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Monday, 12/8/08 Day 310
Today was okay. Yet compared to yesterday, it was great. The seas calmed to 2-4 feet, the wind died to 10-15 kts., and with a ½ kt. current, we made 6 kts. of speed! We're doing great. No fish today, but as we pull into San Salvador tomorrow morning, we will go across/along the Continental Shelf and we should (hopefully) catch some fish. The day was good. This is the last 12-18 hours of our passage! Whoopee!
Tuesday, 12/9/08 Day 311
Today was long and pretty hard. BUT, IT COULDN'T HAVE BEEN BETTER! We got to San Salvador, Bahamas today!! We pulled in at around 11:00am. It was awesome! We created a poem about it. We considered many different endings, so I am writing here the one I liked best, even though it was not the final version we sent out.
Today was okay. Yet compared to yesterday, it was great. The seas calmed to 2-4 feet, the wind died to 10-15 kts., and with a ½ kt. current, we made 6 kts. of speed! We're doing great. No fish today, but as we pull into San Salvador tomorrow morning, we will go across/along the Continental Shelf and we should (hopefully) catch some fish. The day was good. This is the last 12-18 hours of our passage! Whoopee!
Tuesday, 12/9/08 Day 311
Today was long and pretty hard. BUT, IT COULDN'T HAVE BEEN BETTER! We got to San Salvador, Bahamas today!! We pulled in at around 11:00am. It was awesome! We created a poem about it. We considered many different endings, so I am writing here the one I liked best, even though it was not the final version we sent out.
In 1492,
Columbus sailed the ocean blue
Where did he sail in days of yore?
To the Bahamas - San Salvador
Then in December 2008
The Gohlkes met the very same fate
They sailed the oceans to discover new lands
And out stepped our Christopher onto the sands
As did another great Chris in years before
In the Bahamas - San Salvador
Columbus sailed the ocean blue
Where did he sail in days of yore?
To the Bahamas - San Salvador
Then in December 2008
The Gohlkes met the very same fate
They sailed the oceans to discover new lands
And out stepped our Christopher onto the sands
As did another great Chris in years before
In the Bahamas - San Salvador
Subsequently, the saying arose - "It's all about Chris." It was really just a joke, but I made some good Christopher Columbus poses for the camera.
This morning, offshore still, we had rough weather. The winds were 25-35 kts, and the waves averaged 8-12 feet. Once, a huge wave rolled under Liberty, rolling us violently to one side, just before a second even larger wave broke over the side of the hull, pushing us nearly horizontal in the water. I saw water 2 feet of water splash on the decks. Talk about scary. It was actually quite thrilling (for me at least).
We pulled into Riding Rock Resort and Marina. It was a great sensation, being on land in a tropical paradise when you have not been an entire week. The water is an awesome iridescent turquoise. The beaches are somewhere between sandy colored and bone white. Mom and Dad checked us into the Bahamas with no problems. We had a quick lunch at Carter's Snack Bar, and went right on to drying out/washing out the boat. That continued for the rest of the day.
Towards evening, a lone sport-fisher came in. I went over to check it out. The boat is the Producer. They are from N. Palm Beach, FL and keep a sport-fisher down here. The 40/1500ft. drop off is barely a mile off the shore, so it's great fishing. They had caught two Wahoo, one of which was over 5 feet in length. I made friends with the guys and they gave me (and Unc, who had joined me) some Wahoo for dinner and a strip for bait. They showed me where to go nearby to catch little fish, mostly yummy Pompano! It's just at a nearby cut. We'll see what we can do.
The rest of the evening continued uneventfully. We confirmed that Aunt Carol will be flying into Nassau, Bahamas on Wednesday and will fly via a puddle jumper to us here on Thursday. The Wahoo made a great supper. The leftovers will go into fish cakes. I am happy! (Ha ha ha to Josh who puts some stupid copyright symbol and says I owe him cash for using it at all.)
Wednesday, 12/10/08 Day 312
Today we explored the island. We rented a golf cart and drove around the whole of San Salvador. We had so much fun. We started just after breakfast by going into Cockburn Town (pronounced Cobern Town). We were able to drop laundry off at a lady's house. That's the way things work out here in the islands - you drop your laundry at a lady's house, she does it for you, and you pay her. That's how she makes a living. The lady was very nice, and she showed me all the different fruit trees in their yard. There were papayas, good for eating and the sap cures toothaches and the seeds kill worms that the children here get; sour oranges, an orange with a cross of orange, sour, bitter, and sweet flavors that is delicious (she let us try one!); gooseberries (known here as neeseberries) which are too sour to eat; sweet bananas, a better variety than others; Spanish limes, a bitter and tangy small lime; and some other fruit bearing trees that I do not remember. That was cool.
We continued through Cockburn Town and another town or two until we got to the place of Columbus' landing in the New World. There was a big monument that we took pictures by. We also enjoyed the beach a bit. The sand was white and the water warm. We also saw the pedestal where the Olympic torch stopped on its way to Mexico City in the Olympics of 1968.
We were driving on a road around the island's perimeter. It was not long before we passed through the last tiny towns and onto the pretty deserted East side. There were lots of hills and shrubby forest. In the center of the island, there are big lakes/lagoons. I enjoyed the scenery. By the looks of it, someone had tried to build up San Salvador at one time. There is an intricate system of paved roads, all of which have many potholes and haven't ever been resurfaced. But there are no houses, and the roads all lead to nowhere.
The roads were pretty much empty and Dad let me drive for a while. I did well. I had fun. Josh also got to drive. It was a bit rough!
We passed and even stopped at many abandoned houses, and surprisingly, churches. In one church, we even found incense and a bible. We found the altar in another, but no roof. We saw one or two houses that appeared to possibly be lived in, and many that had been abandoned halfway through construction. It's really kind of sad.
We stopped on the island's southeast side for lunch. We climbed onto some limestone cliffs near the water and had a picnic. The crashing waves were huge. There were many tide pools full of mudfish. Some were as big as a bathtub, some larger. I made MOPP - My Own Private Pool. I made 3 rules:
1. You must wear shoes. (Everything was sharp limestone.)
2. No jumping, standing, or wildness. (Again, everything was sharp limestone.)
3. No peeing in the pool!! (There was no drainage.)
Nobody really cared or ever joined me, except Josh, who I had to kick out for breaking rules 1 & 2. There was also a little inlet with a cave at the end that got filled up with the waves and then shot out a geyser when the hydraulic pressure became too great. That was cool.
We went around the north end to the lighthouse. It is a fully manually operated, kerosene lighthouse, like in Hope Town on Elbow Cay, Abacos, Bahamas!! It is one of 3 in the Bahamas (Hope Town, San Salvador & Great Inagua) and 4 in the world!! I like lighthouses. We've seen a lot of them. Once more, that was cool.
While traveling around the north end, we stopped at a big beach. Josh and I hiked up a couple of big hills and then came back through the dense brush to the road. From the road, Unc accidentally told us to take a path full of spiky bushes. He did it twice. We got out eventually.
On the last leg of the trip, it started to rain. We raced home. We passed the airstrip and plane that Aunt Carol will come in on. That will be tomorrow around lunchtime. That's the last to tell of today's "Incredible Journey." J
But there was one other notable thing today (other than the two showers Mom made me take). I went fishing twice. In the morning, I broke my losing streak by catching a squirrelfish. I was fishing in the place the Producer told me to go. In the evening, at the same place, I caught two squirrelfish and a pompano. Unluckily, the pompano flip-flopped away by accident. In the end, I lost my line to a big nurse shark. My line doubled over and my reel was almost spooled. It was quite a fight. In the end, it broke my line. I talked with the Producer a bit. They got more, bigger fish than yesterday. All Wahoo. I got some bait from them, including Ballyhoo for trolling.
We had steak and fish cakes for dinner. It's now 10:30pm. It's been a long day. Hasta Mañana.
Thursday, 12/11/08 Day 313
Today was only okay. I expected it to be great, but the morning was pretty boring and the afternoon/evening was just bad. Some good things did happen though.
The morning was spent hanging out. The three adults were constantly off the boat - taking showers, working on the computers at a wi-fi hotspot, etc. Josh and I did some school and just hung. At 11:45am, Unc went to the airstrip to pick up Aunt Carol. We all met back at the boat, but then all four of the adults went to the wi-fi hotspot nearby. I went and dragged them out after a while because they had been gone so long and we had to leave for French Bay.
As soon as they got back, we got underway as planned. We were to travel the ledge/drop-off south along San Salvador to French Bay on the southern tip. It is hemmed in by reef (there is actually some patch reef inside the bay too) and has excellent protection from the forecasted north winds. Everything went wrong. We got out of Riding Rock easily enough, reached the ledge, and put out two horse ballyhoo on the fishing lines. Just then, the engine died. We put out a sail, but went away from the ledge. We were also only going 3 kts., too slow for this kind of trolling. Eventually, the engine turned on again, but we had rounded the island's corner and the seas picked up to 4-6 feet. We (almost obviously) caught no fish. It had become too late in the day to turn around and made a second pass along the ledge. As we were about to enter the reef, Mom and I both piped up to say that we should reel in the lines to keep them from becoming twisted and tangled and being caught on a reef. Dad just told us to be quiet. The lines did get twisted and tangled and got caught on a reef. We had to cut the lines.
Getting through the reef was difficult. Out light was failing. We had to drop the hook in a bouncier area, closer to the reef. We will move tomorrow morning. We plan to go hunting (spearfishing & lobstering) tomorrow. I am going to make a lobster spear for myself. I can't wait!
Friday, 12/12/08 Day 314
Today was pretty good. It wasn't bad, but nothing extremely exciting happened. We had to do school for most of the morning, but that was to be expected. Most of the afternoon was spent reading books, working to dry out books, or playing gin rummy. I beat Unc two or three times.
At one point, we all got hot and wanted to go snorkeling. Aunt Carol, Unc, Josh, and I all went out pretty far, just from the boat. We couldn't go out to the big reef that protects French Bay because waves were breaking out there and because we didn't think we could swim that far. We saw lots of sea fans covered in Flamingo Tongues. There were also a lot of grunts, but not many snapper. I saw a Nassau grouper. There were a lot of triggerfish, mostly black durgeon, but some queen triggerfish. The coral structure was mostly dead staghorn coral, but there were some beautiful Elkhorn and Staghorn coral formations.
Afterwards, Dad invited Josh and me to go spearfishing. We stalked some big Nassau and tiger grouper. But we speared nothing. I have not logged today's dives, but I'll start if we go tomorrow.
For a good after supper activity, we watched Cheaper by the Dozen 2. It was a really good movie. I like it better than the first one. Now I'm tired. I want to get up early to get school done early. I think we might go exploring tomorrow. That'll be fun. So, I'm going to hit the sack now. Good night.
Saturday, 12/13/08 Day 315
Today was great. We knocked school out fast. Then we were just hanging out. We had taquitos for brunch. Mom and Auntie spent a lot of time drying out books. We've lost quite a few because of our most recent passage. Josh and Dad went spearfishing on some patch reef just off the boat, and Bro got his first fish! It was a decent French grunt.
A bit after noon, we all went exploring. The goal was to explore Watling Castle. It is the ruins of a fortress of the famous pirate George Watling. It is near French Bay. He probably anchored his ship(s) right near where we are anchored. We hiked up the roads and paths to the "castle". We only got lost once. Once we reached the fortress, we knew we were there. There were four different buildings and a long path to a 5th building. We were able to distinguish the uses of two of the buildings. One was most definitely a kitchen. It had a huge hearth with a chimney. Five adults could fit in the fireplace and it was twice as tall as I am, and I am 5ft. tall. The other building was a fort. It was two stories tall with a 3rd level attic. You could tell by the layout of the walls. The roof was (obviously) gone, but the walls - made of limestone blocks and cement - were almost 75% intact. On the ground level, there were embrasures; the same gun slits we have seen on the coastal defense system forts (Civil War era) we've been to in the US. The entry way was also made for a large gate. You could easily tell.
We could not tell what the other two buildings were, but they may have been bunkhouses, storage rooms, or slaves' quarters. The 5th building may have been some sort of guardhouse or watch room, but we didn't get down there. We had a lot of fun exploring and hiking.
When we returned to the boat, Unc, Josh and I went spearfishing right off the boat. I took a lot of shots, but got nothing. I did have an exciting chase with a Yellow Jack I hit. It you want to read about all of that, go to my dive log.
We got home to the boat, empty handed, around supper time. We ate pork. After dinner, we played Trout. Unc and Auntie had tons of fun. It's only around 8:00, but I was sent to bed so that the adults could watch The Simpson's Movie which is an adult movie. It's rated PG-13. I've only seen a few PG-13 movies in my life. I hope that I can get them to notice that I'll be 12 ½ when we get back to the States. The new movie The Day the Earth Stood Still looks really good! I'm going to go now. I want to read and listen to the movie.
Sunday, 12/14/08 Day 316
Today was great, or close to great. It was very rolly. The swell was 3-4 feet, inside the reef! We debated moving to the west side of the island, but we thought it might be just as bad over there. We hung out on board most of the day. Josh and I did school. Unc read a John Grisham novel and barely put it down all day.
I did go snorkeling/spearfishing right off the boat all by myself. I actually speared a nice Coney, but it fell off my spear!! Mom and Auntie joined me, and we saw lionfish, Caribbean reef squid, sand tilefish, and more cool stuff. To sum it up, we had a lot of fun together.
After dinner, we played Yahtzee!. Unc did not play because he was finishing his Grisham novel. Mom won. I came in 3rd (out of 5). We had fun. Today was fun.
This morning, offshore still, we had rough weather. The winds were 25-35 kts, and the waves averaged 8-12 feet. Once, a huge wave rolled under Liberty, rolling us violently to one side, just before a second even larger wave broke over the side of the hull, pushing us nearly horizontal in the water. I saw water 2 feet of water splash on the decks. Talk about scary. It was actually quite thrilling (for me at least).
We pulled into Riding Rock Resort and Marina. It was a great sensation, being on land in a tropical paradise when you have not been an entire week. The water is an awesome iridescent turquoise. The beaches are somewhere between sandy colored and bone white. Mom and Dad checked us into the Bahamas with no problems. We had a quick lunch at Carter's Snack Bar, and went right on to drying out/washing out the boat. That continued for the rest of the day.
Towards evening, a lone sport-fisher came in. I went over to check it out. The boat is the Producer. They are from N. Palm Beach, FL and keep a sport-fisher down here. The 40/1500ft. drop off is barely a mile off the shore, so it's great fishing. They had caught two Wahoo, one of which was over 5 feet in length. I made friends with the guys and they gave me (and Unc, who had joined me) some Wahoo for dinner and a strip for bait. They showed me where to go nearby to catch little fish, mostly yummy Pompano! It's just at a nearby cut. We'll see what we can do.
The rest of the evening continued uneventfully. We confirmed that Aunt Carol will be flying into Nassau, Bahamas on Wednesday and will fly via a puddle jumper to us here on Thursday. The Wahoo made a great supper. The leftovers will go into fish cakes. I am happy! (Ha ha ha to Josh who puts some stupid copyright symbol and says I owe him cash for using it at all.)
Wednesday, 12/10/08 Day 312
Today we explored the island. We rented a golf cart and drove around the whole of San Salvador. We had so much fun. We started just after breakfast by going into Cockburn Town (pronounced Cobern Town). We were able to drop laundry off at a lady's house. That's the way things work out here in the islands - you drop your laundry at a lady's house, she does it for you, and you pay her. That's how she makes a living. The lady was very nice, and she showed me all the different fruit trees in their yard. There were papayas, good for eating and the sap cures toothaches and the seeds kill worms that the children here get; sour oranges, an orange with a cross of orange, sour, bitter, and sweet flavors that is delicious (she let us try one!); gooseberries (known here as neeseberries) which are too sour to eat; sweet bananas, a better variety than others; Spanish limes, a bitter and tangy small lime; and some other fruit bearing trees that I do not remember. That was cool.
We continued through Cockburn Town and another town or two until we got to the place of Columbus' landing in the New World. There was a big monument that we took pictures by. We also enjoyed the beach a bit. The sand was white and the water warm. We also saw the pedestal where the Olympic torch stopped on its way to Mexico City in the Olympics of 1968.
We were driving on a road around the island's perimeter. It was not long before we passed through the last tiny towns and onto the pretty deserted East side. There were lots of hills and shrubby forest. In the center of the island, there are big lakes/lagoons. I enjoyed the scenery. By the looks of it, someone had tried to build up San Salvador at one time. There is an intricate system of paved roads, all of which have many potholes and haven't ever been resurfaced. But there are no houses, and the roads all lead to nowhere.
The roads were pretty much empty and Dad let me drive for a while. I did well. I had fun. Josh also got to drive. It was a bit rough!
We passed and even stopped at many abandoned houses, and surprisingly, churches. In one church, we even found incense and a bible. We found the altar in another, but no roof. We saw one or two houses that appeared to possibly be lived in, and many that had been abandoned halfway through construction. It's really kind of sad.
We stopped on the island's southeast side for lunch. We climbed onto some limestone cliffs near the water and had a picnic. The crashing waves were huge. There were many tide pools full of mudfish. Some were as big as a bathtub, some larger. I made MOPP - My Own Private Pool. I made 3 rules:
1. You must wear shoes. (Everything was sharp limestone.)
2. No jumping, standing, or wildness. (Again, everything was sharp limestone.)
3. No peeing in the pool!! (There was no drainage.)
Nobody really cared or ever joined me, except Josh, who I had to kick out for breaking rules 1 & 2. There was also a little inlet with a cave at the end that got filled up with the waves and then shot out a geyser when the hydraulic pressure became too great. That was cool.
We went around the north end to the lighthouse. It is a fully manually operated, kerosene lighthouse, like in Hope Town on Elbow Cay, Abacos, Bahamas!! It is one of 3 in the Bahamas (Hope Town, San Salvador & Great Inagua) and 4 in the world!! I like lighthouses. We've seen a lot of them. Once more, that was cool.
While traveling around the north end, we stopped at a big beach. Josh and I hiked up a couple of big hills and then came back through the dense brush to the road. From the road, Unc accidentally told us to take a path full of spiky bushes. He did it twice. We got out eventually.
On the last leg of the trip, it started to rain. We raced home. We passed the airstrip and plane that Aunt Carol will come in on. That will be tomorrow around lunchtime. That's the last to tell of today's "Incredible Journey." J
But there was one other notable thing today (other than the two showers Mom made me take). I went fishing twice. In the morning, I broke my losing streak by catching a squirrelfish. I was fishing in the place the Producer told me to go. In the evening, at the same place, I caught two squirrelfish and a pompano. Unluckily, the pompano flip-flopped away by accident. In the end, I lost my line to a big nurse shark. My line doubled over and my reel was almost spooled. It was quite a fight. In the end, it broke my line. I talked with the Producer a bit. They got more, bigger fish than yesterday. All Wahoo. I got some bait from them, including Ballyhoo for trolling.
We had steak and fish cakes for dinner. It's now 10:30pm. It's been a long day. Hasta Mañana.
Thursday, 12/11/08 Day 313
Today was only okay. I expected it to be great, but the morning was pretty boring and the afternoon/evening was just bad. Some good things did happen though.
The morning was spent hanging out. The three adults were constantly off the boat - taking showers, working on the computers at a wi-fi hotspot, etc. Josh and I did some school and just hung. At 11:45am, Unc went to the airstrip to pick up Aunt Carol. We all met back at the boat, but then all four of the adults went to the wi-fi hotspot nearby. I went and dragged them out after a while because they had been gone so long and we had to leave for French Bay.
As soon as they got back, we got underway as planned. We were to travel the ledge/drop-off south along San Salvador to French Bay on the southern tip. It is hemmed in by reef (there is actually some patch reef inside the bay too) and has excellent protection from the forecasted north winds. Everything went wrong. We got out of Riding Rock easily enough, reached the ledge, and put out two horse ballyhoo on the fishing lines. Just then, the engine died. We put out a sail, but went away from the ledge. We were also only going 3 kts., too slow for this kind of trolling. Eventually, the engine turned on again, but we had rounded the island's corner and the seas picked up to 4-6 feet. We (almost obviously) caught no fish. It had become too late in the day to turn around and made a second pass along the ledge. As we were about to enter the reef, Mom and I both piped up to say that we should reel in the lines to keep them from becoming twisted and tangled and being caught on a reef. Dad just told us to be quiet. The lines did get twisted and tangled and got caught on a reef. We had to cut the lines.
Getting through the reef was difficult. Out light was failing. We had to drop the hook in a bouncier area, closer to the reef. We will move tomorrow morning. We plan to go hunting (spearfishing & lobstering) tomorrow. I am going to make a lobster spear for myself. I can't wait!
Friday, 12/12/08 Day 314
Today was pretty good. It wasn't bad, but nothing extremely exciting happened. We had to do school for most of the morning, but that was to be expected. Most of the afternoon was spent reading books, working to dry out books, or playing gin rummy. I beat Unc two or three times.
At one point, we all got hot and wanted to go snorkeling. Aunt Carol, Unc, Josh, and I all went out pretty far, just from the boat. We couldn't go out to the big reef that protects French Bay because waves were breaking out there and because we didn't think we could swim that far. We saw lots of sea fans covered in Flamingo Tongues. There were also a lot of grunts, but not many snapper. I saw a Nassau grouper. There were a lot of triggerfish, mostly black durgeon, but some queen triggerfish. The coral structure was mostly dead staghorn coral, but there were some beautiful Elkhorn and Staghorn coral formations.
Afterwards, Dad invited Josh and me to go spearfishing. We stalked some big Nassau and tiger grouper. But we speared nothing. I have not logged today's dives, but I'll start if we go tomorrow.
For a good after supper activity, we watched Cheaper by the Dozen 2. It was a really good movie. I like it better than the first one. Now I'm tired. I want to get up early to get school done early. I think we might go exploring tomorrow. That'll be fun. So, I'm going to hit the sack now. Good night.
Saturday, 12/13/08 Day 315
Today was great. We knocked school out fast. Then we were just hanging out. We had taquitos for brunch. Mom and Auntie spent a lot of time drying out books. We've lost quite a few because of our most recent passage. Josh and Dad went spearfishing on some patch reef just off the boat, and Bro got his first fish! It was a decent French grunt.
A bit after noon, we all went exploring. The goal was to explore Watling Castle. It is the ruins of a fortress of the famous pirate George Watling. It is near French Bay. He probably anchored his ship(s) right near where we are anchored. We hiked up the roads and paths to the "castle". We only got lost once. Once we reached the fortress, we knew we were there. There were four different buildings and a long path to a 5th building. We were able to distinguish the uses of two of the buildings. One was most definitely a kitchen. It had a huge hearth with a chimney. Five adults could fit in the fireplace and it was twice as tall as I am, and I am 5ft. tall. The other building was a fort. It was two stories tall with a 3rd level attic. You could tell by the layout of the walls. The roof was (obviously) gone, but the walls - made of limestone blocks and cement - were almost 75% intact. On the ground level, there were embrasures; the same gun slits we have seen on the coastal defense system forts (Civil War era) we've been to in the US. The entry way was also made for a large gate. You could easily tell.
We could not tell what the other two buildings were, but they may have been bunkhouses, storage rooms, or slaves' quarters. The 5th building may have been some sort of guardhouse or watch room, but we didn't get down there. We had a lot of fun exploring and hiking.
When we returned to the boat, Unc, Josh and I went spearfishing right off the boat. I took a lot of shots, but got nothing. I did have an exciting chase with a Yellow Jack I hit. It you want to read about all of that, go to my dive log.
We got home to the boat, empty handed, around supper time. We ate pork. After dinner, we played Trout. Unc and Auntie had tons of fun. It's only around 8:00, but I was sent to bed so that the adults could watch The Simpson's Movie which is an adult movie. It's rated PG-13. I've only seen a few PG-13 movies in my life. I hope that I can get them to notice that I'll be 12 ½ when we get back to the States. The new movie The Day the Earth Stood Still looks really good! I'm going to go now. I want to read and listen to the movie.
Sunday, 12/14/08 Day 316
Today was great, or close to great. It was very rolly. The swell was 3-4 feet, inside the reef! We debated moving to the west side of the island, but we thought it might be just as bad over there. We hung out on board most of the day. Josh and I did school. Unc read a John Grisham novel and barely put it down all day.
I did go snorkeling/spearfishing right off the boat all by myself. I actually speared a nice Coney, but it fell off my spear!! Mom and Auntie joined me, and we saw lionfish, Caribbean reef squid, sand tilefish, and more cool stuff. To sum it up, we had a lot of fun together.
After dinner, we played Yahtzee!. Unc did not play because he was finishing his Grisham novel. Mom won. I came in 3rd (out of 5). We had fun. Today was fun.