Monday, January 19, 2009

The Crossing

We finally got a window of opportunity to leave No Name Harbor on Sunday morning. A front had just passed and we enjoyed light South and South East winds for the majority of the day. Crossing the Gulf Stream was uneventful. Our plan was to either bail out in Bimini to clear in, or continue on to the Berry Islands to clear in at Great Harbor Cay.

This passage was our first attempt at fishing since we left in July '08 and it paid off. The girlies were very excited about trolling across the Gulf Stream. As we approached North Bimini at sunset and the water was sh0aling from 700+ feet to 50-60 feet, we finally got our first catch. The excitement was palpable.
We were rewarded with a small blue fin tuna. OK, this is where our lack of experience really showed. The boat was total confusion. How do we bring it aboard? How do we kill it? How do we clean it? How do we cook it? And most important, what kind of fish is it?

Finally, we figured out that it was a Tuna. It had already died by the time I was ready to clean it.And Jennie made up a great sauce to sear it it.

On full stomachs and with a beautiful sunset over the Atlantic, we decided to continue on to the Berry Islands instead of stopping in Bimini. Customs was already closed in Bimini, so we might as well venture on. It was a very dark night with no lights. During the passage, we didn't see any other vessels.

In the wee hours of the morning, Jennie was standing watch when she started yelling for me to come up that she had a problem. There was a strange light we were about to hit. I quickly looked around and then imparted the wisdom that "the next time she felt she was going to hit the moon, don't! Just enjoy the view." The moon was a huge cresent laid on it's side just coming over the horizon and it looked like you could touch it. So cool!!!


Around 3:30 am, we were approaching Great Harbor Cay and decided to anchor outside until the morning. Once the sun came up, we realized how glad we were that we waited. The cut is very narrow and it was extremely dark. Here is a picture of the cut.





Until later . . .