3.16/Monday Bimini to Northwest Channel

Steve paid the marine bill while I closed all the hatches, ports and made sure everything was secure. All of a sudden, Steve realized Cygnus was pulling out of his slip and we had not even detached the electrical cord or started the engine. We scrambled around trying to get lines off the dock cleats and depart, because Steve wanted to follow them through the new dredged channel that would save us at least 30 minutes. The wind was 20 knots but only predicted to be 6-7. We need to quit listening to the weather man; he is never correct!

All three sailboats had no interest in going to Nassau so a course was charted for the Bahama Bank and anchor in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean at Northwest Channel. The Bank is a huge area of shallow water 8-15 feet deep. The area we were in was about 80 miles across, but extends to the south end of the Bahamian Islands.

We dropped anchor in 12 foot of water with nothing in site but ocean. This area is

highly traveled by freighters and other large container ships, but we felt safe with three anchor lights shining in the night.

Neither one of us slept very much during the night. I was in the aft birth and felt like I was in a washing machine; Steve lay on the settee in the Saloon trying to stay on the cushions and said he felt like he had been at Six Flags all night. I was glad when daylight arrived!

3.17/Tuesday Northwest Channel to Morgans Bluff

Larry/Cygnus had us up early ready to head on a course to Morgans Bluff. We passed the Northwest Channel marker with a couple of miles left in the Bahama Bank before sailing into the Tongue of the Ocean with depths of over 4000 feet. If you Google, Tongue of the Ocean, look for a satellite view; you will be amazed at this phenonan. As we began to leave the bank, Larry suggested we should put our fishing lines out, as this is where the big fish hang out. Steve attached his newly purchased lure, specifically designed for attracting mahi-mahi. He put out the line, but within a few minutes he thought he heard a strike; he checked but found it had been cut clean off, probably by a barracuda! Bye, Bye “costly lure.”

Larry called on the radio to announce his first catch, a 40 inch mahi-mahi, and to let us know he would slow down while he got it aboard, filleted, and ready for dinner tonight. Steve put another line out in hopes to better his odds for catching a fish. Sometime later, George/Sunseeker, called to say he had a mahi-mahi. Larry radioed again that he caught another one, but it got away. George caught two more so you can imagine how Steve was feeling. He hadn’t even gotten a bite. At least an hour later, we heard the drag of the big rod zing out and Steve started reeling it in. Sure enough, he had landed his first mahi-mahi.
We realized at this point that we were not prepared to land the fish. I had already gotten the dip net out, but the mahi-mahi was too large to fit into it. By this time, Steve had moved to the swim platform on the back of the boat and I had throttled back the speed of the boat. (We are still motor sailing.) I was afraid Steve would fall off the boat trying to get the mahi-mahi- on board. Finally, Steve pulled it onto the swim platform and the fish proceeded to coat the back of the boat in blood as he was trashing around trying to get away. Our friends had told us if you pour Vodka down their gills it will kill them. Our last resort was to get my Ketel One Vodka and give it a try. It worked! Steve then put a lasso around his tail to hold him. We had a picture taking session and he cleaned and filleted the meat for dinner.

We approximate the mahi-mahi to be about 30 inches long. There were six really nice pieces of meat from this one fish.

We arrived at Morgans Bluff, which is on the northern edge of Andros Island, around 1:30 pm. Once we knew the anchor was secure, we both jumped into the beautiful, clear water for a swim. Steve didn’t even take the time to put his swimsuit on; he just emptied his pants pockets, took off his t-shirt and dove in. The water was about 10 feet deep and you could see clear to the bottom. We found our masks and snorkels and enjoyed checking out the floor of the harbor.

Cygnus/Carol and Larry ( they live in Michigan) invited all of us to their boat for a mahi-mahi dinner and a celebration of a wonderful and successful day of fishing. We each brought a side dish and drinks and enjoyed a wonderful evening.

Chris Parker, the great weather forecaster in the Bahamas, was predicting a front with high winds, possibly as strong as 30 knots, for later in the week. With this information, the guys felt we needed to find a marina to ride out the high winds. Because Carol wanted to go to Fresh Creek to take a Batik class, it was decided to hold up there for a few days. Plans were to leave at 7:30 am the next morning.

One of the downfalls to spending so much time around the water is the moisture that accumulates in the cabin of the boat. I do not particularly like sleeping on soggy sheets but sometimes you don’t have a choice. The night was much more comfortable that the night before, until around 2:00 am, we were awakened by howling winds and rain. Steve checked the anchor line and found them to be holding. We were also awakened before daylight by a large tanker ship filling up with water at the Government Wharf.

The island of Andros, is the largest of The Bahamas group and has a strange, worldly charm all its own; the island of the Chickcharnie, the bonefishing capital of the world, the land of the mystic blueholes, and the western hemisphere’s second largest reef. Most of the island is water and supplies all the fresh water to the Bahamas.