March 28 - Hopetown Lighthouse

Day 5 in Hopetown ... just a delightful little community!  They have a weekly rate (2 free days) at the Hopetown Marina that we'd certainly take advantage of except that we've got an IMPORTANT DATE to keep with ROBERT EWING on Wednesday, March 30! 

We spent one day just working on the boat.  Calm winds .. mild temps .. perfect weather for another coat of varnish on the teak!  People frequently stop by the boat to ask me why I'm working on the boat here ... and I always answer: Can you think of a better place?  Indeed not!  Varnishing teak is a labor of love between me and Maja!

Dan completed a few touchups on the gelcoat ... but his huge accomplishment of the day was getting our salt water hand pump to work!  It has not worked since we purchased the boat, and we've always been told "Awww, just take it apart, replace the gaskets, it will work just fine."  And in fact, it did!  Now we have a source of free water to use for pre-rinsing dirty dishes and other dirty jobs that you don't necessary want to use water that you paid for!

Brasso + several hours of polishing = shiny pump!

After a day of work, we spent the next day at play.  We dinghied over to the beach to go swimming, snorkling and read books on the lovely soft sand.  I realize all these pictures are starting to look the same, but I find it impossible to not get out my camera at each awesome spot.  We ran into our friends, Hank and Carol (s/v Kismet) on the beach as they just arrived in Hopetown and are staying here for a week.  Looks like we'll extend our stay too in order to spend time with them. NCAA Basketball to watch this weekend!

A trip to the Hopetown Lighthouse.

Another day, another task ... so we hiked over to the Hopetown Lighthouse.  The lighthouse is famous because it's one of the few kerosene powered lighthouses still in operation.  But it's the view of the Atlantic and Sea of Abaco that truly makes it worth the climb to the top!  Amazing ....

Hopetown Harbor ... you can only use a mooring.

Tomorrow is Tuesday, March 29, and we're thinking we may have to cut loose from this little piece of paradise and travel over to Marsh Harbor.  We'd like to find a place in the anchorage and do some grocery shopping before Robert arrives on Wednesday evening.  Wednesday was a good choice for him to arrive b/c we'll meet him at the bar in Snappas Restaurant, and Happy Hour on Wednesday runs from 5pm to 11pm!

Hopetown Harbor - March 24

Hopetown ... Island #6.

Thursday, March 24

We entered the harbor through the "deep water" entrance ... a tad nerve wracking because the charts showed us plowing through 4-5 ft of water, which was 7.7 feet because we were coming in at high tide.

But once we turned into the channel, we were welcomed by the famous Hopetown lighthouse, visible from many points in the Abacos. And most importantly, it marked the entrance into the deep water ... over 12 feet in the anchorage ... where you cannot really anchor because it's full of mooring ball ($20/day), but we were glad to be here after the rough start to the day we'd had.

This place is the epitome of cute, tropical island life.  All the homes and rentals are small and pastel and loaded with flowering bushes.

Gotta love a bar with it's own dinghy dock!

A harbor packed full of boats on moorings.

But we found a mooring at the end of the harbor so we're off by ourselves.

After an afternoon of walking the small streets, dodging the golf carts and doing our routine inspection of gift shops, art galleries, grocery stores and liquor stores, we came home with a large, fresh grouper fillet and my favorite rum drink mix - Dole Orange, Peach, Mango - haven't seen it since we left Florida.

No sunsets to celebrate in a harbor with 360degree protection, but the chorus of conch horns went off at the usual time.

We had planned to just stay here one night to let the winds settle down, but it's such a delightful town that we're finding ourselves easily swayed into staying longer.  This is a perfect spot to get the varnish and sandpaper out, and Dan's repair "to do" list is getting a little longer than usual.

And ... we just learned that our good buddy, Robert Ewing is coming to the Bahamas, Wed. March 30.

Nobody but Robert can call the travel agent a week out and manage to get an airline ticket!  We had just resolved that Mikel would be our only visitor this trip and started thinking of a strategy to move south into the Exumas..... when what to our wondering eyes should appear, but an email from Robert with his truly amazing news!  So, we'll be back in March Harbor on the 30th to pick him up and then sailing the Sea of Abaco until April 9th!  And, we'll be able to take him to the Barefoot Man concert on Great Guana Cay on April 1-2 (no clue who this guy is other than everyone is raving about the concert ... I think he's like the Jimmy Buffet of the Bahamas!)

P.S.

We have figured out that we have a 6-month supply of toilet paper on board!  And Dan was pretty sure his beer supply will hold out -- until he learned that Robert was coming!!  In fact, he noticed that Maja had a noticable list to port so we moved about two cases into my hanging locker to even things out a bit!

On to Man O War Cay - March 22 (2 Posts)

Tuesday March 22

After 4 days at Treasure Cay, it was time to get moving again. Even a top 10 beach loses it’s edge!

Bouganvilla everywhere! Pink, Purple, Orange, Red ...

We pulled into the marina where they let us tie up to a T dock to take on water. $9.00 flat fee so we decided this was a good time to hose off Maja as well as fill every container we had on the boat, in addition to our 100 gal tank. We also figured it wouldn’t be good form to leave Treasure Cay w/o visiting Florence’s Café for her oft-mentioned cinnamon rolls. I was seriously debating that they could be worth $4.00 until I entered the café and was overwhelmed with the delicious aroma of cinnamon and warm bread. And the size of these bad boys sealed the deal! So coffee and cinnamon rolls was a great breakfast at the dock and a great way to start the day (not to mention, celebrating our first unassisted docking at a fixed pier ... you should have seen me lasso the piling from 5 ft out!)

Then we were off to island #5, Man O War Cay. This island is bordered by two channels you can use to get to the Atlantic Ocean. From a distance, watching the breaking waves over the distance was a bit intimidating, but the north channel is reputed to be wide and deep (17ft). Maybe another day we’d go trolling for fish in the ocean, but today we had no wind so we just motored over to Man O War Cay, giving our batteries a chance to get a good charge and getting some hot water on board.

We hunted around for an anchorage and settled on a spot where several other boats were anchored, figuring that had to be a good sign. Plus, we could see signs of a small beach on shore so we could easily take the dinghy in to do some exploring.

It’s very cool how these islands adopted to transportation the size of a golf cart! The narrow paths lead to both ends of the island, so we walked about a mile to one end, and then crossed over to the Atlantic side.

Looks like good territory for a snorkeling excursion.

 

The island is dotted with several  resort developments. And many rental units active this time of year, judging from the number of people we met on the beach.

Yard art Bahama style! 

After exploring by land, we dinghied over to the main harbor. We had read that the entrance was shallow and narrow … "two large boats should not attempt to negotiate the channel at the same time". From our perspective, not even two dinghies should attempt to be in the channel at the same time! And the depth looked sketchy even from our inflatable! So, we were glad we checked it out before bringing Maja in pick up a mooring ball for a few days. The harbor had about 7ft of water, and it was also quite deserted … full of boats, but no people. Man O War Cay is far different from any other island we've visited.  More industrial than commerical.  All black people must leave the island by sunset. And then we learned that they don’t serve alcohol on the island …. phish …. no signature rum drinks to sample? Not my kinda of town!

So, we’ll stick with our peaceful anchorage for a few days as the winds are predicted to be “Light and variable” (aka. None) till the end of the week.

Wednesday March 23

Day #2 of snorkling and beach walking at Man O War Cay.  We also had plans to walk into town and check it out ... it may be alcohol-free, but it's also a real working harbor so it has some interesting boat-building shops to visit.

However, we learned a few lessons today that altered our plans ...
Lesson #1:  Always check the weather forecast, every day.  We don't have internet here in the anchorage, and we were a tad lazy about getting up for the morning cruisers net that always covers the weather.  Hence, we weren't expecting the change in wind direction from NE to SW, and the increase in wind speed to over 16knots.

Lesson #2:  When the guide book says that an anchorage does not provide good protection for winds from a certain direction, believe it!  We knew our little patch of perfection was exposed to S/SW winds, but how bad could it really be????  Very Bad as we came to learn overnight.  As the winds shifted and increased, our anchor held just fine, but it felt like we were sleeping on a bucking bronco... honestly, I was hanging on to the side of the mattress to keep from repeatedly rolling over Dan.  And the noise from everything clanking and shaking assured us of a minimal night's sleep at best.

Lesson #3:  We bought that motor lift for a reason ... so use it!  Every night!  Again, we got lazy about raising the dinghy because we figured we'd be taking the dinghy into shore in the morning for our excursion to Man O War harbor.  However, when morning came, all we wanted to do was get outta dodge as soon as possible because of all the rocking and rolling. And when the boat is a'bucking and the white caps a'sloshing, that is not the time to try and raise the motor and then the dinghy.  So, as we took off underway to Hopetown, with a protected harbor and abundance of mooring balls, we were forced to tow the dinghy thru the bouncing sea.  What could have been a delightful beam reach sail ended up being a slow, anxious motor because we were worried about how the dinghy would tow behind us as it jumped around on the white caps in our wake.

Hopetown Harbor ... famous for it's striped lighthouse.

All went well, and we arrived at another narrow, shallow entrance to Hopetown Harbor at high tide where we met a couple in their dinghy who guided us down to a mooring ball and even picked up the line for us!  Such hospitality.

So we'll hang here in Hopetown for a few days.  VERY cute town and a good stopover for Dan to equalize the batteries in hope of getting better holding power out of them after they are charged up.  Over our morning cup of coffee once we got settled on the mooring, a couple that we meet in Brunswick last summer came over in their dinghy.  What a small world!  They were on Dock 10, directly across the dock from us, Bev and Claude on s/v Summertime.  They have been here since December and are on their way back to GA, so we'll have drinks tonight on their boat so we can go over the maps and get tips from them on where to go (and what to avoid).

Island #4 - Top Ten Beach - March 18 (4 posts)

Friday, March 18

On to Treasure Cay (#4) with one of the top 10 beaches in the world.  We saw one in Barbados, so we are definitely excited to see the competition.

It was not easy breaking away from our idealic anchorage at Great Guana Cay.  It helped to listen to the weather forecast this morning and learn that a another cold front is moving thru, with very high NW winds that would clobber us where we were anchored.  The only drawback to the Bahamas (besides the expensive/unreliable flights) is that it's so damn flat ... which means we really have to hunt to find some high ground to hide behind when the winds build and hit us from a new direction.  All of a sudden, a perfect anchorage becomes fully exposed to the worst of the winds and building seas. 

So, out with the maps, and our intended destination of Treasure Cay was a good choice.  The anchorage isn't big, but it's fully protected on all sides.  If all else fails, it also has a marina where we can dock (albeit quite expensive) ...

After the flat seas yesterday, today we had a wonderful 15knot NE wind for sailing (signs of the impeding front moving in on Sunday).   We didn't have far to go, but we did have the tides against us so we picked a long, roundabout course because we needed to enter the very narrow, very shallow channel into Treasure Cay on a rising tide.

From my favorite perch on the bowsprit.

Can you believe that color??   :)

After a 5 hr, thoroughly delightful day of sailing, we called Treasure Cay on the radio around 4pm for directions on entering the anchorage.  Even though it was 3 hrs after low tide, the harbor master advised us to stay outside for another hour because they were experiencing an unusually low tide because of the full moon this weekend ... which meant it was lower than the 6ft they typically have a low tide.  No problem!  So we read books and sailed in circles for another hour ... as the sky clouded over and the wind picked up, and I shudder to say, we got quite chilly in the cockpit (no sympathy expected from the MN clan!).

Finally, at 5:15pm, we picked our way in ... eyes glued to the chartplotter because on either side of the narrow channel, the water depth was 2-4 feet.  Let me tell you, this is scary shit!  Treasure Cay has just 3 mooring balls and we were told they were all taken (darn ... we had hoped to be securely hooked to one of those bad boys when the storm came through Sunday-Tuesday).   The small anchorage was packed with boats, and as we weaved our way through, we worried we may have to opt for the marina if we couldn't find room to drop the anchor.  But alas, what did I spy through our high-powered binoculars ... YES ... there was one mooring ball bobbing around at the edge of the anchorage.  YESSSSSSSS. 

And we got the last one! 

The mooring cost $12/day and you get full use of the marina facilities ... pool, showers, trash ....they charge $10/day to anchor ... so YESSSSS, we were excited!  Full moon this weekend folllowed by the cold front, so we'll be here until Wednesday.

Saturday, March 19

Off to check out the beach.  And what a winner!  A 3.5 mile crescent beach with pristine sand without a bit of sea grass or reef to mar the clear, aqua water.  Barbados was nice ... but not this nice considering you had to climb down a rocky cliff to reach the beach.  This is, by far, the most beautiful beach I've ever visiited...

Straight ahead.

To the right.

To the left.

They even provide umbrellas and lounge chairs on the beach. 

And yes, that is a beach bar in the back with Grouper Fingers and Pina Coladas for lunch.  How long can we stay here???  We walked the beach, went swimming, read books. We stayed until they had stacked up all the beach chairs and taken in all the umbrellas, then reluctantly we headed back to the boat.  The temps have been staying in the mid-70s, which reminds us of perfect spring MN weather, only it's lasted for weeks, instead of 2 days!

Steve and Brenda

We met this Canadian couple at the Coco Beach Bar when we got the bartender into a competiton to create the biggest and strongest Pina Colada!  He is a pilot, and they flew their private plane in from British Columbia.  They are the 3rd couple we've met who traveled here in their private plane ... that seems to be the preferred way to beat to the hassel of getting here by commerical airline.  They had never been on a sailboat, and since pilots have an inherent understanding of sailing, we brought them out for a tour of Maja.  They ended up staying until well after sunset, and we watched the gorgeous perigee moon rise over the island.  It was a calm night and still winds, so we sat in the cockpit until we has solved all the world's problems!  Perfect company to chalk up that accomplishment!

The moon of huge. My camera doesn't do it justice.

Sunday, March 20

We welcomed the first day of Spring with another day at a most beautiful beach.  We met up with Steve and Brenda again for lunch at the bar ... Grilled Grouper and Grouper fingers, along with a new selection of drinks -- Goombay Mash and Mango Daiquairi!  They will be leaving by plane on Monday morning, and we will be leaving by boat Tuesday morning ... such are the paths that cross while cruising.

The wind has started to really blow from the ENE as predicted, and we got back to the boat with enough time to put up the enclosure and get the hatches locked down before the skies darkened and the rain began.  And then the winds really started to howl!  We felt secure on our mooring ball for the first couple of hours, and then we started to predict what would happen if the mooring lines broke or the holding gave way (such fun thoughts to entertain ourselves as the wind gets louder and louder!).  Dan got the anchor ready to drop just in case, and we slept with the anchor drag alarm on, just in case..... not that you really sleep soundly when you are listening to the wind get louder and trying to sense if the boat has pulled away from the mooring!


Monday, March 21

Thankfully, it was an uneventful night ... and the winds have continued to blow over 25knots as predicted.  So, one more day in Treasure Cay and then we'll shove off tomorrow.  The last day in an anchorage is never quite as pleasurable as the first b/c it's mainly a day of chores.  We need to replenish our water supply, so we spent most of the day shuttling back and forth to the marina with our water jugs.  It takes about 4 trips to fill our 100 gal tank.  But the sky is blue and the water is lovely ... so no complaints from paradise.  Gotta count your blessings as they come.

On to Great Guana Cay - March 12 (6 Posts)

Saturday - March 12

Moving on to another island today (#3 so far) ... cruising about 8 miles across the Sea of Abaco from Great Abaco Island to Great Guana Cay.  This is one of the smaller settlements in the Bahamas but it's got three key attractions we are looking forward to -- a 5.5 mile beach of pristine sand, two reefs close to shore with great snorkling, and Nippers Bar - with a reputation far and wide for an amazing frozen rum drink -- gonna have me a couple of them!  Nippers also has two pools that anyone can use ... my kinda place.  Make that four. 

We are anchored in Fisher's Bay off Grabber's Bar and Grill http://grabbersatsunset.com/index.cfm one of our new favorite places and home of the Grabber, our current favorite rum punch.  Sorry Nipper's.

We're in the tail end of the cold front, so temps didn't get into the 70s today, not complaining b/c we're in paradise and all, but I think we all would agree that paradise should at least be 75 degrees every day!  At least it's cool enough in the cabin to justify baking lazagna for dinner ... except that it's currently bubbling over in the bottom of the oven, so I'm going to have one yucky mess to clean up tomorrow (just so you know my days are not completely filled with beaches and snorkling and rum drinks!).

We are in the Fishers Bay anchorage, and when we came in at 3pm, there were 5 other boats. By 4pm, there were 15 boats at anchor! Wow ... we just watched a steady stream of boats come in, snug in our place close to shore. I think we'll be staying here for a few days.  From a distance, I could see one particularly beautiful boat ... another Bayfield 40 is sharing our anchorage!  Can't wait to get together with them tomorrow and share notes ...

Sunday - March 13
Hooray ... we learned this morning on the Cruisers Net that the Bahamas does INDEED follow Daylight Savings Time.  This is my favorite season of the year, and we couldn't be in a better place to enjoy longer days.

The number of boats in the anchorage has increased to 25!  It has been quite a learning experience to watch the number of places that boaters find to drop the hook.

Our anchorage is on the Sea of Abaco so we enjoy protected water at anchor. Today, we'll hike over to the Atlantic Ocean as that's where the reefs are. We've also heard there are two beach bars with signature rum drinks, so we're on a mission to sample those! 

Dan back from the sea!

Thanks to Daylight Savings Time, there now is enough time left in the day for us to get back to the boat and have dinner in the cockpit, watching the sun set over the ocean.  Priceless.

Monday ... Tuesday ... what day is it anyway???

Seriously, it if wasn't for the CruisersNet in the morning, we wouldn't know what day it is since we've misplaced our one calendar!  And since we've been hanging at anchor at Great Guana Cay, midst a stretch of settled weather, we've been sleeping through the 8:15 net broadcast. 

Suffice it to say, another day of boat projects in the morning (Dan has replaced the lines to our main and mizzen sails with brand new shiny ones) followed by an afternoon on the beach.  Today, we hiked over to the Atlantic to go snorkling on the reef.  Nice coral ... lots of pretty fish ... the water was a tad cool for my liking, but laying on the hot sand, under a warm sun is a nice way to take the chill off. 

We will stay here one more day.  Wednesday is pot-luck nite at the beach restaurant, and there is going to be a speaker describing her trip to Cuba.... we're hoping it was by sailboat.  She gave this talk last week and over 200 boats were in our anchorage.  So, we're taking advantage of our choice spot and staying put.

It's a Bahamian tradition to blow the conch shell at sunset, so Dan got himself a shell and has been working diligently patching the hole where the conch meat was removed and fashioning a blow hole.  Now, if he can just make some noise from it!  But it is something to hear -- every nite as the sun is dipping below the horizon, the sounds of conch shells echo across the anchorage.

Wednesday
Today marks our first full RAIN day in the Bahamas.  Until now, the rain has cooperated and only fallen after midnight ... after all dinghies have safely arrived back at their boats.

But, who cares, as we got wonderful news from Craig and Michelle which kept us distracted from any rain falling outside!

It will be a Savannah wedding, their favorite city.  They were torn between March and October, and since they didn't have a strong preference, we quickly voiced ours ... and October it is!  March would have messed with our cruising plans (priorities, right), and October is a perfect month to take Maja up to the Isle of Hope marina and get a slip for the month.

Thursday

There's a saying in the Bahama that you don't "have plans" you only have "intentions" ... and we like that a lot. It certainly helps us live with our changing intentions!

We had 'intended' to leave Great Guana Cay today, but our friends Hank and Carol (s/v Kismet) showed up in the anchorage this morning, so we hated to leave without spending some time with them.  Plus, there was not a breath of wind which doesn't bode well to a heavy sailing vessel!

The water is so clear you can see the shadow of our boat on the bottom, 12 ft below!

So today ended up being a great day for boat projects.  It was in the high 70s so after hoisting our Irish Flag, Dan got in the water and spent a couple of hours cleaning a light coating of algae that had started to form on the hull and prop (a sure sign we've been in one place for too long!).  The water was like glass so I got in the dinghy and put a coat of varnish on our teak rub rail.  When I did this last May in hot and humid Georgia, all I could think about was that there had to be a better place to do this job than GA ... and I think I've found it!

This worked great until a motor boat went by and the boat wakes sent me flying!

And to top off another perfect day in paradise, Dan got out our hammocks for the first time.  Ahhhh, rum never tasted so good.  We waited for sundown, watching boats come in to anchor for the night.  Alas, we do have to leave this spot at some point!  The winds are predicted to change on Sunday, so time to find a more secure anchorage for those conditions.

HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY ... WHEN EVERYONE IS IRISH!