The Middle Berry's

How quickly the time has passed.

Leaving off where I had left, back at Bonds Cay where Chautauqua and Second Wind are the only two boats anchored off this uninhabited island…

The day after Sal had speared his first fish, dad had also managed to catch his first fish with the fishing rod. Our luck looked like it was about to change. He caught a small grunt, which he cooked up and made a great ‘pate’ appetizer before dinner. We also did a little bit of exploration, visiting a gorgeous beach just north of where we had anchored. At the beach we walked around, had a picnic lunch and enjoyed the view. Afterwards we tried again to do a little spearfishing but came up short, I was a bit scared from the shark encounter the day before. I kept picture them creeping up on me. We did find a couple conch and brought them to the beach to extract the meat from the shell. We had read up on the procedure before and had the book to reference the pictures. “Simply break the shell in this certain place and cut the muscle of the conch and it will slip right out.” – that was how it was supposed to go… unfortunately our little experience didn’t go so smoothly. From the beginning we were in debate about exactly where to make the break in the shell. Our conch (whom I named “Mollusk”) didn’t look anything like the picture. Mom thought that he happened to be a male, while I thought maybe a different breed? Anyways we made a few holes, then a few more, cutting not the muscle but the guts, conch slime all over us, can’t get this sucker out, what a disaster! It was a brutal conch massacre when we had finally got the majority of the meat out. We tried to hide the shell out of embarrassment. The Bahamians would definitely know it was a first attempt. Conch – easy to get from the sea… harder to get from the shell (if you have no idea what your doing). We will see a pro do it later and make it look like there’s nothing to it.

We decided to go snorkeling along the shore. Sal brought his spear along, just in case. We had gone about 10-15 minutes when a school of large-ish blue runners came to check us out. Sal took aim and landed on. He hit it in the back, and since the fish was quite big it was putting up a struggle. While Sal went to retrieve the fish and spear, I decided to get into the dinghy so I could take the fish from him. Except, when Sal handed me the spear I took it the wrong way and the fish slid right down the shaft into the water where he swam away as if nothing happened. Meanwhile I was left feeling guilty that I had just let dinner swim away. Lesson learned: hold the spear down so the fish won’t slide off and get away!

On March first we left the isolation of Bonds Cay and went to Little Harbour Cay. We moved for a change of scenery and also another cold front was coming through. This anchorage would provide protection from all wind directions. It’s very shallow in some areas and without channel markers getting in can be a bit tricky. We pulled up our centerboard and rudder and got it just fine, while my parents went aground a few times unable to find ‘the way’. My dad elicited the help of Chester, the sole inhabitant on the island, who also runs a restaurant called Flo’s on the island. He navigated them in easily from land, telling them via the radio if they needed to head more to port or starboard. The front came through that night and the wind blew strong from the east for the next 4 days! We could hear the wind and the waves crashing into the island on the other side but only felt a slight breeze here and there. We spent the next 4 days safely anchored there with 2 other boats. One was two young guys that we happened to meet along the ICW about 3 months earlier and another boat was a homemade catamaran with a couple who have cruised the Bahamas for many years. Each night we would get together at Flo’s and watch tv, have a few beers and chitchat. We did a little exploration but only within the protection of land as we could see the giant waves coming in from the ocean between Little Harbour Cay and Bonds Cay.

- We got our first coconuts

- Walked to the other side of the island and saw the waves crashing into shore making us glad to be on the other side

- Got a lesson in how to easily get the conch out and cut it up (thanks Chester!)

- Dined on the most delicious greasy conch fritters

- Had our trumpet conch (going to make a horn out of it) escape out of the bucket and he ran away not to be found by us

Sat March 5^th was our last night at Little Harbour Cay, we were heading out as the wind was supposed to die down overnight. We were at Flo’s using the internet. Sal checked his email and saw one from the Ottawa Police, asking him to come in NEXT FRIDAY! What a reality check. Oh ya, we have to get jobs when we get back to the real world. So we asked Chester the best way to get to the States and he recommended we get to Great Harbour Cay (about 15 miles to the north) and get a flight back to the states from there. So Sunday morning we got up and left Little Harbour Cay and my parents for Great Harbour Cay. We went across the banks arriving just after 1pm. We got a slip at the marina there and inquired about flights. The next one going to Fort Lauderdale was on Tuesday. That would give him enough time to get back to Canada, get a much-needed haircut and drive to Ottawa. We spent two nights in the friendly town using our time to explore the area, stock up on some fresh food, water, and do the laundry. I said “see you in 10 days” on Tuesday morning as I cast away from the docks to head back by myself to meet my parents at Hoffman’s Cay.

I arrived at Hoffman Cay after a nice sail across the banks. The wind was starting to pick up after I arrived so it was good to have a protected anchorage. It will be a weird 10 days without Sal – whom I’ve been within 10 feet of, for every minute of the last 180 days!

(Will add more pictures later, the internet is soooo slow)