Tackle Box, Single Side Band Radio and Other Fun

Tackle Box, Single Side Band Radio and Other Fun   ...   Wednesday 13^th February 2013

It’s nearly Valentines Day and so we have a set of very romantic topics for today. 

We are trying to figure out when we can make the passage down to Eleuthera.  The biggest factor is the weather.   To get from Little Harbor in the Abacos to Egg Island, just west of Eleuthera, we need to travel due south.  The prevailing winds are usually east, which would be okay for the sailing, except that these easterly winds set up big swells in the open water, so the passage could be rough.  Right now we have a south or southeast wind—not good for getting to Eleuthera.  Some kind of front is approaching that will cause the winds to turn more westerly and then northwest.  The problem there is that by Saturday evening into Sunday we are expecting winds of 25-35 knots.  All this concern about the weather got us wanting to find other sources of weather information.  So our eyes landed on the SSB radio.  This chunk of electronics has been suspended over the chart table like a sword of Damocles the entire trip. 

Mike fished out the manual for the radio.  In a break with tradition, I read it.  While it’s not likely to wind up on the NY Times best seller list, it was mercifully brief.  Pawing through some of the binders left by Dr. Fisher (the former owner of our boat), we found a list of channels and frequencies.  Comparing these to the info in the Bahamas guide, we were able to find and listen to a US Coast Guard weather broadcast.  Emboldened by this progress we set a few new channels to allow us to listen to some Bahamas forecasts.  It feels like a couple of steps in the right direction.

After the SSB radio triumphs, we got to enjoy sorting through all our fishing gear and placing the hooks, weights, lures, swivels and leaders into the compartments of our newly acquired “tackle box”.  This grand item is really a divided plastic box we found near the toolboxes in the hardware store.  I think it’s designed to hold nuts and bolts but we’re improvising.  It seems pleasing to have all the fishing stuff more orderly.  We used to keep it all in a plastic coffee can and digging through for a swivel was likely to result in a puncture wound from contact with a fish hook.  Clearly, Mike is anticipating big things from the fishing on our off shore passage.  You should see the size of the gaff hook he purchased today.  That thing looks best suited to shark fishing or perhaps whaling.

The fun of the day was nicely rounded out by a trip to the grocery store (starting to provision for the Exumas). Tonight we had a rare appearance of our guest chef (Gloria).  The menu was meatloaf with roasted sweet potatoes and steamed brussels sprouts.  The full time chef enjoyed both the meal and the break from cooking.

Gloria