Happily Eaten Out Of House N Home

Our kids Brian, PJ, Krissy, Katie and her boyfriend Jimmy just left after a 10 day vacation onboard. The weather and winds we with us and we did about as much as anyone could hope for. A spinnaker runs north to give all the thrill of sailing fast in fairly big seas. Somewhere after about half the crew puked we entered a cut on the bank and plied the very shallow but protected waters on the bank side and made it to Little Farmers Cay where we had the best dinner ever with Terry at his "Ocean Cabin". Saw the Pimlicos. The thrill of catching some pretty large fish was had by all. Too bad we did not experience the thrill of actually landing those large fish as 3 for 3 got away. One was a tuna, next a 3 ft. Mahi (which we actually had onboard for 20 seconds) and, last, a giant 4-5 ft. Mahi that jumped high into the air, swam for a bit, then just snapped the steel leader, gone! The kids and we will never forget our day at White Cay and the miles and miles of low-tide-only beach that stretch forever. We tried again our luck at fishing?tons of bonefish, small sharks and rays. The boys and I did our best hunting for lobsters at every opportunity with a good haul of 18 small ones up in Smith's Creek, back side of Great Exuma. PJ, master chef for the week, served excellent "Lobsta pasta" along with many great and varied dinners and breakfasts. Brian's eyes (PJ's too) will probably stay as large as pie plates for a few more days following their close encounter with a 5 ft. barracuda that seemed very interested and intent on getting way too close for comfort. We were diving on the Black Rocks in the middle of nowhere and this particular cuda had had just about enough of our presence. So now they are all gone. Just the 2 of us once again. Our buddy boats Neverbored and Starshot left last Saturday, have already made Mayaguana and are well on their way to the Turks/Caicos then to Luperon, Dominican Republic. We may try to catch them and do plan on heading "out-island" as they say, in 3 days. First we must clean and take inventory of food. Food 24-7 for 7 people with a chef on board has left many a cupboard bare (not to mention Rum and beer, seemingly a staple for vacationing loved ones in their young 20's). I hear Lisa scrubbing the deck, we are making water and all is good. Our plan is to head east to Long Island then perhaps Conception/Rum Cays and ultimately the Crooked Islands/Acklins for some exploring before going really remote to the Ragged/Jumento chain on our way to Andros, west to Cal Sal Bank (second largest atoll in the world seldom visited and laying forgotten about halfway tween Key West and southern Andros. More later, Gary-over n out