Sue and Paul Live the Dream

Rum Cay

So here we are back at our home away from home. Once again the trip from Cape Santa Maria (the northernmost tip of Long Island) to Sumner Pt (the marina) was windy and choppy with banging head seas. To make matters worse, Paul’s valiant fishing attempts were mostly thwarted by the constant battle with the ever-present sea weed which continually fouled the lures.

The good news, was that on our previous day’s stop at Thompson’s Bay, Long Island we were able to score a big bag of stone crab claws at $10/lb, which beats the going price in Miami of around $15. Last night, with Monty and Oscar, we feasted on as many as we could eat with a delicious dipping sauce made from the downloaded recipe from the famous Joe’s Stone Crab Restaurant.

The other fun events in our brief half day stay at Long Island included a great dinner and chat with the locals at Max’s conch bar, and a swim at the world’s deepest blue hole. The blue hole is currently busy with world-class free divers from Italy, Switzerland, New Zealand and who knows where else, who are practicing and competing this week. There were women there who were diving to 200 ft—just for practice! They wear full wet suits and a type of uni-fin which holds both feet together in one mermaid-type fin. In preparation, they spend about 15 minutes floating on their back and deep breathing before plunging down the line which is suspended from a float. You cannot even see down to the halfway point, it is so dark. Paul & friends can usually free dive to about 20 ft maybe more on a good day, just for comparison.

Anyway, arrival at Rum Cay presents its own unique adventures. Those of you in Florida may have noticed on news and in the papers a story covering the arrival of a manatee at a remote Bahamian island (Rum Cay). The marina right now boasts the only manatee within 200 miles, with the questions raised: how the heck did she get here & where did she come from? The scientists have arrived this morning (for the second time), and have determined that she came from the Palm Beach area and must have gotten swept out by currents and arrived here on a day when the seas were 15 ft. She has been identified by markings (scars and a ripped tail fin) and is at least 35 yrs old. We feed her fresh water from the hose (manatees are mammals and require fresh water) and she sucks on it like a bottle.

They plan to confine her for a few days, fatten her up with cases of cabbage and lettuce they brought, and then transport her by boat back to Florida for observation before tagging and releasing her into the wild. Stay tuned for further manatee developments.

Sue and Paul
Independence