Marsh Hbr to Eleuthra
30 November 2011
Val
We spent 4 days in Marsh Harbour waiting for the wind to change during which time I spent part of a day practicing on my new-to-me ‘Sailrite’ sewing machine by fixing the mainsail cover and getting ready for the big day when I started to sew the cockpit cushions. We also went grocery shopping for fresh fruit and veggies and attended the Bahamas National Trust farm market day, where we bought a delicious Key lime pie. As we were hoping to leave on Sunday 27th (Grey Cup day) Bruce made his annual call to John Ferguson the day before. (Bruce and I arrived in Canada after finishing our jobs in the Bahamas and 6 month sailing trip through the Islands with little Geoff on Gray Cup day 1982 and stayed that night in Toronto with John and Celia Ferguson who we were good friends with in Nassau. Ever since then Bruce has called John on Gray Cup day to say “Hi” and catch up on news.) This year we talked with Celia on Skype at Barry and Jean’s in Florida where she was visiting, and then Bruce called John on Skype. It really was great to see everyone and catch up - in fact we may have both Barry and Jean and John and Celia on the boat next season for a visit.
We left Marsh Harbour on the 27th for Lynyard Cay at the Southern end of the Abacos. We trolled on the way and I caught my very first fish - a nice sized spanish mackerel which was destined for the supper table that evening! We arrived at our destination in time for Bruce to do a bit of spear fishing on some coral heads we had seen on the way into our anchorage. Just before we got back there in the dinghy a great big motor yacht anchored almost on top of the head! We stilled fished there anyway (almost over his anchor) and Bruce came up with 2 nice crawfish and 5 big conch. As soon as he came up with the first crawfish I noticed the captain of the big boat watching us through his binoculars! The mackerel was postponed to the next night and we had fresh crawfish for supper.
We went exploring in the dinghy the next day along the coast of the island and to do a little more fishing. We saw a big dolphin herding fish into the coral lined shore and trapping them there so it could eat them! We had never seen that before and it really was very clever - very neat to watch! We got some good pictures of it too. The same dolphin swam under Windrush the next morning herding the fish into the beach! Later that day we motored about 2 miles across to Little Harbour hoping to go to Pete’s Pub on the beach there but it isn’t open until Thursday through Sunday, and as it was only Tuesday we were out of luck! Too bad as we had eaten a good lunch there with Kirsty last season. We stayed on a mooring ball there overnight anyway and at first light the following morning we set out for the Exuma Islands.
We had a fantastic sail to Royal Island off the end of the Eleuthra. We put just the spinnaker up as soon as we had cleared the reef outside of Little Harbour. No engines for the rest of the day except to pull into our anchorage - it really was a lovely day. We reached 10-12 knots at times! We trolled as we sailed and something really big took my lure and then it was gone! I pulled my line part way in just to make sure the lure was still there and then I let it out again. I could see and feel something snapping at it but I just couldn’t seem to catch it! I pulled the line right in only to find that the first big fish had bitten my hook in half and the next one had been consuming the red and white skirt off my lure!! Oh well!! We were almost in the Exumas at last after having a wonderful day on the sea!