REPORTS FROM THE RIP

Partying with the locals

Here is a link to a great song to listen to while reading this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGO8MzjBaiw&feature=related

Sunset from the deck at the driftwood bar

We left out of Cat island yesterday around 7 am. We winds had subsided as forecast but as we made it to the open waters, We found that there was still a 6-9' ocean swell left over from the winds. It was big but long and drawn out. So we fished our way all the way to San Salvador. When we first started trolling, we had lots of Dorado biting. But after we cleared Columbus point at Cat, There was nothing. That is until about 8 miles off of Cat. The left rigger bait exploded with a nice blue Marlin. It went ballistic. Because of the big seas, I had to stay on the bridge to keep the boat straight. That left Kyle to clear all the lines and then fight the fish. The fight lasted about 45 minutes, with Kyle whining the entire time. LOL. He did a good job though and released the marlin.
After that we never saw another fish the entire way to San Sal. Once we got here, we fished French bay and Southwest point for a while. We had a couple mystery bites. but nothing to show for it.
The Yellow bird, and America custom boat caught a few sails and dorado yesterday. There are two other boats fishing here but with the winds of last week not much to report from them.
After getting to the dock yesterday, we came up to the Driftwood bar at Riding Rock. My favorite bar tender in the world is still here. Peaches! Those of you that have followed my blog may have heard me talk about her before. She is the sweetest lady you will ever meet. And damn that woman can cook some killer Bahamian Mac and cheese and fried chicken. After dinner we got invited to a local Bahamian party down at North beach near the old Coastguard station. It was quite the shin dig. There was food, rum, a fashion show, dance contest, and a dj. We stayed for a while and I ran into a few locals that I have befriended over the years of coming here. We hung out with them for probably one to many adult beverages and hitched a ride back to the boat.

Bahamian beach party

Riding rock Marina is a small basic marina. It does have good wifi, fuel and a dive shop. The small resort here hosts dive groups from all over that come to do the awesome wall dives here on the island. The Driftwood bad is a cool little place. Everyone that comes here is asked to write their name on a piece of drift wood or what ever trash they may find on the beach and then hang it in the bar. There are hundreds of buoys, bottles and pieces of driftwood adorned with memories of guest that have passed through Riding rock. One can sit for hours and stare at the stuff hanging and never see it all. There is still an old fish float here from when My son and daughter caught their first big Yellowfin Tunas here. The float reads 70 pound girl vs 79 pound tuna. Awesome.
I think Kyle and I are going to head out later this afternoon to see if we can find some Yellow fins and do some deep dropping.