Over to Nevis
Irie
Thu 31 Jan 2008 03:07
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Position 17 12 12N 6 36 79W Oualie Beach,
Nevis
Wednesday 30th January
After a slightly rolly night Monday, we motored
early round the corner to Majors Bay to level up for breakfast. It's a beautiful
spot, with a sandy bottom sparsley covered in grass plus a host of urchins,
and also a stunning view of Nevis and its mountain a couple of miles away across
the Narrows. Soon after breakfast, a small brightly coloured fishing boat and
five similarly colourful crew, sped past us to the beach, and started laying
out a long net supported by floats. They described a large arc out round
the bay and then back to the beach several hundred yards from where they
started, before steadily starting to close the gap. The outboard laboured,
issuing clouds of smoke, and every so often they had to stop to free the net
from some or other obstruction on the bottom.This operation was directed by a
guy with fins and snorkel, who swam around the net checking what was happening
beneath the surface. Eventually the circle was completed, and then the crew
stared hauling in one end of the net, while the outboard thrashed away in
reverse, pulling the whole shooting match away from the beach. By this time we
were in the water with snorkels, masks and a grandstand view of operations.
It was amazing, just like an underwater aquarium. On the other side of
the net were kingfish, snapper, and host of other reef fish; a
large, entrapped tuna and a couple of big rays, one of them a leopard ray
probably five feet across. There was also a puffer fish and then a rather
frightened turtle who became caught in the net while trying to escape, but
after a struggle broke free and swam rapidly down and away. Somehow the guy in
the water freed the leopard ray, and then kept diving to help tighten the base
of the net and form a bag as the net circle steadily closed, until
there was a boiling mass of fish trapped just beside the boat. With a
huge final effort the boat team heaved the dancing writhing mass into the boat.
By now the puffer fish was pretty browned off and inflated himself to the
size of a football, while the second big ray thrashed around until neatly
caught and lobbed back into the water. Neville's had a very positive response to
his enquiry about the size of the catch, and then they were gone, speding
round the point to a market, or maybe a rendezvous with a
restaurant.
The sea was calm, the sun beat down and twelve-ish,
we dinghied round to Coconut beach , a beautiful palm
fringed stretch of sand with a couple of bars and the
remains of a now deserted colonial type estate, victim of a previous
hurricane. A couple of beers in the Coconut Bar then preceded a snorkeling
trip round the edge of the bay. It was a real eye opener, revealing a beautiful
coral garden of gently waving sea fans, shoals of reef fish, a turtle, two
octopuses, four spiny lobster and a beautiful, spotted eel weaving his way over
the undulating sand.
Back on the boat there was an invasion of house
flies, so the decision was made to move to Oualie Beach, just over on the
Nevis shoreline. Here there were two or three large moorings, one of which
proved very useful as the wind and swell built through the night. It was a
little uncomfortable, and for a time the wind howled and the rain thrashed
down, but at least there were no insects.
Pulling in the net
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