2012-02-09 Little Farmers to GeorgeTown. If only……

Seems like a lot of my blogs end with the words “if only…” If only the wind would settle, if only the night time rocking and rolling would settle, if only we would catch a fish, if only ……

Yesterday, it all came together

The weather was perfect for our trip.

We left Little Farmers Cay at about 8am – supposedly at slack tide – so that we could traverse the Farmers Cay Cut into the Exuma Sound. Going in and out of these cuts when the wind is against the flow of water causes great big “standing” waves. These can make for a very uncomfortable trip and can be downright dangerous at times. So, we went at slack high tide (little water flowing in or out) – or so we thought!!! According to the tide tables it was high tide at 8.00. According to nature, which doesn’t always follow man made predictions, the tide had already turned and when we got to the cut it was ebbing strongly (flowing out into the Sound). The wind – not much thankfully – was SE, so we had a wind against tide situation.

Well we “rolled” out of the cut with the tide against the waves but no real issues. There were certainly “standing” waves but fortunately not too big. But an “interesting” experience nonetheless – one of my “when was the last time you did something for the first time” situations

The trip to Elizabeth Harbour was quite good – mainly against the wind and waves, so not too uncomfortable.

As always, I dropped a lure and trailed it all the way……. Always hopeful of catching something, you know!!

About 5 miles from Elizabeth Harbour, Mary was helming and I was busy in the salon when I heard a radio call. Thinking it was Mary, I called back but no reply. So I continued working. And suddenly saw the throttles moving down and the engines slowing. Looking out I saw a few other sailboats and trawlers so I figured Mary had just done the conservative thing and slowed down to let a boat pass or something.

Then she radioed down – we have 2 walkie talkies that we use to communicate with each other from the flybridge to the salon or even on land. This is how the conversation went:

Me, “WHAT?”

Mary, “Fish”

Me, “What?”

Mary, “I think you have caught a fish!!!”

I look around at the rod, step outside and, sure enough, something is taking line off my reel at a rate of knots!!! I hadn’t heard the reel over the noise of the engines.

So I grab the rod – no time to put on my rod bucket – strike and start retrieving line.

“Slow down the boat, Mary,” I yell.

“It’s already on idle speed” she hollars back.

“Take it out of gear,” I scream upstairs. So she does.

All this time, it’s pump and reel, pump and reel and slowly I bring the fish in.

“I need you down here, Mary,” I yell again, “get the gaff!!”

The fish is getting closer, even tries a jump into the air to get off. I’m not letting you get away, I mutter to myself. Eventually the fish is close to the boat.

“Gaff him” I instruct (notice the change in my tone?). So she tries and the fish – by now I’ve identified a Mahi Mahi – takes off again and starts heading under the boat!! Oh no, you don’t, I think. I won’t let you cut my line on the props or rudders, and I bring him back to the surface at the back and work him to the side again. “Gaff him!!!” She misses.

So holding the rod in my left hand and the gaff in my right, I gaff him just behind the gills and lift him on board.

So now it’s photo and video time!! But that’s not the end of the story. Now I have to kill the Mahi Mahi.

So I club him on the head a few times with a hammer – doesn’t work, Spike him in the brain – still he lives, club and spike him a few more times and eventually he gives up the ghost.

By now the boat is drifting all over the place and the cockpit looks like a violent murder scene.

The depth sounder reads 14 feet but we should be in more than 600ft (max for my depth sounder)!! Mary, back at the helm, shouts down that the depth sounder has stopped working and is stuck on 13 feet!!! Oh, shoot!!!!!!! We need a functional depth sounder in Elizabeth Harbour!!! A few – no make that many – choice words filter through my brain as I clear the cockpit of some of the blood.

Then I’m upstairs trying to reset the depth sounder – no go with anything I try!! Does the old one still work we wonder. Anyway, as we are pondering the predicament, it suddenly starts reading numbers again – it’s working!!! Yay, but why?!?!? Of course, it stops working when it more than 600 feet!!! And I’m guessing that the 13 feet reading we got was when the fish swam under the boat Well, whatever, it performed flawlessly to our anchorage,

Followed our waypoints into Elizabeth Harbour and espied this beautiful little bay with 2 cats anchored. So I said to Mary that we should drop anchor here as it was perfect given the wind direction! So, we headed toward the beach and slowly inched our way in and dropped the hook in about 5’ of crystal clear water.

Tidied up, then sat back and had a beer before filleting my very first Mahi Mahi. So, another “when was the last time you did something for the first time” event. First time I have ever caught a fish on a trailing lure!!!

Then we had some fabulous pan fried fillets of Mahi Mahi with a few more meals in the freezer!! Nothing better than really fresh fish.

Hit the sack at about 9 and slept through until about 4 (7 hours – a luxury) with no rocking and rolling – hooray!!

If only….. Well, I caught a fish, the wind has settled, and had a great night. Now we blob for a while……..