Diamond Lil's Adventures Back to the Islands

Wind, wind go away! Jan 13, 2007

Wind, wind go away! I want to go out and play with the new toys that Captain Santa brought me for Christmas.

We headed into Marsh Harbour a week ago today and dropped anchor in time to safely wait out the cold frontal passage typical of this time of year in Abacos. Winter here is marked by a series of mostly cold frontal passages with nice, breezy days in between. About 12 hours before a front arrives the winds are SW-W and begin to become gusty.

A few hours before the front passes thunderstorms or gusty rain squalls arrive with the wind "freshening" as they call it, which to me is a nice way of saying "getting colder" as the direction swings from SSW-WNW. After the front passes the sky clears but winds strengthen from the WNW and clock towards the N. Then we can expect clear but breezy conditions for 48-96 hours and the wind slowly clocks around from the N to the E. As it reaches the E the wind begins to weaken and then returns back to S of E, the "prevailing" conditions, in other workds the "NICE" weather that we love. This is when we weigh anchor, along with the most of the other boats in the harbour here and head out to do some exploring.

Once in a blue moon we get a calm day but not often. Last year we stayed until April which is when the calm, settled weather returns to Abaco and I can take those fabulous shots of starfish on the bottom of the sea from way up on our flybridge.

We've kept ourselves amused waiting out the wind here this past week. Thursday was boater's get together night at the Jib Room which is about 1/4 mile from where we are anchored, a nice, short dingy ride in. Our devilled eggs were such a big hit last year that we made the same thing and once again they went like hot cakes! Next time I think we'll choose something a little less slippery and difficult to transport in a dingy bouncing through the rough anchorage.

We enjoyed chatting with Milt and Fran from Sea Fox and catching up on each other's news since we last met back in Kentucky about 3 months ago. It's always fun to compare travel stories. We travelled the same route, more or less, stopped in some but not all of the same places,had some common but also some unique experiences.

We explored around the little cays or islands near the mouth of the harbour as much as the rough conditions would allow. The Captain drove the dingy while I leaned over the edge and looked through a clear bottomed bucket. We're trying to find where the lobster are hiding so I can shoot them with my new polespear. The Captain bought me a Hawaiian Sling for Christmas but apparently it's too advanced a weapon for beginners so we got the polespear to learn with.

Our good friends Joe and Wendy have plenty of lobster hunting experience and were kind enough to send us a detailed explanation of everything you always wanted to know about lobster hunting but were afraid to ask. It was so informational, in fact, that I may just attach it as a separate entry for any of you who are interested in learning more.

All I know is the Captain is patiently waiting for me to kill some lobster so we can feast on it and the $19/lb in the seafood store here in town is making me anxious to find these bugs! We've looked and looked and decided that since the wind is finally starting to die down and clock towards the east, becoming S-SE by Monday that it's time to head on out of this harbour and look on in inside of the barrier islands, or cays that line the Sea of Abaco.

This is where the friendly doctor that I saw the other day in order to refill a prescription told us to look. He spent about an hour chatting with me, a little different than a dr. appointment in Canada! I learned lots about lobster, sharks, Barracuda, the Exumas, you name it. I got lots of practical advice about lobster hunting, like always wear gloves.

Yesterday we amused ourselves by receiving a phone call from Joe and Wendy at Bluffer's Park Marina in Scarborough while our good friends from Keswick, Deb and John were down for a visit. While we spoke on the phone Joe, Wendy, Deb, John and of course Tiger went out to the dock and waved hello to us through Joe's handy livestream webcam. The Captain laughed as I waved back from the boat. Oh I guess we need a webcam too now!

So we're off across the Sea of Abaco this aft, roughly 9 miles to Man O War Cay.

Hopefully my next entry will be full of lobster pics but in the meantime I'll add some of Joe and Wendy's shots from their Bahamian adventures!