The new deck hand Matt has arrived! He is from Ohio (unfortunately a buckeye undergrad) and loves country music and the Bahama Star. He is the cousin of the deck hand from last year. He has been very patient with me trying to teach him the ropes and get in the swing of working on a boat. Our charter this week was a family group. It was four sisters and their spouses and one grandson, John, and his friend, Tanner. The sisters, Alice, Terry, Shelly, and Nede had apparently been coming about every other year for the past 20 years! They were a fun group and were all about snorkeling. They loved the water and we kept busy taking them to every reef we knew! We also did some fishing. Richie loved to fish so he would sit in the stern and tie lures and tell me all about different ones and whats best for where. Roy was an art professor at a small college in NC and he would spend the evenings sketching the different fish we saw that day. I loved to watch him and we would talk about traveling. He has taught art over in italy three different semesters and so we went on about italian food and culture. I am dying to go back yet again.
We went to Pirates lair on the back side of Wardrick wells and I remembered it as my favorite from the charter three years ago. We had hung out on the huge sandbar in the middle of the islands and played frisbee for hours. We also spent time at Compass Cay and got to hang out with my friends from the Fratelli boat as well as try a few pieces of tuna (getting used to it) with the owner while he insisted on playing “Im Yours” 20 times. It was a fun night for sure and I always enjoy the people I meet at Compass Cay. When we got in Tucker said “welcome home” I thought yeah I wish! Maybe one day... We also visited danger reef. Don't worry mom, its not that dangerous. We threw in our watermelon peels and all of a sudden there were 4 groupers that were bigger than my VW bug. Well the trunk at least! They were eating these peels and pieces of bread whole. With the grouper came the reef sharks. There were about four of them and they were only about 5-7 feet long. Bruce hops in for a snorkel and I am like um no. Well the current was really strong and I figured if Bruce can do it so can I. Matt, Terry, John, Tanner and I were the only ones who braved the water. I kept extremely close to the ladder and held on to the rope, tanner was right beside me and Matt right behind. One swam about three feet under me and I decided yep that was enough. Next time maybe I'll get a little farther from the ladder. Baby steps... (forth time “What About Bob” has come up) It was really fun and I promise I was safe mom.
On a side note, I have officially gotten over my fear of barracuda. Not only would they eat all our fish as John reeled them into the boat (leaving us with fish heads) but they would stay near the boat and in almost every snorkel we did there was at least one. The last day, we were doing a drift dive out at Wax cut which was beautiful and I found myself away from most the other snorkelers when I came across one barracuda (3 ft). I told myself not to freak out and keep going around on my business, I did and he swam off. As I watched him swim off I turned forward and there was another one (3 ft) right in front of me. I didn't panic and kept swimming past it only to have a THIRD one swim up and he was 4 ft. but alas I survived and didn't panic. So now you can bring on the barracuda.
So the week went by fast and too soon it was Friday and we were back in Nassau. We had the BBQ ribs again and anchored off at Fort Montague. A friend we had met in Abaco and seen a couple times since, Bob on After You, came over for dinner and we enjoyed our last evening together. Saturday not only did our group leave but so did Bruce and Sheila so Matt and I were left to spend a week in Nassau with no charter or schedule.
I apologize for the lack of photos, I am seriously failing at getting my camera out at all!
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