Well we made it to the Abacos. Being here for a few weeks will make the transition from the ruggedness of the Exumas back to the hustle and bustle of the US East Coast easier. We are trying to ease into it, but it has been a bit sudden over the past couple of days.
The Abacos are a group of islands in the northern Bahamas, northwest of Eleuthera and east of Grand Bahama Island, which is west of West Palm Beach, Florida. Great Abaco Island is in the centre, with the Bight of Abaco between Grand Bahama and Great Abaco. To the north and east of Great Abaco Island are a series of small cays. To the east of the cays are the deep waters of the Atlantic ocean, and in between Great Abaco and the cays is the shallow Sea of Abaco, which will be our cruising grounds for the next few weeks. Dave said that it is like the Bras D'Or Lakes of the Bahamas. We shall see.
My last blog was posted from Royal Island, on the far western tip of Eleuthera, where we spent a quiet night at anchor before getting up early to depart the following morning. We slipped out at dawn and motored around the island to head northwest towards Great Abaco. Although we put up the main and unfurled the jib there wasn't enough wind for us to sail, especially because this was close to a 60 mile day and we needed to get into the Sea of Abaco through the cut and then anchored in daylight.
We spent the day motor sailing and listening to radio chatter from a number of other boats who were making the crossing as well. They were all fishing, which encouraged Dave to put out our trolling line and see if we could catch anything. After overhearing tales of big fish on, lines and leaders being broken, and gaffs being lost, I wasn't really sure what we were going to do if we actually hooked anything, but in the end we didn't have to worry. It was good entertainment listening to the fish stories anyway.
Conditions were good when we entered the cut near Little Harbour and by 5 p.m. we were anchored for the night just east of Lynyard Cay. Welcome to the Abacos...good cellphone coverage with fast internet even at this sparsely inhabited location... nothing is very far away here. But, as usual, another front is on its way so we have to look for shelter in the next few days. Sure enough the wind comes around enough in the night that even though it is fairly light there is a bit of a roll in the anchorage by morning.
We set off mid morning after yoga on deck (felt great), breakfast and a good look at the charts and the weather. The wind had picked up and we unfurled the jib as soon as we left and had a fantastic sail for 12 miles heading north towards the top end of Tiloo Cay, where we anchored just west of an island called Lubbers Quarters. We were protected from the south wind and once we got the hook down and had some lunch we decided to go for a bit of an explore. I was anxious to get off the boat and go for a walk after a couple of days being 'boat bound'.
We took the dinghy up to the south end of Elbow Cay, which is the long cay that has Hopetown on its northern end, and we landed just off Tahiti Beach where we went for a walk. The beach isn't very long so after exploring that we headed up the road to have a bit of a look around. Quite the culture shock after months in the Exumas - here are huge beach houses, paved roads, golf carts and other vehicles everywhere and signs of a lot of money. Once we got out of the wind it was pretty hot, so we didn't walk for long before heading back to the dinghy. As we went back to Romana a couple of dolphins surfaced about 30 feet away from us - awesome!
That evening a haze came in and it got damp - a sure sign that the front was approaching. It was a fairly calm night, but the wind picked up in the early morning and we had a 25 mile day planned, so we set off just after 8 a.m. The south wind was pretty strong and gusty (between 15 and 25 knots) so we unfurled about three quarters of the jib and stormed up towards Marsh Harbour. There are a lot of shallows in this area, so it is a bit of a tortuous path, which meant we had to gybe a few times and adjust the sails a lot, so I got a good workout on the winches. The wind continued to pick up as we turned east towards our destination of Treasure Cay - 15 miles on a beam reach with 20-25 knots of wind - Romana loves this!
It was blowing really hard when we approached the channel to Treasure Cay and there was some confusion about which way to turn to get in, but we figured it out and motored into the harbour there, glad to be out of the waves. There were no moorings available, but you can anchor in the harbour for $10 and use the marina facilities (showers, wifi, pool), so we dropped the hook and stayed on board for a couple of hours to make sure it was well set in the big winds before we went in to shore. The clouds had cleared off for a few hours and the sun was out so it was a good time to do some exploring.
Treasure Cay is an area where they like to use superlatives. The cinnamon rolls at the nearby Florence's Cafe are supposed to be "the best in the universe", and the beach on the north shore is "one of the ten best beaches in the world" according to National Geographic. I'm not sure when high season is here, but it seemed fairly deserted and quiet to me while we were there. After we checked in with the marina we decided to go see the beach, prepared to be underwhelmed, but I must say, even with all the beaches we have seen, it was very beautiful. The miles of sand make the water that amazing blue colour and the beach goes on for a long way. We were too late to try the cinnamon rolls as they had run out, but they told us they open every morning at 7 a.m. with fresh batches, so we planned to go back. We bought a couple of brownies instead - so excited to be able to get baked goods again!
Before we went back to the marina, we stopped in at the grocery store to pick up a few things. Even in this small community in the Abacos the selection in the grocery store rivals the best grocery store in the Exumas in Georgetown and again, for me it was almost overwhelming. I bought yogurt as a special treat. After stowing the groceries on the boat, we headed back into the marina for hot showers and a drink. Dave almost had a heart attack at the prices - $8.50 for a Kalik beer and a soda water - but again, 'Welcome to the Abacos'. It seems to cater to rich Americans, which has its pros and cons. Lots of services, but you pay for it.
When we got back to the boat, we both made full use of the wifi, surfing the internet to our hearts content, catching up on news and facebook and generally feeling pretty spoiled. The wind was still howling when we went to sleep. At 1 a.m. I woke up to rain and Dave had already been up for an hour watching from the cockpit as the poor people on the boat next to us had dragged anchor and were re-anchoring for the third time. I don't think too many people got a good sleep in the anchorage that night, but Romana's anchor held fast.
On Wednesday the wind changed direction but continued to blow pretty hard. We spent the morning working on our income tax (a bit of a challenge so far away from home, but I think we have it figured out for the most part). By mid afternoon the clouds had blown away again so we went in to go for another walk. Once again we were too late for cinnamon rolls, so settled for a piece of coconut pineapple pie from the convenience store, which was okay but nothing to scream about (I am already getting picky about baked goods after only a couple of days). The wind dropped off that evening so it was a quiet night on the hook and we slept pretty well.
Thursday morning we went in to get another shower (my hair hasn't felt this clean in months) and we successfully obtained a couple of "the best cinnamon rolls in the universe", for $5 each (so they had better be). We set off just after 9 a.m. and motored 11 miles over to Great Guana Cay, into about 10 knots of wind. We anchored in a little bay called Fishers Bay and went into shore to have a look around. We went over to see the beach on the east side and went for a walk and we didn't see anyone else on the beach. The sand here is quite different and much harder to walk in, so we are getting quite a workout every time we go for a beach walk.
Friday we got up and cleaned the boat up a bit, ready for the arrival of our friends Mike and Helen later that day. We had a great sail over to Marsh Harbour where we inched in to the marina we had booked (it was close to low tide and there wasn't much water under our keel) and got tied up. I got my hair cut and Dave got dinghy fuel and went to the liquor store and then we both walked up to the grocery store and stocked up for the next week. No free wifi at this marina, but we got showers before Mike and Helen arrived. After happy hour on the boat, and their 'orientation' on Romana, we went out for supper to kick off their week's vacation with us in the Abacos.
The next blog post will be after they head back home to Fort Saskatchewan.
The Abacos are a group of islands in the northern Bahamas, northwest of Eleuthera and east of Grand Bahama Island, which is west of West Palm Beach, Florida. Great Abaco Island is in the centre, with the Bight of Abaco between Grand Bahama and Great Abaco. To the north and east of Great Abaco Island are a series of small cays. To the east of the cays are the deep waters of the Atlantic ocean, and in between Great Abaco and the cays is the shallow Sea of Abaco, which will be our cruising grounds for the next few weeks. Dave said that it is like the Bras D'Or Lakes of the Bahamas. We shall see.
My last blog was posted from Royal Island, on the far western tip of Eleuthera, where we spent a quiet night at anchor before getting up early to depart the following morning. We slipped out at dawn and motored around the island to head northwest towards Great Abaco. Although we put up the main and unfurled the jib there wasn't enough wind for us to sail, especially because this was close to a 60 mile day and we needed to get into the Sea of Abaco through the cut and then anchored in daylight.
We spent the day motor sailing and listening to radio chatter from a number of other boats who were making the crossing as well. They were all fishing, which encouraged Dave to put out our trolling line and see if we could catch anything. After overhearing tales of big fish on, lines and leaders being broken, and gaffs being lost, I wasn't really sure what we were going to do if we actually hooked anything, but in the end we didn't have to worry. It was good entertainment listening to the fish stories anyway.
Conditions were good when we entered the cut near Little Harbour and by 5 p.m. we were anchored for the night just east of Lynyard Cay. Welcome to the Abacos...good cellphone coverage with fast internet even at this sparsely inhabited location... nothing is very far away here. But, as usual, another front is on its way so we have to look for shelter in the next few days. Sure enough the wind comes around enough in the night that even though it is fairly light there is a bit of a roll in the anchorage by morning.
We set off mid morning after yoga on deck (felt great), breakfast and a good look at the charts and the weather. The wind had picked up and we unfurled the jib as soon as we left and had a fantastic sail for 12 miles heading north towards the top end of Tiloo Cay, where we anchored just west of an island called Lubbers Quarters. We were protected from the south wind and once we got the hook down and had some lunch we decided to go for a bit of an explore. I was anxious to get off the boat and go for a walk after a couple of days being 'boat bound'.
We took the dinghy up to the south end of Elbow Cay, which is the long cay that has Hopetown on its northern end, and we landed just off Tahiti Beach where we went for a walk. The beach isn't very long so after exploring that we headed up the road to have a bit of a look around. Quite the culture shock after months in the Exumas - here are huge beach houses, paved roads, golf carts and other vehicles everywhere and signs of a lot of money. Once we got out of the wind it was pretty hot, so we didn't walk for long before heading back to the dinghy. As we went back to Romana a couple of dolphins surfaced about 30 feet away from us - awesome!
That evening a haze came in and it got damp - a sure sign that the front was approaching. It was a fairly calm night, but the wind picked up in the early morning and we had a 25 mile day planned, so we set off just after 8 a.m. The south wind was pretty strong and gusty (between 15 and 25 knots) so we unfurled about three quarters of the jib and stormed up towards Marsh Harbour. There are a lot of shallows in this area, so it is a bit of a tortuous path, which meant we had to gybe a few times and adjust the sails a lot, so I got a good workout on the winches. The wind continued to pick up as we turned east towards our destination of Treasure Cay - 15 miles on a beam reach with 20-25 knots of wind - Romana loves this!
It was blowing really hard when we approached the channel to Treasure Cay and there was some confusion about which way to turn to get in, but we figured it out and motored into the harbour there, glad to be out of the waves. There were no moorings available, but you can anchor in the harbour for $10 and use the marina facilities (showers, wifi, pool), so we dropped the hook and stayed on board for a couple of hours to make sure it was well set in the big winds before we went in to shore. The clouds had cleared off for a few hours and the sun was out so it was a good time to do some exploring.
Treasure Cay is an area where they like to use superlatives. The cinnamon rolls at the nearby Florence's Cafe are supposed to be "the best in the universe", and the beach on the north shore is "one of the ten best beaches in the world" according to National Geographic. I'm not sure when high season is here, but it seemed fairly deserted and quiet to me while we were there. After we checked in with the marina we decided to go see the beach, prepared to be underwhelmed, but I must say, even with all the beaches we have seen, it was very beautiful. The miles of sand make the water that amazing blue colour and the beach goes on for a long way. We were too late to try the cinnamon rolls as they had run out, but they told us they open every morning at 7 a.m. with fresh batches, so we planned to go back. We bought a couple of brownies instead - so excited to be able to get baked goods again!
Before we went back to the marina, we stopped in at the grocery store to pick up a few things. Even in this small community in the Abacos the selection in the grocery store rivals the best grocery store in the Exumas in Georgetown and again, for me it was almost overwhelming. I bought yogurt as a special treat. After stowing the groceries on the boat, we headed back into the marina for hot showers and a drink. Dave almost had a heart attack at the prices - $8.50 for a Kalik beer and a soda water - but again, 'Welcome to the Abacos'. It seems to cater to rich Americans, which has its pros and cons. Lots of services, but you pay for it.
When we got back to the boat, we both made full use of the wifi, surfing the internet to our hearts content, catching up on news and facebook and generally feeling pretty spoiled. The wind was still howling when we went to sleep. At 1 a.m. I woke up to rain and Dave had already been up for an hour watching from the cockpit as the poor people on the boat next to us had dragged anchor and were re-anchoring for the third time. I don't think too many people got a good sleep in the anchorage that night, but Romana's anchor held fast.
On Wednesday the wind changed direction but continued to blow pretty hard. We spent the morning working on our income tax (a bit of a challenge so far away from home, but I think we have it figured out for the most part). By mid afternoon the clouds had blown away again so we went in to go for another walk. Once again we were too late for cinnamon rolls, so settled for a piece of coconut pineapple pie from the convenience store, which was okay but nothing to scream about (I am already getting picky about baked goods after only a couple of days). The wind dropped off that evening so it was a quiet night on the hook and we slept pretty well.
Thursday morning we went in to get another shower (my hair hasn't felt this clean in months) and we successfully obtained a couple of "the best cinnamon rolls in the universe", for $5 each (so they had better be). We set off just after 9 a.m. and motored 11 miles over to Great Guana Cay, into about 10 knots of wind. We anchored in a little bay called Fishers Bay and went into shore to have a look around. We went over to see the beach on the east side and went for a walk and we didn't see anyone else on the beach. The sand here is quite different and much harder to walk in, so we are getting quite a workout every time we go for a beach walk.
Friday we got up and cleaned the boat up a bit, ready for the arrival of our friends Mike and Helen later that day. We had a great sail over to Marsh Harbour where we inched in to the marina we had booked (it was close to low tide and there wasn't much water under our keel) and got tied up. I got my hair cut and Dave got dinghy fuel and went to the liquor store and then we both walked up to the grocery store and stocked up for the next week. No free wifi at this marina, but we got showers before Mike and Helen arrived. After happy hour on the boat, and their 'orientation' on Romana, we went out for supper to kick off their week's vacation with us in the Abacos.
The next blog post will be after they head back home to Fort Saskatchewan.