last night

Alan's cay was amazing. The weather had been questionable, however the morning after arriving in Nassau, the skies were blue and the weather was beautiful. We dug in on the snorkel equipment and decided to take a cold swim out to the reef. It was awesome!

All we wanted was to find a lobster in the coral, spear it, and eat; easier said then done. We snorkeled throughout the day and had found one lobster, but he had the upper hand. He could breath underwater, we could not. We did however see some amazingly colorful fish and wild life and played in the ocean.

Despite the fact that we were determined to catch some fish, our dinner consisted of what we brought along. Sometime after dark, however, we heard a fish strike on the line we'd left out baited with a piece of hot dog. Tyler jumped to the rod, but after a decent struggle, the fish jumped off the line. After tossing the line out again, we had another fish on! One again though, he was gone after a brief struggle and we were left empty handed. Finally, sometime before 11:00 pm, we heard a fish on the line yet again and brought a yellow tail striper onto the boat. It made an amazing breakfast the next morning,

The next day we woke up bright and early and made our way to Hybourne Cay. The sun was out, the sky was blue and the temperature was in the 80s, so we all went out snorkeling. Along our journey to the cay we had left the fishing line out in the hopes of catching a fish. As we approached the cay however, the lour was snagged on some coral. Our first task was to swim out in the blue ocean, find and release the lour. As we swam, we discovered how swift the current was. Once we accomplished our goal, we swam out past the boat and tried to reach the coral rock that had emerged out of the sea. We got 2/3 the way there and had to turn back, disappointed, as the current was to quick.

We pulled ourselves out of the water exhausted, but still excited for whatever was next. We set sail for Norman's Cay. On the way, we decided to troll for fish. Not because we thought we'd catch anything, but purely out of a sense of responsibility; having claimed we were to "harvest the bounty of the sea".

Low and behold, two fish struck on both lines at the same time. Fish on! We brought both on the boat, cleaned them and ate fried chunks of blue fin Tuna. Amazing! We continued on to the cay.

We arrived around 2:30 pm. We had enough sunlight to either paddle to the beach or swim to the reef to snorkel, but not both. Peter, Rachel, and Kate hopped in the kayaks and headed to the beach, while Tyler and I headed to the reef. The coral reef around Norman's cay was surreal. It was like swimming through an aquarium. By the looks on the others faces once they returned to the cat, the beach was spectacular as well. Simply put, we had a day that can only be had in the Bahamas!

As night fell, we could feel the wind pick up and were feeling the cold front rolling in. Our voyage back to Nassau the next day was a challenge. We set off on what could have been an 8 hour trek around 8:30 the next morning. The first half was rough. The seas were in the 4' to 6' range, the wind howled and the skies were dark. About 3 hours into trip, the clouds split, and the sun came out. It had become a beautiful day. While the wind was still blowing and the seas were choppy, we enjoyed the day thanks to a fortunate change in the weather. Our trip was much shorter and much more fun than we anticipated.

Early on the day was looking bleak. The debate amongst the crew was whether to dock in Nassau, or to make the most of things and port in Atlantis on Paradise Island. As the sun came out, the debate ended, we headed to Rose Island just to the East.

As we pulled in to the Rose, we discover an island within an island. While the wind was blowing on the open ocean, the seas were calm inside. Once docked, we went for a hike. We found an sandy beach and walked around for a while. Once back to the boat, we fried up some more fish and cooked up a delicious dinner.

Tomorrow we fly home, back to the Northeast. I'm not exactly looking forward to heading back to the snow and the cold, but I know I'll be back again, so it's okay. What an amazing trip, an amazing crew, and an amazing experience all the way through.
Your friend

Jason

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(no subject)

Ocean ho. We pushed off from Nassau today with a good wind at our back. We sailed and motored south, making great time to Allan's Key, despite the fact that Pete took the wheel for awhile. Once there, we made communion with lobsters, iguanas, and a yellow tail snapper. The lobster retreated deep into its cave, beyond our reach. Luckily, Jason turned lobster red in the sun, so we didn't come home empty handed. The iguanas on iguana beach accepted our tiny offerings of grapes and Kate. We kept the bananas to ourselves, though, as Rachel used them to blend up some amazing concoctions. Tyler landed a good-sized red snapper after hours of night fishing (drinking, eating, and otherwise forgetting a line was in the water) with highly-prized, secret bate (hot dogs). Among the ones that got away were the physics of sailing and two large fish, including what we believe to have been either french kid or a ray.

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what did you like

I liked feeding the Iguanas, it was funny when they took the grape and ran off. I liked feeding the sharks at Compass Cay, you can pet the sharks and I got a few pictures of the sharks underwater with my underwater camera. Carla always cooked good meals. It was really fun going really fast in the dinghy.
Ulysses 9

I liked feeding the Iguanas. I liked playing in the waves at Compass Cay. I really like being on the front of the boat when we have big waves. I like feeding the birds called banana quits on Warderick Cay, they eat out of your hand. I liked fishing even though I didn't catch anything.
Lyle 11

I thought the sharks were really cool, they chomped the fish bits really fast. there were smaller fish that got scared by the sharks but they did get little pieces to eat. I thought it was really really fun on our first day when we had the big waves and the boat was bouncing up and down. We fit 9 people in the dinghy when we went to dinner at Ocean Cabin on Little farmers Cay.
Fletcher 13

When we first sailed I got soaked sitting on the trampoline. I swam in the ocean a lot. I paddled the kayak with me and my mom in it all the way back to the boat. I fed the nurse sharks. I like hopping on the waves. I saw a green flash when the sun was going down.
Rose 7

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