On Thursday, the 22nd, we pulled up anchor around 9 a.m. and headed two miles south on the Sea of Abaco. We passed Little Harbour to starboard, the southernmost port which serves as a jumping off point to cruise to locales in the Bahamas further south, such as Nassau, the Berrys, Eleuthera, and the Exumas. We then exited Little Harbour Cut out into the Atlantic. The plan was to do a little fishing off shore while making our way north again.

Just passed through the Little Harbour Channel out into the Atlantic

We exited the cut at 9:30, entering seas rolling in from the NE at 2-3 feet. Our fishing passage would take us into those seas for the first 2/3 of our trip before turning to the NW after rounding Elbow Cay. We put out our two lines behind the boat and trolled at around 5 knots. We saw no action until noon, just after we had passed Elbow Cay. Then, we were visited by a group of four dolphins (porpoises). It is the first time in our cruising career that we have had dolphins playing in the wake of our bow. (And also, surprisingly, the first dolphins we’ve seen in the Bahamas!) They dashed and darted in all directions beneath the bow as we motored along. This was an experience we’d been looking forward to since moving onto the boat.

Passing Hope Town from the other side (The Atlantic)

Dolphins swimming beneath our bow

Dolphin!

Then a few minutes later we noticed our starboard side line was slack. We pulled it in and there was nothing – no leader, no lure – just a cleanly cut line. Something must have taken it all. Then, a few minutes after that – Fish On! Tracy grabbed the rod, I grabbed the net and slowed down the boat, and Cindy and Julie got out the cameras. As Tracy reeled our catch in, she suddenly noticed that there was much less tension on the line. She could still feel the weight of something on the line, but it wasn’t the same. She reeled our catch in the rest of the way, only to find half a fish. We had hooked a nice Wahoo, but a shark had made dinner of the back half of the fish on the way in. I still filleted what was left and got three good size fillets from the remains of the shark feast.

Our 1/2 fish!

The Shark left us enough
Wahoo for a meal

Around 2 p.m., we passed through the North Man-O-War passage and back into the protected waters of the Sea of Abaco. On our way to Great Guana, we passed a megayacht, Eros, anchored on the Sea between Great Guana and Scotland Cay. We returned to Great Guana, this time with Julie and Tracy, and grabbed a mooring ball in Fishers Bay. Last time, we picked up a mooring ball just next door in Settlement Harbour. The scenery is much better in Fishers Bay, but the water is a little rougher as you are more exposed. Upon arrival, I hurriedly took Dalí to town for a few provisions.

Megayacht Eros anchored in the Sea of Abaco

The beach at Fishers Bay, our anchorage

Sunset over the Sea of Abaco

In the evening, we dinghied up to the beach in front of Grabber’s and had a wonderful dinner under the stars. The sunset was wonderful leaving a deep reddish glow on the horizon for some time after the sun was gone. Back aboard Beatitude, we played some games while I made a rum cake. We were all pretty well beat from the several hours out on the Atlantic, so we gladly turned in for the night after a piece of cake.

Playing the ring-on-the-hook game

The view from our dining table at Grabbers

Corn hole game on the beach

Grabbers