Abrahams Bay,
Mayaguana,
Bahamas
22.21.553N
72.59.068W

After listening to the weather report this morning, it appears we’ll be here for awhile. We’re caught between two systems that are creating havoc for those caught out in them. So far for us, we’ve been watching the show from a distance. Others haven't been as fortunate. We’ve heard that one boat with a crew of 4 is missing and several others were dodging and running most of the night trying to evade the storms and lightening strikes forming right above them.

In fact, one boat reported that they were trying to make the Turks & Caicos so that a crew member could seek medical attention. They were hoping to make Mayaguana today to rest before heading out again. We gave it a couple of hours and when we saw several boats coming in we hailed them and Dale identified himself as a physician if there was an emergency. Apparently the man’s wife suffers from a nervous stomach and was afraid that she had developed an ulcer. However, from her symptoms, Dale didn’t think that was the problem. Since they have elected to stay here for a few more days, we’ll see what develops.

We made our way in to the island and found the Customs/Immigration office about a ½ mile down the road from the dock. We spoke with a woman behind the counter who indicated that the customs officer wasn’t in and to return in the afternoon. We walked further down the road and found an intersection where we looked in all directions but didn’t see anything of interest in any direction. This is one quiet island.

We returned to the Palace where we swam a little, read a little and napped a little. In the afternoon, we returned as requested and this time stood in line so that the same woman who had dismissed us earlier in the day could process our paperwork. Dale surmised that the “boss” wasn’t in during the morning, so she sent everyone way until he was there and could witness for himself that she was a very busy person.

On our way back to the boat on this trip, we passed 3 fishermen that had a bounty crop of conch they were cleaning as well as several very large grouper. They said that they had caught everything along the reef at the far end of the island. Several young boys were swimming in the area but then saw a large barracuda interested in the scraps left over from the fish cleaning and made a hasty retreat from the water. I was impressed with how polite they all were as we passed by. They even offered to help us get off the pier when we got into the dinghy.

This time on our return trip, we kept going out past the Palace and explored the wreck that is on the reef. It is the rusted out hulk of a steel boat that obviously had a bad day.

We’ve noticed that Seymour hasn’t made an appearance today, so I’m guessing that the blood in the water from the meat was what attracted him to our boat last evening. Still, we make sure that we are out of the water by sunset just in case.