By Keith Lozott, Contributing Writer
This article will be focused on a trip to the Abacos I had with my beautiful wife. First and foremost, all our thoughts and prayers are with the great people of the Bahamas in the aftermath of Hurricane Dorian. The pictures that I’ve seen on the web and news are unbelievable and almost downright unfathomable. To have a hurricane sit on top of you at category 5 for 36 hours must have been a nightmare to live through.
I’m going to briefly try and put into words what I remember from my trip to the Abacos because it may start the healing process for those who have seen its beauty. We started our trip out of Ft. Pierce Inlet after making the tough call to brave 4’-6’ seas on the way over. We were loaded up in my buddies 31’ Jupiter (The Tunarude as he named it) with twin 250 E-Tech’s. We got a little wet on the way over, but a couple of beers made the chop easier to handle on my end (I wasn’t the Captain). I’ll never forget seeing the Bahama bank in the distance after running through incredibly deep dark water for hours. The water was a crystal light blue that we see on this coast, but this water was something out of a postcard. We cruised through the islands making our way to Green Turtle Cay and all I could think of was how anything could be more beautiful than this place as I said, “what do we have to do to stay here forever”. We checked in and immediately grabbed a couple light spinning rods to try and catch some snappers or whatever may be swimming around the resort. After casting and catching a few lane snappers we made our way to dinner at Green Turtle. The bar ceiling and walls was filled with dollar bills from very joyous patrons, as I had a great snapper dish that still comes to mind from time to time.
In the morning we took the boat to the other side of the island and went bonefishing on a flat that was filled with huge fish. You couldn’t mistake the sight of the schools working their way towards you in the gin clear water. I never landed one but did hook a monster that ripped 65 yards of braid off my reel. I have never been so satisfied not catching a fish. We snorkeled, cruised, and had plenty of Kalik Gold along the way. Nipper’s Bar was a blast with views that you’d dream about forever.
The Abacos was the single most amazing place that I’ve ever been to and now in the wake of Hurricane Dorian it’s all just a memory. If there’s anything that we can do to help get it back to what it was and rebuilt, let’s do it. Let’s find it in our hearts to help all that have been impacted by Dorian!