Memorial Day trip to bahamas with a stop at Great Iaasic Lighthouse

[kent]

Took a quick spin over to the Bahamas to try for Yellowfin Tuna this weekend. The weather was pretty tough, but we were rewarded on Monday with beautiful conditions and a stop over at Great Issacs's Lighthouse.

If you ever get a chance to check it out (in good weather only as currents and seas can be unforgiving in this area), do so as it is a very unique experience.

If you are into spearing check out the very SE tip of the island. Be careful if you shoot something in this area as you will no doubt meet up with a few Tigers, Bulls, and Reef sharks if you don't secure your catch with in 5-10 minutes depending on the current.

Kiting hear would be interesting, if not intimidating.

Enjoy!

Paula hanging in there in tough weather...

http://photos-b.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs087.snc1/4616_110647341054_533786054_3125657_5489472_n.jpg

Bootle Bay... had to hide out and spend the night due to storms
http://photos-c.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-ak-snc1/v4616/154/119/533786054/n533786054_3125658_2897153.jpg

Pulling into GIL
http://photos-d.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs087.snc1/4616_110647356054_533786054_3125659_508572_n.jpg

GIL from the west
http://photos-e.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs087.snc1/4616_110647361054_533786054_3125660_8354542_n.jpg

GIL from the north
http://photos-g.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs087.snc1/4616_110647376054_533786054_3125662_5212096_n.jpg

Looking NW at the ride...
http://photos-b.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-ak-snc1/v4616/154/119/533786054/n533786054_3125665_2800791.jpg

Cool structures
http://photos-c.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs087.snc1/4616_110647406054_533786054_3125666_3164823_n.jpg

Checking it out
http://photos-e.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs087.snc1/4616_110647416054_533786054_3125668_644508_n.jpg

Killer building... the last with a roof...
http://photos-g.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs087.snc1/4616_110647431054_533786054_3125670_2093250_n.jpg

another one...
http://photos-b.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs087.snc1/4616_110647446054_533786054_3125673_5065390_n.jpg

birds haunt...
http://photos-d.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs087.snc1/4616_110647456054_533786054_3125675_6828422_n.jpg

GIL... pretty tall...
http://photos-e.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-ak-snc1/v4616/154/119/533786054/n533786054_3125676_6489194.jpg

[500EPILOT]

Kent, looks like a fun trip, can I tag along on your next trip to Bimini on my ski, did it last June and had fuel to spare.
JP

[ricki]

Great shots Kent! I've always wondered about Great Issacs but have yet to see it up close. What sort of squalls did you deal with during the crossing. Did you clear in Bimini or in Grand Bahama? Long run from MIA either way. We were underwater over here from much of Saturday and Sunday. Had some sun for a while on Monday too, before some real evil squalls walked seaward from the Everglades. Did you have to make back through that mess to Florida later on Monday?

There is a LOT of history around Great Issacs Island. Wrecks out the wazoo, tales of ghosts, shark attacks recent and going way back. More to come on that.

[ricki]

Hey Kent,

Did you hit any of the wrecks around there? There are admiralty court accounts of inquiries into some of the wrecks on line from the mid 1800's. Interesting stuff, talk about how the vessels were rigged, wind and sea conditions, frontal squalls (by other names) and more. How were the bulls, see any tigers? I think the German diver was taken out not too far away from there. He got too absorbed in shooting the feeding behavior and came too close to the chum ball.

[kent]

I actually only dove a short while as we were really looking for Tuna. We dive pretty close to the island when it's only the 2 of us as this area is rather dangerous due to strong currents and sharks.

I did see sharks on the South tip of the island and we decided to move. I bet that there are several wrecks around the area as large rocks poke through the surface in many unexpected places.

I'm sure that there are tons of Bulls and Tigers in the area. I even saw a special about Tigers and could clearly see the light house in the back ground. I did speak with one of the 3 groups that do shark dives in Bimini. He indicated that Tigers are really one of the best sharks to dive with as they are predictable and rather slow moving feeders. He commented on the fact that while Bimini has many, many Tigers, they have yet to find a location around Bimini where they can bring in Tigers with out the Bulls. He even does all of this Tiger shark dives off the coast of Grand Bahama as they can bring them in with out the Bull Sharks. Apparently Bulls are not at all predictable and can't be trusted to swim with.

We did get back over to Bimini last weekend for the Lion Fish Smash. The winning boat had 49 fish and a total of 75 were taken in a single day. Most were around the wrecks over the bank, but I found some very large fish under the ledges just South of Bimini. This area was very nice for spearing, but is very, very sharky. We were spread just a bit while drifting from West to East heading toward the bank. Paula stayed a bit behind with the boat while 3 others including myself drifted along with the current toward the bank. I looked up to urge Paula to head our way and saw the boat very near her. The driver said that Paula was over a large Hog and one of us should come back to get it. I was trying to swim back toward Paula, but the current was too strong so the boat quickly picked me up to run toward her. As we were about 20 yards from her she starts screaming that a shark was after her. She had no spears, etc. to fend it off and was on top of the water. As we neared her I could see the shark just next to her and i quickly plucked her from the water. I believe that this area is so heavily speared that they expect to eat when they see divers. This is a bad situation and I'd personally avoid swimming in this area if you are not familiar with how to properly react to "shark inquiries". I explained to Paula that if this happens in the future that she needs to keep her face in the water to keep an eye on the fish. It's generally best to make yourself very large and agressively swim toward the shark. This is usually enough to fend them off (reef sharks).

The more time I spend in the Bahamas, the more I like it. FYI, you can generally fly Bimini Island Air round trip for around $200 and find a place to stay for $100 per night (holds as many as you wish).

Here are a few pics from the Lion Fish Smash... FYI our boat only got 6, but we were really looking for dinner! I think we found it!!!

Enjoy...

The winning boat! 49 fish
http://images2d.snapfish.com/232323232%7Ffp53687%3Enu%3D3342%3E%3A%3A6%3E557%3E WSNRCG%3D32764%3A7657337nu0mrj

Noaa was on hand to study the fish
http://images2d.snapfish.com/232323232%7Ffp536%3B9%3Enu%3D3342%3E%3A%3A6%3E557% 3EWSNRCG%3D32764%3A54%3B6337nu0mrj

Careful cleaning... the meat is white and tasted great. i even had lion sushimi
http://images2c.snapfish.com/232323232%7Ffp536%3A%3B%3Enu%3D3342%3E%3A%3A6%3E55 7%3EWSNRCG%3D32764%3A85%3B%3B337nu0mrj

Bimini Sunset:
http://photos-d.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs087.snc1/4616_113410501054_533786054_3177459_6976630_n.jpg

Small turtle
http://photos-f.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs087.snc1/4616_113410511054_533786054_3177461_6274937_n.jpg

hunting in the clear water
http://photos-h.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-ak-snc1/v4616/154/119/533786054/n533786054_3177463_1676674.jpg

very large star fish on the bank
http://photos-c.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs087.snc1/4616_113410496054_533786054_3177458_4596694_n.jpg

killer rainbow
http://photos-c.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-ak-snc1/v4616/154/119/533786054/n533786054_3177466_1943555.jpg

the catch
http://photos-d.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs087.snc1/4616_113410546054_533786054_3177467_6101289_n.jpg

nice hog and mutton... kite shop miami promo too
http://photos-f.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs087.snc1/4616_113410556054_533786054_3177469_8342265_n.jpg

[BigR]

Nice fish!!!!

[Clew In]

Hey,

I made a quick trip this past weekend to Marathon. We caught lots of dolphin; however, they were no large ones on tournament day. I did not get a chance to kiteboard and the first two days had great wind (just not enough time in the day).

Clew In

[Clew In]

Hey,

Some More pics.

[Clew In]

Hey,

Few more.

Clew In