Message In A Bottle

It has been a very interesting week at isolation island. Our friends Eddie and Gail on Seaquel were able to join us for a few days while they waited for a weather window to return to the States.  It was so good to see them again!  We had originally planned to hop down the Exuma chain until we met up with them, but the lockdown halted our south bound travel plans.  Luckily, their journey north led them to us.  We were able to squeeze a lot of fun into the few days they were here.  On Easter Sunday, I suggested that we hold an ‘egg’ hunt on the beach.  The goal was to beach comb and collect any items that resembled an egg.  The winner would receive a snickers bar and jelly beans...fun!

Eddie and Gail are hunting for ‘eggs’.  There was an ‘informal’ complaint filed, to make us aware that due to being Jewish, they felt that their lack of experience in this exercise put them at a disadvantage.  Nope, not buying it...look for an egg😉. 

We intentionally planned our egg hunt during low tide, because there is so much more to see.  The rock structures left behind by erosion are fascinating!

These were the final entries for the ‘egg’ hunt competition.  Eddie did find a very fragile sea urchin skeleton that really was a perfect egg shape, however, it was crushed by the time this picture was taken.  As you can see, we had a coconut, two rocks, sea sponge, blue float, some type of fruit/nut from a local bush, and a turtle egg shell.  Yes, the white ping pong ball shaped object next to the coconut is a turtle egg (shell).  Everyone agreed that the actual egg should win so Keith was the winner, however, taking Eddie’s great urchin skeleton into consideration (coupled with the handicap points for being Jewish) the guys agreed to share the candy.  Win-win (that’s for you Tom)!

So...after returning to the boat and thinking about the turtle egg, I realized that nesting season is upon us, and that beach was littered with a LOT of trash.  It wasn’t really the trash that worried me so much, but the amount of nets, ropes, and lines that could entangle turtles that really caused concern. So I proposed that we return to that beach to clean up the entanglement items.  Eddie and Gail were happy to join us to help.  There was so much debris on this beach, coupled with the fact that there is no way for us to properly dispose of it, I was happy with just the plan of dragging all nets and ropes up the steep rock face and throwing them into the vegetation.  The next hurricane would probably take them back out to sea, but I was content with the possibility of helping the turtles for a few seasons.  However, once we started cleaning Eddie and Gail proposed that we just clean up everything...that is how I found the bottle!

With my hands full of plastic, I spotted this bottle.  I picked it up and balanced it with all of the other items and headed to our trash pile.  Just as I was getting ready to throw everything into the trash I noticed a cork in the bottle...strange.  I got rid of the plastic and held the bottle up to the light and saw a small scroll of paper tied with black string.  A MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE!!  How exciting!  I sat on a rock and pried the cork out with my knife, and this wonderful message came out.  The message had traveled approximately 1,300 nautical miles in just under one year. As it turns out, Randall Reeves, the author of the note, is a bluewater sailor who was in in middle of an historic solo circumnavigation taking him through both Arctic and Antarctic waters. Learn more about his trip by reading the article recently published by Soundings  https://www.soundingsonline.com/voices/no-small-feat

A successful day of beach clean up, but that float is really jammed under this rock...it will have to stay there for now.

Before leaving, Eddie wanted to try his hand at being (what he calls) a ‘Conch Cowboy’.  Gail and I pulled both of them through the water behind the Whaler...fun for all!!  A conch cleaning party ensued on the beach.

This time I was determined to make a Bahamian conch dish, so I tried this conch chowder.  In an effort to conserve our frozen veggies I decided to make this with all dehydrated veggies, with the exception of the tomatoes.  The finished product was pretty good, but just seemed like it was missing something.  Oh darn...I didn’t want to do it, but I can’t help myself...after adding two tablespoons of Old Bay we both agreed this was the BEST seafood chowder we have ever had...it was delicious!!

Warmer weather seems to be bringing more frequent thunder storms, but they are so wonderful to watch.

We tried our hand at crabbing.  We have crab rings that you lower to the bottom with bait tied to the middle.  We have used them before, but we have never been able to watch the crabs walk across the bottom and start eating the bait.  Some of the crabs here are very similar to the blue crabs we are accustomed to, but others are quite strange to us.  We call the crab on the left ‘camo’ crabs.  

While drinking my coffee on the back deck this morning I thought, “what  a beautiful morning for a swim!” The wind has finally stopped and the water is like a pond. It is an amazing 85° and the sun is wonderfully warm on my skin.  A nice swim will be the perfect way to start this day...


Ugh...look who was waiting for me...on second thought, I think a lunchtime swim would be MUCH better!