“We’ll take the Deluxe Combo please”

Laura, a professional photographer and her boyfriend Jason were here on Eleuthera for a wedding which Laura is shooting. Laura who is an advanced open water diver and Jason who is recently certified inquired about doing some diving while here in Governor’s Harbour. So we got together the evening before the dive to talk about options and skill levels over dinner. After we decided on the dives for Friday, Laura inquired about deep sea fishing on the same day.

We call it the Deluxe Combo depending on the tide for the day, start with the dives and then go right to deep sea fishing on the same boat without going back to the dock. “I would love to do some deep sea fishing after diving” Laura said looking at Jason with her eyes beaming with excitement. Jason nods and says we are up for some fishing as well as diving.

Laura and Jason

We dove Anny Bonny’s Booty hole for the first dive and just as last year after hurricane Irene, hurricane Sandy moved the lobsters up into the shallow water. We dove one week and 12 hours after the eye of the storm crossed 30+ miles east of south Eleuthera with the eye of the storm going right over Governor’s Harbour. Visibility was the worst I have ever seen, about 50+ feet. Laura borrowed one of our sea life cameras to do her first underwater photography, and she just went crazy seeing all the lobster.

Laura and Jason’s first lion fish

Second dive was on Blackbeards Treasure Hole, visibility was a little better, Laura kept looking for lobster and enjoying all the beautiful reef fish. Jason grabs Laura’s leg and points to beautiful Hawksbill turtle swimming slowly in front of us and off we go to try to get some photos. Water temperature has dropped from 81 degrees on our last dive on October 18th to 76 degrees with the passing of Sandy.

So with the diving done, its move the tank rack forward and bring out the fighting chair, outriggers out and lines in the water, the wall is about 100 yards from the last dive site.

Laura knows where to sit if you want the rod when someone yells “fish on”

It took almost and hour before the hook was set and someone yells fish on. Laura did a great job fighting and landing a 37 pound Wahoo, very nice fish and good job Laura.

this is a woman who knows how to have a good time and loves adventure

Ok in order to conserve space we did not bring our largest cooler, so tradition is the lucky angler gets to hold down the top of the cooler until the fish is no longer trying to escape the cooler.

holding down the cooler

We missed a few fish, you know the Buffett song Blue Marlin Blues, when he says “captain has us in the weeds again”, it happens. Jason was up next, got a nice barracuda to the boat and we did the long line release and then we hooked another Wahoo.

Wahoo on

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That’s Laura in the video doing her photographer thing as Jason works the Wahoo to the boat.

Not quite as large as the first fish, but nice

Nice day, very nice day. We left the dock at 10am and were back by 3:30 or so and fished for two hours, landed a couple of nice fish and had to good dives. The large Wahoo was boneless butterfly filetted by my partner Chad and he did the smaller Wahoo in filets for sashimi, all delivered to SkyBeach resort where Laura and Jason were staying with the wedding party. Turns out that was dinner for the 30 folks making up the wedding party, just does not get any fresher than that, from the sea to the grill in about 5 hours.

Now that is what we call the “Deluxe Combo“at Ocean Fox Cotton Bay.,,,”Ocean Fox Cotton Bay diving……..anything else is just a surface interval”