Aboard Lady

Man-O-War Cay

Man-O-War Cay, Abaco, Bahamas

Friday, March 19th, 2009 to Monday March 23rd, 2009

We had tried to visit Man-O-War Cay earlier, but it was on a day with a northerly component to the wind, and the harbor was too crowded and shallow to anchor; the moorings were already taken, and outside the harbor the bottom was grassy, and not good holding.  This time we went in to the marina, and had a very pleasant stay.

This island has business other than tourism! The descendants of the original loyalist families that settled here after the American War of Independence are still here, and have active boat-building and boat maintenance businesses.  Wooden boats are still built, but there also appears to be a good business of fiberglass boats. Although sails are no longer made here, there is a canvas shop that does a good business of making study bags of all sorts.

  We rented a golf cart and toured the island from one end to the other.  Outside the settlement, the only road is the Queens Highway.

We had a couple of great meals at the only restaurant, Dock and Dine at the marina.  The island is dry, but they let you bring your own bottle of wine to dinner. 

We made friends with Jan and Tony from Colchester, UK, on the next boat, Dreamtime II, a Moorings charter-boat, with the owners aboard.  Paula and Dave were with them.  Tommy Albury, our marina manager sent his friend Fred Sweeting down one evening, and we were able to purchase Bahamian lobster tails from Fred, for another delicious meal.

    

Elbow Cay

Hopetown, Elbow Cay, Bahamas 26 26 32.321N 076 57.564W

Wednesday March 11th, 2009 to Friday March 20th, 2009

We pulled in to the Sea Spray Marina on Elbow Cay with the top of the tide, and the dock assistant, Rodney, assigned us a slip, where we proceeded to do boat chores, including washing the decks.  Charlie was chatting with the dock master, Junior,  a couple of hours later, and Junior suddenly realized that the slip we were in was not going to work on the full-moon low tide, so we moved slips.  We did not feel that there was much more water in the new slip, but it turned out that there was only silt underneath us, where there were rocks below on the previous slip.  Besides giving Lady a good cleaning, we were also there to determine if this is the marina we will leave her at for a month while we return to Tulsa in April.  No, it's not the marina.  Besides the full-moon depth issue, their monthly rates increase April 1 from $400 to $2,000.

  So, on Thursday we departed White Sound and an hour later we picked up a mooring in Hopetown Harbour.  Parking dinghy at the Hopetown Sailing Club dock, lunch ashore was delicious, and we explored the northern part of the town. 

We found the bakery, the Cholera Cemetery and a memorial to seamen lost on the Elbow Cay Reef. 

We were amused at the house with a deer head mounted on the porch.  Wonder where that came from?

We explored the harbor by dingy over the next few days, and made friends with people on other boats.

  On Saturday we heard that Debbie and Craig on Charmed were coming our way.  We knew that they had already been up to the top of the light house, so that seemed like a fun outing while we were waiting for them. 

      

We took the hand-held VHF and were able to talk to them as they crossed the Sea of Abaco, coming in from Treasure Cay.  We watched the dinghy races while we waited their arrival.  We got a lot of great pictures of Charmed coming in to the harbor and picking up a mooring close to Lady.

We dinghied over to them and had lunch together.  They had things they needed to do aboard, so we went into town, and explored the southern end, visiting the museum and the Hopetown Harbour Lodge that we had last visited about 25 years ago.

Dinner aboard Charmed was delicious.

  The Abaco Inn had planed an art showing for Sunday, with brunch available.  Craig called and arranged for transportation, and the four of us had a lovely day further down the island.  Besides a delicious meal, Debbie and I were able to walk on the beach and find a few shells.

That evening, NASA launched the space shuttle Discovery, and we were able to see  the flare passing over to the north and east.  Not a very good picture, but something different to remember.

Charmed left the next morning, choosing a weather window to take them back to Florida in 36 hours.  (We have since heard that they arrived in Miami safely, and that Jay See Dee is also back in Florida.)

We dropped our mooring and headed south to Little Harbor.  There was quite a bit of surge in the anchorage there, so we turned around, and anchored off Lynyard Cay.  A walk on the beach found a couple more lovely sea biscuits.

We knew that more weather was heading our way, so we wanted to be back in Hopetown that night, but we made a lunch stop off Snake Cay, and took the dinghy in to explore uninhabited shallow areas. 

We saw a few  rays and sea turtles, but the wind was picking up, so the water surface was disturbed.  Then I saw a couple of ducks.  They are not in my bird book, but they were certainly very smart-looking.

I had seen postcards of Abaco wild horses, and I got quite excited when I though I saw a pair of them walking along the beach.  They looked quite small, and Charlie insisted that they were a couple of dogs.  When we got close enough, we found out that we were both wrong - they were wild pigs!

Back in Hopetown now, we have recovered from St. Patrick's Day, and had a couple of rainy days.  Next we are off to Man-O-War

Green Turtle Cay

Green Turtle Cay, Abaco, Bahamas  26 45.853N 076 20.028W

Saturday March 7th to Wednesday March 11th, 2009

After a wonderful few days at Great Guana, we dropped the mooring on Saturday at 1100, and with Charmed, headed out the Loggerhead Cut, that used to be a cruise-ship cut, and consequently had some of the very few channel markers in the Bahamas, past the outside of Whale Cay, and then in through the Whale Cay Cut.  That passage can be notorious for "rages", but it was good the day we transited it.

Dropping anchor at about 1330, we launched the dinghy, met up with the Rosers, and headed ashore to explore the settlement of New Plymouth.  Another charming Abaco Settlement, lots of pretty colored cottages, well kept, clean streets, some just wide enough for two golf carts to pass.

This tree was not well.  Only a few leaves on it.  Caring folks had left it get-well wishes made of painted found fishing floats.

The local police car - complete with blue light on the top!

We explored part of the settlement, and found the grocery stores, hardware store, and some other cute shops.  On our way back to the boat, we explored Black Sound, the next opening on the Green Turtle coast.  Using the dinghy's depth-meter, we established that Lady would not be able to go through there at low tide.

  Sunday we knew that most places were closed, so together with Debbie and Craig, we planned a day on the beach.  We packed up a picnic lunch, and went ashore.  It was about a mile walk across the island to Gilliam Bay (I called it Sandy Bay on my Google map).  The low spring tide gave us lots of beach to explore.  Debbie and I walked and waded the shore-line, finding shells, sand-dollars, starfish and other interesting items.   

Charlie and Craig were engrossed in conversation as they strode along the beach.

After lunch, we slowly walked back, and stopped in New Plymouth for ice cream, before returning to the boat via a dinghy tour of White Sound.  The seaplane parked at the back ot White Sound was interesting, and after we were back aboard Lady, the plane came out of the sound and took off past us.

We had dinner ashore together at Sundowners, which, very conveniently has their own dinghy dock.  After dinner we went to Charmed, where we enjoyed watching "Captain Ron".  Charlie looks more like Curt Russell every day.

    Charlie and Craig made plans for snorkeling off "Gilligan's Island" which we had seen from the beach.  So, on Monday, we packed up lunch again, and took the dinghies out to the reefs, where the charts indicated that there were moorings for dinghies.

We only found one mooring, and Debbie and I did not want to swim (too cold!), so we were dropped off on the island, where we found more shells and lots of sea biscuits.

  It was so calm; we saw a shark on the way home.  You could see starfish and sea urchins in twelve feet of water.

 

Shortly after we got back to Lady, Jay Sea Dee arrived at the anchorage, so we had a fun evening with everyone coming to our boat for dinner, followed by Liar's Dice - finally I've found a game I can win!

Tuesday we again parted company with Charmed and Jay Sea Dee.  We went ashore for a few provisions, discovering that the liquor store served breakfast! 

We pulled up the anchor and headed south for Elbow Cay.

Another flat calm day.  We could see the starfish on the bottom as we passed the notorious Whale Cay Passage.

Here's a boat that did not take into account the lunar tidal drop.  It wasn't the only one aground we saw!

We anchored close to where we had dropped our hook the first night in the Abacos, and watched the moon rise as the sun set.

(Charmed and Jay Sea Dee's blogs have more pictures of our adventures together, check them out!) 

Barefoot Man at Nippers

Friday March 6th, 2009   Great Guana Cay  +26° 40' 1.20", -77° 7' 9.00"

One of the reasons we had been so anxious to get a good mooring at Great Guana was because what Jodi and John from Jay Sea Dee had told us some time ago - the Barefoot Man was going to be doing a FREE concert at Nippers Bar!  They had played us some of his music while on board Jay Sea Dee, very funny, and our kind of tunes.  We had mentioned the concert to other people we had met along the way, and the last word we had a Marsh Harbour was that there were going to be 2,500 people there!

  We had visited Nippersa couple of times in the previous days, and there was NO WAY that many people were going to fit!  Jodi and I volunteered to get there early, and save space for our group of six.

We arrived at about ten...the concert was to begin at noon.  The rest of the group took care of returning the golf cart from the previous day. We got a great table on the upper deck, a little blowy, but a great view of the lower deck.

Many of the lounge chairs by the pool had towels on them, but it did not seem as though people had been camping out all night to save a spot, as we had been told had happened in previous years.

Even Jodi and John's dog, Obie, was dressed for the event!

Soon, we spied Barefoot Man, and Jodi and I got CDs autographed.  Soon other members of our group arrived, and Jodi and I took Obie for a walk on the beach, before the crowds got too much.

More people arrived, and the warm up band started.  They were good music while we ate lunch.  Even Obie was grooovin'. 

Soon John and I were dancing and having a great time.

By the time Barefoot Man and his combo were part-way through their first set, John and I had made it to the front of the stage.  Most of the audience knew the words, and were calling out for special requests.  It was (almost) better than the Boogie Boys at Arrowhead!

Long before the music was over, we had had enough.  John estimated the crowd at 500...a long way from 2,500; some attributed it to the fact that Barefoot Man has done this concert on a Saturday in past years.

We picked up our partners, and walked back down the trail into the Settlement, and over to Fishers Bay, where the dingy's were parked.  Guana Grabbers was a great place to stop and get some refreshments and order dinner. 

Then their band started.  So when they played "Living on Tulsa Time", Charlie and I had to dance some more!

Another great day of cruising.

Great Guana Cay

March 5th, 2009    Mooring off Great Guana Cay

We arrived in the Abacos March 1st.  Amazing that we had been telling people we planned to be in the Abacos in March and that we made it by that date.  We joined Charmed and Jay Sea Deeat an anchorage off Tilloo Cay our first night, and had a great time visiting with them again, and catching up.  They had spent additional time in the Exumas, and visited Spanish Wells while we were in Eleuthera.  Jay Sea Dee took some great pictures of Ladywhen they passed us while we were sailing with Tim and Mike Forsman.

While the other two yachts we to Hope Town on Elbow Cay, we went in to Marsh Harbour, and took a slip at Abaco Beach Resort's Boat Harbour Marina.  It was great to enjoy shore showers, do laundry, refuel, fill with water, shop for provisions and find an ATM machine for cash.  Another front came through and the wind was cold and strong.

On Tuesday March 4th, we sailed to Man-O-Way Cay.  The harbor was too crowded and shallow for us, and there was too much north in the wind for us to find a sheltered anchorage in the lee of the island, so we back-tracked and found shelter in the lee of Sugar Loaf Cay, close to March Harbour.

The following day the wind had clocked, but was still cold; we were able to make Great Guana Cay.  Again that island's harbor was too crowded and shallow for us to anchor, although there were a couple of nice marinas there.  We picked up a mooring in Fishers Bay, and went ashore to pay Dive Guana for rental, but nobody was home.  A walk in to town looking for lunch got us directed to Nippers bar, where we were able to eat inside out of the wind.  We passed their good-looking digger on the way!

Later in  the day, Jay Sea Dee went in to the Orchids Marina in the harbor, and Charmed came and picked up a mooring close to us.

  On Thursday, the crews of Lady and Charmed rented a golf cart and toured Great Guana. We had a great time together, saw lots of great beaches, colorful houses.  The main highway is just barely wide enough for two golf carts to pass.

We met John and Jodi for lunch and we girls had a good time browsing around the settlement while the boys talked boat stuff .  More golf cart exploring in the afternoon, and we all met up for a drink at Nippers to conclude the trip. 

            

Eleuthera

February 22nd, 2009 to February 28th, 2009    Eleuthera anchorages.

It was a beautiful morning at we hauled up the anchor at 0640 at Black Point, and powered through the churning waters of the start of the ebb tide through the Dotham Cut out to Exuma Sound.  In the morning, the wind was enough to sail, but it decreased, and we had to start the Yanmar to keep us moving over 6 knots.

At 1115 Land Ho!  We cruised up the whales tail area of Eleuthera, rounded Cape Eleuthera, and shortly after 1500 had the anchor down in Rock Sound.  There were about five other boats in the anchorage.  A nice quiet night.

We explored ashore next day, purchasing groceries at The Market, (great store, even if they had no bread), a V-Belt for the generator at the NAPA , got the propane tank filled at the hardware store, purchased more pre-paid cell phone time (my, how quickly we go through them!)  A great meal at a new place not listed in the Explorer Charts - 4 Points - but you know that if there's a tiki bar in sight we'll try it! 

Tuesday we tried to travel on.  We got the anchor up at 0830, and left Rock Sound.  At 1040 we put the anchor down in the same place.  The north winds were stronger than we had anticipated, and chased us back to Rock Sound.  I used the day to bake bread, cookies, gingerbread, make salads, knit, do needlepoint, read.  Charlie worked on removing rusty spots from the stainless steel and talked back to the financial news on CNBC.

Wednesday we had more luck.  We left Rock Sound at 0730 and by noon were at Governors Harbour.  We put the anchor down, but it had a hard time digging in, so we re-anchored and ate lunch.  By the time we were done with lunch, it was apparent that we were no longer in the same position, so we hauled the anchor back up and departed. 

We next tried Alabaster Bay, but again had the same issue...the sand was so thin that the anchor just would not dig in.  Some of these harbors could learn a lesson from the Exuma Land and Sea Park by investing in good moorings for visiting boats to use to bring additional visitors to the area.

We were finally able to find a safe place to stop north of Pelican Cay, the only boat in a lovely little bay close to Governors airport.  It may be an International airport, but the air traffic was minimal!  Ashore we had the beach to ourselves, and found lovely white conch shells, about a quarter the size of the conch used for salads.

Thursday we started late, as we planned on going through Current Cut, between Eleuthera and Current Island, and needed to do that on the last of the ebb.  We had a great sail across the bank, and reached the way-point for Current Cut a little earlier than expected.  Dousing the sails, it was exciting as the passage along Current Island is right next to the rocks on the north end of the island.  Charlie was having mental anxieties imagining what would happen should the Yanmar fail!  Anyway after an exciting white-water raft type trip, we turned ninety-degrees to port into the cut, and sped through, turning another ninety degrees to starboard at the other end, to anchor in the lee of Current Settlement, Eleuthera.

Numerous phone calls back and forth to Mike and Tim Forsman had established the fact that they were at Tim's house in Current Settlement to do some fishing.  We picked them up off the beach on Friday morning, and took them out for a grand sail.  Returning from the wreck off Egg Island, we exchanged radio conversations with Jay Sea Dee and Charmed, who were headed to Spanish Wells. 

After anchoring back at Current Settlement, we had a jolly boat lunch together and then went ashore.  Tim has a charming pink house in the center of the settlement, right across the street from the one-room (about 100 sq ft) post office.  We explored the village, did a little bit of provisioning shopping, used Tim's computer to check email, and had a relaxing afternoon.  At low tide I found a beach with shells and sand-dollars while Mike and Tim fished for bonefish.

One of Tim's neighbors feeds some of the homeless kitties living at Current Settlement.

We all rode Tim's car across the island, and boarded a water-taxi for Harbour Island.  What a treat that was.  We rented a golf cart, and Mike and Tim gave us a lovely tour of this resort area.  They have visited here for many years, and introduces us to friends, and favorite bars.  A lovely dinner, another water-taxi back to Eleuthera.  It was a splendid day.

Thanks Forsmans!

Exumas Revisited

February 16th to February 22nd  Various Exuma Anchorages

We departed Cat Island early, and headed back across Exuma Sound to Lee Stocking Island.  Quite a long sail, 40 miles or so, but a lovely day. We had thought that we would visit the Marine Research Center there, but the weather forecast for the next day was for winds from the west, clocking to north, so we departed Lee Stocking, and found a good place to anchor at Black Point, on Great Guana Cay. Another visit to the great Rockside Laundermat (sic), purchase of a few provisions at Adderly's General Store, lunch and Internet at Lorraine's Cafe, purchase of pre-paid cell phone cards got us kind of caught up.  It was an uncomfortable night... we were sheltered enough from the north wind, but the waves were still coming off the bank from the strong west winds that had blown all day.

We moved on.  We had intended to stop at Big Majors Spot, so that we could snorkel the Thunderball Cave, but the north wind made it too cool for ME to go swimming, so we pushed on a little further to the marina at Sampson Cay.  It was our first time in a marina since we had checked in to the Bahamas at Chub Cay over a month ago. Everyone was very friendly.  We walked around the island, dinghied out to the shallow sand banks, but the sharks lurking around did not encourage me to swim!  I finally found some lobster on the menu at the Club at Sampson Cay, and the little store had quite good provisions (diet coke and chips), albeit expensive, as is everything in the Bahamas.  Charlie got the chance to scrub the decks, while I vacuumed and cleaned below, and we were able to check email.

As we fueled up on Friday, another vessel anchored close by called us on the VHF radio.  Jay Sea Dee had contacted Better Days via SSB radio, and left a message that they were at Rocky Point, (Great Exuma) and headed to Black Point that day.  We changed plans to go to Cambridge Cay, and returned to Black Point.  It wasn't too far; the wind was light, but we had a very pleasant sail, and got anchored there shortly before Jay Sea Dee and Charmed arrived.  Their crews headed ashore for Internet, and we met up with them for a very good combo pizza that evening at DeShaMon Restaurant, and heard about their adventures in the Jumentos (they were able to purchase lobster from a local fisherman), and told them our our trips to Conception and Cat Cay.

Saturday they were all busy ashore with laundry and more Internet, and it was too rough for us to take the dinghy to Bitter Guana Cay, where our Explorer chart for the area next to a sandy beach stated "NOTE: Protected iguana habitat on Bitter Guana Cay." So, we took Lady over there.

I was kind of doubtful that we would really see any iguanas.  I need not have been.  No sooner had we beached the dinghy than an iguana came out of the shrubbery above the sand to greet us.  He got MUCH CLOSER that I was comfortable with!  Soon there was another, and a third!

We were taking pictures, when another family arrived on two small motor boats from Staniel Cay.  They had brought lunch with them, and children and adults soon were opening up their cans of fruit and feeding the iguanas!

We found an iguana trail across the island and found the windward shore, with waves crashing in from the sound.  A good day to be on the beach.

A pot luck dinner aboard Lady with Jodi and John, Debbie and Craig was loads of fun, even though John beat us all at the game of Phase 10 continued from the previous night.

Next stop...Eleuthera!