Monday, February 15, 2010 From Great Stirrup/Goat Cay (25 48.846 077 54.082) to Hoffmans Cay (25 36.823 077 43.985) ~20 miles

A great fishing day aboard Kolibrie!

We got the anchor up at 8:50am under mostly cloudy skies and headed over to Hoffmans Cay. The winds were light and on the nose so we motored and put a fishing line out. I made some fried egg sandwiches and went below for some juice when Wayne called out we got a fish. We pulled in the line and had a fish that tried to eat our cedar plug (that was to big for it). After Wayne got it in the boat and put out the line again we decided that we needed to find out what kind of fish we caught, so he went below to grab the book to identify it. As soon as he went down stairs, SNAP! The line tripped again indicating we caught another one!

He scurried back up and as he hauled this one in, there was no need for identification on this one. This one was a barracuda with big, sharp teeth! It was twice as big as the first fish we caught! So we had two fish flopping around in the cockpit, with me on the helm seat trying to steer the boat, talk on the radio to Blue Pearl and Azaya – “We caught a fish! We caught a fish!” “We caught two fish! We caught two fish!” The first fish was a mackerel. It reminded me of a tuna but it was skinnier with a broken line and dots on an iridescent side hooded in a blue/green color. It was a pretty fish. Wayne had to work to get the hook out of both fishes mouths very carefully – especially the barracuda! He then took them up front to fillet them for dinner. We measured the barracuda at 33.5 inches and figured it was safe to eat. Ciguatera is something we don’t really want. We didn’t think to try and weigh it – I guess if it’s 5 lbs or less, they’re pretty safe to eat. We figured that since we caught the first fish, that the meat for dinner would be on us tonight.

After anchoring we all dinghied over to Hoffmans Cay in Blue Pearl’s dinghy to find the Blue Hole. [This was a day of dinghies not working. Azaya’s didn’t want to work going over to the island and ours didn’t want to work coming back from their boat after dinner.] The hike to the Blue hole was straightforward. Pam read that the second beach had a trail leading to it and the directions were very good. As you come out of the jungle type vegetation, it’s abruptly right there. You look down from a drop off that would make a terrific cliff diving area into the Blue Hole. The water looks quite deep enough there right up to the edge of the circular shaped pond (hole).

There was a trail descending down the limestone rock, to the hole that led to a system of small caves and crevices filled with stalactites and stalagmites that had been mostly broken off and missing. A fish came looking for peas or nuts (we didn’t have any) then swam off. It must have correctly decided that we weren’t going to feed it. The place was incredible. I couldn’t believe that someone didn’t own it and charge people to come down here to swim, etc…

After taking in our fill of the Blue Hole we went back to the beach and Pam & Glen (Blue Pearl) had brought a bottle of Champagne to celebrate… uhm… another island! So we toasted to another island and enjoyed the scenery and the company of each other – Blue Pearl, Azaya and Kolibrie. Pam claimed the small tidal sandbar for Canada so I broke out in the song “Oh Canada…”

We waded around for a bit. Then headed back to the boats to meet over at Azaya’s for happy hour, appetizers, fish, and peas and rice. We really enjoy the company of these two boats. They’re fun people. Coming back to the boat we noticed how dark it was. There were a billion stars visible and no other lights around except for the lights on our boats. I was grateful that Mary had a flashlight she could loan us. Our engine conked out on us about 25 feet away from their boat and we drifted to the beach before we could get the oars attached to the dinghy. It was a long row back in the dark against the wind. I’ll have to remind Wayne tomorrow when he wonders why his arms are so sore :)

Yesterday and today was "write love on your arm" day to promote awareness of depression/suicide. This Love picture is for you Alli... to your cause.