This post combines two visits to Lubbers Quarters with today’s snorkeling trip, allowing me to use four Ls together in the title. It’s a stretch for a title, but hey, this is my blog and I can do what I want.
We have had the good fortune to meet wonderful people here during our stay in the Abacos. Although most of our time has been spent on Elbow Cay (over 80%), we have visited several other cays nearby. Life is full of coincidences and connections that bring people together – Last spring, Al had been corresponding via email with Bruce, who had just bought a Grand Banks 36 on Long Island, NY. Bruce took the boat from there to his home in North Carolina down the ICW. Just before we left on this trip, Bruce told Al to be sure and contact him when we arrive in the Abacos – he spends his winters here on Lubbers Quarters, an island 3 miles south of Hope Town, between Elbow Cay and Marsh Harbor, 1 mile long and 1/2 mile wide.
During our stay here we have visited Bruce and Tracy on Lubbers twice and they have visited us in Hope Town. We have enjoyed each other’s company very much and will certainly stay in touch. When we visit them on Lubbers, we pick a relatively calm day because of the dinghy ride in the Sea of Abaco, about 25-30 minutes. We stop on the eastern shore at the community dock and Bruce picks us up in the golf cart for the ride to his home on the eastern shore.
On our first trip to Lubbers, jJust as we hopped in our dinghy to return home, our boating friends John and Carol (Palm Pilot) and Dan and Marcia (Cutting Class) were passing Lubbers Quarters on Palm Pilot after a day of lobster hunting.
We became hitchhikers by water–
Bruce and Tracy visited us in Hope Town. Their transportation is their runabout. They use it to go to Marsh Harbor for groceries and traveling among the other cays. They were kind enough to pick up a few groceries for us before our lunch on Kindred Spirit.
Yesterday we dinghied back to Lubbers for a lunch of conch fritters. Bruce heard that I don’t care to eat conch, but have a minor obsession with collecting shells while here. He promised to make us conch fritters that would be better than any restaurant’s! To top that, he stopped at a friend’s house who had recently gone conching to let me pick up some more shells.
What a great lunch we had – caesar salad, conch fritters, and homemade ice cream!!
~ Upper right – frying the fritters
~ Lower right – finished conch fritters
~Lower left – Tracy tossing the salad
Today was another beautiful day so we dinghied out to Johnny’s Cay for one last snorkel around our favorite head. That one head has the best variety and more fish than anywhere else. It’s like a fish conference or convention. We just snorkel around and around, over and over, watching and looking. I wish we had an underwater video camera to save ti forever, but that would probably interfere with the enjoyment of the moment.
I lost sight of Al and almost panicked, concerned that something had happened to him. Something had – the hunting instinct distracted him from the coral head and he was off scouting under ledges for antenna. Yes, lobsters again. He found one and the next thing I knew he was in the water with his spear. I watched him hunt and spear this lobster from a “front row seat” while snorkeling. Very cool. He had to tease it out from deep under the ledge, spear it, but then lost it as the lobster backed into his hidey hole. (Unlike the lobster, Al does have to come up for air.) Al went back down again as the lobster ran out along the ocean floor, with Al closely chasing him. Speared and caught! Done.
Enough for some nice lobster quesadillas! Yummy.
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