Marsh Harbor to Spanish Wells

Click, click, click Whirrr!!! Yep, just like Jaws. That is what my reel sounded like when that enormous Mahi-mahi took my line. Click, click, click Whirrr! I know, I know you want me to get on with the story. I’ll tell you it was a very exciting few minutes. However, since I have been convinced to write this blog in a chronological fashion, I don’t want to get ahead of myself, so, if you want to know what happened, you are just going to have to keep reading.

We stayed a total of 13 days in Marsh Harbor. We celebrated Christmas, met some new and interesting people, had some scrumptious lunches at the Jib Room, searched some of the gift shops and generally had a great time, but at the end of 13 days, it was time to move on. So, with favorable weather on the horizon, we re-provisioned as usual with one exception. We bought ten pounds of lobster – a total of 33 nice-sized tails that will give at least 17 meals. We’ll add that to any that I manage to catch (I hope) and eat them over the next several months. We already had three tails in a magnificent quiche that Ann made for New Years Eve. And we had the leftovers a few days later.

The trip from Marsh to Little Harbor was only twenty-five miles and, though there were a few bumps along the way, overall the seas weren’t too bad. We had to time our arrival at Little Harbor right, as the entrance at low tide is barely four feet deep.  We arrived at noon, which was high tide, moved right in and grabbed one of the five or six open mooring balls. We lowered the dinghy, went ashore to Pete’s Pub (the only eatery or drinkery in the area) and shared one of their delicious coconut cracked conchs and a couple of Kaliks. Mmmmm  good. The next day we ran the dinghy over to “The Bight of Old Robinson.” (C’mon. Even the most cynical of you have to agree that that is a cool name.) We could not find the Blue Holes that are supposed to be there, but we did see sea turtles – a lot of sea turtles. These weren’t the 500 pound kind, but are about 12 inches in diameter and, when they want to, can swim like the wind! I am guessing we saw somewhere around 15-20.

Although we had planned to go to Pete’s for New Years Eve, the more we thought about it the less attractive it sounded. In the event, we stayed on the boat, had lobster quiche and champagne, watched Smiley’s People (a John Le Carre spy story) and went to bed well before midnight.



Traveling Soul approaching Lynyard Cay

Crossing from Little Harbor, Abacos to Royal Island near Eleuthera is a non-trivial event. We had to cross the Northeast Providence Channel, a sixty mile trip in waters that vary from ten to three thousand feet deep – the vast majority of it nearer the latter than the former.  Our first problem was getting out of Little Harbor. You may recall the entrance at low tide is about four feet. On 2 Jan, the day we wanted to leave, the tide was going to be low most of the morning and, if we waited until the tide was right, we wouldn’t be able to leave until 1100 or so. But that was too late to start our trek across the ocean. The answer was of course simple. We left at noon on 1 Jan and went to the island across from Little Harbor, Lynyard Cay, and anchored there. Lynyard was really a pretty island with a couple of nice beaches and good holding for the anchor. It was a long island, which was good, as there were about ten other boats with the same idea. While at Lynyard, we met Cynthia and Gerry aboard Panacea, a new-to-them 42’ trawler, on which they were also going to the Exumas.

The day before we left Lynyard, I got both of my rods ready and attached the lures. One lure was a simple cedar plug (that they tell me works very well) and the other was a lure that Ken Hyman, from the Trawler Barbara, had given me two years ago. (A much-belated “thanks,” Ken!) We waited until 0715 on 2 January and then weighed anchor for our second ocean crossing of this Bahamas trip.

The Blitz Torte for my birthday. Mmmmmmmmmm!

Initially, the seas were a bit more than had been forecast and it was not particularly comfortable. Ann and I had been through much worse – about two years ago we suffered one of the worst ocean crossings we ever had in this same body of water – but Spot definitely did not think this was fun. We lost track of her for about fifteen minutes and Ann decided to go looking for her. She had hunkered down between the sofa and the wall (bulkhead for you nautical types) and was just waiting for the trip to be over. She likes it there, I suppose, because she is wedged in tight enough that she cannot roll either way. Once the seas calmed down a little we lured her out with one of her treats, but after eating it, she immediately headed back to her little port in the storm.

About two-thirds of the way across, I heard it. Actually, Ann heard it first: Click, click, click Whirrrr!!! Something had taken my line and was moving away from the boat at top speed. I immediately started towards the back deck. Ooops, I had forgotten to slow the boat as I had promised Ann I would. I rushed back to the helm to put the boat at idle speed, then I sprinted back to the stern. I picked up the rod and the line was zipping off the reel. I had a fish, my first on the boat!!! I told Ann to put the boat in neutral, the only way to slow down below idle speed. Hmmm, on the TV shows the line eventually stops tearing off the reel and the host starts bring in the fish. Whirrr the reel went, the line was still coming off very, very, fast. I decided to adjust the drag. (The drag is kind of like the brakes on the reel; it should slow down the rate at which the fish pulls out line.) Now, for those of you who care, I have a star drag on my reel. I don’t particularly like it because you can’t tell how much drag you have and how much more drag you are adding when you turn the star. So, to be honest, I didn’t know how much I was increasing the drag, but the line was still whipping out. I was running out of options. I tried to reel in the fish; the line still was whizzing out so my reel-cranking was doing no good. At that moment I look up, and about 200 yards abaft our port beam I see it. My fish jumped!

Now I am not talking about a little hop out of the water. I am talking about a full-fledged twisty-turney jump – just like the ones you see on TV. Moreover, this wasn’t a little mahi-mahi to which we would have to add some rice to make it a meal. It was a monster! Seriously, although I was pretty sure it was a mahi, when it jumped, it was big enough that I spent an instant looking for the bill, to make sure I didn’t have a billfish on the line. Wow!! If I had to guess, I would say around four feet long. Then suddenly, just as the fish fell back into the water, I felt it. Nothing, Nada, Zilch, Zip. There was no more line ripping off the reel, no more whiz, no more nothing. C’mon baby, c’mon! I reeled in as fast as I could for a couple of seconds hoping against hope that he was still on the line, but had turned towards the boat. Maybe, maybe, I hoped. A few seconds later, I knew. I had lost him.

At first I figured that when he had jumped, he had dislodged the hook and lure and had simply gotten away. But when I reeled the line in I noticed that not all of the line I started with was there, AND the lure was missing. As I studied the end of the line, I realized that it had been broken. I had 30 pound test line on the reel and that fish had snapped it. Maybe it was defective line. Maybe it had developed a knot. Maybe. Maybe. Maybe. Although I will do some more research and hope that some of you serious fishermen can offer some advice, I will always wonder what happened to this, my first mahi-mahi.   Oh well.

The rest of the trip was relatively uneventful. We traveled through a couple of small squalls, but for the most part the seas were reasonably calm. We spotted Royal Island and I brought in my fishing lines, made the turn around Egg Island and entered Royal Island Harbor. Gerry and Cynthia aboard Panacea had anchored near us, so we asked them over to the boat for cocktails. We discussed the weather forecast for the next several days and decided where we were going to go and what we were going to do for protection against the cold front and accompanying wind and rain that were supposed to hit over the next day or two. We decided that we would go ahead and get a slip in the Spanish Wells Yacht Haven. In the event, Gerry and Cynthia decided they would do the same.

Royal Island has a natural harbor that we thought would give us reasonably good protection from the increasing northerly winds. It wasn’t bad, I guess, but we could hear the waves pounding on the swim platform all night long, so we were kind of relieved when morning came and we could cruise the hour or so to it takes to get to Spanish Wells. We hadn’t originally wanted to go to Spanish Wells, not because we don’t like the town, but because we had been here before. In the spring of 2013 we were on a mooring ball in Spanish Wells. Our davit broke and we couldn’t get our dinghy down so we moved to a marina. We thought it would be easy to get a repairman until we realized that it was the Thursday before Easter. In Spanish Wells, nobody works on the Thursday afternoon before Easter, or on Good Friday, or on Saturday, or on Easter itself, or on Easter Monday, of course. So, we sat in Spanish Wells for almost a week – with very little to do – before we could get out of there.

Ann worked on this while we were
"bored" at Spanish Wells

In the event, it almost turned out the same way this year, but for different reasons. On Sunday evening, the day we arrived a squall went through carrying rain and winds of 30+MPH and we were glad we were in the marina, but we had seen nothing yet. Although Monday and Tuesday were not all that bad, Tuesday night the winds picked up and continued all Tuesday night and all day Wednesday. Moreover, all day Wednesday it rained and rained and rained. Now don’t get me wrong, I like a little rain because it cleans the salt off the boat, but when it rains ALL DAY it gets kind of boring – even if we are in paradise. When it wasn’t raining on Monday and Tuesday, we strolled the town, went to the grocery store and checked out some of the gift shops and variety stores.

On Friday morning, we finally left Spanish Wells.

ANN’s NOTES: I sure am glad I am keeping a notebook with my notes, I can now fill in the daily activities for you…so here goes…



Thurs 12/24/15 :  Marsh Harbor Abaco ,Windy, humid and warm, not my idea of nice weather. Did the laundry. I know I am spoiled; I have my own washer and dryer on board, no lugging dirty clothes anywhere, just sorting in the hallway for me. Jib Room had a pre-Christmas get together for the people at the marina, that was fun. I got a box of lobster tails as a Christmas present, guess I will have to share this gift. Called our families in the states, it was good to hear their voices.

Friday 12/25/15:  Nice relaxed day. Had Christmas dinner at the Jib Room with other marina people.  I made Mac and Cheese as a side dish; it was a hit. Nice assortment of food and the company was excellent. Talked with Lisa and Trent (daughter and grandson) Trent is learning to drive, why..I remember when he was just a baby..I will not finish all the stories I could tell you.

Sat 12/26/15:  Boxing Day in the Bahamas, if you want to learn some interesting trivia, look up Boxing Day on Google. The tradition goes way back into history. Lunch at the Jib Room, yes.. I had yet another BLT and onion rings. I could eat one every day, they are that good.

Sun 12/27/15:  The Captain on Traveling Soul sent down the dreaded orders of the day…OIL CHANGING DAY. I knew it was coming when we were still in FL, and we loading the engine room with twenty, one gallon jugs of motor oil.  We need to take care of “our girls, the twin diesel sisters”, they good care of us so I guess we need to return the favor every 150 or so engine hours. Michael and I are a lot better at doing this job than we used to be. The first time we had John Cairne showing us how to do it. We have it down to a science but it is still a messy, sweaty, yucky job. We have also dedicated a set of clothes to just oil changing.

Mon 12/28/15: Recovering from oil changing day. Did more laundry, also related to oil changing day.

The views from the restaurant at Spanish Wells.

Tues 12/29/15: Very busy day. Dinghy ride over to Marsh Harbor, walk to Maxwell’s grocery store. Did some major grocery shopping,* please note* Took a taxi back to the marina. Now, you may think that grocery shopping is easy, like on land, but not so much when you live on a boat. Let me explain to you what is involved. (1) Get lots of rest and eat a good breakfast. You will need both. (2) Find transportation to the grocery store, sometimes by foot, rental car, a ride from strangers, taxi or dinghy.  (3) Remember how you are getting said groceries back to the boat, be very aware of what goes into your cart, please refer to last blog entry for more details.( 4) Shop and think  ahead ,two week time frame ( 5) Pay for grocery.( 6) Take transportation, going and coming back are not always the same mode of transportation.( 7) Unload grocery from whatever way you got back, into a dock cart.( 8) Unload groceries from dock cart, up and into the boat (NO….we are not finished yet…) ( 9) Move grocery from door way of salon, down the steps to the galley. (10) Unpack, sort, store, groceries ..that is actually three steps, but I bundled them, to save time and space. There is actually a few more steps involved with the fresh vegetables and freezing the meat, but I think you probable get that grocery shopping can be all day event.

Went to a quick drink with Peter and Laurie on Navigator, we were joined by other boaters.

Wed 12/30/15: Arrive Little Harbor. Bumpy  ride. Spot not a happy kitten. Lunch at Pete’s Pub.  A lot of turtles in the mooring field. Burgers  on  the grill.

Thursday 12/31/15 :  Cancelled reservations at Pete’s Pub, had lobster quiche instead, champagne and DVD’s, that is how we spent  New Years  Eve. ( lobster count down from 33 to 30). Dinghy ride, turtle watching, fun time.

****** Happy 2016!!!!**************

Friday 01/01/16:  Anchor out at Lynyard Cay. Took Spot to the beach for the first time, she wanted nothing to do with the water and/or waves. The dinghy became her best friend, she was much happier just riding in the dinghy. Meet Gerry and Cynthia on board Panacea and their dog Olive, again Spot was happy to be in her dinghy looking up at Olive on her boat. Grilled ribs out on the grill.

Sat 01/02/16:  Up early, long day traveling. Crossed the Northeast Providence Channel / Atlantic Ocean. Spot again not a happy feline, found a new place to stay, behind the wall and sofa. Anchored out  at  Royal Island. Gerry and Cynthia dinghied  over for drinks. Rocky evening.

Sun 01/03/16:  Arrive Spanish Wells Yacht Haven Marina. Mixed reviews on this marina, they did have electricity on the dock but no water hook up or good WiFi. The marina is building six cottages and a swimming pool, so there was construction and the noise that goes along with the building of buildings. Gerry and Cynthia were docked next to us. Got very crafty today, made a sea shell garland for my candle. Put the Christmas decorations away. Meet Roger and Christine on Oceanus from Cambridge, MD.

Mon 01/04/16:  Happy Birthday to my wonderful husband, I will not put any dates or age, just say, he is the same age as I am. Before I made his birthday cake, we had to walk into town to buy some baking powder, to make the cake. Now, I have an excellent galley, I have all I need to bake a cake, and I love to cook and bake. The problem is much like grocery shopping, it involved many steps. Anyway..the Blitz Torte was made, surf and turf was the menu . It was a good day.

Tue   01/05/16:  Keep Left…Keep Left.. drove  a golf cart to the grocery store with Cynthia and Christine. Can you guess which side of the road they drive on in Spanish Wells? Had Gerry, Cynthia, Roger and Christine over for coffee and cake. The Blitz Torte is now gone, it was a fun evening. Spot was her very friendly feline self and the company enjoyed her. Walked to the Shipwreck restaurant only to find it closed..grrrr.

Wed 01/05/06:  Really crummy weather, wind gusting 30 + MPH (glad we are in a marina) Spot very inactive, sort of worried about her, hope she does not need kitty Prozac. The galley smells like my mom’s kitchen when I was growing up, made lamb chops with rosemary and garlic and white navy beans. That, plus a nice slice of Bahamian bread and Irish butter and we can call that dinner.

So ..ladies and gentlemen, this is my mini cruising journal for this addition of the blog.

Have a Blessed and Happy 2016

Traveling Soul…OUT