Unexcused Absences Bahamas 2018 Cruise, Part 4 (he said)

Bahamas 2018 Cruise, Part 4 (he said)

by Kent 10 Jul 2018

June, 2018 — Central and Northern Bahamas. June has arrived, which means we’re on the final countdown for Miss Adventure’s 2018 Bahamas cruise. Fortunately, the weather cleared and we had a magnificent two weeks in the out-islands to end our season.

Our last hurrah was pretty tame, we had a final trip to our favorite anchorage between the Darby Islands, and a final party on [redacted] Cay, and a final pot-luck dinner onboard Forever Young, and a final few happy hours and pot-luck dinners on the beach at Big Major Spot, and caught a final few fish on our 3.5-day trip back to Florida.

The bizarre European villa built in ~1930 at Big Darby Island

Most of our story can be told with photos, but one picture needs a little explanation. In each of our previous two cruising seasons, we’ve caught four Tuna. Normally they’re spread out pretty evenly during our time in the Bahamas. But this year, we caught a nice Yellowfin on day two off the west coast of Nassau, so we figured we were going to be in Tuna heaven. Well, we tried and tried all season, but came up zero. Then, on our second-to-last full day in the Bahamas, while cruising north (again, off the west coast of Nassau), we caught three (3!) tasty Tuna fish.

Our three tasty Tuna (two Blackfin and a Skipjack)

This was in addition to a Mahi we caught on our first day heading back, so our final meals on our way home were, in order, herbed Mahi dinner, creole Mahi sandwiches the next day, seared Tuna dinner that night, raw Tuna and avocado (on pita chips!) lunch the next day, and baked Mahi dinner (with parmesan and breadcrumb coating). Not a bad way to end our 2018 Bahamas cruise.

Cleaning a Mahi attracts a lot of seagulls (Highbourne Cay)

The final fish tally for 2018: 4 Mahi, 4 Tuna, 3 Grouper, 10 Snapper, 1 Triggerfish, 1 Lobster (and 13 Hogfish Snapper that we didn’t actually shoot but we were there on the expedition for moral support — plus we received a good quantity of the fillets afterward).