Today is Saturday, April 1
We went fishing again!!!!!!!
Our 1st fish of the day! The guys are working hard!
Chris’ 46 pound Wahoo!!!!!!
Having fun after that fight!
Here is the big fish.
Frank’s getting ready for his man eating fish!
Working this fish!
Had he been “complete”, he would have weighed about 40lbs. Ira the guide had an
interesting perspective on this phenomenon; “something about seeing one of their
own fighting for their life makes them hungry.”
Big fish bite! Emma Fox, look at this.!!!!!
We have another one!!!!!!!!!!!
It’s a beautiful Dolphin.
12 Wahoo & 1 Dolphin today. A good day of fishing! I need a nap.
Don’t bite that tongue off.
Nap. (Frank’s comments); A Heppe family trait. The family that naps (and fishes)
together stays together.
Nap cut short. Another fish!
End of the big day. Score: Fisher people 12, fish 0. A good day. Our freezer is full again.
Stop taking my picture.
The Edge Restaurant. Nice view of the harbor.
Chris is here!!!! Chris is here!!! It’s Tuesday, March 28
Arrived in Marsh Harbour at 2:35 pm. Left Las Vegas at 1:15 am. He looks tired!
Sunset of the bay LaNostra is living these days.
Visiting with some friends.
At the beach.
Today is Saturday, March 25th
Happy 1st Birthday Bradley Arndorfer!!!!!!!!!!!
Doing Pilates with Mary Bishop. Mel – I need a hair cut!!!!!!!!
Saturday, March 18th
Started out the day today deep-sea fishing. I’m reeling in a 30lb dolphin, aka mahi-mahi.
Here he is…a big male. The male has the shoveled, flat head. Like a big block head.
No similarities at all to any males that I know. Check out the beautiful color.
The fisher lady and one of her many catches. We caught a total of 10 fish, Ronda
caught 6 of them, plus lost two more. We kept about 20lbs of fish, the rest went to our
guide, who’s wife runs one of the local fish markets. It will probably bring them several
hundred dollars in sales.
She’s just gotta touch everything. Guide’s name is Ira.
Here she is, resting between fish.
Filleting time.
Big barracuda waiting for fish cleaning scraps. He’s about six feet long. Other fish
are mangrove Snappers.
Striking her usual pose during the day. Probably updating the La Nostra website.
Fire station in downtown Hope Town. Vehicles have to be small to be able to drive
down narrow streets.
Picture taken looking north over the Bight of Abaco and towards White Sound from
the dining room of Cracker P’s restaurant.
Another view from Cracker P’s. Note the cruise ship on the horizon. He’s out in the
big blue, deep Atlantic.
Thursday, March 18th
(Frank’s comments); View of Hope Town taken from the famous Hope Town lighthouse.
Its one of only 3 operational lighthouses in the world that still uses a kerosene lamp and
refracting lenses and the entire assembly floats in a huge tank of mercury to reduce friction.
Basically operates on the same principles as when it was built in 1863.
Another view of the Hope Town harbor. This place is picture perfect. That’s La Nostra
tied up to the dock in the center of the picture.
A view of the harbor looking east. That’s the Atlantic Ocean.
A view of “downtown” Hope Town. Beautiful sand beach just behind the palm trees.
The channel coming off the Sea of Abaco and leading into Hope Town harbor.
A skinny entrance but we fit through just fine.
Looking northeast towards the deep Atlantic ocean. The dark water on the horizon
is the Atlantic shelf where the ocean bottom drops off like a cliff down to 9000 ft.
Small world picture. The small trawler in the center has a couple on board who formerly
lived in Rubicon, WI. They came over to visit shortly after we tied up, noticing our hailing port
of Monches, WI on the stern of our boat. Turns out that his wife Nancy used to have her hair
done by my goddaughter.
A 66lb yellow fin tuna caught by a local fisherman. Sold to local restaurants, this is
about $700.00 worth of fish. Many of the local people support themselves in this manner.
Preparing for cleaning.
Sushi tonight!!!!!!!!
Today is Wednesday, March 15th
We have decided to stay in Hope Town until the end of April. Hope Town is located 10
minutes by boat from the Great Abaco Island in the Bahamas. Here are some pictures of the
town as we dinged back to the boat.
Hope Town’s working Light House.
Green building is a great restaurant.
Homes in the Hope Town.
Another view. We are taking these from our Dingy as we head back to the boat.
Frank’s dream! We are having lobster for dinner nightly! Roy & Stef guess what
we are cooking for you next!
Frank is ready to grill. These guys were swimming this morning.
Today is Saturday
Lobster Boy. or aka “The Monster From the Deep Lagoon” … Roy & Stef
(Frank’s comments); Think this lifestyle is easy.????? I have to be
boat driver, navigation officer, anchor-man, and now, gatherer-of-food. By the time
the day is over, I’m exhausted.!!
Taking this lobster thing seriously.
Off to hunt for dinner.
Back from the hunt. We made reservations at the restaurant! (Frank’s comments);
did manage to find 3 starfish, 2 conch, 2 sea slugs. Didn’t have recipes for any of
them so we ate out this evening.
Frank wants a new toy just like this one. I guess we could use it as a dingy?
(Frank’s comments); Now this guy has things figured out. The plane is wheeled right
up to the edge of the beach, tied down. An escape vehicle almost as fast as a Porsche
Turbo.!! Just don’t know how I’d secure it to La Nostra while underway.
Another picture of Coco Bay beach
Coco Bay Beach.
Today is Wednesday, March 8th
At the beach. This was just before the cold front passed through with gale force winds.
That’s the big Atlantic ocean beyond those reefs behind us.
Downtown New Plymouth in the Abacos. We’d bike into town to do grocery shopping, etc.
Town has most of whatever you’d need, groceries stores, hardware store, library, restaurants, etc.
Street along the shoreline.
View of town.
Downhill run into New Plymouth. Streets are all one-way.
Our new car. Streets are so cute here.
3 kids were on the fence. They were getting yelled at to get down. They are so cute!
Sign says “children at play”. What’s wrong with that mom?
One left. Look at his feet – no shoes. Little Monkey.
“No Liz, I was NOT driving this cart.” Someone wasn’t paying attention.
Moving SE along the Sea of Abaco towards Green Turtle Cay, took this picture of a
sailboat moving in the opposite direction. Just look at the water clarity. This ain’t Racine.!!!!!
This is the same reef gap as in the first picture at the top of the page, taken two days
later after the winds picked up. Those are 12′ breakers coming into the reefs. An angry ocean.
Today is Sunday, March 5th
The Beautiful Sunset – Anchored at Great Sale Cay, Bahamas. Twenty minutes
after the sun goes down it is PITCH black.
Great picture of the sail boat coming into anchor next to us.
LaNostra at anchor – Great Sale Cay, Bahamas
Frank checking out the anchor – we are anchored at Great Sale Cay, Bahamas.
(Frank’s comments); One of the skipper’s many chores. Don’t want to wake up in the
middle of the night with the anchor alarm going off. Have to make sure the anchor is well set.
He is tuning me out again with his Ipod. (Frank’s comments); Actually I’m resting up
while listening to Kris Kristopherson. Getting myself mentally prepared for the anchoring task ahead.
Dork / slightly bored. (Frank’s comments); She always provides entertainment.
I’m diligently navigating the boat.
We left West End Grand Bahamas heading for an overnight anchor. We’re traveling
across the Sea of Abaco. It’s a big empty piece of ocean. West End was a beautiful spot
but it was still recovering from Hurricane Floyd which happened back in 1999. For better
or worse, things happen very slowly in the Islands.
We are heading from the West End of Grand Bahamas Island towards our overnight
anchor spot.. The depth finder had it’s 1st melt down of too MUCH water. 2,155 ft actual –
the sonar continues to read but the depth finder stopped at 999.0. Either way it’s a LOT
of water. Not at all like the Florida Keys.
TODAY IS THURSDAY, MARCH 3RD
We see Bimini – the water is so clear you can see the fish.
We have water under us!
Shores of Bimini. Although the water was beautiful, we weren’t very impressed with
the town of Bimini. We cleared Customs, stayed overnight, and left early the next morning for the West End.
