Moments in the Sun

This post is about some of the special moments we've had down here in Georgetown.

Lobster Hunter Extraordinaire

The day finally arrived.  Light winds and sun heralded a perfect morning for poking around reefs to look for dinner. We joined another boat and headed to a reef south of us. Luckily, I went diving with Andrea and Bernie on Rollick who have a lot of experience spearfishing. By contrast, I have almost no experience with catching anything in the water other than a sunburn. In anticipation of this glorious moment, I had recently acquired a simple "pole spear".  This is a 5' barbed metal spear with a loop of surgical tubing on the end. You basically loop the tubing over your hand, catching it between your thumb and index finger and stretching it as far as you can.  You then grip the spear shaft to keep it tensioned.  The spear is now loaded. When you get close to the target, you release your grip and, "zap", you have dinner. It has a range of about 1' - so you have to get pretty close. That's the theory at least.

Andrea holds a couple spears

I head down for my first lobster encounter 

First, you have to find a target, which can be very difficult as you have to spot the well-camouflaged lobster antennae waving surreptitiously in their holes about 15-20' below you. I recommend going with someone with lobster radar, as it was far easier to have the Rollick crew point out my first target to me. Here's how my encounter played out:

1) Andrea points to a dark hole on the seabed

2) I dive down a couple times to actually understand where the lobster was in its hole.  Sure enough, I spy something in there.

3) I dive down three more times, and despite being right on top of it, and 6" from it, I miss it each time.

4) The lobster, sufficiently annoyed by my attempts, decides to abandon its hole and starts swimming/crawling away.

5) I somehow miss what happens, so I'm confused when I dive down for my sixth attempt and the hole is empty.

6) I dive down again and see the annoyed lobster walking on the seabed, out in the open.

7) Finally, the lobster and my spear meet, and I enter the ranks of deadly lobster hunters.  

Luckily, I redeemed myself on the next reef as I discovered a large lobster in a hole by myself, went down on the next breath and speared the sucker. The result for the day was two large 3 lb lobsters, which we turned into a seafood stew (with the bodies) and lobster mac & cheese (with the tails). Yum!

Something is Fishy

A week later, with my sister Lisa on board, we went on another hunt in the same general area. This time, I wanted to prove myself by spearing a fish - which is about 100X more complicated. Lobsters, if you see one, you'll be able to get it 99% of the time because a lobster thinks it is invisible to divers and basically remains still as you come up to it and spear it. Now, most fish are highly mobile and many are suspicious when a big black object comes near it with a gleaming, sharp pointy object. It turns out they won't wait patiently for you to get within 1' let alone 10'. So, you have to be more devious. This involves looking for fish in deep, dark places where the big ones like to hide during the day. You basically swim down, and looking upside down, peer into the hole and hope that something nasty isn't upset by the intrusion. 

After many fruitless chases over the seabed and many misses, I discovered my friend, the glass-eyed snapper. Not only are these fish delicious eating, they seem dazzled by the sun and simply hide under a rock or behind a sea fan during the day. They are very slow moving, so hitting one was well within my skill level. Sure enough, by the end of the day, we had scored three of them (enough for one meal) and a small lobster in the bargain. 

Hunting fish with a spear seems so 10,000 years ago, but it is one more skill I've enjoyed discovering in this adventure. I may not be very good at it yet, but there is some deep satisfaction to obtaining our meals this way - touching some atavistic urge to provide for the family perhaps.

Note: I'd show you a picture of the snappers, but I took them on my phone which had a very unfortunate encounter with the sea bed for 14 hours.

Magic Wands

Lazing around on the beach last weekend with nothing much to do and a  half dozen kids playing nearby, I picked up a rather straight branch and began carving designs in it with my trusty penknife. At some point, Jeanette noticed and came over to see what I was doing. She was immediately captivated by the idea of this magical wand and handed it off to her friend, Colleen, from Glass Slipper.  That meant that everyone had to have one.  Before I knew what was happening, I was in the wand production business. What was I to do?  There was absolutely no way I could say, "No" to Jordan, an impish 3 year old peering up at me with her big blue eyes - or to any of the other kids, for that matter. As the kids received their wands, they began engaging in magical duels with each other. They had obviously been studying at Hogwarts as their spells had a familiar ring to them. The next day, at a different beach, the wands appeared again. Perhaps they'll persist in some treasured hideaway for years to come. Many magical moments manufactured from such simple ingredients.

Hand-carved magic wand

Fiery Fun

One morning, it was announced on the net that there would be a bonfire for kids at Flip Flop beach. We joined the fun, with Beth sailing the Pico down while I went ahead with our dinghy. Flip Flop is an interesting beach as it is away from all the boats and is essentially deserted most of the time. At some point in the distant past, cruisers scrabbled together various pieces of wood and palm fronds to build a little bar and tiki hut. It reminds me of the set from Gilligan's Island. There is even a plastic skull hanging from a beam at the entrance! On the beach in front of the hut, is a stone-ringed area for campfires with a grating to throw on the coals for cooking.

Flip Flop beach and the lost set from Gilligan's Island

Just behind Flip Flop beach, the kids had discovered a hangout with hammocks. They spent an hour or so creating clans and then spent the better part of the afternoon engaging in battle - the girls had to defend their "clan homes" from the rambunctious boys. A lot of screaming and shouting, but since no blood was visible, we busied ourselves with more adult activities. Tiring of their battles, the kids tumbled into the warm water and played themselves out as the campfire was assembled by the parents.

Beth and I took turns on the Pico, sailing it back and forth across the bay in the diminishing winds. It's fun just to be out on the water and sailing a boat that is so sensitive to wind, waves and helm. I miss the joy of sailing on our big boat as it is far more of a technical experience without any real helm-feel. 

With the sun dipping behind Great Exuma across the water and a gentle dusk settling around us, the fire crackled to life and helped keep the bugs at bay. The kids were soon poking hot dogs on sticks and waving them over the fire, losing only a couple in the process. Once we had some coals, three fresh-caught lobsters were placed on the grill  and were shared by the group. 

Then, a couple parents started singing tunes from the 70s and I joined in randomly as words were jogged loose from the crusty confines of my memory. As darkness enveloped us completely under a brilliant web of stars, we climbed into our dinghy and, towing our trusty Pico behind us, headed back to the boat.

Proof Positive

Here are a collection of pictures to prove that Jeanette had nothing but fun while on this trip. This is to counter any negative vibes when she turns into a teenager (God forbid!)

A local Bahama historian gives a lecture to the kids on Volleyball Beach

Jeanette and Colleen study (wouldn't you like a classroom like this one?)

Colleen and the girls crawl inside of the boom cover to plot their schemes

The spare cabin gets turned into a doll house

There's more than one way to have fun on the Pico!

Moments

My only hope is that Jeanette retains these memorable moments and that they're as technicolor for her as they are for me. These moments are why we embarked on this adventure.