Day 5, Thursday, April 25 - Crabby's Cat

Thursday we planned to go on Tuesday's sailboat tour...rescheduled.  

We were (I was)  treated to a nice sunrise, it was looking good for the boat ride.  

We booked with Crabby's Water Sports which is near our villas. Paul and Lisa have gotten to know the owners, Ray and Brenda, from previous visits here.

Crabby's is just a small building next to the market that they operate out of. They live on their 47 foot catamaran, do boat excursions, rent kayaks and run a B&B from a second boat they own. I asked Ray how he got here, he said "Never go to a Boat Show with your Checkbook" and laughed. Twenty years ago he and Brenda went to a show in Annapolis, MD and ended up ordering their boat from a company in France, it was built and delivered to St. John.  They went home to Texas and sold everything, they have been living on it since and survived multiple hurricanes on the boat, quite a story. Ray is clearly proud of being from Texas, he has stickers that read "Don't mess with Texas" in multiple places. 

We boarded the big Cat via Dinghy rides from Ray. 

Once underway we gathered on the front netting as we left out of  Coral Bay, it was a beautiful day. 

Ray has a pretty cool boat, he sails it entirely by himself. Everything is electric, main sails, front roller sail, all at the push of a button, very cool. 

As we got out of Coral Bay the swells got pretty big so we all moved aft, the sails went up, Ray killed the engines and we were sailing at over 10mph (per my phone app). We passed a single hull sailboat that was in the lean, we were not... :-). 

Our first stop was Flanigan Island. 

We snorkeled on the calm side of the island. There was plenty to see and a bit bumpy if you ventured out of the bay. 

After snorkeling Ray said, how about we move to calmer water. We ate lunch while Ray drove us to Pelican Rock, near Hanson Beach.  Ray said today it is Seagull Rock and joked that in a few weeks they will all leave and go up north where we live...probably true. 

It was cool snorkeling between the rocks.

When we boarded after snorkeling, Ray had prepared a snack of sausage and cheese on the grill....very nice. 

After Pelican Rock we moved to Hurricane Hole. This is where boats go to ride out hurricanes. Ray has ridden out two of them here. He said at the start of Irma, there were over 100 boats in the Hole, after, all but three were on shore.  He was one that survived. He started with 6 lines attached to a chain that the Park Service embedded into the bay bottom, each time a line broke he dove and secured another.  He said rain at 200 mph hurts. 

I found the fish very friendly in HH, this guy liked my red lanyard attached to my camera. 

I also saw a long fish that might be a barracuda.

He came to me and then I followed him a bit.

 

After the last snorkel stop we retreated to the front netting, it was too nice to be in the cabin. We all had had our fill of direct sun...but it was just too nice of a day. 

As we made our way back into the bay, we went by the Lime Out VI Taco Bar, accessible only by water.  We have not made it there yet..but you never know. 

 

We also saw several sailboats beached in the bay, apparently this is not an unusual thing here. 

We stopped at Paul and Lisa's villa after the sail for a Painkiller, Paul makes the best PKs. 

Paul and Lisa do have the best view.

Jean has yet to see a turtle but as we left for our villa, this guy was in the road...not what she was looking for. 

We got back to the villa pretty tired, it was a full day and we were all in bed a bit after 9PM.  

Friday we are going to try to take it kind of easy.