January 12th, Rat Cay, Exumas

After coffee and the weather I went over to speak with Barry and Steve to compare notes on the weather and come up with a plan for the next few days. On Thursday night the wind is going to pick up and blow 25 to 30 knots for three days. It would be good to be behind Stocking Island in Georgetown before Thursday evening.

Today was calm enough to try lobstering in the sound on the outside of the cut. The area was semi-protected but the swell still made swimming difficult. Barry got a couple of lobsters He shot one that got away but then crawled out in the open in front of me just begging to be supper. and was.

We tried some other spots but didn't have any luck. Barry did shoot a fish but for the most part we came up empty. We did swim one edge where the current was strong enough that I couldn't make any progress swimming as hard as I could into it.Barry and Susan had to come over in their dinghy to drag me back to where Kathy was anchored.

When we returned to our boats, I could see "Perseverance II" sailing south in the Sound. They pulled in and anchored with us about an hour later. Susan and I decided that we should put together a potluck on the beach with cracked lobster. Steve and Kim brought Mahi fingers. Susan made Bahamian Mac and Cheese and Margate fingers (the fish Barry speared today.) I made cracked lobster and cut up our leftover Trigger fish into fingers. Cathy brought a nice toss salad. It was a feast

We returned stuffed to the gills and watch some video before bed.

January 11, 2009 Rat Cay, Exumas

After coffee and a big breakfast we took off with Barry and Susan to try to find some lobsters. Steve and Kim headed in the other direction.

Lobsters proved to be scarce so we did some dinghy sightseeing and stopped by a neat series of blow-holes. When a wave from the Sound hits, the outside of the island the force is transferred underground and shoots water about 20 feet into the air on the other side. It was a relatively calm day on the Sound so on a rough day they must be really impressive.

Eventually Steve and Barry each got a lobster or two . but we went without.

By the time we returned it was time to read and think about supper. I filleted the trigger fish that we bought in Black Point but ended up cooking about half. It was just too big.

We read until dark, watched the moonrise over the sound and watched an episode of "Bones" before bed.