The Conch Wrangler

After the storm cleared and the dingy was repaired we took her around the island in search of the elusive conch.  David was determined and confident we would find them.  We drove to the north end of the island to a large cove and beautiful beach with a grassy bottom which is perfect conch territory!    He swam while I followed after him in the dingy.  The currents were pretty strong so he was moving quickly.  Then he found one, it was a beauty and definitely big enough to keep.   Then he hit the jackpot, every few minutes he'd come up with a new one. As his excitement grew, so did the currents,  He had the idea for me to drag behind the dingy him with the tow.  This worked great until he came up and said he was being asphyxiated by the outboard fumes.   Back to snorkeling without motorized assistance, he continued to find them, we decided not to take more than we could eat at one time so he stopped at 7. 

David the "Conch Wrangler"

Evidence of a prior conching expedition



Catch of the Day

We went home, cleaned the conch, searched the Internet and found a recipe for authentic Bahamian Conch Chowder and was amazed we had every ingredient.   It was fantastic!




Dingy Debacle #2

We left Man-O-War Harbour hoping to anchor at Green Turtle Cay, however there weren't any decent anchorages or anywhere we could get in with our draft so we continued north to Munjack Cay.   David and Ryan stayed here the month prior and knew it had good holding.  We had an approaching storm with heavy winds and wanted to make sure we were in a safe harbor.

Approaching storm

As the winds increased, the waves and current did as well.  We have been towing Little Girl the whole trip and now she was slapping up and down putting a lot of tension on the towing bridal.   David was on the cell phone and walked out onto the starboard walk and screamed "Jackie, the dingy's gone".  It was about 100 yards behind us bobbing away.   I grabbed his fins and a life vest and just as he was about to start swimming for her; we saw a neighboring sailboat couple making a mad dash in their dingy to retrieve her.   When the lady reached for the towing bridal which was lying across the bow we realized that something had broken because the whole thing was detached.   They brought the bridal with them and came to our boat to pick up David and take him back.  He jumped in, cranked her up and brought her home.   We thanked them profusely and got busy investigating the problem.

The "U" bolt on the bow of the boat had come loose.  I guess the rough water had vibrated the nuts off the end of the bolts and it just pulled out.   While David was retrieving her, I pulled in the end of the rope and realized the "U" bolt was still attached to the rope.   I took it off the end of the rope and DROPPED it in the water!!!   Since we were only in about 13' of water David decided to snorkel to see if he could find it.   I explained where I was standing on the swim platform when I dropped it, however with the wind and current we were swinging on the hook pretty good.  There was a fair amount of territory to cover, but after about 10 minutes he found it.  Thank goodness!    We then noticed we had two additional "U" bolts on the transom of the dingy that weren't being used.  So we robbed the bolt and nuts from the transom and Captain Dave saved the day again.   

Little Girl - rescued again and towing fine

Green Turtle Cay

We began the day at the historic settlement of New Plymouth.  This was another quaint old-world town full of character and charm.

New Plymouth is very small, and you can cover just about everything in a couple of hours. 







David in front of the New Plymouth Town Jail

We went to the Green Turtle Cay Cemetery, there were headstones that were legible that dated to the early 1800's and some that were so old, there were no headstones - just a pile of crumbling rubble.



We toured the Albert Lowe Museum

Albert was famous for making model ships

Painting of Albert by his son - Many of his son's paintings have been on various Bahamian postage stamps for years

Just a cool old house

We took the golf cart around the island to Black Sound, only to discover that there's really nothing much to see.  There are a couple of marinas and restaurants but nothing special - so we headed back to Little Girl to go do some exploring.   David wants to go conching and he's insistent he's going to find some!

Man-O-War Cay

Man-O-War is famed for its boat building and the Albury name is known throughout the entire Bahamas.  They have been building boats and sail making for almost 200 years.

We had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Joe Albury, he welcomed us to his shop to show us some of his handi work in progress.  He said he only makes 2 or 3 boats a year and the rest of the time concentrates on making models.  More people can afford a model than a hand made boat.

Joe's father Lewis Albury began this particular shop in 1927, however many of the Albury relatives and ancestors have been building for much longer.   Since so many boats are going to power, the need for sail making is not what it used to be; now the sail shop has been converted and a group of ladies make souvenir's with the sail cloth.  You can get anything from a toiletries kit, a pocket book, book bag or duffel bag, or many other items in a variety of colors and patterns.  You can add whatever color strap you want at whatever length suits you.  The only place in the world you can get one of these treasures is at Albury's Sail Shop.  They do not import or sell to anyone else.   We met a sweet lady in the shop by the name of Nan Brown, she is a resident of Commerce, GA and knew the moment we started talking we were from somewhere in GA.  She has been visiting Man-O-War for over 50 years for a one month vacation.  She along with her 85 year old sister traveled together.  Her sister has worked for First Baptist Church of Atlanta for 50 + years and was there before Charles Stanely and claims she taught him a thing or two.

Man-O-War has maintained its integrity and kept it unique character mainly due to a strong religious sense of bonding that holds the community together.  They live differently from the outside world and have a total ban on alcohol sales on the island. 

We had a nice time and met a lot of wonderful people.

Hope Town

Today we took a ferry ride to Hope Town, it is one of the most quaint and charming islands we've gone to.  The homes are clustered together and painted in bright beautiful colors representative of the islands.  Flowering shrubs and flowers in vibrant exotic colors adorn walls and picket fences everywhere.  The streets in town are narrow concrete and only large enough for a golf cart.

Hope Town's candy-cane striped lighthouse is one of the world's last working pre-electronic-age lighthouses and is still in service today.

Picture taken from the Deck of "Da Beach" a little restaurant on the beach

We returned to Marsh Harbour to begin celebrating both my birthday and mother's day.  We started at "Snappa's" for a few cold libations. Check out the cool Miller Lite can I got.

this was followed up by my birthday cake (photo below)

Yummy!

We left "Snappa's" and headed back to get ready for dinner at the Jib Room.  They have a dinner every Saturday night thats by reservation only and you have to place your order with your reservation.  They have a long grill and and an even longer line where everyone clammors for the front, all to get the same sides (baked potato, steamed veggies, salad and bread) and of course your meat of choice that you pre-ordered - steak, chicken or fish.  It was standing room only and took us a while to find a table.  The food was excellent as well as the routine limbo man show.  He can lower the bar to 10" off the ground - SET IT ON FIRE - and limbo under it without burning himself.  Oh yeah, he also lights his cigarette while going under the pole.   We've been here before and seen him perform, but it's always a treat to see the children squeal with excitement.

It was a long day with a lot of celebrating (ha ha) so we headed home for a good night sleep!

Marsh Harbour

We've returned to Marsh Harbour, my hubby wants to take me to the Jib Room for my birthday / Mothers day treat, however they only serve on Saturday night so we'll have to wait a couple of days.

We received a little treat while at anchor, on Saturday morning we we awoke to a frenzy of children in small sailboats all around us.  The Grand Bahama Sailing Club was having races and our boat happened to be in the middle of their course.  It was adorable, there were boys and girls that looked no older than 6 or 7 years that were sailing their own boat, and probably 30 small boats in all.     While they were having their race, the larger boats called starfish were also racing another course.   As the day progressed a huge storm system was approaching and whistles were blown for all boats to return to shore for safety reasons.   



Running for Cover

The storm blew over and the sky's cleared so we decided to go snorkel Mermaid Reef; it's small but full of very pretty fish.

Pretty Parrot Fish

Trigger Fish - first one either of us has seen

We continued our explorations with a dingy ride to Matt Lowe Cay.  This is a private island with breath taking views and gorgeous manicured beaches.

Matt Lowe Cay

Nassau Harbour

We just left a hell hole of a marina in Nassau Harbour and had the absolute worst three nights EVER and we were tied up in a marina!  It was nothing but rocking and rolling and surge all day and all night, not to mention the boats were stuffed in like sardines.  We were too close for comfort for my liking.  This coupled with the fact that the power source was inadequate and likely led to our charred power cord along with the fact that they had just painted the piers with an enamel paint that was still tacky, and as such,  rubbed onto our fenders and onto our boat.   

We were able to get the prop swapped out (in the water) and were impressed that this type of work could be done while in the water.  The only saving grace in Nassau was a fantastic sushi restaurant called "Seafront Sushi".   We were surprised not only with the excellent quality of the food, but also the outstanding service and lastly the very reasonable price.   The meal was well worth the price and much less than we expected compared to other Bahama restaurants.  

I have to share the picture below for my mom, she LOVES to gamble and the last time we were at the Atlantis she pulled a lever on a slot machine and hit it big with a 25K pull.  By the time she left for the weekend, she had paid for her room and all expenses and still headed home with over 30K.

The Atlantis @ Sunrise



Lighthouse at the East End of Nassau Harbour

I must pat myself on the back, the lighthouse is a pretty cool picture - my brother-in-law Billy is a professional photographer and I think he will like this one.....