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View Full Version : Leaving for the Bahahas today


OceanEd
11-20-2007, 08:14 AM
We are leaving on our boat for the Bahanas today for 4 or 5 months and plan to spend most of our time in the lightly populated and uninhabited areas in the south and east of the country. You can go to Google Earth and look at places such as the Exumas, Jumentos Cays, Acklins & Crooked Islands, and Mayaguana.

I am taking a lot of new pole spears to try while down there and can't wait. They include:

Arron Crist 8' pole with a 4' extension for blue water hunting. This spear is extremely well made and I would compare it to a Manny Puig, Henley, or Cockerham. It is one to add the to "shock & awe" category and will be one of two primary poles for blue water hunting.

Gat-Ku 10' pole. Fast and light. I want to really give it a work out on the reefs.

Lance Ohara 8" pole. Another pole I have never tried and looks like it will be great on the reefs.

Two Peter Riedel 9' poles from California.

Three Cockerham pole spears:
9' with 3' extension for blue water hunting
9' weighted pole for extra mass
11' weighted pole for extra mass and big fish

Foldspear & a short 3' "putter" for getting into cracks and crevices for second shots at grouper that have holed up.

I am also taking two floatlines, 3 floats, 2 flashers, and assorted equipment to test and use in different circumstances.

We also added a new crew member this year, a 10 week old yellow labrador puppy we have named Charlie. He is half mole and half bever right now because if he is not digging holes to bury his Nylabones he is chewing on something. I can't wait to get him on the beaches and in the water.

We put WiFi on the boat this year so we might be able to find hot spots to be able to get on the internet. If so, I will send some reports of what is going on.

Please dive safely. I would hate to come home to news that we have lost anyone else.

jfjf
11-20-2007, 08:31 AM
Have fun!

cmfish
11-20-2007, 08:39 AM
Have a good trip. Dive safe.

fishspearit
11-20-2007, 08:46 AM
Enjoy Stephen! Looking forward to the updates.

mjphawk
11-20-2007, 08:49 AM
Enjoy Steve and be safe. When you get back in town we will have to get out on the water again. Still haven't dove with you since I got my new gun.

Johnoly
11-20-2007, 10:08 AM
Safe travels and smooth crossings, my friend!!

isibrigade
11-20-2007, 06:20 PM
Go GET EM!
-Dustin

Flying Bajan
11-20-2007, 10:49 PM
Go to Highbourne Cay in the Exumas. Decent little marina to get fuel, ice and other necessities, but very little else on the island when I was there 2 years ago for the Mahi migration in may. BEST fishing I've ever seen. Didn't dive, but saw others from other boats diving the cut between the islands just outside the marina. Actually caught an nice grouper on a moldcraft softhead that wsa skillping behind the boat as we brought in the lines. He came up and hit it like a bass on a topwater bait from 40ft of water :-)

SpearMax
11-20-2007, 11:02 PM
Have a great trip Stephen and please try to stay in touch with WiFi. Tony

JLittle44
11-21-2007, 11:33 AM
That is the largest arsenal of polespears I've ever heard of!

Definitely keep the updates comming.

SnpperWhisperer
11-21-2007, 04:18 PM
ha ha ha ha ha yep lovely cache of weaponry Stephen! I'd love to try them all. You know what will happen, though - you'll be 'schooled' by your own options - you'll be using one and then you'll want another, you'll swap, and then want the first one, and then again, and again. I struggle to decide between my 3 spears sometimes. Poor you - a nice problem to have to deal with.

Mobile Diver
11-21-2007, 07:10 PM
Have a great time & I am looking forward to your reports!!

OceanEd
11-27-2007, 07:53 PM
Finally have the WiFi up and running on the boat. We are still waiting for decent weather to be able to cross the gulf stream. As usual when we get the boat up and running after we have not been cruising for 8 months, there were some systems that needed some tender loving care. We are now swapping out the heat exchanger and all the hoses on our 8 KW generator in Ft. Lauderdale and then all the systems will be up and running once again. All we need now is a weather window to cross to the Bahamas.

SpearMax
11-27-2007, 08:04 PM
Finally have the WiFi up and running on the boat. We are still waiting for decent weather to be able to cross the gulf stream. As usual when we get the boat up and running after we have not been cruising for 8 months, there were some systems that needed some tender loving care. We are now swapping out the heat exchanger and all the hoses on our 8 KW generator in Ft. Lauderdale and then all the systems will be up and running once again. All we need now is a weather window to cross to the Bahamas.

Hey Stephen, glad to hear the WiFi is working. Test complete. Message received. Now we can hopefully get some trip reports from the Islands if you can borrow some bandwith from some passing yachts. Good luck! Tony

settingsteel
11-27-2007, 08:20 PM
Wow thats great seems like an awesome trip in the making!!!! Be safe and safe crossing...can't wait to hear some reports, oh and lots of pictures too:thumps:

OceanEd
11-27-2007, 08:52 PM
Flying Bajan:

We know Highbourne Cay well. I plan to spend some weeks anchored in the "pond" at Normans Cay which is the next cay south from Highbourne. Great anchorage/hurricane hole and excellent diving/spearing.

SnpperWhisperer:

You are right!! On the one hand it would be good to just "dial in" with one pole spear and use it all the time but I really have this curiosity about different types of poles and how they work in different situations. I am constantly amazed at how different each type is and how differently they can be to use. So I keep switching and testing. I have divided the pole spears into two categories; reef poles and blue water & big fish, so depending on where I am diving for the day, I will have one type or another.

JLittle:

I didn't bring them all, just the main ones. I had to leave 3 Cockerhams and 2 Ridells at home just because I ran out of storage and decided there is no way I would get to them anyway.

Looks like we might get a 2 day weather window on Thursday and Friday. We can leave Ft. Lauderdale on Thursday and be in Georgetown on Exuma Island in 54 hours by travelling nonstop and if the weather holds.

Chad Carney
11-28-2007, 10:18 PM
You lucky dog!

Have a great trip Stephen!
Take lots of pics!
Dive safe!

Chad

profishndive
11-29-2007, 06:13 AM
Have fun and travel safe. Send us some fish pics via the Wifi.
The rest of us are headed to work this morning.....you do have it good.

t

OceanEd
11-29-2007, 07:25 AM
Chad:

I am feeling a bit foolish. Here I announce a big departure with trumpets blaring and the crowd waiving, and I end up sitting in a marina in Ft. Lauderdale with a bad heat exchanger! I will make it over there eventually, but sitting in a marina while it is FLAT CALM in the gulf stream is not my idea of doing things the right way. If anyone knows what it is like maintaining a boat with a lot of systems, you do.

Tony:

You don't work, you are employed by the government. I heard that Sam did well with his new gun on the last ODR trip. You have really got to start working with Dennis so he doesn't starve to death for lack of fish!

Hopefully all will be repaired by this afternoon and I can make a night crossing. If I can get out of Ft. Lauderdale by this evening then I can use this weather window to make it to the north end of the Exumas before the weather changes.

stevemc1
11-29-2007, 12:33 PM
Good luck! I hope to be cruising the Bahamas for long periods in a year or so-retiring from the Fire Dept. Keep in touch with us when you get there. I used to live in Gregory Town, Eleuthera in the 70s, and have cruised the Abacos several times in the recent past.

hardway
12-01-2007, 09:35 AM
Good luck and safe travels, I'm looking forward to reading your reports on the spears and hopefully seeing some big dead fish. Sounds like an awesome trip.
I had Aaron make me a shorter version of his polespear that is easier to wield in the tight rock holes, crevices and lousy vis that we have here in norcal. I'm going out this morning to put some more hours in with it, it has performed beautifully so far. I guess it would be my version of a reef spear.

Quetzal
12-05-2007, 09:48 AM
Did you make it? Hope to hear some reports soon. Good luck and happy hunting.