Written by Hans Wilson
Saturday – Not starting out great this morning. Slow to rise and feeling a touch hung over but no headache, so that was good. I fixed a big ham and cheese sandwich and drank a bunch of cranberry juice. I am sure my liver appreciated that. The wind was still from the east but had simmered down to about 10 knots, like it does in the morning. We pulled out early to go offshore while it was still relatively calm and get in a dive. We anchored in 70’ of water and the boat rocked and rolled. By now I was feeling better but not great. I knew a dive would be just the thing to clear the cobwebs. Dave and The Squirrel were the first in to scope out the area, spotting some nice Hogfish and picking up some deep water conch.
Now it was mine and Em’s chance. She wanted to take pictures and I wanted to sight see. The reef was beautiful with coral heads rising up from the sand 12’ to 15’. There were lots of reef fish and small groupers poking their heads around the corner. I kept my eye on a 6’ reef shark that kept circling and getting closer. Finally, the shark annoyed Em’s photography session enough that she turned and charged him. He took off, never to be seen again. I guess you just don’t mess with a woman when she is on a mission.
I saw a nice scamp grouper and a big Nassau that worked his way up into a hole. I was simply intent on hovering like a bird mid air, diving low to see things under the coral heads then cruising up above them to enjoy the little reef fishes up close. We finished out the dive at the anchor where we hung for a few minutes at 15’ for safety reasons.
After cleaning up the gear and hanging it to air dry, we struck a course for New Providence and Old Fort Bay. Before our dive that day we had lost the starboard engine because of a broken fuel sensor. So it was a slow, agonizing five hour grind back, with the wind off our starboard quarter and the waves parallel to the boat. Oh, it was a long slog. My saving grace was steering the boat for a couple of hours, which made me focus on the horizon, and eventually a cold Gold Kalik. Actually, it took two beers and half a hamburger to fully recover. I’m not sure if it was the drinking, the relentless wind, the constant motion of the boat, or the combination of it all for a week, but I was pretty exhausted.
We were about an hour from port when we came upon a flock of birds. They were everywhere. Dave said “I bet you can find some black tuna under them”. Oh what a tease. Dave and I debated whether we had the energy to put out a line but I couldn’t resist. I had not contributed any fish to the cooler all week and now was my chance. I gamely retrieved the big rod with the cedar plug from down below as Dave circled around. The adrenaline was pumping as I reeled in the first little tuna. Paying out the line for another pass resulted in my second hook up. This time the adrenaline had backed off and the fatigue set in. For such a small fish I was whipped. But, one more pass for good measure put a third fish in the cooler. All right, fresh tuna! While the boat continued it’s combination of quartering and side to side rolls, I sloshed around the aft deck with my arms in the cooler, big knife in hand, cutting off heads and gutting the fish to bleed them out.
We fueled up at Lyford Cay, home of some gorgeous old boats and big mega-yachts. It must be nice to have money like that, for sure. However our boat was still a beauty and a great boat to tour the Bahamas. I bet we have more fun than the rich folks on their mega yachts. We finally got to our marina slip at dark, and ate whatever we had left on the boat. The food was so good, we were all ravenous, and totally exhausted. I finally crashed about 10:30 with a full belly and slept poorly the entire night. Weird dreams, light sleep, and lots of acid in my system, I will be glad to get into my own bed.