REPORTS FROM THE RIP: Anchored out

Read though this then there are a bunch of pics below.

Yesterday, we woke up at Plana Cay to flat calm seas and smooth sailing. We fished from island to island with not much luck. We did do some deep dropping and caught some more Yellow eye snappers. Around noon, we were near Mayaguanna. Mayaguanna is the last of the Bahamian islands. It has a small settlement on it. We Anchored for lunch and snorkeled some stunning reefs. Afterwards we fished for a while but saw nothing so we headed to the Turks and Caicos.

We are in the Turks and Caicos now. We arrived just before sunset Yesterday. We are tied up at Turtle cove on the Island of Provodenciales, Turks and Caicos. By the way, any boats traveling through here.... Beware. The entrance to the little channel that snakes into the marina after you have finished navigating the reef and all the markers, has shoaled in real bad. When you enter the small jetty, The sand has shoaled badly to your left just inside. I highly recommend not coming in at night. You WILL hit bottom. Today we stayed at the dock. It was nice to have a day ashore. We actually did a road trip. I had a fuel lift pump go down on my port generator so We rented a car and drove to the shop to pick up the part. It was a great way for Steve and I to show Kyle around the island. After the mechanics shop, we drove to Niki beach. Niki beach is on the east end of Provo and has a giant mega yacht development and hotel there. It was all built and then went bankrupt. What a waste. From there, we drove through Kingstown. Kingstown is also known as Rasta town. As we drove through, all the rastafarians all put their fingers to their lips as if to signal " hey you want a puff"? Then again some of them just yell " Hey White boys, want some reefa?". From there we went to the last good grocery store we will see for a while. We stocked up on things like eggs, fruit, bread..... Of couse Kyle scored some ice cream. We brought it all back to the boat. I replaced the generator part and we all hopped back itno the car and headed out to lunch. When in Provo, The only place to go for lunch is Da Conch Shack. The other places aint Sh__. We all had conch in a setting that was beach perfect. Da conch shack is right on the beach. It has all the tables sitting in the sand and they clean all the conch right in front of the palce on the beach. ( Yes Lauren and patrick You went to this place. ) After a belly full of cracked conch mac and cheese and rice and peas, we headed to Amanyara. Steve wanted us to see this exclusive resort. Amanyara is a very high end place. There are only a few around the world. It was stunning. Sorry no pics. They do not allow any pictures to be taken inside the resort. But wow what an incredible place.

This afternoon, we are getting ready to fish tomorrow. I think we are going to head to the sea mount about 24 miles off of west Caicos.

Below is what I wrote while anchored out a few nights ago

As I sit here writing this, we are anchored up behind Plana Cay. West Plana cay to be exact. The Plana cays are two small deserted islands about 20 miles east of Auklin Island, 100 miles north of the Turks and Caicos and 100 miles south of San Salvador. The cays are both about a miles or so long and separated by a deep trench to about 1000 feet. There is not much relief to the islands. But the beaches are very nice. We dropped the anchor at about 5:30 this afternoon and cleaned the boat and the fish we caught today. We are anchored on a shelf that is about 200 yards wide from the beach to the drop off. The shelf tapers slowly from the beach to the drop of to about 100 feet. Then it drops sharply to 1000 feet. We are anchored in the middle of the shelf in about 30 feet of water. There are large coral heads that dot the bottom. The bottom is all sand and it reflects sky and shows as a brilliant blue green.

The water is so clear here. In 100 feet of water you can see the coral heads on the bottom. We dropped a 4 lb snapper head to the bottom behind the boat and you can see it plain as day in the pic I took from the surface. It did not take long after throwing a few fish heads into the water to attract the sharks. Kyle caught a 5 foot black tip right off the bat. While we were filleting the fish, I saw that there was a barracuda slurping up the scraps. So we put the Go pro video camera on the end of a stick and got great video of it feeding. Will try to post it.

Normally when I anchor here, you are lucky if you may see a passing ship. But tonight there is a mega Yacht anchored a quarter mile down the island from us. They also have a 68 Hatteras with them. But even with them sitting down the island from us, The peacfullness and isolation is deafening. Sunset tonight was spectacular. The sun seemed to burn up the sky and evaporate the evening clouds that threatened to eclipse the sun set. Right at the last moment the sky turned a redish orange and gave us a scene to remember. I know I get way to far into my sunset descriptions But they “ Mean so much to me”.

After the sun did its thing, We broke out the grill. Having had fish for the last 4 nights, We opted for Venison back strap, salad and the Bhamian Mac and Cheese that Miss Peaches made for us and delivered to the boat at 7 am this morning. Those of you that have had it know what I mean. It is to die for. I am thinking breakfast tomorrow may find the left overs on my plate.

Fishing today was OK. We caught more nice Mahi and we deep dropped for snapper. We caught some real nice Yellow eye snappers. But alas no Marlin.

Our original plan was to stop at Samana Cay for the night. But the bite this afternoon was slow so we motored all the way down to here. Tomorrow we will fish hard around the Plana Cays and then work our way to Mayaguanna. The seas were flat calm today and are suppose to continue that way.

Our under water lights behind the boat are illuminating all kinds of sea life. There are some big sharks swimming deep but the real show is all the tiny sealife that is close to the lights. All sorts of tiny shrimp craps and baby fish are flocking to the lights glow. There are also hundreds of minnow size fish darting in and out of the lights feasting on the smaller things. There are small eels, and other animals that are so oddly shaped. The scene will increase all night long. By 4-5 am the water will be a circus of life.

All for tonight. I am hitting the bunk.

Hope you enjoy all the pics below.