Friday April 8th:  A Great Day for Wildlife

     Dan did a little maintenance after breakfast, so we didn’t set off from Double Breasted Cay until midmorning. We hadn’t been on the water for more than an hour when the first of several groups of dolphins came along.  We’ve barely seen dolphins since our first full day in the Bahamas, and today four times they came to swim alongside our bow, jumping and diving.  

     The waters on the Bank side were calm, the wind was light, and Dan decided to head through Channel Cay Cut to the Atlantic side of the island chain.  He wanted to try fishing.  We’ve caught three barracudas, lost several lures, and one entire spool of 80# test line, but we have yet to actually land an edible fish.  Maybe today was the day.

     He got out two rods and set one right up, putting it in the makeshift holder by the helm (one of the drain holes) and rigged a clothespin to the top of the rod which would snap off to alert him if a fish was on the line.  He no sooner turned around to get the second rod ready when a fish took the lure - and the entire spool of line.  The whole thing went in less than two seconds.  Then the clothespin let go too, sort of as an after thought.  Another lure gone.  “Well,”  Dan said after we both got over the shock of how quickly it had happened.  “At least we know there are fish out there.”  

     He rigged the second pole, handed it to me, and then re-spooled the first rod and set it in the bamboo holder.   My pole gave a jerk first and then he too had something on his line.  While I fought with mine, trying to reel it in, he worked with his fish.  My fish ate the lure and broke the line.  Dan landed his fish on the deck.  While I reeled in the leftover line we watched something large thrashing around in the distance off the stern of the boat.  Whatever it was, it was big.  And yet another lure lost.  At least we had Dan’s fish.

Yellow-tailed snapper

     And it was a beauty.  A little over twenty inches, perhaps three pounds, the perfect size for dinner for two.  As we gazed at it we both started laughing because we didn’t know what kind of fish it was.  I brought out the book with pictures and we decided it was a yellow-tailed snapper, which the book praised as a “highly esteemed food fish.”  It was only around one-thirty pm when he caught it, so we put it in a bucket with seawater to keep it alive and fresh until Dan filleted it for supper.  We coaxed Tommie out of her hole for a look, but she was unimpressed.

     At three-thirty we dropped the hook off Jamaica Cay.  Dan was going to start on the fish, but we realized once he started dropping fish parts over the side our time for swimming was over.  The fish had died by then but we refreshed the bucket of water and hid it from the sun and figured it would keep for another hour.  We got out the snorkel gear and launched the dinghy to do explore the reefs along the little rocky island  nearby.  

     Once again a barracuda came right up to keep an eye on us.  They probably aren’t as scary as they look - but they have a sinister way of tailing you, and they have such a mean looking face.  Not to mention big teeth.  Dan and I stayed right next to the dinghy, towing it along with us as we swam.  Apart from the barracuda, which never let us out of its sight, we spotted schools of snappers and jacks as well as the familiar reef fish.  This time we also saw several hogfish and a baby shark of some undetermined kind.  All we know for sure was that it wasn’t a nurse shark.  It was maybe a foot and a half long and wasn’t concerned with us at all. 

Hogfish - internet stock photo.

     Back at the boat Dan settled down to dealing with the yellow-tailed snapper.  It wasn’t long before a good-sized bull shark came swimming over, attracted by the parts Dan tossed overboard.  We decided to grill the snapper, and had a feast of a supper.   Another beautiful sunset, the perfect ending to a really fun day.  

Filleting, grilling, and the end result.  Mmm! Tasty!

Our visitor, the bull shark.