Cave Cay,
Bahamas
23.54.270N
76.16.572W

39.2 NM
6.0 Avg. Kts.
9.3 Max Kts.
6.34 Hrs.

Current Odometer: 7728.7


As is our custom, Dale was up and listening to the 6:30 weather report first thing this morning. Although I was still in the twilight of not being awake but not asleep either, I heard that conditions were moderating and knew that we would be moving today; he was too antsy not to. I got up and started securing the inside of the boat for getting underway even before the weather report was finished just to make sure I got as much done without rushing before the anchor was raised.

Dale knew that I wanted to pick up a few last minute items from the grocery store before leaving, and I knew that it opened up at 8 am. When we dinghied in, I was surprised that we weren’t the first shoppers there but then again, everyone had the same idea. Once again, there was a mass migration to the town side of the anchorage underway.

With our shopping completed, we were back on the boat, hoisted the outboard engine to its position on the back rail, and while Dale secured the dinghy for a transit, I put the groceries away. We lifted anchor and were underway by 8:50am.

It took another 30-40 minutes to work our way out of the harbor and through the cut to the Exuma Sound. Out in the Sound, the seas had moderated to 3-5’ and the wind was about 17-20 kts. It was a beautiful day for a sail. We unfurl our sails, cut the engine and took off.

We were really enjoying the day. Dale even threw in his fishing line, just to say that he did. We had just about forgotten it, when he had a couple of good strikes on it; still, there was nothing on the hook when he reeled it in. He had no sooner cast it back in, when once again, the spool took off. This time, it didn’t stop.

He fought it for a good 20 minutes and I ended up turning the boat into the wind to slow us down to the point where he could land his 3’ MahiMahi. For some crazy reason, we always seem to catch a fish just before we have to negotiate a cut or wiggle through some coral heads and today was no different. But we have been learning from our previous experiences, so Dale threaded a line through its gills, stabbed it in the head with his knife and cut the blood lines by the tail, then hung it low to the water from the back arch so that we could return our attention to piloting the Palace through Cave Cut.

We entered the cut on a rising tide which carried us through at our max speed for the day of 9.3 kts. What a sleigh ride! Dale was on the bow relaying directions to make sure we didn’t drift too far to one side or the other while I was on the wheel relaying back to him just how fast we were traveling and what our depths were. What a team!!

We rounded along the western side of Cave Cay and headed north to the little anchorage we stayed at on our way down. We turned off the route line suggested by the chart plotter and anchored about 3:30pm in deep sand.

Dale dove below and spun the wheel to the speed log on the hull that sometimes catches when we’ve been sitting for a while. Then he came back to fillet the fish.

It was considerably smaller than our first MahiMahi, ironically caught in the same stretch on our way down island, but it did provide us 8 nice steaks; 2 of which we had for dinner. The aftermath clean up was much easier this time too. The fish bled out while we transited to our anchorage and Dale was able to concentrate on cleaning the fish on the back end of the boat at anchor without bringing the fish on deck underway for fear of falling overboard. All in all, it was just an easier process this time. By the time we get home, we’ll have this all down pat.

Tomorrow we’ll head to Staniel Cay and maybe get some snorkeling in. Hopefully, no one has been cleaning fish in the area where we want to swim. I remember from our trip south that Staniel has loads of nurse sharks and sting rays in the marina area.