Elbow Cay trip report- finally!

[BahamaBabe]

Sorry it's taken so long for my trip report. I have been out of town twice since we returned. Plus, we seemed to have lost some pictures from our camera card and I have been looking frantically for those but to no avail.

So, without further ado......

Saturday, June 23rd
We arrived at the Charlotte airport only to learn that our flight was delayed an hour. I figured, "Oh well, I've been waiting since November 29th for our vacation in paradise, what's another hour, right?" So I visited the airport bookstore and read the magazines for free. (Sidebar--when we left the house, we noticed we had forgotten the card for the camera - DOH! Although we went back to the house to get it, Stephen had suggested that we shouldn't because we might miss our flight. Little did we know....)

We arrived at West Palm Beach, walked to our terminal only to notice that parts of our airplane were on the ground. Hence, our flight was delayed an hour. I figured, "Oh well, I've been waiting since Novemeber 29th for our vacation in paradise, what's another hour, right?" So I visited the airport bookstore and read the magazines for free.

We finally arrived in paradise, got a cab and made a beeline for the convenience store--guess why?? We bought 4 Kalik Golds for the ferry ride over with the intention of buying more on Elbow. The cashier told Stephen that we should buy two more since Kalik was on special. Who were we to argue with such fine logic? There was on older gentleman (Bahamian) standing next to the counter, just hanging out with a bottle of Bud in a paper bag in his hand, watching the patrons come and go. When I put the bottles on the counter to be rung up, the gentleman looked at me with knowing eyes and said, "Ohhh, two of those and you'll be feelin' all right."

We get back in the cab, head towards the ferry and, lo and behold, there is a marching band on the road in front of us heading to a baptism which happened to be taking place right across from the ferry dock. The cab could only go about 5 mph, max. No big deal, though, since we had Kaliks in our hands...but no bottle opener - DOH! Our cab driver had a bottle opener on her key chain and tried to open the bottles for us while driving but to no avail. I suggested that she just turn the van off, take the keys out of the ignition and open our bottles. We're barely moving so why not? So we did just that. Stephen and I toasted our bottles, sat back and relaxed and drank our Kaliks to the sounds of the local high school marching band. I figured, "I've been waiting since November 29th for our vacation to paradise, what's another hour?" Except this time I had a Kalik in my hand and not a magazine.

We arrive at Sea Spray, the weather was beautiful and our cottage charming. T&N dropped off our cart (gas, of course) but we were too tired to drive anywhere so we ate dinner at Sea Spray that night and it was quite nice.

Sunday, June 24
We picked up our boat which we really enjoyed. It was a 20' Albury that we got from Water Ways on MOW. The boat was spotless and in great condition. It cut right through the waves and provided a smooth ride.

First we headed south to Tahiti Beach and Tilloo Cut. Gorgeous! We walked the flat and fished in the cut. There was hardly anybody around. I said to Stephen, "A woman could fish topless here and nobody would know." So I took my top off. It's fun to fish topless!

A storm approached west of Tilloo so we took the boat a tiny bit offshore and fished for yellowtails, triggerfish and even a squirrel fish. I said to Stephen, "A woman could fish topless here and nobody would know." So I did. We caught a cero mackerel that I made for dinner that night.

We stopped by the grocery store in Hopetown and then headed home. Although I made the mackerel for dinner, we ate the conch fritters at Garbonzo Reef bar for an appetizer. Dee-lish! Oh yeah, we had a couple rum thangs as well. I like their Goombay Smash.

Here are some pics.....

[Patti Puzo]

Keep em coming Babe! Great job....
Loved the attitude dealing with the airport blues. At least Marsh Harbour had a welcoming parade for you, LOL!
Hope you didn't get any uncomfortable sunburns! YOU GO GIRL!!!

[Henz]

Suprised to hear that it was so barren that time of the year??

[BahamaBabe]

Monday, June 25th
We headed out on our boat first thing in the AM after listening to the Cruiser's Net and a forecast for a beautiful day. We decided to head to Lubber's Quarters to see what it was all about. We both thought it was really beautiful. We set up shop on the southern part of the cay for some bonefishing. Although there weren't many there, we enjoyed the spectacular view nonetheless. In case you were wondering, it's another place where a woman can go topless . We also decided to head offshore and trolled for a couple hours but we didn't catch a thing. Kinda hard to do without electronics! We tried reef fishing as well but we were unsuccessful. Oh well. Meanwhile I was getting no tan lines on the top half of my body.

We did some fishing off the dock at Sea Spray when we returned and caught some mangrove snapper. Pretty cool.

Tuesday, June 26
We decided to go snorkeling down at Sandy Cay. On the way we noticed a beached boat on Tahiti. "How does that happen?" I asked Stephen. Yikes! What an idiot, I thought. We meandered our way down the cays and looked for starfish and conch and we swam as well.

When we arrived at Sandy, it was lumpy but we managed. The reef was beautiful. We saw a few nassau groupers, rainbow fish (love those) and a barracuda (those things are so mean looking!) among other things. Afterwards we decided to stop at one of the cays on the way back. North Pelican was packed so we hit the one just south of it. We landed, took some pics, enjoyed the scenery and noticed just in time that our boat was starting to come up on land. If we didn't do something about it our boat was going to be beached. Now I know how that happens! Sorry I asked! Who's the idiot now?

We stoppped at Cracker P's on the way back. What a great view! And the fish dip was fantastic.

Earlier in the week Stephyen struck up a conversation with a fellow Sea Spray visitor who was staying on his boat at the marina. He fished that day, caught some tuna and gave it to us. Nice!

Wednesday, June 27
It rained most of the day. Watched reruns of "Murder, She Wrote."

Thursday, June 28
It rained most of the day. Watched even more reruns of "Murder, She Wrote."

Friday, June 29
It rained most of the day. I am beginning to loathe Angela Lansbury/Jessica Fletcher. Haven't the people on the show caught on that when she shows up at your party that someone's gonna die? I'd get the h*ll out of there!

Saturday, June 30
The morning weather started out shaky but got better so we decided to take the boat out for one last run before we had to turn it in at 4:30. We went to Snake Cay for some bonefishing but just couldn't find them. But the view was spectacular.

We turned the boat in a little early, lucky for us, because on our boat ride back to Elbow from MOW, the skies opened up once again and it poured.

Sunday, July 1
It rained again. Hard. When we got the MHH airport, we learned that our Bahamasair flight was overbooked and that Stephen and I were chosen to get kicked off since we didn't "pay" for our tickets (we got them free through our dividend miles program through USAir.) I couldn't believe it. We were a couple of soaked people who were either delayed or rained on our entire vacation and then THIS! I felt like Sandy Dennis from the "Out of Towners." Oh my God....

Well, luckily, a couple gave up their seats for a couple of free tickets so we were able to get on our flight.

Sorry it wasn't more exciting but the weather just didn't cooperate with us this time. No matter...we'll be back!

[BahamaBabe]

Here are some more pics.....

[BahamaBabe]

And more pics...the last one is a pic of our refrigerator at home.

[FISHBONE]

Love the boat wake picture. Riding backwords in a boat, drinking a beer and watching the wake is not a bad thing. Great report - hey, I bet even though the weather wasn't great, ya'll still would not have rather been anywhere else! Nice fish too! FYI - My wife would agree with you about the fishing

[BahamaAngie]

Great report. You are a very interesting writer. Pics are good too. Sorry for your bad weather but you still had a good time.

[texusc]

I agree. Great trip report, though the weather was "wayward". enjoyed your pics since I can't be there in person. your fridge looks like ours when we are at GTC, except we always keep some conch salad in there. the Kaliks remind me of the website where they have photos that are somewhat interesting and entertaining. go to www.kalik.com and click photos.

[Norman Clature]

We were there last week and we were fortunate to have great weather - you never know what to expect this time of year. Me being the fishing sloth - are there any more pics of said activity?

Again, nice report.

Norm

[Mike from Boston]

Kalik,DOH,topless,rain. Nice trip report. Great pics.

[BahamaBabe]

Originally Posted by Norman Clature

We were there last week and we were fortunate to have great weather - you never know what to expect this time of year. Me being the fishing sloth - are there any more pics of said activity?

Again, nice report.

Norm

Trust me...I deleted all topless photos as soon as we got home in case the boys accidentally found them. I don't want to traumatize them for life!

[Henz]

For shame on you! haha

[DaGoose]

Babe you are TOO funny! I'm thinking you and Stephen HAVE to come over for the Forum Fishing Tournament in May. It's going to be a blast and you guys will make it even more fun.

And I promise, NO Jessica Fletcher! Maybe a jigsaw puzzle tho'

Thanks for taking the time to post your report.

Tina

PS Nekkid boating is fun too

[Shelby]

There's a Forum Fishing Tournament in May '08??? You'll have to let me know more details... We're thinking of doing a trip during the first half of the month.... I'm not much of a fisherperson, but I'm an excellent supervisor! ;-)

[DrRalph]

Looks like May 8-11 at Seaspray/Lubbers; use the Search tool and look at the recent threads for details.