As I write this we are under way towards the East Coast of the US. That's right, we are saying goodbye to the Bahamas and starting to head towards home. We left Green Turtle Cay this morning at 6 a.m. and we should arrive somewhere in the US sometime between Monday afternoon and Wednesday morning, depending on where we go. The captain has a few different routes planned, and we will adjust as we go, depending on the weather. At the moment we have a light wind behind us and we are motor sailing with the jib and main up.
When I left off my last blog we had just said goodbye to our friends Mike and Helen. They picked a good day to leave, as the following day it rained for most of the day. We hung around in Marsh Harbour and managed to get some water (unfortunately it left a plasticy taste in our water tanks for a few day afterwards - maybe from the hose) and stock up on groceries once the rain stopped.
Things pretty much shut down in the Bahamas on Easter weekend so we spent a pretty relaxed Sunday just hanging out before sailing over to Hopetown on Monday. We managed to get in without going aground this time and picked up the same mooring that we had been on last time. This time Lucky Strike (the guy who owns the mooring) showed up in the evening to collect his fee, so we paid him for our previous stay as well.
We spent a couple of lazy days in Hopetown exploring a bit more and then set off back down south again to see some of the stuff we had missed on the first pass through. We had a really nice sail down towards Little Harbour and as we arrived there and got ready to drop the hook, our friends on Baccalieu arrived from Eleuthera. As LeeAnn put it, we couldn't have planned that any better if we had tried.
We went over to see them and catch up and made plans to meet them for lunch the next day at Pete's Pub. Unfortunately, despite the fact that it was a very calm night, there was quite a roll where we were anchored, probably a surge coming in from the ocean, so we didn't get a very good sleep.
The next day, after spending an hour trying to take care of an adware virus that had got onto our laptop, we took the dinghy in to Little Harbour. It is a nice harbour, but it is too shallow for us to get into, which was why we had anchored a bit to the north and dinghied in. It was a blistering hot day with almost no wind, but we set off for a walk around the settlement. The hub of Little Harbour is Pete's Pub, owned by Peter Johnstone, who took over from his father casting bronze sculptures here. There is a gallery exhibiting some of his work, as well as some other local artists. The vibe here is definitely 'hippy'. Pete's Pub is a grass roofed hut with a sandy floor and various bits and pieces which have obviously been added on over the years. They have t-shirts that say "where the elite eat in bare feet", which seems to sum it up (although it is a bit of a stretch to call us elite). We met the crew of Baccalieu for lunch and enjoyed a delicious wahoo sandwich with pineapple walnut coleslaw (yum) and peas n rice.
We had planned to go for a swim to cool off, but didn't really like the look of the beach (it was too rocky) so we gave that a pass and headed back to move Romana over to Lynyard Cay, a couple of miles away to the east, where we would spend the night. The weather has definitely turned here - the nights are calm, hot and buggy. Afer the third night of putting the screens in and sweltering with no wind Dave said "maybe this is a sign that it is time to get out of here", when we were talking about when we should head back to the US.
On Friday we headed back north again. We had planned to stop at Sandy Cay, near Pelican Cays Land and Sea Park, so that we could go snorkeling there. The reef is exposed to a cut in from the ocean, so you need settled weather to snorkel there and we thought we had an opportunity. Brad and Abbey from Baccalieu were keen as well, and we anchored just behind them and set off to the reef in the dinghy. The reef was definitely the most colourful one we have seen in the Abacos, as far as the coral went, and there were quite a lot of fish. We saw a turtle there and followed it for a while but then Dave spotted a shark and he wasn't keen to stay in the water. We spotted a second shark (or perhaps the same one) as we swam back to the dinghy. We decided to try our luck at the next dinghy mooring over, and after about ten minutes in the water we spotted another shark and got out. It's a shame, because I really would have liked to snorkel a lot longer, but swimming with sharks and barracudas is the only things where Dave is more cautious than I am, and it's not a good idea to snorkel alone.
Back at the boat Dave spent some time in the water continuing with his on-going project of scraping the fuzz off the hull. This involves snorkeling and diving under the boat while trying to scrub the growth off and it is pretty hard work, so he has been doing it in stages when we are anchored somewhere with clean water. Once he was finished this go at it we hauled up the anchor and set off north again. The wind had picked up so we unfurled the jib and had a great sail up towards Marsh Harbour. Looking at the forecast we decided to push on to Treasure Cay, even though it would make for a long day. I had laundry to do and west winds were coming.
When we got to Treasure Cay that night the first thing we did was head in for a shower. Since we were there a couple of weeks ago the ladies room has taken some abuse as only one of the 3 showers was functional. One was missing a shower head and the other a shower curtain. Luckily the third one worked and was available, so I took full advantage of unlimited hot water. Unfortunately that night the wifi was too bogged down to talk to any of the kids or grandkids, or other family, which was another reason we had gone there, but I figured we could try the next day.
Saturday was another scorcher, but I figured I had better go and get the laundry taken care of before it got too busy. Dave came with me to help carry the bags and we got there just after 9 a.m. The sign said they were open 8 a.m. til 4 p.m. but the door was locked and no-one was in sight. We were just walking back to the marina to see if they knew what was going on, when a young boy came running up after us and told us that the lady was coming to open the laundromat. We are on island time, so an hour later we were still standing in the shade of the palm trees and chatting to the boy when someone showed up. The story Dave got was that the woman who owns the laundromat was in Nassau and her kids were responsible for opening up, which seemed to make sense when two teenaged girls showed up and opened up before spending the rest of the morning texting on their cellphones in between loads.
When Dave came to pick me up he suggested we go and get the groceries, so we did that and went back to the boat. We had talked a bit about taking the next weather window to cross the Gulf Stream and Dave suggested that we head to Green Turtle that afternoon and get going! So much for taking advantage of the wifi at Treasure Cay, but I wasn't going to let that stop me from taking what looks like a good jump across. We set off across the swimming pool blue bay (ironic that I am calling it that, since the colour of swimming pools likely came from people seeing this kind of water in the ocean) and motored to Green Turtle, transiting Whale Cay Cut in very benign conditions.
We arrived at Green Turtle in time to go for a short walk around the settlement before heading back to the boat to prep for our upcoming passage. Unfortunately for us it was Saturday night and a waterfront bar was blasting music (and I mean blasting - it was REALLY loud) until 1 a.m. so we didn't get as much sleep as we would have liked. Closing the hatches was not an option as it was another hot, still night, so we suffered through and relished what sleep we did get.
I am going to try to post this blog before we get out of cellphone range. If all goes according to plan, the next one should come to you from the states.
When I left off my last blog we had just said goodbye to our friends Mike and Helen. They picked a good day to leave, as the following day it rained for most of the day. We hung around in Marsh Harbour and managed to get some water (unfortunately it left a plasticy taste in our water tanks for a few day afterwards - maybe from the hose) and stock up on groceries once the rain stopped.
Things pretty much shut down in the Bahamas on Easter weekend so we spent a pretty relaxed Sunday just hanging out before sailing over to Hopetown on Monday. We managed to get in without going aground this time and picked up the same mooring that we had been on last time. This time Lucky Strike (the guy who owns the mooring) showed up in the evening to collect his fee, so we paid him for our previous stay as well.
We spent a couple of lazy days in Hopetown exploring a bit more and then set off back down south again to see some of the stuff we had missed on the first pass through. We had a really nice sail down towards Little Harbour and as we arrived there and got ready to drop the hook, our friends on Baccalieu arrived from Eleuthera. As LeeAnn put it, we couldn't have planned that any better if we had tried.
We went over to see them and catch up and made plans to meet them for lunch the next day at Pete's Pub. Unfortunately, despite the fact that it was a very calm night, there was quite a roll where we were anchored, probably a surge coming in from the ocean, so we didn't get a very good sleep.
The next day, after spending an hour trying to take care of an adware virus that had got onto our laptop, we took the dinghy in to Little Harbour. It is a nice harbour, but it is too shallow for us to get into, which was why we had anchored a bit to the north and dinghied in. It was a blistering hot day with almost no wind, but we set off for a walk around the settlement. The hub of Little Harbour is Pete's Pub, owned by Peter Johnstone, who took over from his father casting bronze sculptures here. There is a gallery exhibiting some of his work, as well as some other local artists. The vibe here is definitely 'hippy'. Pete's Pub is a grass roofed hut with a sandy floor and various bits and pieces which have obviously been added on over the years. They have t-shirts that say "where the elite eat in bare feet", which seems to sum it up (although it is a bit of a stretch to call us elite). We met the crew of Baccalieu for lunch and enjoyed a delicious wahoo sandwich with pineapple walnut coleslaw (yum) and peas n rice.
We had planned to go for a swim to cool off, but didn't really like the look of the beach (it was too rocky) so we gave that a pass and headed back to move Romana over to Lynyard Cay, a couple of miles away to the east, where we would spend the night. The weather has definitely turned here - the nights are calm, hot and buggy. Afer the third night of putting the screens in and sweltering with no wind Dave said "maybe this is a sign that it is time to get out of here", when we were talking about when we should head back to the US.
On Friday we headed back north again. We had planned to stop at Sandy Cay, near Pelican Cays Land and Sea Park, so that we could go snorkeling there. The reef is exposed to a cut in from the ocean, so you need settled weather to snorkel there and we thought we had an opportunity. Brad and Abbey from Baccalieu were keen as well, and we anchored just behind them and set off to the reef in the dinghy. The reef was definitely the most colourful one we have seen in the Abacos, as far as the coral went, and there were quite a lot of fish. We saw a turtle there and followed it for a while but then Dave spotted a shark and he wasn't keen to stay in the water. We spotted a second shark (or perhaps the same one) as we swam back to the dinghy. We decided to try our luck at the next dinghy mooring over, and after about ten minutes in the water we spotted another shark and got out. It's a shame, because I really would have liked to snorkel a lot longer, but swimming with sharks and barracudas is the only things where Dave is more cautious than I am, and it's not a good idea to snorkel alone.
Back at the boat Dave spent some time in the water continuing with his on-going project of scraping the fuzz off the hull. This involves snorkeling and diving under the boat while trying to scrub the growth off and it is pretty hard work, so he has been doing it in stages when we are anchored somewhere with clean water. Once he was finished this go at it we hauled up the anchor and set off north again. The wind had picked up so we unfurled the jib and had a great sail up towards Marsh Harbour. Looking at the forecast we decided to push on to Treasure Cay, even though it would make for a long day. I had laundry to do and west winds were coming.
When we got to Treasure Cay that night the first thing we did was head in for a shower. Since we were there a couple of weeks ago the ladies room has taken some abuse as only one of the 3 showers was functional. One was missing a shower head and the other a shower curtain. Luckily the third one worked and was available, so I took full advantage of unlimited hot water. Unfortunately that night the wifi was too bogged down to talk to any of the kids or grandkids, or other family, which was another reason we had gone there, but I figured we could try the next day.
Saturday was another scorcher, but I figured I had better go and get the laundry taken care of before it got too busy. Dave came with me to help carry the bags and we got there just after 9 a.m. The sign said they were open 8 a.m. til 4 p.m. but the door was locked and no-one was in sight. We were just walking back to the marina to see if they knew what was going on, when a young boy came running up after us and told us that the lady was coming to open the laundromat. We are on island time, so an hour later we were still standing in the shade of the palm trees and chatting to the boy when someone showed up. The story Dave got was that the woman who owns the laundromat was in Nassau and her kids were responsible for opening up, which seemed to make sense when two teenaged girls showed up and opened up before spending the rest of the morning texting on their cellphones in between loads.
When Dave came to pick me up he suggested we go and get the groceries, so we did that and went back to the boat. We had talked a bit about taking the next weather window to cross the Gulf Stream and Dave suggested that we head to Green Turtle that afternoon and get going! So much for taking advantage of the wifi at Treasure Cay, but I wasn't going to let that stop me from taking what looks like a good jump across. We set off across the swimming pool blue bay (ironic that I am calling it that, since the colour of swimming pools likely came from people seeing this kind of water in the ocean) and motored to Green Turtle, transiting Whale Cay Cut in very benign conditions.
We arrived at Green Turtle in time to go for a short walk around the settlement before heading back to the boat to prep for our upcoming passage. Unfortunately for us it was Saturday night and a waterfront bar was blasting music (and I mean blasting - it was REALLY loud) until 1 a.m. so we didn't get as much sleep as we would have liked. Closing the hatches was not an option as it was another hot, still night, so we suffered through and relished what sleep we did get.
I am going to try to post this blog before we get out of cellphone range. If all goes according to plan, the next one should come to you from the states.