Hi, Ellen!
We got hit by a typhoon on October 5. Typhoon Chaba paid us a visit; did not do too much damage here but mauled Busan and the southeast coast of the mainland.
We went out to check the beaches after the storm but did not find much. A lot depends on wind direction and the wave action along the coast. We got some scallops, Spondylus, and abalones.
I guess you will have many happy and fun-filled hours processing your catch!
All the best!
Ron
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On Wed, 10/26/16, Ellen Bulger <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
Subject: [CONCH-L] trip report
To: [log in to unmask]
Received: Wednesday, October 26, 2016, 3:21 AM
Howdy conch-Lers,
Thought I'd bring y'all
up to speed on the latest Eleuthera trip. Jim Cordy and
Brian Taylor and I were there from October 12-19th. Well,
truth be told, we spent that first night in Nassau, as
Bahamasair no longer even makes the effort to get from
Orlando to Nassau in time for anyone to catch an afternoon
flight to Eleuthera. Not on Bahamasair or Pineapple Air. Not
to Rock Sound nor Governor's Harbour nor North
Eleuthera. Not in a box, not with a fox. Really, it's
like the worst Dr. Seuss book ever. Is it better from Miami?
I don't know. I wasn't seeing any options from Fort
Lauderdale. (Oh Twin Air, we miss you so!).
I
didn't see any flights into Eleuthera that did not go
through Nassau. On flights out of the country, I suspect
it's because of the US Customs inspection there. And I
must admit it's very efficient. Elsewise, being in
Nassau was not efficient. Power, post Matthew, was still out
on much of the island. So we spent the night in a
non-descript place in what seemed like the far side of New
Providence and were up before dark to catch a flight to Rock
Sound which was, thankfully, on time.
We
made a stop on Exuma on our way in. Looking down from on
high, the waves were well-organized and the surf over the
reef was impressive, a vast soup of foam and violence. But
when we flew into Rock Sound there was some noticeable wave
action on the west side of Eleuthera as well as quite lively
surf coming in to the east side. There was no calm
side.
Shutters were closed and
plywood was still up, and there was a fair amount of brush
piled in spots, but overall south Eleuthera seemed in good
shape. Later in the week we drove up as far north as
Gregorytown and saw little to no damage.
The
mosquitoes were lively.
Air
temperatures were, by and large, delightful. We had more
rain than usual. One downpour hit while we were out in the
middle of Half Sound Bay's lagoon. Cold damn water that
rain. I had no wetsuit, only a dive skin, and I swam with my
back arched in, like a saddle, to stay under the water where
it was WARMER! Came down so hard at one point I couldn't
tell where the inlet was. No lightning in that particular
storm, thankfully.
The
wrack at Millar's was spectacular. I think, all told, we
found 16 pristine flame helmets, juveniles and plenty of
other goodies. We visited there on two different days and
each beachcombing exploration was extremely
productive.
We
swam at Weymss Bight and Half Sound (two days) and
Governor's Harbour (2 days). We did a bit of
sightseeing: the Queens' Baths and Surfer's Beach
and Savannah Sound and Ocean Hole. By the airport, I got
five live Xenos and two dead ones and a live one of a good
size with such a ragged shell that I released it into Tarpum
Bay to make baby Xenos.
Jim
found a HUGE Tellina radiata, pristine with great color, one
to inspire jealously in anyone's heart.
The
chop prevented us from snorkeling Tarpum Bay and kept the
fishermen in. We saw a couple of guys cleaning conchs
(rollers and small ones at that. 😞) at the concrete
seawall at Half Sound Bay. They also had a pair of turtles
which they said they were going to release into Ocean Hole.
Unlikely.
We
didn't do the salt pond. We didn't do Sweetings as
the road we used to use was overgrown and the mosquitoes
were so lively that a walk down from the caves would have
left us drained of blood. Perhaps in drier
weather...
Ethel was saying that tourism
is down in Eleuthera. The resorts have largely closed. I can
see it. Thanks to airbnb it's easier than ever to find a
place to stay. But getting there, getting there!
OMG!
One
thing I think we have resolved to do is rent a 4WD vehicle.
Driving a car is too limiting. There are so many more places
we'd like to try by can't without risking a
stranding or worse.
It
was a good trip. We have fun. We explored. We got great
shells. It was beautiful.
And
it felt like we had it all to ourselves.
Happy Shelling,
Ellen
PS:
I'm not posting much on Flickr these days, but I have
some photos as well as videos from the trip up on Instagram.
My Instagram account is under my own name, so it should be
easy enough to find. 😎
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