Coming back from Cat Key on our last attempt to cross the banks we caught this Amberjack, apparently also known as "A.J." He put up an incredible fight, taking line of the reel like no tommorow. It took a long time to bring him in but we got him aboard. We'd heard that AJ's can give you Ciguatera poisoning so we threw him back, later we found out that it was only the real big ones 90lbs etc. Regardless it was excting, we used a bucktail that had been destroyed by a fish the day prior, I had cut off the old bucktail end of it and with an old Bahama flag made a new red skirt for it and it worked! ( I have my brother in law Mathew to thank for that type of inspiration)

Back in Bimini all the cruisers waiting for a weather window decided to have a party and bonfire on the beach, was a lot of fun with quite a lot fo young cruisers, many sore heads in the morning but all had a great time.

A few of the other boats had gone walking on the flats looking for conch and came back with 10 plus, we were invited to partake in the cleaning of them. Not easy! Almost an art form but we all had some knowledge for the future after our session.

Yesterday afternoon we had a small window to cross the banks again and opted to give it a shot. Our friends Ken and Diane aboard Annie 2 opted to cross with us. We left North Bimini late afternoon and anchored in Nixon Harbor on the South end of S. Bimini. The plan was to leave at midnight and arrive at Chub key around 4:00 PM, giving us a daytime arrival. The arrival in a new port being important to do in daylight.

At around 10:30 Laurel heard voices outside and thought she was dreaming, she got up to have a look and Ken and Diane from Annie 2 were just alongside us. Laurel thinking that she'd overslept and we'd missed our departure asked "Oh is it time to go?" to which Diane replied that they had snapped their anchor chain and could they raft with us. We of course agreed. Scrapped our plans to leave, so we could search for the anchor in the morning. Unfortunately the weather was up and our rafting situation got very loud and uncomfortable, so at around 2 AM we lent them our 2nd anchor and rode and they anchored a few hundred yards behind us. Luckily Ken had marked his anchorage spot with a waypoint, something we've also gotten in the habit of doing and we were able to recover it first thing. With Laurel spotting it, Ken diving for it and Diane handling the boatside operation. Fortunately all worked out, we are all back in Bimini and now looking forward to a possible Thursday departure when the winds are forecasted to finally moderate. Has been a long wait. We hope all is well with you all, shoot us an email if you get a chance as we currently have access to Wi-Fi and should have it until our departure.

Best, C.