It's the final week of lobster season at Double Breasted Cay and Brown has YET to nab a lobster. We have tried many times, but learned that he has the wrong gear which has put him at a huge disadvantage. But, it makes the lobsters happy. Check out our video to see our sea glass collection grow, Brown's confidence in lobstering increase, and some amazing drone shots of this gorgeous island.
We also pack this video with our time in Racoon Cay and Buena Vista Cay doing all we can to run from the rolly anchorages. Brown catches his FIRST lobster using a friend's spear and we end up trading one solo sailor Guy for another solo sailor Guy.
NEW TO OUR CHANNEL? We are Eileen and Brown Councill. Welcome to our channel and a glimpse into our life adventure! 2020 was a year of uncertainty and change (for all of us, right?), but we overcame the challenges and decided it was time to chase our dream, to sail around the world! Did I mention that we had very NO sailing experience? Before leaving Qingdao, China, our home of 4 years, we sold almost all of our earthly possessions and started our international search to find the right sailboat that we would call "home." After 5 months of unanticipated twists and turns, we found what we were looking for, a used Leopard 44' Catamaran located in St. Lucia.
So, here begins our journey, filled with unmatched excitement and honestly, a bit of trepidation as well. We have much to learn as we travel the world on our floating home and we intend to document that journey and share it with you. We are so glad you have decided to join us, and we hope that you will find our story so compelling that it will inspire you to chase your dreams too!
As a viewer, we consider you to be part of our family and look forward to getting to know you. Don't hesitate to comment on our videos and ask questions. We will do our best to answer every correspondence! All we ask is that you have patience with us as we work really hard to improve our camera/video techniques and ability to tell a story. Hopefully, you will be as BLOWN AWAY from watching, as we are in experiencing and producing our adventures!
HOW CAN YOU SUPPORT US? If you wish to support our video efforts, all we ask is that you SUBSCRIBE, give a THUMBS UP, SHARE our videos with your friends, AND COMMENT! WOULD YOU LIKE TO GET TO KNOW US MORE DEEPLY? It would be an honor and pleasure to deepen our relationship with you as a Patron. Please click on the following link to see how: https://www.patreon.com/sailingblownaway
Hello, I'm King Neptune.
Buena la vista, baby!
Well, it's been a week, and we are finally leaving Hog Key.
It's hard to pull away from this beautiful place, but it's time.
Time to go see something new.
Double Breasted Key, a small, uninhabited island, is a favorite of cruisers.
It's beautiful, fun to explore, has lovely beaches, and a lot of great critters to find.
It also has a bit of protection from the east winds,
and most importantly, it's close enough to Hog Key that you can still get decent internet.
Alright, first day here at Double Breasted,
and we are heading out to see if Brown can catch his first lobster.
He only has five more days because lobster season ends,
and our neighbor in front of us has just gone out and come back with something,
so we're going to go find out what he's got.
Our neighbor, a solo sailor called Guy, told us that he saw lobsters and fish in the reefs.
So off we went in the dinghy out to the ocean to free dive.
We did see several lobsters, but without the right spear,
Brown was at a huge disadvantage,
and while he tried, he could not grab the critters as they were too deep in the reef.
We ended up catching nothing, but we managed to flood both GoPros.
It was another frustrating outing, and lobster season was quickly coming to an end.
We are on Double Breasted Key, and I have managed to drown two GoPros today,
so we are on to the camera phone.
And yeah, that's just the way it goes.
We're going to go seaglass hunting today.
Our seaglass excursion was a huge success.
We found a small beach that tumbled perfectly rounded and frosted seaglass onto the sand with every wave.
We spent hours picking up the best pieces,
but often we were tricked by small plastic shapes that looked like seaglass,
usually a beautiful blue.
Due to the ocean currents, the Ragged Islands are a trash vortex for all of the floating garbage in the Caribbean.
The beaches were littered with trash.
Well, it certainly makes a point about the trash that's being found all over these islands.
Shoes are probably the number one thing we're seeing, and there you go.
It's a big moment! He finally broke the streak!
Right before, four days before the end of lobster season.
All right, the streak is officially broken. How do you feel, Brown Council?
Oh my gosh, the pressure!
I'm just so happy to get these bugs right here.
The reef was incredibly bountiful and beautiful.
It was amazing being out there.
Great job, guys!
Well, we're on our way leaving Double Breasted Cay right here
and headed to Raccoon because we've got a bit of a blow coming
tonight, tomorrow, the next few days.
The weather system has definitely come in,
so we are off to find a little bit more shelter than where we are.
It is super wet outside and humid.
We're collecting water for our laundry in our cooler and as well as the buckets,
but it is just wet and nasty out.
So we've got the dehumidifier going and we are nice and cool and dry in here.
First day in a long time where we've had rain.
Hey, at least the boat is getting a really nice wash down, right?
We have a super annoying creek and trying to figure out where it's coming from.
It's just very difficult to access it, but then to identify it as well is really hard.
So, Brown's taking it apart. See what we find.
We are off the boat and it's a good thing because it has been so rolly.
You can't really tell from this picture, everything looks flat,
but you can see the boat over there really rocking side to side
and that's what we've been doing all day.
So, we have dropped the dinghy off.
We're going to go try and find a path over to the other side.
And the good thing is, hopefully when the wind turns hard to the east
and really picks up some speed, we're going to have a lot of protection here.
We hope so.
We're grateful for the cruisers who have come before us,
who set up the trash to let you know where the path is to walk on, which is great.
There's a little buoy.
This is a very different coast than the other islands we've been on, for sure.
While there is a beautiful beach and unique geological features on the ocean side,
the hike over is tedious.
We would definitely not recommend it, especially if you have any leg or knee issues.
The big easterly blows arrived and trapped us on the lee side of the island.
But after a couple of days, we decided to dinghy over to Man O' War Bay
to do some free diving with our friend, Guy.
We knew it would be rough, so to be safe, we dropped the dinghy anchor inside the cove
and swam out onto the reef.
If we caught anything, we knew it would be a really long swim back to the boat,
but hopefully it would be worth it.
The reef was beautiful and the floating plastic bags made it seem quite eerie and ethereal.
I was spotting, the boys were spearing.
Three lobsters were out strolling around on the reef thinking lobster season was over,
but boy were they wrong.
We nabbed all of them, plus a lionfish and a grouper.
It was a great day on the water.
And we are off, leaving Raccoon Key with our buddy boat.
There's Guy.
And we are headed to Buena Vista.
We've gotten brought up a helm.
It's been a bit rolly this morning.
Last night, hoping we get some less rolly.
What do you think?
Anything better than this is good.
And, you know, it couldn't be any worse.
And talking about that next place that we're going,
my favorite guy Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Let's see.
We're going to Buena Vista, baby.
Hello, I am King Neptune.
I'm going for a hunt before I go.
I have to fix my trident, which is broken off here.
A piece of coral that I did a long time ago and it's not good for catching fish.
So, in the words of Alex, give me dribble or give me dead.
And I'm going to work on this little tip right here and sharpen this.
It was the final day of lobster season and everyone was out hunting.
Due to the rough seas and high winds, we had to settle for hunting lobsters inside the reefs.
We found some bombies and I spotted several lobsters, some in very tight spots.
Brown was finally able to grab one by hand.
It was so exciting to see this face off.
But my camera battery was dead, so we can't share this moment of triumph.
I guess the lobster is proof enough.
Well, it's the last day of lobster season and my man was successful.
He was able to actually not only get a lobster, but he actually grabbed them for the first time ever.
That's Mr. Lobster, he's not too happy.
Buddy, I appreciate you so much.
Who would have ever thought we'd share an anchorage with La Vagabond.
That night we hosted a beach sundowner party, celebrating, or mourning in our case, the end of lobster season.
The whole anchorage was invited and it was a fabulous time.
And it also marked our final night in the lower Ragged Islands.
