Rum Cay Supplement

We sailed for Rum Cay Monday morning and arrived in the afternoon after catching another nice Mahi. Bill sighted it going for our lure and when he gave the lure a tug, the fish bit. Rum Cay turned out not to be the bright center of the universe the guides had promised, but we were thankful that the marina did have ice. Tuesday Bill and Denny fixed the refridgerator! It turned out that last week a bug had gotten into the fan and knocked the fan blade off causing the compressor to work too hard and draw too much power. They took the fan apart, replaced wires, and then discovered the real problem when they put it back together. We all felt like celebrating so we walked into town for a beer-- but no beer could be found. One of the residents even tried to find his cousin who was reported to have beer—to no avail. The grocery store had none and the only restaurant we found open had 1 bud and 1 something else and no food. So we dejectedly hiked back to the marina and I went snorkeling off the beach. The reef was massive in shallow water with low coral cover. I saw several Nassau groupers and snappers and encountered a large slipper lobster lumbering across the rocks. Too bad I didn’t know that there is no season on slipper lobster. I also saw a couple of big nurse sharks and a VERY large bull shark who luckily ignored me. Unfortunately I did not take my camera this time—I won’t do that again.

So now it is Wednesday and the winds will probably keep us here one more day. Winds are more favorable tomorrow to head back to Conception Island. We hope to check out more of that elkhorn reef. It looks like the only place we will be able to get air will be at Stella Maris at Long Island but snorkeling is great and the water is beautiful.