March 22, 1998

Hi everyone,

It is Sunday, Mar 22nd and the sky is very overcast. But no rain today. We are back in Hatchet Bay, Eleuthera awaiting weather to move to Royal Island to await weather to move to the Abacos. Lots of waiting, I have certainly learned to be more patient this winter.

We had a great week with Robin & Jane Hewson. We caught 3 fish – 2 barracuda ( one was huge! ) and a mutton snapper. The last one made a lovely meal for the four of us and we managed to release the barracuda with no loss of lure or limb. Well, Robin did get a nasty blister on his thumb from the reel during the fight with the large barracuda. We had several seafood dinners while they were here – grouper and conch as well as the snapper. I have discovered that I can not eat conch. I have been ill every time after eating it and the last time was very violently sick. So, no more of that for me.

We spent a night or two in Royal Island again and then moved over to Spanish Wells. A man we had met on a previous visit arranged a tour of Harbour Island for us. A ferry boat picked us up at the boat and took us across to the mainland. A taxi was waiting there and took us to the ferry to Harbour Island. We spent the day walking and riding on a rented golf cart and seeing the sights. The beaches are lovely and slightly pink but the wind was so strong that it was not a day to sit on the beach. We met some other boaters and had lunch and then shopped and headed back to our boat to rest our tired feet. When we returned to Hatchet Bay, we arranged to rent a car for 24 hrs and did a land cruise. There is a bridge on the island that was shoved 7 feet askew by a rogue wave in 1991. It is unbelievable! And they still drive on it. Robin drove ( on the left ! ) and we saw most of the island in our allotted time and managed to get them to the airport on time only to discover that their plane was very late. Snowstorm up north was the word from the airline. When we left, there was a plane coming to take them to Freeport were the Canada 3000 would meet them. I imagine they were very tired when they got home. Here on the boat, we went to bed at about 8:30 – 9:00ish!

The wind is supposed to switch around tomorrow and allow us to move on. We will dinghy ashore later and send this out today. I am sure this will be the last contact until Marsh Harbour which may be a week or more from now.

Hope everyone is staying well. All the best from the islands, mon!

Heather
Heather & Murray Rand
aboard Windswept IV
Ham Radio VE3 ZUA