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Days 7-9, July 21st to 23rd
Saturday, July 21st
It was quite easy and effortless to get up, pack up, pick up and get moving onto our next destination. We left the dock around 9:20 am and were pulling into the channel at Chub Cay around 1:30 pm after having yet another very smooth run in pristine aqua water. The depth looks to be only a couple of feet, the water is so clear, but in reality we were running in about 8’ to 20’ of water. Interesting that I can’t see any fish – they must all be out in the deeper water. I can, however, see bright orange star fish nestled in among the weeds and what appears to be a spiked “balloon” with a hole in the top. I believe they must be crab houses, but a marine biologist I am not! We thought we might as well get fuel here now before docking so that on our way out, we’d already have that taken care of. So, this time starboard took 145 gal. and port took 154 gal. to the ungodly sum of – are you sitting down? – a mere $1,175.85….what a deal. Better get used to it, that’s the way it will be while in the Bahamas. We lucked into another side-long dock here at Chub on “floating” docks, which means we’ll just be able to get on and off the swim platform and not have to put the gangway on. There’s no wind or nary a ripple, so getting on and off will be effortless. It didn’t take long to settle in and get the dingy off the swim platform before off the boys went for a little spin, checking out the place. Chub Cay got a good hit, the year of all the hurricanes (was that 2004?) and was bought by some multi-millionaire who began rebuilding and developing it into a gorgeous private Island and Marina. The new houses being built overlooking the Ocean are very Key West/Tropical type houses worth a fortune! They are still in the process of building the Club House that will hold the new restaurant and shops but do have an absolutely fabulous – huge pool complete with a large Tiki Bar with bar stools IN and OUT of the pool. We’ll have to try that out! Once we were settled in, Salty and I took a walk around to get our lay of the land (and water); walked over to what looked like a place where we could get to the Ocean but it was all rough, craggy rocks instead of beach, so we’ll go to the protected Resort beach instead. On our way over there we came upon three peacocks. One started to advance on us and not knowing what peacocks are like, I thought oh great, we’re going to get our eyes plucked out as soon as we get on land! Never mind, my boy is a bird dog at heart and took off after them – I’ve never seen a peacock fly or make a noise and by Jove, they can do both quite effectively. Salty kept running in their direction, which was near the back shed by the restaurant….he disappeared behind the shed and what happened next was something out of a cartoon. Chickens, Roosters and Peacocks all came flying out from behind the shed squawking and squealing with feathers flying – the proverbial fox in the chicken coop! Salty was having a blast. We then headed to the beach, right behind the still-to-be finished Resort Club building where the pool is and of course you have to walk by the pool and hot tub to get to the beach. Ok, so let’s get by the pool before Salty sees it – NOT – you got it, he took a b-line to the pool with me calling “Salty, no, Salty, come, Salty, no, Salty COME HERE!” OMG, let’s get out of here before we get kicked of the Island! We just hung out at the boat (or laid low for a while), went for a walk on the beach and generally got used to being on “Island Time”…that, of course, won’t be difficult. Then I made margaritas!
Sunday, July 22, 2007
Ok – it’s time to explore. We all got in the dingy and off we went – but there is the task of packing a cooler, life jackets, spray bottle and various other sundry items that take up most of the room in the dingy. We thought it wise to fill up the gas tank before heading out because it’s always a good thing not to run out of gas, right? Just 3 gallons cost $16.00 and one bag of ice cost $4.00. A mere $20.00 for a fun filled couple of hours on the dingy – what a deal. Huge freighters arrive just at the mouth of the channel going into and out of the Marina – dropping off fuel and supplies and quite interesting to see. We bounced along for a while and found a nice long beach that we decided to try out. Barry had wrenched his back slightly and wasn’t into much walking so Salty and I went for a small walk and a swim – not long but long enough that by the time we got back to the dingy, the surf had crashed up into the back of the dingy and was quickly filling it with water! Good Lord…. Now we had the task of trying to drag a very heavy dingy full of water, high enough onto the beach to drain it out. That proved to be too much – too heavy – too difficult, so we dragged it out into the water and Barry started to pump it out. That also proved to be too difficult, so we dragged it up on to the sand again, just far enough to take the plug out so that it could begin to drain. With that bit of drama over, we all climbed in (not very graciously, I might add) and started back toward the boat. Chug, chug, sputter and dead – that would be the engine. Barry started it up and it would die. Ok, Salty and I get dropped off on the beach so Barry could try to run the water out and dry the engine or wires or whatever it was that was making it sputter. That seemed to work but as he raced up and down beside the beach, so did Salty…ON the beach. Barry would go one way and Salty would chase him along the beach. When Barry slowed to turn around, Salty would swim out until Barry raced back. Poor old Salty would swim back to shore and race after him. Back and forth – back and forth – I’ve never seen Salty run that hard and that far in his life. Ok, enough fun for one day and Salty and I get back in the dingy and we all head back to the boat – we’ll all need a drink after that! Of course, as we are bouncing back we are being chased by a thunder storm – a great ending to a great day. There are several gorgeous, very large yachts here – including the “Blackhawk” from Chicago. It’s about 125’ of absolutely gorgeous fiberglass but wasn’t there long enough for me to get a picture. It not only had a huge dingy on a hoist but had to drag along about a 28’ fishing boat called “Penalty Box” so I’m pretty sure that someone on that yacht had something to do with the REAL Chicago Blackhawks – no fooling me!
Monday, July 23, 2007
I remember labeling one of our Adventures (2005) “The Booze and Bruise Cruise”. Well, this one doesn’t seem to be any different and I’m thinking that if you have a boat, you’ve got a bruise. You just can’t have one without the other. Perhaps I’ll call this one “The Ding-A-Day” cruise because I seem to be averaging a ding a day! The biggest ding (aka HUGE bruise) was flailing and flinging myself onto the dingy the day before – now that was a DING! Although, I could also call it “The Ding-and-Dice-A-Day” because I managed to slice most of my finger print off yesterday with a razor blade – don’t even ask me what I was doing with that razor blade. Boating is such fun. Oh well, call me a bugger for punishment because we did the very same thing today – off we go in the dingy again, although we bi-passed the beach from hell and toured along taking in the gorgeous water colors – going from dark blue, aqua and what seemed fluorescent light aqua in “thinner” waters. We saw a group of boaters charging toward the Marina – obviously, fishing buddies coming across all together for some fun and sun at Chub Cay – all Grady White’s – fine fishing boats indeed. We went by Frazer’s Hog Cay where the charts say there is a Marina and restaurant. I’m obviously missing something here because this place looked more like a little run down shack with crickety old docks than a Marina. I’m pretty sure I do not want to go there for dinner! We did beach the dingy at another small beach and as we were approaching a huge sting ray floated by in front of the dingy and of course that would be the very time the camera decided it needed new batteries. We had a nice little walk and swim then headed back – the pool was calling! We almost stopped off at the beach from hell to give Salty some exercise but decided the pool back at Chub Cay Marina sounded like much more fun. This pool is probably the nicest one I’ve ever seen. It’s huge with tiled fish at the bottom of the pool that have been inlayed in such a way that there appears to be a shadow and therefore, the fish look 3-dimensional and very real. It is a disappearing edge pool and when you are in it, you feel as if you can just swim into the ocean. Beautiful. We swam up to the in-pool bar stools to get a drink only to discover that the guy behind the bar was Security and not a Bartender. Of course, they would start the “bar is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays” rule when we are here looking for a cocktail! Never mind, I can fix that, so off I go back to the boat and trudge back with a cooler full of ice and lovely libations. So, we had a fun afternoon in the pool after all that proved to be a lot less expensive than if the Bartender were there – that you can count on. Back at the boat, I began to prepare a nice spaghetti dinner complete with baguette and homemade herb dipping oil. There are a few things I am missing on this boat – not many, but a mortar and pestle is one of them. What kind of a joint am I running here? Who ever heard of a boat that didn’t have a mortar and pestle on it (or a Wok for that matter)? I’ll have to sharpen up next time. We settled in to a very nice evening, lots of wine, great dinner and crystal clear water to watch the fish with the under water lights on. Life is good.
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