Rock Sound to Norman’s Cay (inside)

Last night was very peaceful in Rock Sound.  The wind died to nothing, except an occasional whisper out of the east.  We started up with the anchor at 6:30 am, but did not make it to the Exuma Sound until after 8 am. It was one of the most perfect days on the Sound that we have ever experienced.  We were on a broad reach in winds under 10 knots.  We ran the engine at just under 1,300 RPM to make water and our speed was about 6.5 knots.  We made good time.  We saw one squall, but it never came near enough to molest us.

We saw a few flying fish, and I saw some swimming birds.  When they popped up out of the water right next to us and took flight, I quickly shouted to Myron.  Birds are a good sign when fishing.  Sure enough, right then we took a hit on the blue and white tuna plug.  It fought for a while, Myron started to bring it in and we lost it.  We decided it must have been a small tuna or jack and was barely hooked.  We recovered the tuna plug, a little worse for wear.  No more hits for quite some time after that.  We were only about six miles out from the cut at Norman’s and it looked grim on the fishing aspect.  I saw more flying fish and we took a hard hit on the black and purple jet head.  I hit the ‘mark’ on the GPS, it helps us keep track of good fishing areas.  It was a bull Mahi Mahi and he fought hard, even with two gaffs in him when on board.  We hung him up and measured him, 44 inches.  We started to return to the original hit when we noticed Mahi’s hitting flying fish around us.  I again marked it on GPS.  We fished about a mile between the two marks and we got another hit, the same black and purple jet head.  Myron had sweetened that lure with some chunks of squid and maybe that was helping.  It was a cow Mahi Mahi and did not fight as hard, until we got her on the boat.  We tied a line on her tail and had a gaff in her when we brought her aboard.  She fought hard and beat us up a bit until Myron could reach the knife and end it.  She was 47 inches.  Both those catches were in water depths of 3,800 to 4,500 feet.  We were a bit surprised as we previously caught fish on the drop off by the shore.  We will take the blessings however they come and thank God for them!

There are ten other boats in the anchorage with us, including another Whitby42 anchored near us.  It took us an hour to clean up Hold Fast from all the fish parts and blood.  In the middle of our cleaning, D and Molly on ‘Allegria,’ the Whitby, came over to say hello.   We talked Whitbys and Bahamas, and then shared two large fillets of our freshly caught fish.

It is dark now.  I just cleaned up from a fish dinner that was too big for both of us to eat.  It is only 7:30 pm and I am exhausted.  Not sure of our plans for tomorrow, but I hope they include leaving the anchor right where it is and stretching out in the cockpit with a good book – or a quilt!!

Love to all,

Dena

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