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The Avid Fishermen
Jay and Chris with the 25 pound hogfish they speared at the honey hole. What a fish! We first arrived at Market Fish Cay after sailing from the Abacos and dropped anchor there for several days. This is a beautiful island, very long and narrow that is lush with trees and scrub. However at the center of the island just above the beach area there are no trees or shrub, just sand and rock. This allowed us to have a great view of the Atlantic Ocean on the other side of the island, which is very unique. We are very excited to be here in the Berries and the spot we are anchored at is well protected and very scenic.
It was while we were at Market Fish Cay that we discovered the “honey hole”. I am not sure if it was Jay or Chris who came up with the name honey hole, but it truly has proven to be just that. The honey hole is a spot just below the tip of Market Fish Cay, at the entrance of the inlet there. There are many great coral head formations at the edge of the bank, right before it drops into the deep Atlantic Ocean, which provides a great fish haven. On the first day there Jay
Fish on the Grill
Wow! The hog fish is almost too big for the grill. and Chris came back with a big catch including a 25 pound hog fish (one of the more tasty fish we hunt here) which is record size. Not only are there more fish in that one area that are good spear fishing fish, there are also some of the biggest fish we have ever seen in the Caribbean. Unfortunately Jay missed the kill shot on a 35 pound grouper, which would have also been a record. But every day we would go out fishing and after a couple of hours, our boat was filled with enough fish for lunch and dinner. We have even started filling our freezer. One time, right after Chris shot a queen trigger fish, a whole school of yellow fin tuna swarmed us. It was an amazing and rare experience. Unfortunately neither of us was prepared with out spear to catch one, although we tried. I would have loved to have sushi that night, nothing like a tuna roll. But alas, the one that got away.
Speaking of getting away, Jay and I had an interesting and somewhat frightening experience on one of out last days at Market Fish. I guess we had been spear
Market Fish Cay
The anchorage at Market Fish Cay. The birds are going crazy because we just cleaned some of the fish we caught that day. fishing too many fish that day, and the sound of a struggling fish and the blood in the water started attracting sharks. At first we would notice that there were some small sharks, maybe 2-3 feet in length, that would get interested after we caught a fish. But because these sharks were small and only acting curious, not aggressive, we decided to keep spearing. By this point in the trip we had spear fishing down to an art form. Typically one person would stay in the dinghy while the other two were fishing. That way everyone gets a break from fishing (which is tiring) and when one of the others caught a fish the person in the dinghy would come over to collect the fish and get it on board for you. So Jay and I were fishing and Chris was in the dinghy. All of a sudden I look over and see Jay swimming backwards with the tip of his spear keeping a shark away. Realizing that there is safety in numbers, I quickly swim over to him to help. So now we were both swimming backwards with our spears out, just inches away from the nose of this 4 foot, very aggressive shark. I can honestly tell you it was quite frightening. I have seen many sharks while diving, and many of them were much larger than this one. But I have never seen a shark be that aggressive before and I have also never been pursued by a shark like that. I tried jabbing my spear in his face a little, thinking that it would spook him off. Unfortunately it didn’t. He backed off a little and then came right back, he almost took a bite out of my fin. I was scared that I might just make him angry if I tried to spear him again. So while Jay was keeping the shark at bay with his spear, I lifted my head out of the water and yelled, “Chris, SHARK!” He quickly responded and brought the dinghy over to us so that we could get out of the water. Even after both Jay and I were safely on board, this shark kept circling around the dinghy. So we left the honey hole for another day.
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Gran
non-member comment
What an adventure you are having!!! I would not like the shark attack!! I am enjoying summer here. Love you