Say Goodbye to 2014

We pulled up anchor before 6 am.  There was sufficient sunlight to see the rocky shoreline and the rolls on the shoals by the time we were at the Little Harbour Cut.  We were not the first out.  Two boats beat us out and another seven or eight came through the cut anywhere from 20 minutes to an hour behind us.  The crowd of boats reminded us why it is so hard to catch fish on this stretch of water – it is highly traveled and seems to be fished out.  We were determined to give it our best try today.  Myron used six different types, shapes and colors of lures, changing them out during the day.  He even added cut squid to the lure – normally a deal-closer for the fish.  We pulled our huge green teaser.  We cleared the lines of grass about every half hour.  We used bionic ballyhoo (really, that is name on the label).  One of the ballyhoos was taken from us, the wire leader cut clean through.  Yeah, that’s not Snowflake.  I am sure it was a shark and we have no interest in catching one or dealing with one on the end of a line.  Near the cut and the end of our sail, the second ballyhoo was taken by the cockroach of the sea.  So it was a fishless endeavor, but not for lack of effort.  All is not lost.  Uncle Willard takes care of us and gave us two nice fillets of strawberry grouper.  They made a delicious dinner tonight.

We thought there might be a crowd here, given that ten or eleven of us set off together.  Some went to Harbortown, some to Royal, some went through Current Cut to Glass Window.   In the waning light after sunset, one last sailboat straggled in and anchored behind us.  Not much of a New Year’s Eve crowd.

What a year it has been.  We thought we were headed to Guatemala for the summer and ended up in Nova Scotia instead.  Best laid plans of mice and men.  A lot of miles went under Hold Fast’s keel.  There was lots of fixing things that involved skinned hands, scraped arms, cramped muscles from working in tight spaces, and maybe a little tourettes syndrome.  And sailing, well it is sometimes a contact sport for me.  Oh well, we have bandaids.  Seriously, we have our health and thank God that we get to see such beautiful places, meet wonderful people and be reunited with loving friends and family.  Our two feathered friends on the sail north were pretty outstanding too! 

May you have blessings in 2015 – no matter how your plans change!

Love to all,

Dena

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