Hopetown

We are spending a few days on a mooring in Hopetown Harbor, a special place that still retains a charm despite the invasion of tourists. The first night or two we anchored off the lighthouse and as darkness fell, I watched through binoculars as the keeper lighted the kerosene lamp. At first just a small spark in the darkness, then a pail orange glow, finally the bright warm light of the lamp shone out and the lense began to rotate, sending its occulting beam across the Elbow Cay Reef. The candy striped lighthouse is one of the prettiest sights in the Abacos.

Turtle Again

Here in Hopetown Harbor, I found another turtle, much friendlier. this time it was a young Hawksbill turtle, with his beautiful tortoise shell. He actually swam alongside the boat long enough for me to take his picture!

"Free" Lunch

While we were in Marsh Harbor this time, we decided to use the gift certificate I had won in the silent auction on Guana. We dinghied across the bay on a hot windy Sunday to have lunch at Curly Tails restaurant at the Conch in Marina. While we chomped on our conch burgers we watched the activity on the docks below us.

This marina is home to both Sunsail and Moorings charters and the docks were abustle with employees and charterers getting boats ready to go out. Both operations have good sized fleets here with catamarans becoming increasingly popular.

After lunch we wandered over to Boat Harbor to check out all the pretty boats, the white sandy beach and the amenities of the Abaco Beach Resort. The Sea of Abaco sparkled in the afternoon sunshine while we sat on a picnic bench merely enjoying the view.

Snake!

From Man-O-War, we crossed the Sea of Abaco to the Angel Cays. A group uninhabited cays off the east coast of Great Abacos. They have some unlikely names for Angel Cays--we anchored between Snake and Cormorant Cays. Deep Sea Cay lies to the south and between the Cays and mainland Abaco are tidal flats with warm water that's good for bonefishing.

Snake Cay was once a busy community, the port for a logging operation run by Owens-Illinois Corporation back in the 60's. When that dried up, the community was abandoned. Now all that's left are ruins. When we explored the area by dinghy, we discoverd that the shore of Snake Cay is littered with huge pieces of rusting equipment and tanks. We were saddened by the waste of resources, both natural and man-made, but that seems to be the way of things here.

The spot was a tranquil anchorage for a night, although after dark, we saw a huge fire just behind the casaurinas and wondered what had happened. We planned to go ashore the next day to investigate, but the weather had other plans, so we left and sailed north to Marsh Harbor to see what the next cold front would bring.

Just as I was about to pull up the anchor to head out, I looked down into the clear water and saw that a starfish was napping on top of it. With apologies, I took his picture and hoisted the hook!

The Heritage of a Craftsman

We anchored for a couple of days at the sandy beach in beautiful, but windy weather after the cold front. When the next front approached, we moved into the harbor and took a mooring for a couple of days.



Our first visit to Man-O-War was 35 years ago with Peter's parents. Then as now it was a boat-building center. Back in the seventies, craftsmen still built sturdy boats of native woods, now they have switched to fiberglass.


This island was settled by the first Albury who came ashore at the age of 16 and married an Archer lass. Today the Alburys still dominate Man-O-War. They run the marina, the major ferry service in the Abacos and they still build boats; the Albury women bake bread, work in the gift shop and run the sail loft which now makes canvas bags of all sorts for the tourists.


One evening during our stay, we went ashore to the Island Take-Away to order some fish in a bag. While we waited we wandered down the main street of the settlement past the sheds where the boats were built and repaired and noticed that someone was still working.


Peter stopped at the door to say hello and that is how we met Andy Albury. We had a wonderful chat as Andy described his background in woodworking. His grandfather built boats of wood and was the craftsman we had watched back in the seventies. Andy's father died when he was sixteen so Andy and his brothers worked for the grandfather helping him in his boatbuilding shop.


Andy, himself, became a master craftsman who built furniture, coffee tables, chairs, etc. and now he also makesbeautiful half-model boats which he sells at craft shows and art auctions here in the Abacos. When he learned of Peter's interest in woodworking, Andy invited us into his shop to show us something special. The floor was ankle deep in wood shavings. Tools and scraps of wood and projects in various stages covered every horizontal surface. This was the same shed that his grandfather had used when building some of the beautiful wooden boats of days gone by.



What Andy showed us was a small piece of aromatic cedar. He and his brother had discovered a fallen cedar tree which, he said, is a rarity here in the islands and they salvaged and used the wood in several projects. This was his last little scrap.


The cedar smelled wonderful and he gave me the piece to take with me. It's an odd souvenir, but to me it symbolizes the spark of human spirit that struggles to keep the old ways alive in the face of a changing world.

Man-O-War

On the ninth of March, we headed southeast from Treasure to Man-O-War Cay. We anchored in a lovely bight just off the narrowest part of the island.

A few other boats were in the anchorage including a classic ketch and schooner which are part of a sail training fleet that hosts Sea Scouts from the US and The Bahamas.

The beautiful clear water was deep almost to shore where a lovely little sand beach provided a convenient access to the island. We spent two days in this beautiful spot sheltered from the wind and we went ashore each day to explore.

The main road on the island runs its entire length. Known as the Queen's Highway, it is paved in some sections, but at each end of the island it dwindles to a track. Many cottages and gardens are along the Queen's Highway and we explored the highway from end to end. This is a stretch of the highway near the end.

The next entry will tell you more about our visit to Man-O-War.

The Dreaded Trough: March 6th

Weathermen hate troughs which are what's left over when a low pressure system runs out of steam. We don't like them either, for they bring unpredictable and unsettled weather.

While we were at Archers Cay, a trough settled over the area bringing squally weather. Just as we were finishing our dinner, a cold blast of air entered our cabin from astern. That's not a good sign when you're at anchor, so we sprang into action. The blast was soon by rain, thunder and lightning. Out in the cockpit, Peter quickly turned on the GPS to see if we had dragged. Sure enough we were quite a bit closer to the rocky shore as the wind now clocked with the squall. The wind was whistling right across the Sea of Abaco and our boat rocked up and down in the waves that quickly built up.

For over an hour the nasty weather hung around. Peter kept watch at the helm ready to start the engine if necessary, but the anchor held in its new position. I cleaned up the dishes and made coffee. We listened to other boats who were anchored nearby us. One had a particularly nasty situation with its anchor chain caught on its keel. It circled throughout the storm and eventually lost its anchor. Luckily the couple had a spare. Finally everything settled down.

The trough hung on, though, and the next day more squalls began to form. It seemed as if we were circled with black clouds and an occasional bolt of lightning decorated the horizon. We decided to pull up anchor and sail about five miles to a safe harbor at Treasure Cay.

It would have been a quick sail, but a large field of rain moved into place between us and our destination. Visibility up at Treasure was nill. So we leisurely sailed back and forth in the Sea of Abaco with a nice breeze and only a light chop as we dodged the rain squalls. Finally a clear patch of sky that had teased us for over an hour made it to Treasure . A rainbow arced over the tip ofr the island. We hurried into the harbor and anchored there until the trough was shoved out by a cold front two days later.

With the new plastic cockpit enclosure Peter made last summer for our boat, we stayed snug and dry despite the rain.

Archers Cay: March 5th

We had never been to Archers Cay, but it looked like a neat anchorage and the wind was right to check it out. So we sailed there from Guana to pay it a visit.

We were rewarded with an interesting time. As you can see, anchorage is a small bay formed by a group of tiny islands, the largest of which is Archer. We dinghied ashore to explore. In one of the tiny bays we found what looked to be a long dock that had been pushed out of shape by hurricane winds. It curled like a ribbon but was still attached to its pilings.

The dock turned out to be a bridge that connected a track road on Great Abaco to Archers Cay. We tied off the dink and started out to explore the road. The first thing we came to was an area that seemed to be a dumping spot of sorts. Here Peter discovered a dandy of pice of stainless steel that must have been a bow pulpit on a large boat. Still fastened to it, were several shiny stainless fittings. These might be useful, Peter thought and made a plan to come back the following day with some tools to retrieve them. We also found a tremendous quantity of PVC piping.

We followed the track road for a mile or two. The road passed from one to another hammock floating in shallow streams or small tidal pools.

Off in the distance we could see the pine forest. Abaco once had abundant pine forests but they were heavily harvested back in the 60's. They are all inland on Great Abaco, so we had never seen them. We followed the track road which must have been part of a lumbering operation and came to the forest. The wind whispered in the pines a soothing sound I hadn't heard since my last ramble in Macomb Park back home.

We saw lots of birds on our walk and the next day I returned to the pinewoods to take a few pictures while Peter retrieved his stainless. Archers were one of the original Loyalists to settle here, so I imagine this remote area of Abaco was at one time part of that family's land. Our visit here was cut short by the weather, but we hope to return and explore a little more.

Peter's Lucky Day

You may recall that we had a malfunctioning water pump which we planned to replace.

Eventually we left the luxury of Treasure Cay and sailed to Marsh Harbor so we could see about getting a new one, or at least some parts.

We were somewhat disheartened to learn that a new pump would cost $349 plus $150 for shipping plus a 7 percent "stamp tax." Mercifully, the 35 percent duty would be waived because it is a necessary boat part. That was what it would cost to have the part sent from the US.

On the other hand, we learned that there was a Yanmar Dealer in Marsh Harbor. Fellow cruisers told us we might be able to get parts there. So after a strong cold front kept us boat bound for a day, we headed ashore and walked a mile or so to Marsh Harbor Boat Yard.

There we found the most accomodating folks who cheerfully looked up all the numbers for our pump that needed to be replaced. Ian, one of the employees told us we'd have to wait for Victor, the parts guy to come back from an errand before they could tell us whether the parts were in stock or whether they would have to be ordered.

We hung out at the marina for a while waiting for Victor to arrive back "in the black pickup truck," wondering what the odds were that all the little parts we needed would be on hand. If so, we would be back in business.

As we strolled the docks we admired a pretty schooner named the William H. Albury, a charter vessel, which I believe was built here in the Abacos in 1963. It is a recreation of a 19th-century working schooner that can be chartered for six-day journeys throughout the Abacos. If you think you'd like to sail away on a schooner, you can buy it for a mere $220 grand!

Eventually, we spotted Victor arriving at the marina office so we walked back to see what would happen. Victor disappeard into the back room and came back a few minutes later. "If I were you, I'd go straight to the casino," he said. "It's your lucky day!"
Not only did he have all the parts we needed, but the bill came to a meager $34.00! We felt lucky indeed that our problem had been solved so easily!

A Million Dollar Lot: February 21

One day we were out for a walk on one of Treasure Cay's waterfront roads when we spotted a great white heron. At first I thought it was a statue beside a swimming pool, but when it took off and flew to a nearby vacant lot, I realized it was the real thing. I always enjoy the challenge of photographing a bird...never mind that I probably already have half a dozen pictures of herons on my computer. So we stopped at the edge of the lot while I aimed my camera at the wary bird.
A couple rode up on their bikes as we stood there. "A million bucks and it's yours," he said, coming to a stop.

We thought at first he was joking. "Wait a minute, I'll get my checkbook," I replied.

"No, I'm serious, we own it. It's for sale," he assured us. "We bought it a long time ago, thought we'd build a house for our parents, but life happened, they passed away, our kids moved out, so now we're thinking we'll just stay where we are." They had a house on the opposite shore of Treasure Cay.

We chatted for a while about the high price of property in the islands, an on-going source of debate here in the Abacos. Like us, these folks were retired snowbirds. They lived in Minnesota in the warm months.

"Well, it's out of our price range," we said finally.

"That's OK," the fellow assured us. "It's not a very good lot anyway. When the hurricanes come everything on this side of the peninsula gets trashed. Well, nice meeting you."

"With that sales pitch, it'll probably be a while before he sees his million!" I said to Peter as the couple rode off around the corner.

Of course, by that time the heron was barely visible behind a clump of vegetation. I snapped him anyway!

And the Winner is . . .

This year we were determined to see the Barefoot Man Concert, a free festival held at the famous Nippers Bar & Grill. So we headed to Guana Cay on Friday February 29, an eleven mile sail with a solid breeze. We joined quite a few other boats in Fisher's Bay. One of the sailboats was already in the spirit of the weekend displaying signal flags that spelled out Barefoot Man.

On Saturday afternoon, we went ashore to check out the settlement. We joined a crowd of visitors who were already ashore After enjoying the music and view of the ocean at Nippers (at left)., we headed down to Fisher's Bay to listen to the tunes of Steel Daddy at Grabbers, a bar at Sunset Beach. (below)

We also stopped by a fund-raiser for the newly formed Guana Cay Youth Sailing Club. Folks were raising money to purchase Optimist Prams to teach local youngsters the basics of sailing. The parents and kids had a bar set up along the street, a raffle and a silent auction.

In the spirit of the moment, I bid on a lunch for two at a popular Marsh Harbor restaurant named Curly Tails. Then I bought a Barefoot Man T-Shirt to further help the cause. Unfortunately I now had less cash than I had bid for the auction.

Peter chivalrously volunteered to return to the boat for more money. Good thing he did, because mine was the highest bid. Now we can look forward to Conch Burgers and Kaliks at Curly Tails the next time we head for Marsh Harbor. MMMMmmmm....Tasty!

Eclipse

February 20th was a total eclipse of the moon. We enjoyed watching from the cockpit as the moon drifted in and out of silvery cumulous clouds across a starry sky. At its point of totality, the moon appeared as bright as a shiny copper penny almost directly over our boat. It was a lovely sight combined with the anchor lights of boats, the festive lights of the resort ashore and the shadowy outlines of the palm trees that lined the harbor. We wanted to make the sight last in our minds because there won't be another to watch until 2010! (The photo is from Space.com)

A Curious Fellow

Treasure Cay Harbor seems to have a new resident, a young green turtle. I say "young" because this little guy is only about two feet long and probably weighs about 12 pounds. These long-lived reptiles range from 100 to 200 pounds full grown.

It seems that every time I go into the cockpit for a look around, I see the turtle poke his brown spotted head out of the water like a sock puppet, his bright eye peering back at me. He sinks slowly and then surfaces for a second look before he continues his rounds. Despite my best efforts, I have been unable to snap a photo of the little guy. Guess he's camera shy!

Despite it's name these turtles are not green but brownish in color. Their name is derived from their gelatinous green body fat! they are an endangered species, so it's very nice to see one paddling around looking healthy and happy!

PS: Since I wrote this, we have returned to Treasure and our fellow has a buddy. Ah, it's spring (well, almost!)

A Little Passage: February 16th

After a couple weeks in northern Abaco, we decided to head south before the next cold front caught up with us. To do this we had to scoot outside to the Atlantic for an hour to round Whale Cay. A sand bar stretches from Great Abaco to "the Whale" dividing the Sea of Abaco in two for all but the shallowest draft boats which are able to navigate the shallow "Don't Rock" Channel. The Whale Passage is always a little intimidating, especially since we had recently read an article about a small freighter that had capsized on the route when a storm 800 miles away caused 20 foot waves to break in the cuts.

Our passage was quite uneventful with good wind and four to five foot swells and a two foot wind chop. Once through the passage we had a rolly broad reach to our next port o'call, Treasure Cay. As we entered the sheltered harbor at Treasure, we speculated as to how many boats would be there and whether or not we would be lucky enough to get one of the three moorings.
We couldn't believe our eyes when we rounded the last turn and saw that the most desirable of the three moorings was sitting there empty!

Without a moment's hesitation, we snapped it up. We planned to stay at Treasure for a while enjoying the pool, beautiful beach, nearby shops and restaurants, free water and showers. It's the best of deals at only 12 dollars a night!

The next night there were 26 other boats in the little harbor seeking refuge from the cold front. One skipper who knocked on our hull early that morning wanted to know how long we were staying and was very disappointed when Peter said, "Oh, maybe eight or ten days!'