Early in the morning we, and four other boats, head north
from the Eleuthera area towards the Abacos.
The winds are calm, the skies are clear, and the sea has a mild swell
coming from the east. Sails would serve
no purpose, so we motor for the 65 mile passage. As one of the boats, a trawler,
slowly passes us, they play swing music from their exterior speakers and are
dancing on the flying bridge while the autopilot keeps them on track – it is a
wonderful visual and indicative of the joyfulness of cruising life on the best
of days. A little later, another boat in
our flotilla catches a sizable tuna and, shortly thereafter, a nice
mahi-mahi. A couple of the boats see a
pod of pilot whales, but no matter how hard we look, they are invisible to us. Sometimes this passage can be white knuckled,
especially approaching the entrance to the Sea of Abaco
where the ocean waves can well up to heights that jeopardize safety. Today is
quite different, and by late afternoon we are anchored in the lee of Lynyard
Cay and preparing for a shared dinner featuring some of the recently caught
fish.
The next day we explore this southern portion of the
Abacos. We take the dinghy several miles
south to Little Harbor. Nestled at the base of the Abacos, the ocean side beach
begs to be explored as the waves lapping its shores originate in Africa.
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| Our group searches for shells and beach glass that may have come from as far as Africa |
The small
settlement features a very secure harbor ringed by a few homes, a casual
restaurant where we eat lunch, and the gallery/foundry of Philip Johnston and
his now deceased father and internationally known sculptor, Randolph Johnston. The
family settled in Little Harbor when it was totally undeveloped, and, for a
while, lived in a nearby cave while their simple home was hand built. The
beautiful bronze sculptures both in the gallery and around the premises reflect
the natural history and fauna of the Bahamas, but the prices are well
beyond our budget.
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| One of Philip's beautiful castings |
In an effort to work off the lunch, we head to some mooring
buoys at a reef near our anchorage and have the best snorkeling experience yet
in the Bahamas. We see extensive patches of healthy, varied
corals and plenty of small but diverse fish.
We head up to the hub of the Abacos, Marsh
Harbor, which is the third largest
city in the Bahamas. Sailing in the Sea of Abaco
is very easy. The short fetch in any
direction means we have smooth sailing in flat seas, many interesting harbors
and anchorages, and easy access to amenities. We find infrastructure far beyond
anything we have seen so far. The
conversation that evening revolves around the wonderful grocery store, rivaling
anything you could find in the States.
After almost six months of scrounging for groceries, this is a really
big deal for all the gals! We bicycle through town looking, unsuccessfully, for
some boat parts, stop for some ice cream (a real rarity), and visit a few
upscale resorts and neighborhoods. Towering over the town is a pseudo-castle
that was the retirement home of Evans Cottman, otherwise known as the
out-island doctor. Starting in the late
1940’s he practiced medicine, in the capacity of what would now be categorized
as a physician’s assistant, in the Bahamian out-islands, bringing medical care
to communities with no other health care services. His autobiography, Out-Island doctor,
is fascinating reading and a good representation of the hardships of out-island
settlement life. That evening our group goes to dinner at a marina restaurant
with a rake and scrape dance following. The highlight is a limbo demonstration
by a local resident that far exceeds our understanding of how a body can be
contorted.
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| We have sympathy pains, but he manages to walk away from it all! |
Marsh Harbor makes us feel like we’ve returned to
civilization, but some of the other Abaco
Islands beckon, so we
take a short sail over to Great Guana Cay and anchor in Fisher’s Bay. A dinghy ride and a walk through the neat and
tidy settlement bring us to Nipper’s, one of the best known beach bars in the Bahamas. It’s Pig Roast Sunday, the place is hopping,
and, even though we don’t plan on eating, it’s fun to bump into several couples
we had met much earlier in our trip. The
establishment is located on high dunes overlooking an endless beach on the Atlantic Ocean.
The surf is pounding on the near shore reefs and the variety of water
colors is nothing short of spectacular.
We leave with our friends for a quieter location, Grabbers Beach Bar, on
the shores of Fisher’s Bay and, to my delight, we find hammocks strung between
palm trees at the water’s edge. Again,
it seems so much more civilized than what we have experienced up to now.
The barrier islands of the Abacos are all quite close
together, so it’s an easy hop down to Man of War Cay. This interesting settlement was born shortly
after the Revolutionary War by loyalists seeking religious freedom. The village
is unusually neat and clean, and it is a dry island, reflecting the residents’
religious values. Many share the last name of Albury, a name known in the Bahamas for
generations of industrious boat builders. All along the main street are boat
yards and boat building enterprises. Throughout the Bahamas, Albury skiffs are the run-about
power boats of choice.
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| This one is about ready for launching |
In the wood shops
we see high quality cabinet making along with displays of beautiful wooden half
hull models.
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| Woodworking taken to an art form |
The next stop is Hope Town.
The entrance to the harbor is so shallow that we anchor quite a ways off
shore and dinghy in. Hope Town is famous
for its lighthouse, built in the 1830’s and still functioning with its original
hand crank works and kerosene mantle light within a fresnel lens.
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| Hope Town Lighthouse - perhaps the best recognized site in the Abacos |
We climb the lighthouse for a spectacular view
of the surrounding waters and interesting look at the mechanics.
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| View of the harbor with the ocean in the background |
Burt is especially intrigued by the quality
of the machining and clever design of the works.
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| This weight and gear mechanism is what keeps the light turning and requires winding every two hours during nighttime operation. |
At the nearby marina we meet one of the two
lighthouse keepers who invites us to come over at dusk to see him fire up the
lighthouse. Sadly, our distant anchorage
makes that impossible. We do walk
through the attractive village of historic loyalist cottages and some more
contemporary homes, all on narrow streets rimmed with picket fences and lovely
gardens of bougainvillea and hibiscus.
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| Pastel colored cottages and cascading flowers make Hope Town seriously "cute". |
It is primarily a tourist and resort island, but we are enjoying the
cleanliness and attractiveness, quite a change from southern Bahamian
settlements. A short walk through town
takes us to another gorgeous oceanside
beach.
Hope Town is on the north end of Elbow Cay. We sail down to its southern point to another
beautiful anchorage. A short dinghy ride
past some huge expatriate mansions brings us to Tahiti Beach,
a large sand bore near one of the cuts to the ocean. The currents have deposited shells along this
area, and we wander the bore at low tide looking for treasures. Whereas in the
Exumas we would have an area like this to ourselves, the Abacos are teaming
with boats including many bareboat charter boats and run-abouts from the nearby
cottages, so others have already gotten the best shells.
Sailing between sand flats, we head back to the snorkeling
area we discovered upon entering the Abacos.
While snorkeling in fairly surfy conditions this time, we see another
patch of picture perfect corals and find ourselves swimming with four large
(around six feet across) spotted eagle rays.
We only wish our strokes could be half as graceful as these swooping,
gliding creatures. That night the swell
of the ocean along with wind from another direction leaves us with a rolling
boat. We use a bridle off the anchor
rode to turn the hull in a more advantageous direction. It helps, but it won’t be a very comfortable
night. The payoff is a panoramic view of
reefs with breaking waves and the roaring ocean with spume from the crashing
surf spraying upwards beyond the barrier islands.
There is a serious storm system approaching, and all of the
several hundred boats cruising the Abacos are searching for a marina berth or
exceptionally secure anchorage. With squalls of up to 60 knots predicted, we
opt to head north to the marina at Treasure Cay. Unfortunately, we will need to enter the
channel at high tide, so we find a protected anchorage for the night a few
miles away. We will be able to pass through the channel the coming morning, but
in the very far distance we see flashes of lightning in the high clouds.
Something nasty is brewing. The next
morning we enter the Treasure Cay harbor at high tide with no problem. We find ourselves docking next to Lili, a
trawler captained by Jill Hautzenroder, a friend from Ohio.
With the bad weather looming, we head to the beach which is rated as one
of the top ten in the world. (Why does it seem we’ve seen more than ten such
rated beaches?)
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| Just another spectacular beach with powder pinkish sand |
It is a spectacular pure
sand crescent about 3 miles long with intense turquoise water. At low tide we take a walk to the far point
where sand bores extend far out from the beach.
Walking through the ankle deep rippling water, we spot numerous small
shells and sand dollars.
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| The sand bore at Treasure Cay with a darkening sky |
We enjoy
sitting along the shore in the beach chairs that come with our slip rental and
have a hard time leaving, but we can see the storm clouds thickening in the
distance. The rain comes with a vengeance that evening; it is our first serious
downpour in months so we are pleased to have the accumulated salt wash
away. Throughout the night it is howling
but we feel secure and snug in our floating home.
