REPORTS FROM THE RIP: Back in the Bahamas

We have spent the past few weeks in the Southern Bahamas. Having lost much of the early summer due to lock down because of Covid, we figured we would try and squeeze out a little marlin fishing.

Historically the marlin bite tends to slow down by mid July. but we have managed to have a steady bite thru the second week of July.

We arrived in Clarence Town long island after being locked down in the Dominican Republic for three months,Threre were a few other boats fishing out of Flying fish marina. Other than the requirement to wear a mask, It was basically back to normal. The boss flew in and we were back to fishing. we caught a blue marlin nearly every day that we fished. The Yellow fin Tuna bite was sporadic but good when you could get the fish in before the "tax man" ( sharks) got them.

The boss tight on one

We headed over to Crooked island one night and spent the night at Crooked Island Lodge Marina. The new marina there is going to be world class, All the sea walls and docks are in but they don't not have power yet or fuel. Chris Higgs is managing the build there and is doing a great job of making it a top notch marina. I fore see it being a new destination for sport fish boats and yachts alike.

After fishing out of Flyingfish Marina for a week, we decided to head over to Riding Rock Marina on San Salvador. We fished our way across. Off of the NE point of Rum Cay, we caught a nice Blue marlin and lost two other Blues as we Neared Sandy Point at San Salvador. Over the next few days we caught a few more blues at Sandy Point.

I have said all along that the Bahamas will likely tighten up the travel restrictions again if the Covid cases increase. On Sunday the government of the Bahamas Announced that since reopening their boarders on July 1, The have had a big jump in Covid cases. In response, The banned any further commercial flights from the United States.The good thing for us though is that they are continuing at the point to allow private planes and private vessels to continue to travel to and from the Bahamian islands, The Prime Minister did say that they will access the situation by weeks end. If there is an increase in cases they will consider further restrictions. There are currently no cases of Covid on San Salvador. Everyone arriving here has been Covid Tested.

The boss has flown home for a few days and we spent the time repairing a few things on the boat and doing a few road trips around the island. San Sal is such a pretty island and the people here are so friendly. I hope for their sake that no further restrictions are imposed