April 18, 2016 Spearfishing and Sou Side restaurant, Salt Pond, Long Island

 There is a cruiser’s net on the VHF radio here at 8:15 every morning.  It it short and sweet.  They give the weather for the next few days and ask for any other announcements.  The net controller, Penny, stayed on afterwards to tell us about the area.  Where the grocery store is, where to get fuel, etc.  Very friendly and helpful.

Late morning, we went to the more northern dock, which is owned by a local business.  They rebuilt it after the hurricane and allow cruisers to use it.  It is closer to most of the buildings in town.  As a thank you, the cruisers have mounted a donation box to help cover their expenses.  They also have a place for us to leave trash.  So that is worth it. 

We packed up snorkeling and spear fishing gear and hiked to the beach on the Atlantic side today.  There was a road near this dock that was a much shorter hike than the one we took yesterday.  We had the beach to ourselves all day. 

hike over to ocean

funny snowman made of rocks

 

 

 
It wasn’t real hot, so Erin and I just enjoyed sitting on the beach and keeping an eye on Dave and Joe.  Those two, on the other hand, were out for an adventure.  There were several choral heads at the right edge of our beach and a reef further off shore.  Joe spent a lot of time exploring the closer coral heads/rocks and drinking a lot of sea water.  Dave was out further on the reef for a long time.  He finally came in and told us about a huge grouper sitting in a cave like area in the reef.  It was probably 3 or 4 feet long.  He would have to swim down to it and try to spear it.   As he looked at him eye to eye, he came to the realization that there was no way he was going to be able to get him back to shore.   He described the grouper as a “turdy point grouper”.  So Joe wanted to go back and see it.  The giant grouper was no longer there.  Joe found a sea turtle to chase, which Dave was thankful for.  Joe was still getting used to his snorkel gear.  So he was frequently lifting his head and flailing his arms WITH the spear in it.  So some space was just fine.  Dave saw a pompano and started following him.  That’s when the barracuda came around the corner.  They decided to head back to shore with the spear directed behind them to protect themselves.   

hike back to the bay side

We found out a couple days later, from a local, that you have to spear the fish in the head to kill it instantly with no bleeding.  If there had been bleeding or a struggle, the sharks would have been over the reef in no time to take the wounded fish from them.  And we can only imagine how that would have gone. 

Back in town, we decided to have a late lunch at the Sou Side Restaurant.  She didn’t take credit cards and Dave forgot his wallet.  We pooled our money and came up with enough for each of us to have a sandwich, side and a couple beers.  We met a local named Mark that told us more than we cared to know about the island, snorkeling, etc. 

 

our hamburgers were on the grill outside

 
 
 Erin and I walked about a block to the grocery store to check it out and pick up ice cream bars.  We all enjoyed the ice cream and headed back to the boat.