for a couple more days because the weather is suppose to turn very calm and we want to get to the outside to look for seaglass and enjoy the offshore reefs.  Second Sojourn and Annabella have decided to continue south, through the Whale Cay passage to get to the Central Abacos.  We know we’ll see them again once we head further south.  

The Whale Cay passage, everyone just says “Going through the Whale,” separates the northern Abacos from the Central Abacos.  The passage is only a couple of miles long but entails leaving the typically calm Sea of Abaco, going out to the Atlantic Ocean, passing around Whale Cay, then reentering the Sea of Abaco.  In nice weather the trip is easy but if the winds and waves pick up getting through the cuts can be potentially dangerous with breaking waves.  Everyone waits for decent weather to go through and at times that can take several days or a week to get the right conditions.

The next three days were perfect weather, very little wind and calm seas.  Kathi and I got to the outside reefs and enjoyed hunting, the scenery and finding seaglass.  Friday morning was particularly calm; the sea was like a mirror and the sunrise reflected off the water.

Beautiful sunrise at No Name Cay

No Name Cay is also becoming known for pigs.  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, the locals have turned the island into a pig and chicken retreat.  The year after we noted about 5 pigs on the island, the next after that we saw 7 pigs and 9 or 10 piglets on the beach.  This year the herd has grown some more.  A large water silo has been put in place and is kept filled with fresh water by the locals.  Even though signs say the “Swimming Pigs of Abaco” are protected by law, we wonder how often a pig roast occurs.

Kathi is always good, lucky, fortunate, in finding lost items under the water.  I remember when we were in Highborne Cay in the Exumas a few years ago, she snorkeled around our boat and found three, 3/4 inch dock lines that were in excellent shape.  Some mega yacht either lost them or decided they were no longer needed and dropped them overboard.  Another time, also in the Exumas, Kathi found 2 serving bowls that had been lost, or dropped, overboard.  They had slight chips in them which I polished out and use them to this day.  Today, Kathi found a dinghy anchor just sitting in the sand.  Pays to spend so much time in the water.

Best of the Seaglass

Looking for seaglass is probably our second most enjoyed activity in the Bahamas, hunting for dinner being the first.  Most people walk along a sandy beach looking for the seaglass; we find most of ours snorkeling along the oceanside coastline.  We typically have to wait for a calm day so the waves don't push us into the jagged rocks along the shore.  No Name Cay is the first place with seaglass that we've been to this year. We got to the outside 3 days and found some beautiful glass.

On Saturday we decided it was time to move on.  We headed through the Whale for the Central Abacos.  Next stop, Guana Cay.

FIRST COLD FRONT OF THE SEASON

Lionfish

On Tuesday and Wednesday we stayed at Powell Cay.  We noticed quite a few lionfish in the area so we decided to conduct a hunt on Tuesday.  Lionfish are beautiful with long feathery fins.  They are also an invasive species, brought here from the Indo-Pacific and have no natural predators in the Bahamas.  The beautiful feathery fins are also venomous.  We always try to kill lion fish when we see them but rarely do we clean them to cook for a meal; mainly because they are relatively small and more time-consuming to clean than other fish.  We managed to kill 8 fish then cleaned them.  They are a delicious fish but to clean them you must first cut off the venomous fins using scissors then fillet them as usual.  

Lionfish for fillet table

Wednesday was a chore day.  Second Sojourn has a portable water maker aboard so they filled their water tanks then brought the unit to our boat for us to fill with water.  We are very impressed with the water maker, the model is “Rainmaker” made in New Zealand we think.  Water is the limiting factor on our boat, we carry 140 gallons which will last us about 3 1/2 weeks if we are careful.  We collect rainwater when possible but during the winter, thunderstorms are rather infrequent and we need to let the rain rinse the salt off of the deck very well before we divert the flow into our tanks.  The water maker produces about 35 gallons per hour so we ran it a little over 2 hours to fill the 1 tank that was empty.  We’ve talked in the past about putting a water maker aboard but could never decide on the right place to put it.  This portable unit would store easily so we are seriously considering getting one when we return to the States.

After filling with water we went out to get dinner; Kathi found a series of holes and ledges and got the largest lobster of the season so far.  Gary and Melanie on Second Sojourn are keeping 4 lobsters frozen for Christmas dinner when they have guests visiting.  We gave them the large lobster Kathi got today so they can keep upgrading their frozen lobsters in preparation for Christmas.  Tonight’s dinner, lobster, mac and cheese and salad.  Tonight’s entertainment, more of Downton Abbey.  Love that series!

Bucket of bugs

The first major cold front of the season is scheduled to move through on Saturday afternoon; thunderstorms and wind gusts up to 45 knots.  We decided to move to White Sound in Green Turtle Cay which is a very protected harbor for winds from any direction.  The main benefit of Green Turtle Cay is that it has a nice settlement with a couple of small grocery stores and a marina where you can get fuel.  We picked up some fresh vegetables and a few other goodies, got fuel at the marina then anchored.  Cocktails were on Second Sojourn and dinner was lobster curry.

On Saturday, Kathi cleaned the boat while I went into the marina to get laundry done.  We’re pretty frugal about wearing lots of clothes on the boat since we’re in swim-suits most of the time but towels and bedding need to be cleaned once in a while.  We’ve been here almost a month so time to freshen things up a bit.

The front was scheduled to pass through around 4pm.  As the saying goes, sometimes you watch the show and sometimes you are the show.  Fortunately today we sat and watched the show.  About 3:30 the wind started picking up out of the Southwest and one of the boats near us started to drag.  They pulled up their anchor and tried several times to get re-anchored but had no success.  Around 4pm the winds started gusting to 35-40 knots and switched directions to come out of the north along with driving rain.  The first boat that had dragged was soon joined by 2 other boats.  One of the boats was directly in front of us and was swinging back and forth about 15 feet away.  The skipper of the boat was at the helm with the engine running and holding the boat into the wind to keep from dragging into us.  He had on his foul weather gear but his cockpit had no protection from the rain.  Our biggest concern was that he would swing over our anchor chain, hit it and possibly dislodge our anchor.  We started up our engine just in case that happened. 

All 3 boats that had dragged were keeping themselves in place by motoring into the wind.  After about 30 minutes of strong gusting wind and rain the boat in front of us pulled up his anchor and tried to motor further away.  The wind caught him sideways and he almost ran into one of the other boats that had dragged.  About that time, a local skiff with 3 people aboard came out and started to assist each of the 3 dragging boats to get secured.  The first boat that had dragged was helped to one of the T docks at the marina.  The boat in front of us was helped to the marina fuel dock, the third boat was assisted to a mooring.  The strong winds lasted for another 40 minutes then reduced to a steady 20 to 25 knots.  Everyone was fortunate that the front came through during the daylight hours.  At night, or worse, at 3am with most people asleep or groggy the anchorage could have become a disaster.

The next day, the winds moderated and we left Green Turtle Cay for an anchorage at No Name Cay a short 3 miles away.

A week of Fun

A WEEK OF FUN

Most of the past week we spent at Double Breasted Cays snorkeling and hunting.  Two other sail boats moved into the anchorage and the couples aboard were wonderful to meet.  The first boat, Second Sojourn, with Gary and Melanie aboard are in the Bahamas for the second season.  Gary was very interested in spearfishing but did not have much success last year so we offered to take them with us on one of our daily hunts.  The second boat, Annabella, had a young couple, Collin and Elizabeth, from New York, here for the first time.  They both work and are here until the end of December.  They have never spear-fished before but were wanting to learn.  We loaned them gear, spears, weights and hoods and took them along with us also.  On the first hunt, we picked up 4 conch and got 6 lobster.  Neither of the couples had ever cleaned conch so we went to the beach for a lesson.  

Collin and Elizabeth, Annabella, first hunt

Gary and Melanie, Second Sojourn

Kathi with her catch

After that first day of lessons they picked up hunting very quickly.  Fortunately Double Breasted Cays is a great environment for getting lobster, conch or fish.  On Wednesday, I speared a large Crevalle Jack which got off my spear.  Kathi, who was about 100 yards away saw the wounded fish and gave it the coup-de-grace.  We invited everyone over for a seafood fry; popcorn lobster, cracked conch, fried hogfish and Jack.  Kathi made a great salad and we feasted.  After dinner we taught everyone to play the card game Golf. 

Sailing to Strangers Cay

The weather looked good for sailing to a new spot on Friday and all of us left Double Breasted Cays.  Annabella headed for Allens-Pensacola Cay.  We let them keep the spear-fishing equipment we’d lent them; we know we will meet them again before they leave and can get the gear at that time.  Second Sojourn sailed with us to Strangers Cay.  We had a wonderful 3 hours of sailing before we got into the anchorage.  

Strangers Cay is an isolated, rarely visited Cay.  It is a little out of the way from getting to any other Cays due to shallow sand bars that almost surround it.  To sail there you need to get around the sandbars then backtrack a short ways to reach the anchorage.  It is uninhabited.

Once anchored we went exploring this new Cay; unfortunately we were a little disappointed.  The entire area is very shallow and sandy so not a lot of fish life.  We did find a couple of spots to hunt and got a couple of lobster that Gary and Melanie wanted to freeze for Christmas Dinner. They invited us to join them for dinner and we feasted on rack of lamb, deliciously prepared.

Anchored at Strangers Cay

Since the terrain was not the best for picture taking or hunting we moved on Saturday to Crab Cay, one of the anchorages that we know very well.  We were able to sail for about half the 6 hour trip but then had to turn into the wind so motor-sailed the rest of the way.  Once we arrived we jumped into the water to collect our dinner, Gary and Melanie along with us.  We picked up enough lobster and fish for dinner then went back to the boat for the evening.  Gary and Melanie had loaned us the complete 6 seasons of Downton Abbey so that is being our evening entertainment most nights.  

On Sunday we relaxed then went exploring along some of the coastline of Crab Cay that we haven’t spent much time at.  We found a nice ‘Honey-hole’ with several ledges and 15-20 lobster and numerous large fish.  We spent about an hour exploring the area, tickling out some lobster and chasing hogfish.  We came back with 6 lobster which we shared with Second Sojourne and a nice hogfish.  Dinner that night was seafood fettuccine.

Sunset at Powell Cay

On Monday we moved to Powell Cay, a short hour journey.  We’ve been to Powell Cay before and know the area pretty well.  We wanted to go by dinghy around the Island to the ocean side so we could get to the adjacent Cay, Bonefish Cay, where we’ve hunted for seaglass before.  The seas were a little rougher than we wanted to tackle so we hunted a new area between Powell Cay and Spanish Cay.  Kathi found another ‘Honey-hole’ with 4 small spotted eels and a ledge with about a dozen lobster.  Near by, another ledge had 4 or 5 lobster.  We harvested enough for dinner and then just spent some time looking around.  Melanie found a Short-nosed batfish, something that looks like it belongs in a prehistoric era.  It has 4 fins that it uses to walk along the bottom of the seafloor.  Truly a bizarre sight.

Monday night was pizza night and we invited Gary and Melanie to join us.  The four pizzas were cooked on the grill; lobster alfredo, thai-lobster, pepperoni with onion and olives, and sausage and red pepper.  Delicious as usual.