Chub Cay to Nassau

 Now I'll commence on telling my Chub Cay to Nassau update, which the other two boats probably posted a week ago.  For me, the only thing worth mentioning about Chub Cay was the spearfishing we did off Mama Rhoda Rocks.  Dave from Texas Two Step took us out in his super-dinghy to show us around and we had a damn-good time.  After seeing him free-shoot a spanish mackerel with his Hawaiian sling (not pole spear) I've broken down here in Nassau and bought one.

           

What!?  Nooooo. This picture isn't set up.  I threw the lobster in the pot and that's how he landed.

         

I have a couple of objectives for this update, and they are as follows:
1.) Give a summary on how the GUALBY has performed so far
2.) Ask for advice from the Gualby Nation support crew on three subjects:
A.) Fishing woes
B.) Penny issues
C.) Outer Island to-do list
Number One:
I was browsing through the GPS menu options as we left Chub Cay, and noticed some interesting facts: Total miles traveled since leaving Key West: 698. Top speed: 10.6 knots. Moving Average Speed : 6.3 knots. (as opposed to total average speed, which would factor in all those 0.0 knot nights I leave the GPS on for anchor watch. This got me thinking that I should comment on the Gualby’s performance overall, since I’m sure the support crew back home would like to know how things have been.
We are traveling in a Flotilla of three other boats, and prevailing conditions always change which boat does better on any day long passage. If there is no wind, which has happened twice on day long passages, we motor, and Gualby always comes in last. These Hondas and I have slowly been getting to know each other, and it definitely wasn’t love at first site. But as we work through our relationship problems, we set boundaries for each other and are getting along much better. The Hondas need a good 10-15 minutes of warm up time, which sometimes pisses me off.  If they don't get to warm up they konk out when I shift from forward to neutral to reverse or vice versa, despite repeated adjustments to the idle.   Once warm they do pretty good and don’t konk out as easily. They don’t feel like they have as much torque as the old yamaha 15hp four stroke I had previously (these are brand new Honda 15hp four strokes for those not in the know). But I guess it is hard to give a good comparison since the boat is a lot heavier then it ever was with the yamaha. I was expecting close to 10 knots of speed with both Honda’s at full throttle in flat water with no wind or current. But I actually only get about 8 knots. Running both engines at about ¾ throttle gets me about 7 knots, but uses a lot of fuel (can’t really give exact numbers yet, but maybe soon). If I run one engine at a little more than half throttle I can do 5 knots, which is much more fuel efficient, so that is what I’ve been doing. All these numbers are based on no wind and flat water. If there is any wind at all, it is almost always easier to sail., so that’s what we do.
          We don’t have any wind instruments, so all wind speeds are subject to my estimation. Our fastest sail since leaving Key West has been this most current one, from Chub cay to Nassau, which was also our only downwind sail so far. The wind was out of the north and we were heading southwest to Nassau. I would say seas were 3-4 feet, with occasional 5 footers, and apparent wind never felt like more than 20 knots to me. Our boat speed pretty much stayed above 8 knots for this whole 35 mile trip, with an occasional 10 knot kick if we surfed down a wave.

Meg's serious when she sails, seriously nerdy, big steering hand

          I realize some mofo’s are gonna call bullshit on this comment, so I put some video of the GPS under “360’s” so check it out. And its video, not just a screen shot of the gps when were surfing, like some posers do. Anyways, the Gualby Nation support crew doesn’t need the validation of the video cuz they’ve all seen what she can do, especially Reenie, who holds the speed record to date with 13.4 knots on the Gualby. On the Nassau crossing we had very nice conditions, felt like we were hauling ass, and the boat acted like a princess to hand steer. I’m sure Wally and Jimmy could have squeezed another knot or two out of her, but we felt comfy just going 8-9 knots. Even in those seas it was possible to step away from the helm for a moment or two to check the fishing lines without doing a 90 degree turn from the quartering waves. Which brings me to my next point of business….fishing.
          Let me first describe my fishing set up: Two handlines, one off each sugarscoop. The handlines are 60 feet of 3 strand nylon, break strength 1500lbs, connected to an 800lb ball bear swivel, which is connected to 60 feet of 300lb mono, which is connected to a 250lb ball bearing snap swivel, which then typically has 6-10 feet of 80lb wire leader, which is then twisted onto a lure. The hand lines are attached to a cleat on each side of the boat, but also have an 18 inch bungee tied in as a shock absorber. Its set up so that when the bungee is pulled to its maximum length the nylon line then takes the brunt of the force. In the center of the boat I have one rod holder which houses a 6 foot heavy duty, put your dick in the dirt trolling rod with a 6/0 penn senator (handed down by The Admiral Jerry G.) On deck and ready for deployment is a “star” casting rod with a penn 650 spinning reel with 25lb test, which usually has a jig or spoon tied on for casting to dolphin or cobia or anything that swims up to the boat.
          I’m pulling all artificials, sometimes skirts with a piece of conch skin or small fillet of pinfish, sometimes just skirts, sometimes a cedar plug, or some kind of jet head on one handline. On the other handline I’m pulling a deep diving, fat lipped swimming lure, like a big Rapala, or some other big plug. On the middle line I pull a what I call a “little Richard” which is a squid-like purple and black or red and black skirted plug that skips on top of the water. (thanks Richard). The little Richard has caught some mahi (see picture), the skirts have caught some jacks, barracuda, bonita, other bullshit fish, etc.

Perfect size mahi for 2 humans and a dog, thanks Richard

          The diving lures by far get the most strikes, hard strikes. But here-in lies the problem. I keep losing the lures. On two occasions I’ve had a strike so hard that the carabiner on the bungee smacks the shit out of the boat as it stretches to maxiumum capacity, and then the line goes slack as soon as the full load is on the nylon. I pull it in and find that the 80lb wire leader is broken clean, somewhere in the middle…, not at the twist, so its not my twist job, jimmy. On one occasion a barrel swivel broke right at the lure head. I pulled it in and found a barrel swivel missing the lower loop of wire. On another occasion I had an estimated 50-60lb wahoo (I’m gonna say wahoo cuz its my story. It wasn’t a barracuda or a kingfish) hooked good and jumping on the line (don’t tell me wahoo don’t jump). After about a 10 second fight the line went slack and I pulled in another broken wire leader. Now I’m definitely not snagging bottom, because its around 3000 feet deep in the new providence channel and east of the berry islands, were the shit went down. As you can imagine I’m starting to get friggin pissed. One, because I’m losing fish, two, because these lures are about 20$ each, and 30$ or more in the Bahamas, and these are getting the most strikes. I’m guessing I don’t have enough of a shock absorber, but the alleged wahoo wasn’t pulling the bungee to the full length when the wire broke. So I don’t think a longer bungee would help. I guess I could use heavier wire, but I hate to miss out on strikes due to “gawdy” factor. Any advice from my fishing crowd would be appreciated, add comments below. Don’t say “get more rods and reels” cuz that’s not really and option, and don’t say “stop bitching and eat more spam” cuz that is an option that I’m already engaged in.
          The next problem I have is with Penny. If you don’t care about this one skip this paragraph and I’ll fully understand. Anyways, we are having a hard time keeping weight on Penny. She is now eating twice a day, easily double the actual quantity of food she was getting in dog food. But it is usually rice, pasta, or beans mixed with fish, fish skin, fish roe, lobster entrails, conch eyes, mouth and other parts, coconut meat and any oil or fat left in the pan from us cooking our own meals. She is eating nearly everything we eat, including lettuce, tomato, onion, spinach, peas, potatoes (all these veggies are canned except the lettuce). I wouldn’t say she has reached “malnourished” status or anything, but she is extremely active in this new lifestyle. And if she is going to serve us in the one valuable way she can, which is to keep us alive in the life raft, she needs to add some lb’s. Right now I bet she is a bit sinewy and tuff. Dog food in the Bahamas is very expensive when you can find it, like 30$ for a 10lb bag, and mostly looks like cornmeal crap. So I guess we'll keep doing what we're doing but I see us breaking down in the future and buying some store bought food.
          Third Topic: We are heading to Eleuthera and the outer islands next. I’m not sure how far south we will go before we cut back west to the Exumas, but If anyone has suggestions on what to experience we are all ears. Jimbo was spot on with the Hoffman Cay Blue Hole in the Berry Islands. On the to-do list so far is: catch a lobster bigger than my torso, shoot a grouper big enough to eat that lobster, and catch some waves not big enough to destroy me on the reef.  Thanks to all the friends, family and support crew of the Gualby Nation for helping us get this far.
C