A Tale of Two Chemists: Polygamists?

Polygamists? … Tuesday 14th Jan 2013

After breakfast we took off in the dinghy to fish in Tilloo Cut on the rising tide. The chap in the bait store assured us that fish bite more/harder on the rising tide. The current was flowing very rapidly through the area behind the cut. We had thought that we would anchor but as soon as we started to lower the anchor we changed our minds. Instead we would motor toward the cut and drift back on the incoming current. The two small fish that we caught seemed a poor return on all the squid bait we had invested. Clearly we still haven’t got this fishing thing wired. Luckily, we have a lot of food in the freezer….

After the rigors of fishing I had to have a nap. (Actually Gloria had a migraine - Mike). Then at about 11:30 am we set off for an anchorage near the southern end of Tilloo Cay. This spot is just north of a large and very shallow sand bank (creatively called Tilloo Bank). We were very concerned about making sure that the anchor was well set to avoid being swept onto the bank. It came as a surprise to us that we had trouble getting the Rocna to set and had to move twice to find a location where the anchor seemed to grab. Once anchored, we set off in the dinghy to explore the southern end of the island. Mike was keen to get ashore and see the Atlantic.

After crossing the shallow sand bank we spotted a large structure with a dock. We took this to be some kind of resort/marina under construction. Two men were working on a boat tied up to the dock. We asked if we could tie up for a short time to take a walk. As we walked up the dock a woman approached us. We tried to explain that we had asked for permission to tie up and were going to walk over to see the ocean. She seemed totally out of it, telling us that the “ocean is a big place.” We walked over the back of the property keeping well away from the buildings. The ocean side was very rocky with impressive crashing seas. After a few photos we strolled back toward the dock. There we met another woman who was wearing a swimsuit and carrying a mixed drink. She told us that the place is a private home that belongs to “all of us but mostly Jim”. She claimed to spend two weeks on Tilloo Cay and then two weeks in Florida, returning with supplies. As we walked to the dock we saw another three or four women on the porches. “Jim” appeared on the dock as we were taking some more photos and seemed annoyed to see us. All this seemed a bit odd. I quickly formulated a theory involving polygamists who moved to this remote location to avoid scrutiny. Maybe I’ve been reading too many books!

On the way back we began to appreciate just how shallow the bank is. At one point we had to stop motoring and resort to the oars because the outboard was buried in sand. However we did see a number of fish including a massive ray - probably 3ft in diameter.

Gloria

26 26 32.4 N, 76 59 25.1 W