Return to Green Turtle, Syd Jumps Ship

March 28th - Time to head back South again. We return to Green Turtle. Fugue, the boat next to us in the marina tells us of the night they had in White Sound (where the marina is) on Monday night. They were anchored and the wind got up and they dragged across the Sound. They started up the engine and tried to anchor another three times but each time they dragged. They motored around for a 3-4 hours and then saw a private dock and decided they didn't care if they got chewed out the next day so they tied up to it. In fact the owner did come down the next day but was very sympathetic and said they did the right thing.
What a week for weather. Another boat came into the marina that had anchored out on Monday night. They were in a 55ft steel sail boat and when the anchor dragged they ended up stuck on the rocks (ironshore). They let off flares but no one noticed and then they called a May Day and the police turned up. With the help of another boat they were pulled off apparently with only scratches to the hull (I can't imagine this but he says he dived down to inspect it). When the police threw the tow rope back to him it missed and ended up wrapped around the prop. So they had to dive down to free that.
Syd is going out on the sport fish boat tomorrow, trading our 35HP diesel for twin 1,000HP. I'll let him blog about that.

Manjack Cay, What a Drag!

March 26th - Yesterday Syd came up with the idea of going out with Mike and Kendal (and Doug the owner) and photographing them fishing. They said it would probably be OK so we were going to stay another day but they didn't go out so we left and headed up to Manjack Cay. The wind was still blowing 18-20kts and we had to beat into to it but we enjoyed the sail and put into the southern anchorage next to Rat Cay (obviously no realtors involved in naming that Cay). It's reasonably sheltered from the NE and we were the first boat in so we tucked in close. Finished off the last of the mahi mahi for dinner, what a wonderful fish.

March 27th - still blowing 18-23kts. At first we planned to sail up to the next Cay, Powell Cay, but decided to stay where we were. We intended to go ashore and follow the two hiking trails that the guide book said were there but the day was cloudy and windy and we never did. Dinner is now back to dynamite chile and rice (we're working hard to make some impression on the inexhaustible sack of rice in the ship's stores). Syd turns in for the night. The wind has gone round to the SE and is still blowing hard. I go up on deck with the torch just to have a look around and tighten everything up. There is no moon and the night is really dark, you can't see any boundary between water, land and sky. The torch happens to pick out a white buoy off to side. I'm a bit puzzled as I don't remember there being one there during the day. I put on the chartplotter which takes a couple of minutes to start up and horror of horrors we appear to have dragged about 400yds. It's looks like we are not very far off a lee shore so I wake up Syd to get his opinion. He agrees with the situation and he's not happy either so we pull up the anchor which is caked in sand and grass and motor back to where we had originally anchored and drop the hook again with 120ft of line. It seems to be holding. I set an anchor alarm and get into bed. Syd stays at the helm for an hour and a half, making sure we don't have trouble with the falling tide as well as the anchor, before he goes back to bed.
Here's the plot, you can see that luckily we dragged along the shoreline although that was about to change and we would have been on the rocks if we had dragged another 100yds or so. Scary.

and here's the little white buoy that we were passing on our starboard side going backwards and the place we were heading towards. I don't know if the anchor would have held where it was but neither Syd nor I were comfortable waiting to find out.

Like Jonah We Make it Through the Whale

March 23rd - The window is blowing out of the North so we motor through the Loggerhead channel and then through the Whale. Once through we beat up to Green Turtle Cay, even had to break out the reef in the main. Our intention is to pick up a mooring in Black Sound and to explore the New Plymouth settlement but we can't find a mooring and are told the holding isn't very good so we go back out and up to White Sound. We pick up a mooring but then decide to put into the marina. The forecast is for bad weather on Monday night/Tuesday so we are going to be here for three nights.
The restaurant here is good so decided to eat there. When we're paying the bill Syd points out that the menu said that 15pct gratuity was included. It's a bit sneaky as it doesn't appear as an item on the bill. We ask the waitress and she says it is included but then she explains that the 15pct is divided among all the staff in the restaurant whereas if we had put a tip on the bill it would have just been her's. As we signed the check to the boat she says she has to ask us where the name came from. I explain that it was the previous owner gave the boat the name and not only is it bad luck to change the name but it has a good story to it. So she pulls up a chair and sits down, waiting for us to tell the story which I do. Don't you just love the Bahamians attitude to life.
After dinner we walk to the end of the dock and get talking to Kendal and Mike who are on a big sport fishing boat. We said that we were surprised at how few fish there were in the Sea of Abaco and they explained that they had just caught 12 mahi mahi (or blue dolphin - a fish not a mammal) and they gave us some. They go fishing outside the barrier reef. They're really experienced so we try to pick up as many tips as possible.
March 24th - We rent a golf cart and drive into New Plymouth. We stop at the museum but unfortunately it's lunch hour. So we get an ice cream and explore some more. We go down to the beach and watch a young barracuda stalking the other young fish in the shallows. New Plymouth is a small settlement but it does have a one way system so we drive around again to get back to the museum, still closed. We drive down to the statuary honoring the founders and VIPs. The plaque doesn't pull any punches when talking about the patriots treatment of the loyalists, about how they were tar'ed and feathered, run out of their homes and their property confiscated.
Round again and still the museum is closed must be a big lunch. We head down the hill and do some grocery shopping. Back round to the museum, still closed. The lady in the bakery says he is also a realtor so might be out showing property. We give up but then get a message that Nicholas is back in surgery again for his wisdom tooth. Can't get a connection. Where was it we found a signal. We drive round again. This is beginning to feel like the golf cart version of the Monte Carlo rally. Finally give up and head back for the marina. When we get back we have time to spare on the golf cart so we drive over to Bluff House marina to see what that is like. The road is very bad with lots of pot holes. We stop at a sign that says "warning steep hill" and faces down to the beach and the Sea of Abaco. We decide to go for it and I put my foot down on the accelerator, nothing happens. Like the golf cart is saying "No way am I going down there". A guy passing by looks into the golf cart and says "it's your battery" and tells us to coast down the other hill to the marina. We do, apparently BTC is having problems, the phones are out. We ask the marina staff to call the dive center (where we rented the cart) on VHF and they do and they come and pick us up
March 25th - We do the laundry and generally hang out as this is the bad weather day. A boat comes into the slip next to us and nearly takes out the piling as the wind is blowing it hard on to it. Apparently they were at anchor last night rafted up with their friends boat. They said it was a nightmare. I can only imagine, given the aft cleat had been torn out and the rubbing strake was badly damaged.

I should add that internet access really sucks in Green Turtle Cay hence the lack of posts.

Who the Fuck is Barefoot Man?

March 22nd - I'm not angry or vexed, it's just that we went to Nippers to hear Barefoot Man and one of the songs he sang was Smokie's 1976 hit "Alice", the Gompie version.

Alice at Nipper's

Nipper's March 2013

You Don't Have to Be Gay to Ride a Ferry

BEC

yet more

I thought it was Barefoot Man's parody of the song but it turns out that Smokie did a parody of their own song. Anyway, it was a fun evening as Barefoot Man has some great songs, including one titled "I Should Have Used a Condom" which he introduced by saying that he had two daughters that his wife describes as "her little angels" and he calls "mistakes". He says since he played it to them they haven't spoken to him in a year other than to ask for money.
We had left the dingy at the dive dock and walked along the beach to get to Nippers. We had remembered to get out the anchor light and the torch and yet somehow we had left the torch so after leaving Nippers we walked down to the harbour and then headed up a road that we we had walked once in the daytime and was now complete blackness so that that you couldn't even see where the road ended and the bushes began. With no moon Abaco can be really dark. I guess it was a good thing that we hadn't drunk much as we did find our way back to the dock. The night before there had been some incident between a boat and the ferry and it was suggested alcohol played a part.

Syd's Quiet Days in Marsh Harbour

So the plan was for Vince to go to see the family in Nassau and for me to boat sit. I'd do laundry, write some postcards, take the ferry to Hopetown and Man O'War and spend a couple of days photographing the local area. Well, that was the plan.
Vince left Monday evening, weather warm and pleasant. I had a quiet meal in Mangoes (blackened grouper, excellent) and pottered gently back to the boat for the night. At about 06.30 I was woken by lots of bumping and banging. Got up in time to see an empty tender plus outboard, which had bounced off our hull, heading down wind with another (manned) tender in pursuit. As I watched the attempts to catch the loose boat I realised that there was rather more wind than I expected. Forcast was 10 to 20 and it was already over 20 knots. I also realised that whereas we were anchored on 70ft of chain with lots of room early last night, we were now on 70ft of chain with neighbours only 30ft away. Many late arrivals during the night and early morning! Looking at their chain angles it was clear that some of them were on a very short scope.I spent the next 6 hours sitting in the companionway taking transits on all the nearby boats and listening to the sound of engines running, more chain being released, and general mayhem. Another dingy went by, not being chased this time and all the time the wind was rising and veering so that it was now blowing uninterrupted into the harbour. 10:00, 25, 30, 35 knots, wind still rising. At around 11.00 I heard a loud splash behind me as our dingy, which was tied up as short as I could get it, took off and turned over. It was a major struggle to get it back up the right way and to retie it even tighter to the transom.I sat another couple of hours, just watching with my fingers crossed (and my toes) and slowly, oh so slowly, the wind started to ease. By 14.00 it was down to 30 knots and by 15:00, down to 25.People started to emerge from hidey holes and collect the pieces.
I drained some fuel from the outboard and filled the bore with WD40 but couldn't empty the water from the carburettor, so no usable engine. Worse still, at some time the oars had vanished overboard, never to be seen again. Luckily I was able to arrange a tow with my nearest neighbour for the next morning (we were close enough to have a pleasant conversation without shouting!). I went to bed exhausted from all the nervous tension of the day.
Next day was spent getting the outboard serviced and in a fruitless search for oars. Seems that no-one rows a dingy these days! The stores had lots of paddles, or decorative oars, but none had any that were useful for the avon dingy. I asked around and was given a fantastic amount of help by folk trying to locate a used pair (in the garage under the dock, in the loft...) but to no avail. I finally found a pair of used longish paddles (thanks, Moorings) which were usable. Collected the outboard which had been emptied, cleaned, serviced and refuelled and went back to the boat. Most of my closest neighbours had left, so I could relax.
The talk in Snappers bar (I was forced to go there to get decent wifi coverage, honest, nothing to do with the beer) was 35, 40 and as the evening went on 45, 50 knots, flying debris, missing tenders, dragging anchors, and multiple close encounters. Naturally, the events escalated as the evening wore on, but the middle of the morning remains in my mind as a very tense 2 to 3 hours. Its probably good that Vince wasn't here!
Vince returned to a quiet, warm, relaxed evening having had a great time visiting his family. He took the news of the events very calmly and wanted to know why I hadn't taken any pictures for the blog! Laundry, ferry and photography will have to wait for another occasion!

Back to Marsh Harbour

Saturday 15th - we have a great sail beating back to Marsh Harbour. The plan is to anchor there for the week while I join the family down in Nassau. We had come to the conclusion that the Abacos wouldn't work for Nick, so we're Atlantis bound. It's my 63rd birthday so we go to Mangoes for dinner, a good meal unfortunately they don't have key lime pie as "the lady hadn't made them that morning". So, not store bought so doubly disappointing, still something to look forward to.
Sunday 16th - We walk to the Abaco Beach Resort to hear the Bahamas Symphony Orchestra.

It's a fund raiser for the Pathfinders organization that helps put Abacos students through college. We enjoyed it very much and not just because of the free wine and food. There was also a silent auction and I was just outbid on a glass bowl with a spiral pattern, but at least I managed to get the price up. When we come out we hear a mockingbird singing in a tree as if having an audience of music lovers he was going to show what he could do. We stood for a long time listening to his songs.

We decided to take a walk around the harbour to the point. The gardens have some interesting trees that seem to grow roots by crawling across the rocks.

One of the things I hate to see in the Abacos is access to the water being cut off by private property. Man o ' War and Elbow Cay have roads or paths that go to the beach, or harbour but newer developments seem to be allowed to parcel up the land into a jigsaw of private enclaves. Seems we used to understand they were communal resources that required access to all and we've lost that understanding.
No more blogging until I get back from Nassau. Sad to say there's yet another cold front coming through on Tuesday.

Hope Town Marina

Wednesday 12th - Low tide is 1pm so we figure we need to be in Hope Town by 11am. We skip breakfast and head out. The wind is blowing 15-20kt on our nose so we motor. Syd realizes we have left the outboard on the dinghy. We didn't want to try bringing it up in the dark last night and completely forgot about it this morning. We slow down, Syd climbs down and tilts the motor up but the bow is still lifting high as the wind gets under it. We tie it lower and cut our speed to 4kts.
We get into to the harbour OK but the few moorings that are available are private or not usable. Now we're trapped we don't want to risk going out again on a falling tide so pick up a private mooring and consider our options. We call Hope Town marina and they have a slip so we take it. It's a resort marina with pool, poolside bar, restaurant etc.. We do go in the pool but don't attempt the table tennis as it's too windy. We dinghy over to Hope Town to get some of Vernon's coconut bread. We take a walk to the and of the upper road and sit in the chairs (I call it the cialis view).

It didn't look like this, the wind is blowing hard and there were white caps on the waves so we were pretty comfortable with our decision to stay in the marina.
Thursday 13th - We do our laundry.
Friday 14th - The wind has shifted round to the SE and is blowing into the marina. We consider staying for another day but it's $2/ft and we've had enough of sitting in a marina. They can't find the key to unlock the water, then they can't find the bolt cutters so we lend them ours. We fill up and leave. We had a great sail up to Fisher's Bay and picked up a mooring there.

Fowl Cay - Yes We Have No Barracuda

Tuesday 11th - We sail to Fowl Cay and in the spirit of you have to get straight back on the horse we go snorkeling. Only see blue tangs, queen parrot fish, yellow tail snappers and sergeant majors but today that's goodness.
We are going to have to hide out for a couple of days so we head for Hope Town but we worry there may be no moorings left. The tide is falling too so we put into Man o' War. After the entrance we decide to go into the eastern harbour (so called because it is to the south of the main harbour). The fear was that if we went into the main harbour first and found there weren't any moorings we may not have enough water to get back into the eastern harbour. Seems a good choice until we find that we can't get any internet from our mooring and we have to dinghy up to the other harbor anyway just to go ashore, which we do and dock and dine it again.

Baker's Bay and the Barracuda

Monday 10th - The weather hadn't cooperated with our plans to go to Green Turtle Cay and beyond so we have time to kill so we relax this morning.

We have two days of light and variable winds ahead of us then come Thursday we'll be hiding out from the wind again. So we take things easy. We go to the grocery store which is quite good here and we're tempted to stay for another night but around midday we shake off the lethargy and decide to sail to Baker's Bay and take the dinghy around the top of the island to the dive sites. Well it seemed a good idea at the time. Here's Baker's Bay looking toward the top of the island.

There is a marina but they've just decided it's only open to members and those who stay for at least two nights, i.e. no riff raff. We anchor. The rather ambitious plan was to take the dinghy round to the Atlantic side where there are reefs and dive buoys. It takes about forty minutes to motor round including having to run between two rocks with waves breaking on either side. We're about to turn around and come back but Syd spots a dive buoy over by the barrier reef. We tie up to the buoy and I jump in (Syd has chosen not to snorkel and is wearing slacks and has a book to read). After a short while (Syd claims it was 30 seconds) I'm climbing back into the dinghy saying "I hate barracuda". I'd reached the reef and ran into a gang of three of them.

I really couldn't just give up after the effort to come all that way so I go back in. Over to the reef again. I swim over the shallower parts in the hope the barracudas don't swim there. I come round a corner and there is the gang of three. I do a 180 trying to look casual rather than panicky. The next corner I run into another. He eyes me steadily swims a little closer while I put my head up to look for the dinghy. Syd is standing in the dinghy and waving his arms. I head for the dinghy with one eye on the barracuda. It's swimming along in the same direction. I notice it has a hook wedged in it's mouth. OK so he's had a really bad day and now looks like a punk with a nose piercing. I swim steadily back to the dinghy and haul myself out hoping nothing attacks my legs as I struggle to get in. Syd says he was really worried about me as something about 6' long and about a foot in diameter swam around the dinghy twice about 3' underneath it. At this point we decide that is enough adrenaline for one day and head back to the boat, with visions of a nice hot cup of tea.

This bay defeats all attempts at connecting to the internet but I find I have a note from Phil which I presumably got before leaving Treasure Cay. It contains the sad news that our friend Martin Trotter died of cancer this morning at 11:30am. A kind, thoughtful and generous man with a great mind. I had hoped he would be able to come on this trip but he'd said no he had to look after his chickens which I think meant he knew he wouldn't be able to do it. We ate dinner on deck as the sun went down and toasted Martin our absent friend. We'll always remember you fondly until there are none of us left to remember.

Treasure Cay

Sunday 9th - We have a great sail to Treasure Cay.

We pick up a mooring. Treasure Cay is a resort developed in the 1960s. It reminds me a little of Hythe Village marina except they didn't get the idea to make the buildings vary so it looks a little manufactured. It's said to have one of the finest beaches in the Bahamas and I can't argue with that, especially if you were talking granularity. It does have a tiki bar and sun loungers and umbrellas on the beach so it has a vacation resort feel to it which is different from the other cays. I've completely lost the plot on what a cay is. I had read that it was an island without a source of fresh water but it seems that everything is called cays now even if it's connected to the main island.

Another good thing about Treasure Cay is that it is protected from all wind directions.

Orchid Bay

Saturday 9th - sailed to Orchid Bay. We planned to stop at Fowl Cay but the sea was too rough. It was also gray rather resembling sailing in the Solent. We walked up to Nippers and then down on to the beach. We walked south along the beach remembering beaches like Bournemouth and Weymouth where you had to first find a space big enough for you then you spread out your stuff to stake a claim on it.

We walked until we had to climb over rocks

and then we followed a trail inland. We came across the now familiar sign,

which on the other side has,

Oops, fortunately they don't have "stand your ground" laws here so we only risk being told off, which no one does. It turns out we are in the Orchid Bay resort complex which is basically the southern part of the island. It is very up market and still under development. They still have empty lots for "cottages". A cottage being like this,

They've done a great job of landscaping the area, and seem to run a nursery to support it.

As a special treat we only paid $1/foot for the night.

We make it to the Dock and Dine at Man o' War

Wednesday 5th - arrive in HarbourView marina in Marsh Harbour. It's too late to cycle to Abaco gas so I take a taxi. Jeff the driver tells me he grew up in Hope Town and went to Nassau to become a teacher, taught for a while then went to Florida to get a degree. Eventually he returned to Hope Town. Lived there for 10 years but then moved to Man o' War because it was quieter. Well OK, about the only place quieter is Man o' War cemetery.

Thursday 6th - Head for Treasure Cay, we're hoping to get through the Whale Cay passage to have some time to explore before I have to come back to Marsh Harbour. It's starts to rain and the forecast is strong winds tomorrow so we put into Man o' War Cay. The entrance is narrow and rocky and then we have to avoid the shoals on either side so it is always stressful especially when the ferry or the landing craft freighter are coming the other way at the same time.

We go ashore for a quiet walk. I want to buy Steve Dodge's History of the Abaco which I saw in a store here but didn't buy. One of the strange things in MoW is that stores seem to hide at times. I was looking out for what turned out to be Joe's Emporium and walked right past it. The only thing I can think is they all look like homes. The map says there is a museum and there is even a weathered sign pointing up hill to the museum but it took three visits before we noticed a sign on a building that said Man o' War Museum. I don't think it opens. Speaking of which we were always puzzled by the ice cream parlour which opened between 7pm and 9pm, an hour after sunset at this time of year.

The Abaco was settled by loyalists who had to leave from New York, the Carolinas and Florida on account of being on the losing side of the American War of Independence. MoW is a family affair that started back when one of these loyalists, Benjamin Archer, had a sixty acre farm on Man o' War Cay though he lived in Marsh's Harbour (as it was known then). When he went to work on the fields he took his 13 year old daughter Eleanor. On one trip Eleanor met Benjamin Albury a sixteen year old boy who had come ashore after his boat was wrecked on the reef. Eleanor is always described as a "well developed" 13 year old which sounds like a clause added to smooth over some Victorian sensibilities. Anyway they fell in love, married and had 13 children and stayed on the Cay. My guess is they got started pretty soon after meeting. In 1977 230 of the 235 Bahamian residents in MoW were descendants of these two. So it's a little quirky but nice in the respect that it is a real community compared with say Great Guana.

We ate at the Dock and Dine which has a good reputation. Being a dry island the boaters turn up at the table with various containers. The food was good but when you ask for the dessert menu they suggest you go down to the ice cream parlour, which we did as it was 8pm. The ice cream was good too.

Friday 7th - We had to sit out the bad weather. Took a walk along the beach.

The Racing Turtle

Wednesday 5th - Went for a snorkel on the rock while waiting for the tide to get through the passage between Lubbers Quarter and Elbow Cay. We hoist the sails and find ourselves in amongst the boats milling about before the Hope Town Wednesday sailing race with 10 minutes to go before the start. After a few moments of shall we shan't we we decided to go for it and went up to the committee boat to ask if we could join in. We had to get off to a slow start because we had no idea what the course was. We think we came last but we had great fun. Here we are having tacked too early and having to use our momentum to get round the mark.

One of the boats racing was the Abaco Rage, a beautiful sloop built on the Man o' War. It is 28' long, 10' wide but has a 38' boom. They have planks, called pries, that they slide out and scoot out on to to balance all that main sail.

Unfortunately we couldn't attend the after race party as we were heading to Marsh Harbour to refill the propane tank and there was some heavy weather days coming.

Syd Arrives, Phil Leaves

Wednesday 26th - We wait in HarborView marina for Syd to arrive from the UK. He arrives on time but frazzled by the journey. His first words were "Gimme your phone I have to ring Jeannie". Turned out the flight from Heathrow was delayed when a passenger was taken ill after boarding the plane and they and their luggage has to be removed. This left him with a 30 minute connection but BahamasAir said they didn't have him on the flight so he had to buy a ticket again. The final twist of the screw was no phone working at Marsh Harbor airport, nor the marina pay phone. He eventually got through on Phil's phone and we went and had dinner in Snappas. The next day was rainy so we stayed at the marina as we had to be there on Friday as Phil was flying back to the snow in MD, then Saturday to the floods in the UK.

Friday 28th - We head for Hope Town and run aground. There are Spring tides with 4 foot range and we expected to have to anchor off and wait for the tide but we hit bottom some half a mile out. Managed to motor off and anchored for a while. Syd loved Hope Town as we all do. Visited Vernon's grocery store and in the line for the checkout got talking to a woman holding two coconut breads. She said they were good, especially as french toast. So we bought a loaf.

Saturday 1st - After a breakfast of french toast with honey we row across to the lighthouse. The lighthouse marina has a Bahamas courtesy flag so now we aren't being discourteous any more. Climbed to the top of the lighthouse and managed to get outside this time. The secret being to push on the door so hard that you are afraid you're going to fly through and over the balcony if it opens. We leave on the last of the flood tide and head down to Tiloo anchoring just south of Tavern Cay.

Sunday 2nd - Sail down to Sandy Cay but it was too rough so we sailed on to Lynyard Cay and went ashore and walked over to the Atlantic side. Syd had a first attempt at snorkeling and finally got the hang of it.

Monday 3rd - Motored into Little Harbor just before high tide. Went over to the caves then went out of the harbor to snorkel on the reef at the entrance. There was a fair swell but Syd snorkeled enough to see a southern stingray. Even though I've had stingrays wrap themselves around my feet in the Cayman islands I can't help but remember Steve Irwin so I don't get too close. We managed to get back into the dinghy a feat that I wasn't sure we would achieve and then motored back into the harbor and went ashore. We walked out to the abandoned lighthouse which the guide book claimed would be a "photo op". It turned out to be a one room building where the roof had long gone and the floor was about to join it. Outside a mast was lying on the floor, presumably it used to house the light. We walked down a narrow path to the foreshore where the waves had scalloped out a little bay about 30 feet wide and and the same distance in through the rock. Walked along the foreshore to Pete's Pub for a late lunch. We thought we were early for dinner but apparently Monday the kitchen stays open to five pm and then shuts for the night. As we head back to the boat the sun has gone down and there is a crowd on the beach. We motor over and ask if it's general admission or a private party. They welcome us in. It turns out to be residents who always get together on Monday night. We meet Gordy of Siccatoo (I have no idea how to spell that). He gives the report from Little Harbor every morning on Cruisernet. Apparently he is some VIP in the US tennis fraternity. He asked if we had taken the tour of the harbor, the disused lighthouse and the fjord. Oh yes we said.

We meet another resident who lives in Connecticut for part of the year but he likes to ski so he comes down to the Bahamas in November and flies back for January and February then returns to the Bahamas until May. He said we're more "mud birds that snow birds".

Tuesday 4th - We rode the tide out of Little Harbor and head for Sandy Cay. We anchor off the reefs rather than go around the island. We snorkel onto the reef and there's a great barracuda about 3 feet long. The book says there are no reports of unprovoked attacks but what constitutes provocation in the eyes of a barracuda? I think of barracudas as being the teddy boys/hell's angels of the sea. You keep your distance from them and avoid any confrontation. Again I had swum with barracudas in the Caymans although the instructor did keep us away from them, but a guy at the Marriott marina in Stuart , FL had made a point of saying don't wear any gold rings or the like when swimming around barracuda and he told the story of a woman who had her fingers bitten off when the light glinted off the ring. Here I am waving the gopro around which is kind of silvery in its case. That's silvery as in fish scales. This accounts for the lack of close up shots of the barracuda. I had also just read a passage from the Johnston's (of Little Harbour fame) book where they talked of being afraid of being attacked by barracuda.

The conditions were about as ideal as they get at Sandy Cay and by the time we left there were about four sail boats and half a dozen small boats there.

We decided not to go to Marsh Harbour but to put into Tiloo. We anchored just above Tavern Cay a short distance from a big rock. I snorkeled to check the anchor and carried on to the rock. It turned out there were quite a few fish there. Someone had dropped building blocks, the sort with two hollow centers and it seemed to be great for the small fish that could quickly disappear into them.