February 2007

After a week of waiting in the wings we have made it to the Bahamas again. A simple trip in calm weather from West Palm Beach to West End at the tip of Grand Bahama Island. We were with Misty and Merlin but Merlin had to return with engine failure. We spent a couple of days walking and cycling there before sailing on to Great Sale Cay on the Little Bahamas Bank. Rough seas meant a trip through a rough shallow cut with breaking waves and then smooth waters and a fast sail.
We caught an excellent cero mackerel and an angry barracuda en route. The cero was tasty (6 portions) but we released the barracuda because of the risk of ciguatera poisoning. The plastic covers on the lower guard wires have the imprints of the needle sharp teeth!
We sheltered at Great Sale Cay for three days of strong winds and went

Lady tucked into her berth in West End on Grand Bahama Island
The beach at West End Marina facing the Little Bahamas Bank
Goose barnacles covering a driftwood plank
A very fearless ghost crab about two inches across
An empty Queen Conch shell about 12 inches long
A live inflated sea biscuit next to a skeleton - they are about 3 inches across
A mossy chiton about four inches long - note the mossy fringe and the eight back plates
A jagged overhang in the limestone near a beach
This live Queen Conch is about ten inches long and immature - the eyes on stalks can be seen on the right
A starfish in a tide pool - many mollusc shells showed evidence of starfish predation

beach-combing whenever we could. There are wild hogs on the island and we could see footprints and evidence of digging but no sight of them.
Our next stop was Allans-Pensicola Cays which were joined together by one of the recent hurricanes. The beach-combing was excellent here with lots of different molluscs, many new to us.

The islands are made of limestone which is ancient and made from the skeletons of sea creatures and coral. Rain and waves are constantly eroding it, leaving jagged sharp outlines. Not a good place to slip over! You also needed to be aware that the edges were under cut when you walked on them.

Empty Queen Conch (pronounced Conk) shells are everywhere because they are a local staple food. They live in the sea grass beds but are over-fished and cruisers are no longer allowed to catch them. We found one immature specimen and were amazed by the two long stalks with eyes on the ends. The flared lip only develops when sexually mature.
Mossy chitons were new to us and we had to do some research. They have a series of eight back plates instead of a shell. They were up to four inches long and had a mossy green fringe. They attach securely to the limestone in the inter-tidal zone and feed from surface vegetation.

When we arrived in St Lucia from Las Palmas the waterline was thick with large goose barnacles. On the beach here we found a length of driftwood covered in smaller specimens. In Spain and Portugal they were for sale as food.

A particularly fearless ghost crab posed for us on one beach. We also found Inflated Sea Biscuits. These are sea urchins with a five lobed shape and about one inch thick. Mostly we found skeletons but one specimen was living and we posed the two together for the camera. They are closely related to the much thinner sand dollar.
We have entered a period of bad weather again and are expecting two days of 35-40 knot winds (gales!). We have sought shelter in White Sound at Green Turtle Cay and are enjoying the company of other cruisers here. Merlin has arrived now that her fuel tanks have been cleaned...

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