Tuesday, April 5, 2022

Time flies when you’re having fun.  For the past couple of weeks we’ve put the strong winds behind us for the most part and have had many more calm and sunny days; just the way we expect the Bahamas to be!  

Kathi adds: This is the best the Bahamas has to offer. Calm anchorages, great lobstering and fishing. Swimming naked in bath water temperatures and eating fresh food every night. Not to mention Rumikub, Eucher, and Screw your neighbor (card game, don’t get no ideas) and more games with friends (fellowship).

m/v Knot 4 Rocks

We left Marsh Harbour on Wednesday, March 16; our destinations were the southern Abacos with our favorite anchorages at Armstrong Cay, Lynyard Cay and Cormorant Cay.  Southerly winds were predicted for the next few days so we set our sights on Armstrong Cay and anchored in the early afternoon.  Our friends on m/v Knot 4 Rocks considered joining us the next day but wanted a report on internet connectivity since Lisa needs good internet for her work.  We knew from past experience the internet should be fine but we checked it out, sent them an Email and they would join us the next day.

Kathi adds: Did I mention Lynyard is my favorite place in the Abaco’s? I just have a feeling of energy here that I can’t explain. Yes I love the seaglass hunting here, yes I love Pete’s Pub, but it is more than that. It is the only Pub we go to in the Abacos. This time there were lots of kids and I taught them how to play the ring game and we had a blast. The sculpture museum, the quaint houses, the little birdhouse bookstore exchanges….just everything appeals to me.

After anchoring, our first task of course was to get in the water and go look for lobster. Unfortunately, we were facing low tides which kept us from getting to some good lobster holes and we ended up getting skunked!  Very unusual for us!  

Kathi adds: While at Cormorant, we had a bunch of Bahamian guys come over to the boat. They were individually, but trying to be a group on a paddle board. They were drunk as hell and told us they were drinking rum, but they were playing “king of the paddle board” and falling off and still drinking their drinks. They were all trying to ride the paddle board at once and you can imagine how that turned out. One by one they were falling off while the next guy tried to board. It was quite entertaining and we had some good conversation and entertainment for about an hour. They said they were lobster hunting, but they didn’t have spears or lines, so we just cracked up while they hung on to our boat and tried to stand on the paddle board. Good fun.

The Big Lobsta

The next day, with high tide around 10am we got out early and went behind Armstrong Cay into the mangrove areas to one of our favorite hunting areas.  The area did not disappoint!  Our first stop we got a nice lobster with an 8” tail; then 2 smaller ones.  Our next stop Kathi saw 2 large lobsters under an archway.  She pushed them out to me on the backside of the arch and my eyes opened wide when I saw their size.  I shot the closest one to me and was trying to secure him while the other, larger lobster backed away into a crevice.  Kathi started yelling at me “John, John, get him, GET HIM.”  She didn’t know that I already had one on my spear!  I took the first back to the dinghy and returned to work with Kathi on the second.  Kathi was able to poke her spear into a hole above the other lobster to move him out too where I could get a shot.  His body was so thick that my spear barely penetrated one side of his body.  As I was trying to get ahold of him with my hand he flopped off of the spear and I had to use both my hands to grab him and wrestle him into my chest to maintain my hold on him.  His body was way too large for one of my hands to maintain a firm grasp.  I hugged him against my chest as I made my way to the dinghy.  He may be the largest lobster we’ve gotten; a 7 inch body, 13 inch tail, and a girth around his body of 16 inches!  We arrived back to the boat shortly after noon and showed off our catch to Sean and Lisa who had just arrived.  As an added bonus, all of the lobsters were male; as the season progresses, we try to avoid getting females.

The Big Lobsta

Kathi adds: I didn’t see John had a huge lobster already and was yelling at him to get this monsta lobsta. I had to crawl up on the iron shore to shake him out of the hole and then I saw the wresting match lobsta vs. John. I couldn’t believe how big it was and I wanted to get in and help him wrestle it, but I had about a 3 foot space to dive into so I just watched and laughed.

The Big Lobsta

The next few days we enjoyed hunting with Sean and on Saturday, Lisa was able to join us for a tour of the Blue Holes and swim thru to the north of our anchorage.  We hunted and then picnicked at an old bone-fish camp.  Sunday, a front was to come through with winds clocking to the west, then north, then northeast so we moved to Cormorant Cay for better protection.  The weather continued to dictate another move the next day to Tilloo Cay for several days of protection from east winds.  At the Tilloo Cay anchorage, we saw more boats there than we ever have in the past; for one boat, that turned out to be a good thing.

While relaxing and reading in our cockpit, I heard on the radio a sailboat trying to hail a power boat passing by them.  The power boat responded but the sailboat could not hear them.  The sailboat called again saying “Power boat power boat near Tilloo Cut, we are aground can you help us?”  For whatever reason, no response was heard.  I called the aground sailboat, got more specifics about their situation and told them I would come out and see if I could help.  The tide had just started to go out and if they didn’t get help soon, they would need to wait until the next high tide, around midnight.  Our friend Sean was anchored nearby so I went over to him, gave him the info and he agreed to join and help.  I dinghied over to the next boat and told them the situation and they agreed to help also and to get their friends on another sailboat to help as well.  When I got to the aground vessel, it was occupied by a young couple with two small kids.  They had their dinghy down trying to get the boat off the sandbar holding them in place.  I told the captain that the direction they were trying to go would only get shallower; the channel they thought they saw on the charts was non-existent; we would need to get the boat turned back the way they had come.  Three other dinghies arrived, we got a kedge anchor out from their bow, put 3 dinghies with lines to their bow and myself and another dinghy got ahold of their boom topping lift to pull on the top of the mast and heel the boat to the side and reduce the draft of the vessel on the sandbank.  After about 5 minutes of pulling, the boat pulled off the sandbank, got turned around and headed for the Tilloo Cay anchorage where the rest of us were staying.  After they were anchored, the captain and his daughter came over to thank us and give us a bottle of Tito’s vodka.  We let him know it wasn’t necessary but he insisted.  We reciprocated by giving him 3 luci lights (solar-powered lights) for the kids to use.

Kathi adds: good for them and our radio being on, John was a hero in getting 4 dinghies together to save this boat. They did not know what to do to help themselves, but with the experience of many sailboaters, they successfully pulled her off the reef and the kids and parents were fine. I gave the kids some worry stones (cool seaglass pieces) and made a pendant for the wife. Reassured them that sometimes you watch the show and sometimes you are the show, but keep on sailing. Cool couple and great kids. They want to go to Africa next. The 9 yr. old daughter wants to dedicate her life to relief work. Quite the intelligent young lady.

Rocket Contrail

While at Tilloo Cay, a rocket launch occurred from Cape Canaveral and we watched the small streak in the sky going higher and higher.  Another of the pleasant sights to see.

Kathi adds: Seeing launches is like seeing dolphins and lobsta, you never get sick of it. We watch in wonder.

The next week saw us back to Armstrong Cay, Cormorant Cay and finally south to Lynyard Cay.  March 31 is the last day of lobster season and we managed to get some good days of hunting done before then.  Our best day, Sean on Knot 4 Rocks got 3 and Kathi and I got 5.  Fortunately they have a couple of good freezers aboard and we have lobster frozen for future enjoyment.

While we were at Lynyard Cay we got to do a couple days of seaglass hunting.  The ocean swells were pretty large and 2 of our favorite spots were scoured out.  We still managed to have fun and found a few nice nuggets.  Kathi found a nice blue piece and I found a small piece of red.  Whenever we’re at Lynyard we take the opportunity to visit our favorite watering hole, Pete’s Pub.  Sean and Lisa went with us and we had a wonderful day drinking and eating the best burgers in the Abacos.  We always look to see if the T-shirts we’ve hung there in past years are still there and a couple of them were, although faded from exposure and of course we hung a new one with Knot 4 Rocks.

Kathi adds: The reason we eat burgers at Pete’s Pub is because we eat lobster and fish every night. We saw the “Mr. Right’ shirt and the “bust” shirt Scott and Jeanne left there. Good memories. We found several other t-shirts left with good friends and left a few ourselves again.

We moved from Lynyard Cay back to Armstrong Cay as the winds moved from the east back to the south.  Today, April 5, we took a dinghy ride back behind Armstrong and since lobster season is over we saw lots of lobsters waggling their antennae, taunting us.  We also saw lots and lots of turtles; Overall, a very good day.

K adds: Them damn lobster know when season is over. We see more and bigger every day, but won’t take them and I swear they know it. We went from swim thru to swim thru and saw turtles, sharks, lots of lobster and big fish. I came home and swam around our boat and saw the most beautiful wrass and fairy-basslet fish ever. I see things every day that just amaze me. I want to take pics of some things that I know are animals, but look like plastic. The fish that looks like a seahorse. The fish that is totally coral colored, but don’t have an underwater camera anymore…..Should I start a GO FUND ME page? lol.

I want to take this opportunity to wish our friends, Bryan and Hanna on m/v Hanusia, Bon Voyage on a trip they will be starting soon; they are taking the “Great Loop.”  They will leave their home in Maryland, cruise up the east coast, across to the Great Lakes, down the Mississippi, along the Gulf Coast to Florida, then back to home.  This is a trip they’ve been wanting to take for a long time.  They’ve been great friends that we met shortly after we bought Makani and were living aboard in Galesville.  A lot of good memories with them including hooking together hoses, along with Mike and Roycelyn on s/v Bon Bini, to run water from the bathhouse to our boats during the winter with snow on the docks.  We wish them a wonderful trip!

Kathi adds: Thanx  to Bryan for all the trips down the ICW so I didn’t have to make them and thanks to Hanna for sharing your house remake so you could sell it and for trusting us to babysit your home more than once and especially for hosting us when our cat was so sick. Also, loved hosting you in the Bahamas. You could not have been better guests. Hope you guys have an exemplary travel through the Great Loop.

My Beautiful Bride

Good day of Lobstering

Sasi on the Edge

Sasi playing Scrabble

March 15, 2022

Wow, three weeks since our last post.  I wish I could say it has been a wonderful time of great fun and sunny skies but I hate to lie.  In reality, it’s been three weeks of strong winds, boat repairs, a little fun, and more wind.  Being on a sailboat you’d think that we’d love the wind; we do, provided it is within a certain range.  For sailing on our boat, a wind range of 12 to 18 knots of wind is perfect.  A range of 8 to 22 knots is fine.  Anything below 8 knots and we use the engine; anything above 22 knots and the sailing is too brisk unless the wind is blowing the direction we want to go.  We’ve been having 5 or 6 days of 25+ knots of wind followed by 1 or 2 days of about 15 knots of wind.  k adds for any of you that might read this and think anything over 22 knots is too brisk, that is because of Kathi. You have all probably seen the boats healed over with water coming over the rail. Makani can perform like that as we have learned a couple of times, but Kathi does not perform under those conditions. This is not only our boat, but our home and it severely disturbs me when I hear stuff falling off shelves and stuff coming out of shelves below. John would love to max out our hull speed each time we sail. He constantly adjusts the sails to get the max out of her and I counteract with falling off the wind.

We moved from Manjack Cay, through Whale Cay passage and into the central Abaco’s on February 24.  We anchored at Guana Cay close to where our friend Chandler’s house use to be.  It was destroyed during Hurricane Dorian and he hasn’t rebuilt.  We went for a nice snorkel, relaxed on the boat and started hearing the bilge pump go off periodically.  Upon investigation, we discovered a small hole in the transmission cooler which is part of the raw water system in the boat.  The immediate solution was to close the raw water intake to prevent any more water from getting inside; the problem with that is you can’t run the engine with the intake closed. k adds We stopped at No Name Cay and they have dedicated the entire island to pigs. They have built a big resort and restaurant and let the pigs run freely among the guests. We took Sasi for a walk there and petted a couple of pigs, but John got a little too close and got bit.

We had an epoxy stick which we decided might patch the hole at least well enough until we get a replacement part.  Kathi’s hands were small enough to reach back behind the transmission and fill the hole with the putty-like epoxy.  We went to bed that night anxious and wondering what issues we might have running the engine with the quick-fix we did.  

We spent the next day touring Guana Cay, seeing the rebuilding efforts.  We rented a golf cart and drove from one end of the Island to the other; at least as far as you could get.  Going north, you get stopped at the guarded gate into Bakers Bay development.  Going south, you can’t get past Orchid Bay marina development.  We had Sasi with us, enjoyed the drive and some of the beautiful scenery.  Kathi took the opportunity at a deserted beach to take a dip in the waves.  While on Guana Cay, we stopped in to say hi to Troy and Maria at Dive Guana.  They had some beautiful dishes for sale and we decided to take some home as souvenirs.  We hardly ever buy anything except consumables while we’re here and decided we needed some mementos.

The next day, we started the engine to get the anchor up and then were able to have a nice sail towards Marsh Harbour, about 8 miles away.  We ran the engine again to get anchored then checked our repair job.  The transmission cooler was still leaking.  The epoxy stick that we used was old and dried out in spots so it didn’t form a good bond.  I was able to peel our patch job off.  We went into town, got a package of JB Weld, asked around about how to get a package shipped to us with the parts we needed for a permanent fix and returned to the boat, both of us very anxious. 

In addition to the transmission cooler leaking, the dinghy had developed a small wear area in one of the tubes which was leaking enough air that we had to pump the tube up each day; not a catastrophe, but definitely an annoyance.

On Saturday, Kathi took on the job of trying to repair the transmission cooler and I tackled patching the dinghy.  

We hate sitting in Marsh Harbour where you can’t snorkel so we headed for Matt Lowe’s Cay about 4 miles away.  It’s a nice anchorage for the strong NE winds we were having and we motored there to check out the repair job.  Once again, after anchoring, we saw water coming out of the transmission cooler.  Once again, Kathi worked to get the JB Weld over the hole.  We stayed at Matt Lowe’s Cay for 2 more days, worrying about the engine, worrying about the repair.  Fortunately, the dinghy repair had worked.  Just before bed, I told Kathi, “I need to get my Mojo back.”  She woke me up at 4 am that morning and said “I know what we need to do, We’re a sailboat, we need to sail and stop worrying about the engine.”

The next day, we sailed off the anchorage, sailed to Man of War Cay and sailed into our anchorage spot.  Success!  Who needs a damn engine!  We had good protection from the 25+ knot NE winds and took the opportunity to visit the Cay and see the progress made since the hurricane.  The following day, the winds were projected to turn to the E so we decided to go to Elbow Cay (Hopetown) for better protection.  Again, we sailed off the anchorage and sailed into our new spot off of the lighthouse on Elbow Cay.  We started the engine for a short time to get positioned into the best anchorage area and discovered that Kathi’s repair job was holding!  Now we could relax a little and not worry about what we would do and where we could go without our backup mode of propulsion. k adds again if people aren’t familiar with sailing….when we say sailing off the anchorage and sailing into an anchorage it means a completely different process than our “norm”. It is something we know how to do, but we do not do it often. It is a lot more stress to sail into an anchorage with boats all around and wonder what the wind vs. boat will do and when to lower sails and when to keep them up so you don’t crash into other boats. I was so proud of John that he would go through every step that we needed to do in detail so we had a plan and the plan was perfectly executed.

Vernon's Grocery on left, Straw Market on right

Hopetown School

We spent about a week anchored outside of Hopetown.  Our favorite hunting area around here is about 3 miles north near a couple of small uninhabited Cays. Although the winds were still strong, the hunting area had some protection from the winds but not from the large swells coming from the ocean.  We managed 3 days of hunting although none of them were very smooth.  The first hunt we got 3 lobsters, one the normal spiny lobster and two of them Spanish lobster.  The second hunt got us two spiny lobster and one Spanish lobster.  The third hunt we secured 3 fish and two lobsters.  The eating was good at Elbow Cay!  We used the lobster for lobster tacos; lobster cut up very small like hamburger then seasoned with mexican spices; grilled lobster with lots of butter, and lobster curry.  We also had fried fish with onion rings and fried pickles. k adds It is so unusual for us to see Spanish lobster that we were questioning why we were seeing this rare creature so often. Found out they are not so rare, but they are definitely chameleons and they hang upside down in the holes compared to spiny lobster that come out to see what is going on when you hunt them, thereby making them “rare”. “They” say Spanish lobster are much better tasting, but we did a blind taste test and could not tell the difference.

Harbour Lodge

We enjoyed a couple of days of walking around Hopetown, again seeing progress that’s been made since the hurricane.  Repair activity is still going strong but the town seems to be about 90% back to normal.  Many of the houses in fact look almost new with the repairs, new roofs, and fresh paint (Some of the houses are new, totally rebuilt).  The lighthouse is reopen for visitors, Captain Jacks restaurant is open and Vernon’s grocery store is doing its normal brisk business.  Hopetown Harbour Lodge unfortunately has been cleared away and does not look like it will be rebuilt.

To finish our transmission cooler repair story, I learned how to get parts ordered and shipped to Marsh Harbour using “All Bahamas Courier.”  I ordered the parts, had them shipped to an address in Ft Lauderdale.  They were then flown to Treasure Cay on Great Abaco, passed through customs, picked up and delivered to an address in Marsh Harbour.  We moved from Elbow Cay to Marsh Harbour to pick up the parts on Friday, March 11 and replaced the transmission cooler on Sunday, March 13.  Hopefully, end of that story. k adds John called and they said the parts would be in at 1pm Friday. We decided, with the weather as it was that we would pick up the parts on Saturday. Went in on Saturday and parts weren’t there. We were told like 90 times the courier would be there in 15 minutes. We hung around the courier store for 2 1/5 hours before delivery. The weather was starting again and we almost aborted the package retrieval when they came out and said it’s here. We had gone to Maxwells grocery store and had refrigerated items so we wanted to get back to the boat, but hey what do you do about “Island time?”

As if having the transmission cooler problem and the dinghy leak is not enough problems for us we’ve also been having problems with the dinghy engine.  Sometimes it runs fine, other times is spits, sputters and dies.  With the engine running questionably, we worry about going too far away from the boat for hunting; 3 miles is a long way to row!  While at Elbow Cay, we were having some significant problems with the dinghy motor.  Finally, we saw fuel dripping out of the hose attachment to the engine; the gasket was not sealing properly allowing air to suck in through the fitting.  Fortunately I had a spare fitting, made the replacement and the engine is running fine for now.  We’re keeping our fingers crossed. k adds We spent over $700 before we left the States to have the engine purr like a kitten. First pull after being “serviced” nada. Took it back to same shop and they “fixed it” again. Needed to take it to another boat shop in West Palm before we left to “fix” it again. It has been very disconcerting to me that it still doesn’t work and being that John diagnosed every problem with it from the beginning and we pay lots of money for things John can diagnose and can fix. It is our car after all. Can’t get from A to B without it. It is very disappointing to both of us that it doesn’t work properly.

Thinking back on the past three weeks, we have only been out spearfishing for 3 of the days, all of those from off of Elbow Cay.  We’ve done a few more days of snorkeling in areas where we don’t see much to hunt but it’s hard for me to realize how little spearfishing we’ve done.  Today we’re still sitting in Marsh Harbour, winds 25+ gusting to 35 with drizzly skies.  The forecast is for improved weather Wednesday through Saturday before the next cold front comes through bringing more rain and wind.  We hope to get to some of our favorite places south of Marsh Harbour, Armstrong Cay and maybe Lynyard Cay if the weather will cooperate over the next few days. k adds Until you read the entire blog, you would think we are sitting in the Bahamas with horrible weather and mechanical problems. I now want to focus on the positive. We worked as a team to fix the transmission, the dinghy, and the dinghy engine. We are safe and looking at the weather we’ll be able to slaughter some lobsters and have Lobster Thai pizza very soon.

k says, Lastly this is our normal life. The storms, mechanical problems are definitely no more than every one else faces every day, and much less than others face. So I will end this with a story that happened to us in Hopetown.

We took Sasi for a walk in Hopetown and she is usually so good to walk (if you saw the last video you would know), but too many people and construction noise set her off so I put her in the backpack that John was carrying. He asked me to pick up her leash so he wouldn’t trip on it and I picked it up and walked behind him with the intention of sticking it in the backpack. A golf cart pulled aside and was concerned that I was “walking” John on a leash; they wondered if he was blind; furthermore, I had this shirt (see pictures) on. He said “I thought you were walking him and if some S&M was going on. Had to show him Sasi was on the end of the leash before we had a good chuckle. Sometimes I feel like if we can’t make it, no one can. We just don’t have that give up button.

Fried Fish

Onion Rings and Fried Pickles

Spanish Lobster