Water Cay to Raccoon Cay

Everyone is still thankful this morning that the dinghy was found in the pitch dark last night. I need to find out what kind of spotlight Bob used - I believe he procured it at Walmart. But the adrenaline of the late night search, and the frustration of the incredibly uncomfortable anchorage, left little room for rest. Plus, it kept going through my mind as to what kind of seas we would have on our outside passage today, given how rough it was behind a cay.

There was no need to borrow trouble. The seas were not bad at all. I am thrilled that we took the outside route. I think it was worse in the anchorage last night! We scratched using the south cut on Water Cay and backtracked to the north cut. It is wider and deeper and it was no problem other than needing more RPM against the tidal current. We dropped in a jet head and a tuna plug when the depths were adequate and looked forward to 40 miles of fishing in new territory. We were unimpressed. We caught a small cow mahi, under two feet, that put up a good fight and all we were trying to do was get her to the boat so we could get her off our lure. She hit a pink and black jet head sweetened with squid parts. After a long fight, we finally got her aboard. I held her in a towel while Myron removed the hook, then he told me to sling her overboard by her tail in one motion. I made it so and she dove deep, undoubtedly wiser to our ways. Other than that, we caught grass, trash and a cockroach of the sea (barracuda). We were surprised that we caught him in over 800 feet of water when we were approaching the Johnson Cut, south of Raccoon Cay, so Myron pulled all our gear in and called it quits.

Depths in the Johnson Cut were 20 to 30 feet other than one hard bar that ran about 11 feet. We arrived at the cut with about an hour left of ebb flow, so not quite low tide. After the cut, the shortcut channel to our anchorage did not look straightforward, so Myron opted to take the long route around the sand bar. We dropped the hook, set it, put a few things away, and then got showers and took a nap. The nap was not at all sufficient and will have to be improved upon after dinner and either a movie or a something, if we make it that far. Bob and Anita stopped by in the dinghy asking where to hunt, but Myron was still in nap mode and I had no idea where to send them. Like the rest of us, Bob got little sleep as well, but he is so excited to be in these remote islands that he cannot miss a moment of daylight!

I am not sure of our plans for tomorrow. I am completely content to stay here. However we need to get cell phone reception to get internet, therefore we may have to move to Hog Cay or Ragged Island.

Love to all,
Dena

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