Awesome Day!

A week ago, we moved down to the bottom half of the Sea of Abaco to spend a little more time down here before we head back to Florida.  On our first night we bumped into John and Kathi on MAKANI, a Gozzard 44.

John and Kathi - Makani

They are avid spear hunters and scuba divers, and their boat is fully equipped for these pursuits with a dive compressor on board.  They have spent the bulk of the winter down here and have several favorite spots to fish and hunt.

On Awesome Day, we dinghied over to Sandy Cay first thing in the morning.  This is a national park with a large and beautiful reef at the end of the cut that comes in from the ocean.  I had bought some scuba equipment in Florida and this was the first time I was going to use it.  In fact, this was to be my first dive in over 20 years.

Kathi with our 'cars'

John and I suited up for the dive, while the ladies donned their snorkel gear.  Maggie does not have a scuba ticket, so Kathi was going to accompany her on top.  Once in the water, I vividly remembered what I loved about scuba diving all those years ago.  It is the closest I will ever get to being an astronaut visiting another planet.  The only way to describe it is to say that all of one's senses are drastically altered, all in a weightless environment.  A little fine tuning of the buoyancy compensator (BC) and you are hovering above the sea floor watching schools of fish arc over the reefs.  Behind us, a large school of Spotted Eagle Rays flying in formation, disregarding our presence , passed behind us.  Absolutely beautiful!

Stingray

On the way home, we stopped at one of John and Kathi's lobster spots and caught some supper.  The sun set on us while we were having a lobster supper on the beach in our anchorage.  After cleaning the lobster and splitting the tails, I drizzled some garlic sauteed in butter with salt, pepper and fresh basil on them and grilled them on an open fire.

Chef Branko - Lobster on the fire

We then spent the evening on Makani playing dominoes.  A perfect day that we will long remember.

Branko

We Are Now Living Off the Sea!

While trolling from Man O' War Cay to Guana Cay, we passed right by the cut to the Atlantic.  Maggie was expecting that we would catch a fish on this run because this was where everyone else was catching them.  Sure enough we caught a 2 foot long Mutton Snapper on the hand line.

I reeled it in without out any trouble and brought it aboard.  I realized that if it were a larger fish, I would need a proper gaff to bring it aboard.  The girls (Maggie, Elsie and Kathy) and I were quite happy with the prospect of a fresh fish dinner that night; all that I had to do was kill and clean the snapper.

My cruiser's fishing guide said to whack the fish between the eyes with a club to stun it and then drive an ice pick into its brain to kill it.  Clubbing it took me back to some unpleasant childhood memories, so I tried another option.  We have been told on numerous occasions that pouring alcohol into a fish's gills will immobilize it, and rum is inexpensive down here ($7 a bottle), so the snapper had a little drink.  Elsie poured while I held the fish, who soundly zonked out.  By the time we dropped anchor, the snapper was no more, so it was back to the guide to learn how the clean the fish.

It was the first time that I ever filleted a fish,  and it was surprisingly easy, and, again, no barfing!  That snapper fed 7 people that night and 4 of us for lunch the next day.  It was delicious.

Now we never move the boat without casting the line out.

I made a gaff to bring in the big ones - it's medieval but effective.

JUNK-A-NOO, JUNK-A-NOO everybody!!!

Shakin' her tailfeathers....

For fun  (OK for my fun) read the title again, out loud -  phonetically  Junk- A -Newwwww and bounce around in a circle at the same time hehehehe - thanks.

She is so cute

The other Saturday night found Branko and I sitting on a curb drinking a beer, watching the hi-jinx of the crowd and waiting for the parade to begin - it was to start at 8:00pm it was now 9:00-9:30ish.  Alas I am still burdened by my North American time clock and expectations.   A girl,  just starting to walk was entertaining us with her dance moves as her sister tossed gunpowder wrapped in tissue on the street to hear it 'pop' - similar to our days when we threw those red firecrackers at each other and thought is was funny.   Johnny,  I still remember your story of walking around with your margarine container of firecrackers with a lit cigarette that your mom gave you, not to smoke but to light the crackers -  oh those were the days!   Anyways,  this was kind of the same but I think, less dangerous.   


The crowd was made up of all age groups,  strutting down the street in their finest attire trying to capture the eyes of whomever....the police were out in full force (the first time we have actually seen any) parading down the street with their billy clubs swinging.  Girls in high heels, so high that they wobbled and tottered, very cute but I knew, were in pain.   The boys had showered and applied,  I don't know about a gallon of aftershave.   Families, mothers, fathers, cousins, all ages of children and a few tourists made up the remaining crowd.

Part of the 1st float

Bahamian style food and cheap beer was available - rounding off the festive air of Junkanoo.


Bahamas Junkanoo Tradition, depending upon who is asked got started by John Canoe, a legendary West African Prince, who outwitted the English and became a local hero; and others suspect it comes from the French ‘gens inconnus,’ which translates as 'unknown' or 'masked people'.


The most popular belief, however, is that it developed from the days of slavery. The influx of Loyalists in the late 18th Century brought many enslaved people who were given three days off at Christmas, which they celebrated by singing and dancing in colourful masks, travelling from house to house, often on stilts. Junkanoo nearly vanished after slavery was abolished, but is still alive and well in Marsh Harbour..

One person carried this float

Dancers around the float

We finally got to see, I mean hear the parade and snapped picture after picture as they danced by.   Thinking that was the end, after 15-20 minutes,  we were told no, its the first group with more following - yikes it was already past 11:00!  What I really liked was each group created its own music,  with drums, tuba's and horns,  no float bearing huge speakers that shake and shout noise, that once was music.   


The costumes, fantastic - have a look and let us know what you think.       Maggie              

Drum section

Horn section

2nd Group

Tailfeather girl

Zebra, tiger,lions and muscle bound guy - on this float

Whirling dervish