Catch of the Day

A local fisherman brought in this six foot long shark the other day, and it attracted quite a crowd.
Dave and our friend Jim, who was staying with us for a week, were the only people brave enough to go down and check it out.

They had gone snorkeling one day and saw a similar shark lurking in the distance (both of the guys and the shark kept a close eye on each other).

Having the shark left here was quite humorous with this sign.

I am presuming that after the curious onlookers dispersed, that the shark was made into some large steaks and fillets. It really was a nice example of what we believe is a bull shark.

It was interesting to see all its many layers of teeth, but they were smaller than expected. I guess that means it would have only taken little bites!


Shark attacks are very rare here in the Abacos, although this summer our sailing club's commodore's wife was bitten by a lemon shark while surfing off Hope Town. Her bites required 80-100 stitches, but she has such a good attitude about the whole incident. People keep telling her that she should be in an episode of the show series 'Shark Week' and she just laughs and says, "Show me the money!" I mentioned to her that I had just finished reading a book about an American Indian woman who claimed that the scars received after a cougar attack (if you survived) were considered to be a badge of honor. Since this is the Bahamas, the same could be said about shark bites, so she should wear her scars proudly. She is apprehensive about going out surfing again, and is nervous that no one will want to go with her. I told her everyone will want to be next to her, because there is such a small chance of a shark even going near her!

Colorful MOW

This island is so pristine and colorful. We enjoy taking our time walking up and down all the little side streets, looking at the flowers, bushes, and gardens. They attract so many different birds, which gives us the challenge of 'Googling' both the birds and plants for identification.

We even came across a hummingbird in her nest, which was something we had never seen before. The nest was attached to the phone wires on the side of the house.


Below is a sampling of the sights around the settlement.

Colorful and eclectic Hilltop House.


Sammie Boy's Place and his Weeping Bench. The really sad thing is that Sam recently passed away.



Gorgeous poinsettia bush.


Nice hedge, but I thought they looked like pot plants!


Delicious looking veggies.


How about some fresh bananas or papayas?



This must be the tropical version of a gargoyle to keep evil spirits away.


Flowers border the street to the ocean and then the next stop is Africa!



This street had a view of the harbor and Sea of Abaco. The bush on the right looked just like it had cotton balls hanging from it.


There are so many varieties of tropical plants and flowers. No wonder the birds like it here. We sure do!

















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OutRAGEous

Our most recent Hope Town Sailing Club regatta was quite an exciting race. It took place just after a cold front passed and the wind and sea built throughout the day. I think that Dave and I had more fun than anyone, since we were the crew on the mark set boat. After setting the race markers, we followed the boats around the course, taking lots of excellent photos of everyone. The 22 foot Boston Whaler that we were in was borrowed from one of the boat rental businesses, as the owner was the person scheduled to the job that we did. We volunteered to replace him so that he and his crew could go out and race on Hope Town's wood Class A sloop, the Abaco Rage. The 28 foot Rage was built in 1980 here in Man-O-War Cay, and more information on the boat and Class A races can be found in an Abaco Life article by clicking here. These native Bahamian sloops are raced on a national level in three different size classes.

What an exhibition the Rage put on, especially when sailing downwind and then jibing back upwind.

They certainly needed all of the crew that they had for weight and leverage out on the wood prys, to offset the wind in the huge sails.
The crew placement is extremely important regarding the stability of the boat. The prys are slid back and forth so the crew and weight can be on the high side of the boat. Meanwhile, while everyone is scrambling to get to the other side (one crew member broke his foot during the race!), the sails are filling with wind and sweeping across the deck and into the water. At one point it looked like the boat was going to broach, but eventually recovered.




An added challenge to the day was when the Gemini Catamran that was the race committee boat for the day, had engine problems and wouldn't start.
That was a big problem since 81 year old Diane (who won our Press on Regardless Award last year) had to move her boat to the windward finish line. Good thing thing Dave was close by to fix it. It really tested my boat handling capabilities, to drop him off and pick him up on her boat that was swinging around in the wind, and pitching up and down in the 3 foot choppy Sea of Abaco. Not to mention that I was driving an unfamiliar skiff. Everyone was impressed (including me) when I did it without hitting her boat or killing Dave in the process. All Dave kept saying was, "If your mother could see you now!"

Wreck of the U.S.S. Adirondack

We finally made it out to snorkel on the remains of the U.S.S. Adirondack that was wrecked on the reef off Man-O-War Cay in 1862, just six months after its launch. Since this was a wooden ship, there is not much left of it after 149 years underwater. The Adirondack was a three masted, steam auxiliary schooner of approximately 220 feet. She was commissioned by the Union Navy to blockade the Confederate ports during the Civil War. Hence, it had numerous cannons of varying sizes, and that's what we got to see on the reef. Dave counted seven of them strewn around the bottom. When we anchored in a sand patch nearby, I jumped in the water to see two of them (about 10 ft. apart from each other), just below us.


Several smaller cannons were piled together on the reef line, right in the breakers.

Dave also found an engine connecting rod...
...what we think is part of an engine boiler...
...and unknown pieces of wreckage.
Also still left is the anchor capstan, which you can still see where the holes are that large wooden spokes were inserted into, and the crew could manually winch up the anchor and chain.

Click here for the link to the Adirondack's history.

The reef surrounding the wreck was quite spectacular also.


Many thanks to Jay and Hasty and the crew of Turnbuckle for allowing us to tag along and find this historical spot.

Another successful mission accomplished!

The Calm Before the Storm

Before we had our last cold front and thunderstorms, we took advantage of the calm weather and headed out to the ocean reefs. We tried to find the wreck of the Adirondack (which still has several large cannons showing), but did not have the proper GPS coordinates, so that was a lost cause. Instead, we motored to the Fowl Cay Preserve and found a centrally located mooring ball to hook up to. The moorings have been placed in deep water next to each protected coral head, so boats don't anchor and damage the reefs.

The day was perfect for snorkeling, but the water was a very brisk 72 degrees. We had a snack and to my surprise, when I put crumbs overboard, a large school of Yellowtail Snappers just about jumped into the boat.
Dave quickly donned his snorkeling gear and went below to see the frenzy.
Then he snorkeled around in the crystal clear water, which we haven't seen the clarity this good since we went to the Exumas several years ago.

You can click on each picture below to enlarge them and see more detail.








What a fun day at sea!!

Woebegone

It has been a rough week for internet connections, ever since the 3 hour thunderstorm we had with the arrival of a cold front.

Too top it off, with the cooler temps we have been organizing and cleaning the storage areas of New Horizon, and while getting into a small area near the floor, my knee went out on me. Luckily, I was sitting on the floor right next to the drawer that has my knee brace and folding cane in it, so I could get up on to the bed. Slowly it is improving, but the stairs to all the different levels are challenging. The aft stateroom and head are on one level, then the main living area is on another, then back down to the galley, or up into the sundeck to get fresh air. Whew! Then with no internet to keep me occupied, I have exhausted my book collection.

Oh well,"this too, shall pass." Then I will write about MOW and the fun things we did in the meantime.

Birds of a Feather...

Flock together...on our boat!



We woke to funny noises above our heads in the sundeck, which is right over the aft cabin. I looked out the door to see these two sparrows having a great time preening, chirping, and of course pooping on Dave's work bench. They probably thought, "What a great place to roost out of the wind and weather." Too bad it was only 6:45 A.M.! Even though they were cute, hopefully they won't make a habit out of this early morning visit.