Hunting for lobsters and other sea food

Lobsters are yummy. They also aren’t very smart. Once found, they will generally stay put until captured. Some people have suggested grabbing them by hand (not a great idea if an eel happens to also be in the same hole) and some have suggested that their legs can become entangled in a mop (but we could not get this to work). I have found that a single prong pole spear down their throat seems to work best as a means of capture.

The trick is to find them.

They must be over a certain size and at least 200 yards off shore.

You have to look under rock ledges and any hole where they might hide.

Once, and only once, we found the mother of all lobster hangouts. You have a boat limit of 6 per person, so we stopped there. Unfortunately for us, someone else followed us and cleaned the place out so we could not return.

The happy hunters and their booty are shown above. The picture of the lobster in the water was taken at Sandy Cay, an underwater park. This one, we could only capture with our camera and leave for others to enjoy.

We have also tried hunting fish. They are much easier to find, but more difficult to catch. It is easy to get close to a small fish. It is much more difficult to get close to a large fish unless it is hiding in a cave. One of the photos shows Bev feeding the fish in an underwater park. I think she might have been hoping that some might have followed us outside its boundaries.

We used a 5 foot pole spear with a single point and a folding barb to catch the lobster. It worked well. It did not work well for free swimming fish, however, as its range is too limited. You have to get within about 2 feet of the fish when you release the pole if you want it to penetrate fully. The pole spear with the single barb does not work well for fish in caves. The problem is that the spear will drive the fish back and then the tip of the spear will hit the wall of the cave before it has penetrated fully. At this point, the fish is probably mortally wounded but will escape, never to be seen again.

Our next try was a 6 foot spear with a longer elastic for more thrust and a 3 pronged spear which much less penetration for the barbs to take hold. Our hope is that it will be better.

We will also try a Hawaiian sling. This consists of a short handle with a hole into which a spear slides and an elastic to shoot it. The range of a Hawaiian sling is much greater and it should be better for open water. The spear is completely free, however, so you should not use it where you could not dive to the bottom to retrieve it.

Life is an adventure and so is fishing. We look forward to its continuation.

Blowing the conch

When Bev’s sons were visiting, I explained to them that it would be important to their social life that they learned to blow the conch.

There is a story that explains that as part of the passage to man-hood, every young Bahamian male had to find an appropriately sized conch by swimming for it, by cleaning it themselves, by turning it into a horn and by learning to blow it, much as one would blow on a trumpet. At sundown, each young male would then blow their conch to announce their availability and where they were. I am not sure if this was the beginning of the expression “blowing your own horn” but, in effect, this was part of a mating ritual. No young woman would be interested in any male that did not blow their own conch since they obviously had not yet passed to manhood or were not available.

What you have to realize is that there is absolutely no truth to this story – but then one should not let the facts get in the way of a good story should they?

Looking out for friends

We miss all of you who are not fortunate enough to be sharing this adventure in Abaco and look forward to seeing you again.

Friendships

After the boys left, we returned to Hope Town for the fair and then headed to Snake Cay for fishing.
It seems that at every turn, Bev makes new friends who put up with me. In these photos, we are on Beach Cruising belonging to Barry and Brenda. We first met them on the Chesapeake. They are an absolutely charming couple who have built a circle of equally charming and interesting friends

After spending a day at Snake Cay and getting skunked at fishing, we headed to Little Harbour, at the foot of the Sea of Abaco.

The son of the original settlers (Pete) now owns Pete’s Pub. This is an absolutely charming bar with no walls and a sand floor. Pete’s parents were internationally famous for lost wax castings of marine and other life.

The harbour is extremely well protected and the beaches are picturesque. There are also some really great dive sites nearby, one of which is a park. Both are full of fish and interesting coral.

In typical fashion, Bev chatted up another couple in the bar. It did not take long until they invited us for dinner. I turns out that their name is House and the name of their cat is “House Cat”. Apparently they often pick up strays so it was appropriate that they picked up us, the crew of the Stray Cat. They used to own 4 or 5 Thai restaurants but are down to one. Anyway, dinner was Thai and it was excellent!!!

It pays to be married to a charmer!

The Visit – Part 3 – the bars

When the boys first arrived, we took them to a bar called Snappa’s. It featured a “musician” called Browntip. He plays the saw and sings along to canned music. I found it intriguing for about 5 minutes but the beat never changed and neither did the tone.

Bev and the boys, however, almost closed the place, so I guess it is a matter of taste.

Of course, everyone enjoys Nipper’s – especially after snorkeling in the waves.

We also did the pot luck dinner at Grabbers.

Finally, before they left, we had lunch at the Jib Room. The meals were excellent and the portions were humongous. Johnny’s club sandwich had to have been about 4 inches thick. Bev and I could have easily split any of the meals and not have been able to finish. It is highly recommended, but bring a friend.

Finally, we had hoped to take in a Junkaroo. The kids in the photo above were probably about 8 years old. This is a cultural phenomena where various groups compete in a parade with elabourate costumes and intricate dance steps. The participants start very young and continue on well into adulthood. Unfortunately, the "Parade" was one and a half hours late in getting started and there were gaps of about 15 minutes between groups while they got themselves organized. The party and parade started at about 8:00 PM and went on well into the "wee" hours. Unfortunately, neither Bev nor I had the stamina to persevere.

Our loss I guess.

The Visit – Part B - Sea

After Treasure, we absolutely had to take the guys to Guana and to Nipper’s Bar. They also tried snorkeling both at the bar and in the bay where we were anchored.

We tried to take some good underwater photos. These are a very poor representation of what we saw but may give you at least some idea.

Bev's Boys Visit – Part A - Land

Bev’s boys, John and Tim came to visit us for a week.

I think they enjoyed it. I certainly know I did. They are both easygoing and extremely helpful. These are important ingredients for living in close quarters.

While they were here, we visited Hope Town again and then sailed to Treasure Cay.

We would not all easily fit into our rubber dingy so often the two boys would ride in the Walker Bay under tow. There is no truth to the rumour that we made them ride back there because they had gas.

Treasure is supposed to have one of the top 10 beaches in the world. While that may have been true 10 years ago, the shore line is a bit too built up for my tastes.

You even have to pay to anchor at Treasure. In exchange, however, you get full access to the resort. Also, water is a deal: $7.00 for unlimited amounts for 24 hours. We took 90 gallons.

This also gave us an opportunity to meet up again with old friends around the pool. The boys seemed to enjoy themselves as well.