Bimini to Chub Cay w/ Anchorage in the Great Bahama Banks

We have just finished our scrambled eggs with summer sausage and Worcestershire Sauce complete with toasted raisin bread and a side of banana mixed with mango here in the anchorage of Chub Cay (again, pronounced “key”).  We arrived here yesterday around 5:00 in the evening after taking two days to cross from Bimini with one night spent anchored in the Great Bahama Banks.  It truly is amazing how much excitement can happen in just two short days, Dear Reader!

Our private beach

After leaving Bimini, we realized that we were in for a long day as there was really no wind to speak of.  However, we gave it the novice sailors’ hopeful try and hoisted our sails… but kept the motor running knowing that it was probably going to give us our most momentum for the day.  After all, we had chosen this day to leave based on the safety of the soft winds that were forecast for the day.

Dinner

As we were leaving, I reminded the Captain to throw his fishing line out as we motor-sailed and “rassel” us up some dinner.  It only took about an hour for this little guy to become interested in our shiny lure along with a friend of his, though the friend got away.  After having this guy swim/float in one of our buckets as the Captain read what we were supposed to do with it, the decision to clean him was made and into the refrigerator he went.   Later that night, Rob made some black beans and rice, then wrapped the fish in tinfoil after sprinkling on some salt, pepper, and random spices, threw in some cut up onion and garlic, then added the juice of a few slices of tangerine and a pat of butter.  All of that went in the oven for almost 20 minutes before we feasted on the best-tasting fish to come aboard Calypso’s Fire so far!  It’s funny: before cleaning, the fish weighed less than a pound, yet it was the perfect amount of fish for the two of us.  Silly Americans – we really do have some large portions!

Look at those TEETH!

Knowing we had no bait, I suggested that the Captain use what was left after cleaning the fish to see if we couldn’t get something a little larger for dinner.  Well, it’s no good to be greedy and we were reminded of that: a barracuda decided that he liked the look of what we were offering and clamped on.  Unfortunately, barracuda can occasionally be afflicted with a poison called ciguatera and you cannot tell until you are in severe pain that you have eaten a poisoned fish.  So, neither of us were really in the mood to bring this guy on-board the boat after the Captain had spent the better part of 15 minutes reeling him in.  But, ummm, yeah – see those teeth?  Yeah, this big fellow made off with our hook as neither of us knew much about how to stick fingers close to that mouth and dig out the hook.  (We did feel badly about hurting the fish and leaving it with the hook, so many words of apology were sent to the poor guy; unfortunately, that’s all we had to offer.)

I wish I could capture all we saw for you, Dear Readers

During the first day and half of the second, the water was that “impossible blue” I mentioned in my previous post.  To look in the water eight to fifteen feet above the bottom was to see sea grass, star fish bigger than my two hands put together, little fish swimming through the sea grass, and stunningly beautiful water the color of a baby’s blue eyes at times and like liquid emeralds at other times.  When the sun rays would come through the surface and hit a gentle wave as it was falling, I could see the electric-eel-like light on the bottom of the ocean floor for maybe a second before it was gone like a ghost.  It made it nearly impossible to steer as I kept seeing movement from the corner of my eye and always wanted to know what was going on there in the sea.

Baron watches when awake

When we laid anchor the first night, we were 38 nautical miles (1 nm = 1.2 miles, so 45.6 miles) from any land yet the ocean floor was only 15 feet below us.  You can be sure that as soon as the anchor drag alarm was set (which was really funny – what were we going to hit?!), I was wearing that water and nothing else as I swam around my home/vehicle/yacht.  The cats are still very confused by us doing this and stand on the edge of Calypso’s Fire the whole time we’re in the water watching us.

Princess MC looks down on us

By 8:00 the next morning, we had cooked and eaten breakfast, done all of our dishes, and had prepared our course to get us into Chub Cay.  (It truly is amazing how early one can get up when there are no distractions to stay up late for the night before!)  The one thing we didn’t have was any wind – and I don’t mean it was a light wind as it was the day before: I mean there was no wind at all.  So, with the sails strapped down but uncovered with hope of being used, we continued our long journey into the Berry Islands and toward the majority of the Bahamian Islands.

This day, the Captain caught another fish with his most-awesome lure, but the fish was big and strong and the line was already tired from the barracuda fight the day before.  The line broke and we lost the one fishing lure we could use without bait.  Dang.  Later that day, we did circles around a nurse shark, saw two dolphins crest and then swim off, and the dorsal fins of five whales (though they were not so curious about us and kept diving when we got too close). 

Getting to Chub Cay

Anchoring at Chub Cay was amazingly easy and uneventful, an anchorage that needed to be celebrated with a nice snorkel to get to know the area.  One of our neighboring sailboats had begun their snorkel-adventure just as we were getting everything in order and pulled up a HUGE star fish as it ate its evening meal: an even bigger lobster!  As a treat to ourselves, the Captain and I finally got to see what the bottom of our boat looks like, including when the keel is all the way down.  (Our boat was made for this kind of sailing as the keel (think a dorsal fin on the bottom of the boat) can be either very shallow, allowing us to get up close to land, or very deep for better stability when we are in extremely deep water, like the 2,000+ feet-deep water we saw the whales in yesterday.)  This nice swim was followed by the first time of what I need to make into an evening ritual: cleaning the green slime from the boat; though it’s not barnacles like in Boot Key Harbor, the bottom of the boat needs to be cleaned for speed, longevity of the paint, and – but of course – for the ascetics of seeing a pretty girl!

Yep, I gotta drive, too!

So, today, we’re going to shore to see if we can’t get some internet, then head out to Mama Rhoda Rock for some snorkeling that is supposed to be divine!  I have to admit, Dear Reader, last night, I had one of my laughing fits that was brought on by nothing really and could be stopped by absolutely nothing.  At some point during it, the line “I live on a boat in the Bahamas” kept me laughing so hard I had tears running down my face.  The laughing and crying got confused there for a minute as I couldn’t figure out how to wrap my head around that fact: it’s beautiful and scary, awesome and overwhelming, real and surreal - all at the same time.  This morning, though, the overwhelming feelings of both high and low are gone, leaving behind a relaxed and carefree feeling that is only possible when I let go and just allow this life to sink in on me.

Fun only for humans

On an Environmental Note:  The Captain and I went as much out of our way as possible when we saw glistening, floating objects on the water.  The first of these was 12 miles off-shore and Rob’s first reaction was that it was a man-o-war, a favorite treat for sea turtles.  As I was very interested to see something that huge and poisonous floating through the water, we got closer and closer until – through binoculars – the Captain finally determined the cause of our interest: a Mylar balloon.  TWELVE MILES off-shore!  However, this would be the first of FIVE balloons we saw in our 76 nm crossing, the biggest of them being a Minnie Mouse balloon floating just past the halfway point.  While we were determined to net them and bring them on-board to be disposed of after being popped, not all boaters will do the same.  Honestly, prevention is MUCH better than relying on a conscientious boater; please do NOT let balloons go flying off into the atmosphere if you can prevent it.  I realize that kids lose balloons and they truly do it on accident because they want to play with their toy, but if it can be prevented, it should be.  We humans are not on this planet alone and turtles do not have the processing skills to determine that a Mylar balloon is not food and is not healthy for them.  Please, do your part: once balloons are finished, pop them and throw them away.  And, while it’s “neat” to see balloons fly off in huge packs of color and delight, the five minutes you will forget about the next day leaves a trail of danger for sea life.