2001 - 5/4 - 5/14 - Gun Cay; Chub Cay

5/4 & 5/5 - Still windy, guessing 15-20 with gusts of 25-30, cool, water way too cold for me - only 78 and air temp in the low 70’S!  Dinked to the beach both days. We played naked on the beach the first day…ahhh, the freedom of being alone. Molly had a great time running all around chasing crabs. The second day we attempted, without success, to reach the lighthouse and abandoned buildings. It was a rough trip over

Gun Cay

rocky paths that soon gave way to thick underbrush and we weren’t dressed in hiking wear to walk through it. (we were dressed this time). I managed to snorkel for about an hour before I got too cold. We took the dinghy over the rocky areas and trolled with the light rod using – you guessed it - the blue straw, the only one I had. Now this is no fish tale. I actually caught two yellow tail snappers using this blue stir straw. Honest! I could not believe it…and yellow tail no less – they’re usually very finicky. Mostly sailboats came to anchor and they stayed to themselves and, like us, waiting for a weather window to continue on either to the States or Eastward, over the Banks. It was nice to be alone for a few days with nothing to do and no where to go.We lounged in bed longer than usual; did what we wanted to do when we wanted to.  But the windy conditions and cold water were wearing on us. I lost track of time…I know we left on 5/9 to cross the Banks to Chub, but I’m not sure which day we put the dingy aboard thinking we were going to leave the next day.I guess we stayed another 2-3 days without going ashore (poor Molly). We decided to strip the steps leading to the fly bridge then Wayne got carried away and started stripping the eyebrow around the trunk cabin and the handrails as well. I have to say we’ve been eating well but running out of fresh salad stuff but we still have onions and potatoes and the plants are producing small tomatoes and many bell peppers. I would love to do more fishing but the freezer is  pretty full. Shame I wasn’t able to call my mom on 5/8, which is the 54th anniversary of my adoption. My parents virtually saved my life when they found me and brought me home. Her memory isn’t too good so I hope she won’t remember because we celebrate this day even more than birthdays or mother's day. Wednesday, 5/9: Winds seem a bit less. Still cool though. The alarm went off at 5:45am and listened to good ole NOAA. We decided that there wasn’t going to be a ‘perfect’ day to cross and besides, “what’s the worst that can happen”? The anchor was up by 7:00am and we headed towards the cut between Gun and Cat Cay. That’s a passage that should be done with good light. Of course we didn’t have good light and the computer with the Map Tech navigation program was, as often happens when we need it the most...not working. Good luck was with us, however. A huge yacht was coming through the cut and hailed us on the VHF. He pretty much saved our butts as we apparently were too far West and heading for a reef. We stopped and watched him come through. He kept fairly close to the shoreline as he rounded the point and stayed close for a short distance than headed West  It was a rather uneventful crossing, seas about 2-3’ on our port bow then, later in the day, increased to maybe 4’ and became a bit confused. Unfortunately, the Banks are too shallow for the flopper stoppers and it was cold so we traveled the majority of the 12 hours inside at the lower station. Wayne put the blue 
chair on the starboard side and was quite comfortable. I read; made lunch; took a nap and trolled as we approached the NW channel marker. The water gets deeper after the NW channel marker and should be good for fishing. I revived a used Ballyhoo rig; took off one of the hooks and put a pink, green and yellow skirt over the remaining hook. I purchased two packages of these skirts at K-Mart for about $4. Bingo! Damned if it didn’t pick up a beautiful Dolphin. (no, not Flipper) He must have jumped 10 times before I got him closer to the boat. @**#%!  He spit the hook and was outa here. Our mouths were watering for that fresh fish. Oh well, next time.  We anchored off Chub Cay at 7 pm just in time for happy hour, a beautiful sunset and delicious pasta dinner. (sound familiar? Sound boring? Hell no!) Thursday, 5/10: More shitty weather. There was a fair amount of boats anchored mostly sails and all waiting for better weather. BLUE MAX was crusty with salt and the inside needed cleaning badly!  Wayne did a quick wash down and cleaned the windows using our on-board fresh water.  I dusted and ran the vacuum. (all the comforts of home which means you can’t get out of doing anything) decided to go snorkeling –brrrr!  I wanted to find some live conch. I saw a commercial boat getting some around the entrance to the marina but when we got there, the current was ripping through and there was no Conch to be found. We traveled between the two islands in the swift current – still no Conch. Friday, 5/11  Still windy, the water is too cold for me and the air is cool, but out of the wind, it’s nice and warm. We took Molly to South Stirrup Cay about 1-½ miles North of where we were anchored. Still looking for Conch. Some people on a Grand Banks had just been there and we found a pile of just cracked Conch! So, where did they find them? We looked everywhere – found thousands of already taken but not live ones and we were too wussy to go into the water! (Duh! So where else would we find them?) Molly chased every bird around and was exhausted.  She swam a short way out from the beach to the dink then tried to climb in…she was ready to go home. Saturday & Sunday, 5/12, 5/13: There's a big Bill-fish tournament next week at Chub. Seeing huge and impressive ‘fishing’ boats arrive now. Boats in the anchorage come and go but not as many as I suppose there are in “season”. Saturday I got up my nerve and snorkeled for the first time in my new wet 
suit.  We snorkeled Mamma Rhoda Rock, which lies about a mile from the anchorage. Wayne was very disappointed, as the coral heads were not as brilliant and alive as he remembered the last time he was here in 1994.  I thought it was very interesting and with lots of fish. We returned later with fishing poles and got several yellow tail and a large grunt for dinner. We decided to finally go ashore and explore the marina. While Wayne got gas for the dinghy, Molly and I walked the docks where everyone was getting lures and bait ready. Their boats and equipment sparkled.You would not believe the incredible boats and oh-so-much testosterone! Lots of activity.The photo is Wayne and Molly under the bow of a ‘mother ship; for two, 40’ sport fishing launches! 
We had heard about the Berry Island Club re-opened - a restaurant and bar with moorings and a dingy dock.  New owners and very good food at reasonable prices.We decided to pull anchor and go there for happy hour and dinner-a real treat for us.  My mouth was watering already.When we radioed & were told the restaurant was closed – the owners were in Nassau buying provisions. Boo…OK, so we’ll go for drinks. We called back and found out that we had more booze aboard than they did.  Plan B...we’ll go to Nassau but it was getting pretty late & had to hurry. Just as we were deciding what to do another boat was anchoring near us. I saw the woman watching us through binoculars and the man was yelling something to us. Turns out they met Wayne at the Trawler Fest in Solomon Island in 1996.  It was Barry and Fern aboard C-CHELL. They invited us over. I got the scoop from Wayne as to who he was with at that Trawler Fest many years ago…after all, if they remembered that much from 1996…Turns out he was with Loren. Sure enough, Fern looked questioningly at me and before she could say anything I said, “no, I’m not the same one”. We all laughed. We had a very pleasant visit, but poor Barry sat on his dingy cleaning two Dolphin they caught (I’m sure one of them was the one that got away from me!). When he finished, he cleaned the equipment, the dingy, the swim platform, raised the dingy onto the big boat and put everything away.Then Fern said, “Barry, why don’t you fix us some drinks”. After all he just did she had him make drinks for all of us. I surely must be doing something wrong here!! cuz I'm the one who does all this. Monday, 5/14 Windy: 10 knots, cool.  We left Chub at 8:00 am for Nassau. Nice morning, seas maybe 1-2’. Now this is more like it.  I decided to troll

This is the little one

a line. I’ve never fished in 6000 feet of water!  I used one of the Ballyhoo and one of my home made skirts on the other pole. It wasn’t long before I yelled – FISH ON! A beautiful 3’ Dolphin with an 18” girth = maybe 20 lbs. Wayne helped me get her on board using the gaff hook. She was still flopping around when I put the other pole in with the Ballyhoo on it. BAM! Another hit. The pole was on the starboard side and so was the first fish.  Somehow I managed to step over the fish lying on the deck, retrieve the pole from its’ holder and sit on the deck box. “this one is a biggee!!!” He jumped several times but was way out there - another Dolphin and it looked really big. The fight continued for over an hour – and a wild hour it was. I finally got him close enough to see him – he was HUGE!  I figured I'd never get him aboard so Wayne took pictures. First he swam about 100’ out from the port side of the boat; then he abruptly swam to the boat and dove deep; then he returned to his position on the port side. Wayne put BLUE MAX in gear at two knots and set the autopilot. This went on for about an hour. It didn’t take me long to figure out his moves but my fighting belt broke after the first time he did this…Wayne placed the belt under my thighs so the pole holder was between my legs. This was OK as long as he didn’t make any real sudden moves – which he did and Wayne had to reposition the belt each time. I was spent, exhausted and holding on to the pole with everything I had.  Wayne kept saying, “he’s getting tired now”. Yea, right!  He kept saying, “it’s your fish, you gotta do it all yourself”. We made a pretty good team. (even though I was begging for help and he wouldn’t give me any). Finally, the fish was slowing down – I might win after all.  He stayed mostly behind the boat now. Wayne stopped the boat so I could get him closer.  Unfortunately, this left us at the mercy of the ever increasing wave action now about 3-4' . It was now or never to get him aboard but it would have to be Wayne who does it.  It was all he could do to get the gaff in him. He said, “I’ll hurt him”.  I said, “Are you kidding?? he's gonna be dinner!”. He had to lift him all the way up to the cockpit and over the railing.  I had Wayne by his belt to keep him from going over board, my feet stuck fast on the railing, Wayne had the fish on the gaff. I told him if he looses this fish I'm letting go of his belt!! What a sight but there was no one there to take a picture.  This was, by far, the biggest fish I’ve ever caught: a huge bull, 48” long with a 28” girth. We figured him to be 50-55lbs. A very formidable fish for a little person like me. All I wanted to do was lie down and sleep, just for a little while, but both fish were on deck and there was no way to ice them down. I now faced the monumental task of filleting them. We put a piece of plywood on top of the propane locker and managed to lift them up so I could clean them. (at the time, we didn’t think that we could have used the boom to hoist the sucker up for a good picture) Cleaning took at least another hour as I never filleted a Dolphin before and was learning on the job. The fillets themselves filled ½ of a 5 gallon pail. I then cut them into serving-sized pieces.I fell into bed and slept for an hour. Wayne, bless him, wrapped each serving in saran wrap then stuffed it all into our, already full, freezer. He figured we had about 40 meals.