One of the great things about having guests on the boat is that it gives us the opportunity to really play tourist. The past week with our friends Mike and Helen aboard has been like a little mini vacation for us. Although we only travelled a total of 27 nautical miles in 7 days, we really saw a lot of a few places and got to do some exploring. And of course we had some adventures along the way.
On Saturday morning we left Marsh Harbour to head for Hopetown, which was about a 10 mile trip. We wanted to get out of the marina and into Hopetown before the tide got too low. The wind wasn't in the right direction to sail at first, but once we got around the point of Great Abaco we were able to sail on the second leg of the trip. We arrived at Hopetown and as we were entering the channel to go in, a big catamaran was coming out so we moved to starboard to give them some room and promptly went aground. Luckily it was all sand and Dave was able to get us off. He then headed over to the other side of the channel and went aground again! Again he was able to back off and as we were getting ready for a third attempt, a guy in a chase boat for some sailing dinghies came over and told us that although it was pretty tight with 6 feet at this tide, if we lined up the range we might be able to get in. We felt pretty stupid for not having checked the cruising guide a chart carefully enough to see that range, as when we got it lined up we got in through the channel with at least a foot of water under our keel. As we entered the harbour we spotted a sign that said "Slow Down, You're in Hopetown".
Always willing to oblige, as we headed towards the mooring field in the harbour we went aground again. This time we were really stuck and we couldn't get off, so we decided to wait for the tide to come up a bit. Meanwhile we got the dinghy down and Mike and Dave went off to have a look at the moorings to see what was available. When they came back we tried to get off again, using the dinghy to swing the bow around, but still no luck. So we decided to have some lunch while we waited. As we were eating lunch another sailboat came in and although we tried to wave them off they ploughed into the shallows and went aground about 15 feet from us. Luckily they were able to back off and get on their way, passing us on the other side when the skipper said "Oh, are you aground?" - not the most observant captain we have met.
After a couple of hours the tide had come up enough that we were able to get off and we headed over to pick up a mooring. Hopetown harbour is a fully enclosed harbour chock a block full of moorings and we were nervous about how close all of the boats were to each other, but once we got settled in it looked like we were going to be okay, so we took the dinghy in to shore to go for a walk.
Hopetown is a beautiful little town on the northern end of Elbow Cay, which is about 3 miles long from north to south. The preferred method of transportation on Elbow Cay is the golf cart but there are areas where motorized vehicles are restricted, which makes it a lovely place to walk. It is full of beautiful summer homes and cottages with pretty gardens, walls and hedges and quirky names displayed on all manner of signs. Although it was really windy, we headed over to the beach on the Atlantic side and Mike and Helen braved the ocean and sand spray to go down and paddle in the water. Soon the sky was dark and threatening and it started to rain, so we headed back through town, stopping at an ice cream store to get a real ice cream cone - our first in months - since we left the US. Freezer burnt ice cream sandwiches in the Exumas can't compare to nutty coconut ice cream in a sugar cone - my new favourite flavour!
We took advantage of a lull in the rain to get back to the boat and although it was cool and windy that night we managed to have happy hour in the cockpit while watching the goings on in the harbour. The following morning was overcast, but there was no rain, so we headed off mid morning to visit the Hopetown lighthouse. This red and white striped lighthouse is a landmark for Hopetown and is one of the last hand lit and operated lighthouses in the Bahamas (and I imagine in the world). There are two lighthouse keepers that split the night in shifts to keep the light lit and turning. We climbed up the spiral stairs all the way to the top of the lighthouse where the lens is and where there is a balcony around the outside that affords great views of Elbow Cay and the surrounding area.
Our next stop was the swanky Hopetown Inn and Marina, on the same side of the harbour as the lighthouse, where we looked at the development plans (it's going to be pretty big eventually) in the office and then went for a walk around to check out the facilities and the big boats tied up there. By this time it was starting to warm up, so we headed over to the other side of the harbour and went for a big walk along the ocean side beach. We decided to walk back along the road, and stopped at the 'On Da Beach' Bar at Turtle Point for lunch. We had a nice lunch overlooking the beach - fish sandwiches all around, and Dave and I shared a delicious piece of coconut pie (which was actually more like a cake) for dessert. We waddled back to the dinghy and headed back to Romana for happy hour and supper later on.
Monday morning we decided to head a whopping 3 miles south to the southern end of Elbow Cay to see if we could do some snorkeling. We anchored just north of Tahiti Beach and headed down to some small islands off Tiloo Cay where we had heard there were some coral heads. On our way back up to Tahiti Beach we tried to help a sport fish boat that was aground by taking their anchor into deeper water and then rocking the boat back and forth, but they were pretty hard aground and just had to wait for the tide (been there, done that). We did some beach combing on Tahiti Beach at low tide and then went for a walk around the ritzy development at the southern end of Elbow Cay before heading back to Romana to cool off with a swim for Helen and Mike and a deck shower for everyone before happy hour.
That night there was a lunar eclipse and I decided to get up to watch it. It was a bit like watching paint dry as it took about an hour and fifteen minutes for the full eclipse, but I was able to watch much of it through the hatch while lying in my bunk. Towards the end I got up and went on deck to have a look with the binoculars and tried to take some photos (which didn't work at all). The 'copper moon' at the end was worth the wait as it was the first time I had ever seen that, but it didn't take me long to fall asleep after that.
Tuesday we left Hopetown and headed for Man O War Cay. Luckily the wind, although light, was in the right direction so we could sail with the jib, and Mike got to steer the entire way. Getting into the harbour at Man O War Cay was a bit of a nail biter, as it is a very narrow entrance with rocks on both side, but we made it in and then turned to port to look for a mooring. Well, if we thought the moorings in Hopetown were close, Man O'War was ridiculous! It was so tight that Dave had to steer through the mooring field to avoid all the boats. We picked up a mooring and we were about 15 feet from the boats in front of us and behind us, which was pretty unnerving. Mike and Dave went in to talk to the marina about the mooring we had picked up and we decided that we were okay where we were. Helen and I were wondering what was taking them so long and I figured Dave had found someone to talk to. Sure enough, when they got back Dave had all kinds of information about good places to snorkel from a fellow Nova Scotian who has been coming down to the Abacos for a month every winter for a while.
After lunch we packed up our snorkeling gear and headed across the island to the ocean beach to see what we could find. Although there were some waves, we decided to try it and it was worth it - way better than we expected - we saw a lot of fish. We went for a walk up and down the beach and then headed back to town (or, more accurately, the settlement), stopping at the ice cream store along the way where I had another nutty coconut ice cream cone.
We stopped at the grocery store to get a couple of things and decided to buy a six pack of Bahamas Goombay Punch to make Goombay smashes for happy hour. Much to our surprise the stuff came out of the can yellow instead of orange (which is the colour of Goombay Smashes that we have seen so far). Dave mixed it up with some rum anyway, and I tried some 'neat' but the consensus was that it was too sickeningly sweet to drink so we won't be buying that again. That's all part of the fun of being a tourist though!
We decided to spend another day at Man O'War Cay, so the following morning we went for a walk along the main street. Man O'War Cay is populated by a lot of folks named Albury. The local Abacos ferry service is run by the Albury Brothers and consists of an entire fleet of ferry boats named Donnie. It has become a bit of a game for us to try to spot all of the Donnies, and we have seen the original Donnie plus some of the later Donnies and we know they go up at least as high as Donnie XIV because we saw that the other day.
We stopped in at Albury Designs, where Andy Albury makes beautiful hardwood models of boats and we had a very interesting chat with Andy himself. The accent here is unusual but a bit similar to the south shore of Nova Scotia in some ways where they add an 'h' to the beginning of many words that start with vowels and remove the 'h' from words that start with 'h'. For example "We want to put an haddition on the 'ouse".
At the other end of town we went to Joe's designs, where I bought a t-shirt and a hand painted box (now I am really starting to feel like a tourist). We stopped in at a couple of shops where they make bags, and they are beautiful bags indeed, but Helen and I both have enough bags so we didn't buy any. To judge by the number of bags at Albury's Sail Shop they must ship them all over - they had four people working at sewing machines when we were in there. We decided to go out for lunch again, at the one restaurant in town - the Islander. They had a wahoo sandwich on their chalkboard outside but once we sat down the waitress told us there were only two left. Dave and Mike ordered the last two and Helen and I ordered grouper fingers. Continuing in the tourist theme, we split an order of conch fritters to start. When the waitress brought out the meal, she had an extra plate with a third piece of wahoo on it - she said it was too small to make a burger but the owner sent it out for Helen and I to try. The owner's husband had caught it fresh and it was delicious - one of the best pieces of fish I have ever tasted.
Although it was overcast again, we decided to go for another snorkel, and headed over to a spot just west of the harbour. Helen and I walked across the sand flats to see what we could find before we all went snorkeling and then headed in to 'Low Spot' which is a low, narrow piece of rock between the ocean and the sea of Abaco, where we went for a walk. Helen and I walked back to town while Dave and Mike took the dinghy back and picked us up at the marina.
Thursday morning we set off after breakfast, back towards Marsh Harbour. Helen and Mike had booked a room for the night as they were flying out the following day, so we decided to anchor in the harbour. Once we dropped the hook we decided to go for one last snorkel and we headed over to the north shore of Marsh Harbour to try to find Mermaid Reef. We walked the wrong way first, but once we got going in the right direction and found the public access beach we saw the dinghy mooring and the coral head. We swam off the beach to the head and although the coral wasn't all that impressive the fish obviously loved it because there were tons of them. And they were big! We saw a few fish we haven't seen before, including some beautiful blue parrotfish and a scrawled filefish, which Helen identified from our fish card when we got back to the boat.
We had an early supper of barbequed pork chops late that afternoon before Dave and Mike went in to check in to the room while Helen packed up. We went in and hung out there for a couple of hours and Dave and I had showers. That didn't turn out to be the extravagence I was expecting, as the hot water heater was not working so the water was room temperature, but it was a step up from a deck shower in my bathing suit, so I didn't complain too much.
We went for a walk looking for somewhere to get a small snack and some dessert, and found out that our plan to have breakfast out the following morning wasn't going to work, as everywhere was closed for Good Friday in the morning. After sharing some appetizers and dessert at Curlytails, Dave and I headed back to the boat, planning to meet back up again the next morning at Mike and Helen's room with breakfast fixings from Romana.
Friday morning we headed in just after 9 a.m. and had eggs and toast at Mike and Helen's room at The Lofty Fig before going for a short walk over to the Abaco Beach Club resort so Mike and Helen could have one last look at the water before they headed out. We said goodbye to them just after noon and headed back to Romana again.
We were both pretty tired out from being tourists all week, so we had a low key afternoon, which included a nap for each of us, before heading in for a walk around town to stretch our legs. Our plan now is to spend the next couple of weeks exploring the Abacos some more and then we will start heading back up towards Nova Scotia.
On Saturday morning we left Marsh Harbour to head for Hopetown, which was about a 10 mile trip. We wanted to get out of the marina and into Hopetown before the tide got too low. The wind wasn't in the right direction to sail at first, but once we got around the point of Great Abaco we were able to sail on the second leg of the trip. We arrived at Hopetown and as we were entering the channel to go in, a big catamaran was coming out so we moved to starboard to give them some room and promptly went aground. Luckily it was all sand and Dave was able to get us off. He then headed over to the other side of the channel and went aground again! Again he was able to back off and as we were getting ready for a third attempt, a guy in a chase boat for some sailing dinghies came over and told us that although it was pretty tight with 6 feet at this tide, if we lined up the range we might be able to get in. We felt pretty stupid for not having checked the cruising guide a chart carefully enough to see that range, as when we got it lined up we got in through the channel with at least a foot of water under our keel. As we entered the harbour we spotted a sign that said "Slow Down, You're in Hopetown".
Always willing to oblige, as we headed towards the mooring field in the harbour we went aground again. This time we were really stuck and we couldn't get off, so we decided to wait for the tide to come up a bit. Meanwhile we got the dinghy down and Mike and Dave went off to have a look at the moorings to see what was available. When they came back we tried to get off again, using the dinghy to swing the bow around, but still no luck. So we decided to have some lunch while we waited. As we were eating lunch another sailboat came in and although we tried to wave them off they ploughed into the shallows and went aground about 15 feet from us. Luckily they were able to back off and get on their way, passing us on the other side when the skipper said "Oh, are you aground?" - not the most observant captain we have met.
After a couple of hours the tide had come up enough that we were able to get off and we headed over to pick up a mooring. Hopetown harbour is a fully enclosed harbour chock a block full of moorings and we were nervous about how close all of the boats were to each other, but once we got settled in it looked like we were going to be okay, so we took the dinghy in to shore to go for a walk.
Hopetown is a beautiful little town on the northern end of Elbow Cay, which is about 3 miles long from north to south. The preferred method of transportation on Elbow Cay is the golf cart but there are areas where motorized vehicles are restricted, which makes it a lovely place to walk. It is full of beautiful summer homes and cottages with pretty gardens, walls and hedges and quirky names displayed on all manner of signs. Although it was really windy, we headed over to the beach on the Atlantic side and Mike and Helen braved the ocean and sand spray to go down and paddle in the water. Soon the sky was dark and threatening and it started to rain, so we headed back through town, stopping at an ice cream store to get a real ice cream cone - our first in months - since we left the US. Freezer burnt ice cream sandwiches in the Exumas can't compare to nutty coconut ice cream in a sugar cone - my new favourite flavour!
We took advantage of a lull in the rain to get back to the boat and although it was cool and windy that night we managed to have happy hour in the cockpit while watching the goings on in the harbour. The following morning was overcast, but there was no rain, so we headed off mid morning to visit the Hopetown lighthouse. This red and white striped lighthouse is a landmark for Hopetown and is one of the last hand lit and operated lighthouses in the Bahamas (and I imagine in the world). There are two lighthouse keepers that split the night in shifts to keep the light lit and turning. We climbed up the spiral stairs all the way to the top of the lighthouse where the lens is and where there is a balcony around the outside that affords great views of Elbow Cay and the surrounding area.
Our next stop was the swanky Hopetown Inn and Marina, on the same side of the harbour as the lighthouse, where we looked at the development plans (it's going to be pretty big eventually) in the office and then went for a walk around to check out the facilities and the big boats tied up there. By this time it was starting to warm up, so we headed over to the other side of the harbour and went for a big walk along the ocean side beach. We decided to walk back along the road, and stopped at the 'On Da Beach' Bar at Turtle Point for lunch. We had a nice lunch overlooking the beach - fish sandwiches all around, and Dave and I shared a delicious piece of coconut pie (which was actually more like a cake) for dessert. We waddled back to the dinghy and headed back to Romana for happy hour and supper later on.
Monday morning we decided to head a whopping 3 miles south to the southern end of Elbow Cay to see if we could do some snorkeling. We anchored just north of Tahiti Beach and headed down to some small islands off Tiloo Cay where we had heard there were some coral heads. On our way back up to Tahiti Beach we tried to help a sport fish boat that was aground by taking their anchor into deeper water and then rocking the boat back and forth, but they were pretty hard aground and just had to wait for the tide (been there, done that). We did some beach combing on Tahiti Beach at low tide and then went for a walk around the ritzy development at the southern end of Elbow Cay before heading back to Romana to cool off with a swim for Helen and Mike and a deck shower for everyone before happy hour.
That night there was a lunar eclipse and I decided to get up to watch it. It was a bit like watching paint dry as it took about an hour and fifteen minutes for the full eclipse, but I was able to watch much of it through the hatch while lying in my bunk. Towards the end I got up and went on deck to have a look with the binoculars and tried to take some photos (which didn't work at all). The 'copper moon' at the end was worth the wait as it was the first time I had ever seen that, but it didn't take me long to fall asleep after that.
Tuesday we left Hopetown and headed for Man O War Cay. Luckily the wind, although light, was in the right direction so we could sail with the jib, and Mike got to steer the entire way. Getting into the harbour at Man O War Cay was a bit of a nail biter, as it is a very narrow entrance with rocks on both side, but we made it in and then turned to port to look for a mooring. Well, if we thought the moorings in Hopetown were close, Man O'War was ridiculous! It was so tight that Dave had to steer through the mooring field to avoid all the boats. We picked up a mooring and we were about 15 feet from the boats in front of us and behind us, which was pretty unnerving. Mike and Dave went in to talk to the marina about the mooring we had picked up and we decided that we were okay where we were. Helen and I were wondering what was taking them so long and I figured Dave had found someone to talk to. Sure enough, when they got back Dave had all kinds of information about good places to snorkel from a fellow Nova Scotian who has been coming down to the Abacos for a month every winter for a while.
After lunch we packed up our snorkeling gear and headed across the island to the ocean beach to see what we could find. Although there were some waves, we decided to try it and it was worth it - way better than we expected - we saw a lot of fish. We went for a walk up and down the beach and then headed back to town (or, more accurately, the settlement), stopping at the ice cream store along the way where I had another nutty coconut ice cream cone.
We stopped at the grocery store to get a couple of things and decided to buy a six pack of Bahamas Goombay Punch to make Goombay smashes for happy hour. Much to our surprise the stuff came out of the can yellow instead of orange (which is the colour of Goombay Smashes that we have seen so far). Dave mixed it up with some rum anyway, and I tried some 'neat' but the consensus was that it was too sickeningly sweet to drink so we won't be buying that again. That's all part of the fun of being a tourist though!
We decided to spend another day at Man O'War Cay, so the following morning we went for a walk along the main street. Man O'War Cay is populated by a lot of folks named Albury. The local Abacos ferry service is run by the Albury Brothers and consists of an entire fleet of ferry boats named Donnie. It has become a bit of a game for us to try to spot all of the Donnies, and we have seen the original Donnie plus some of the later Donnies and we know they go up at least as high as Donnie XIV because we saw that the other day.
We stopped in at Albury Designs, where Andy Albury makes beautiful hardwood models of boats and we had a very interesting chat with Andy himself. The accent here is unusual but a bit similar to the south shore of Nova Scotia in some ways where they add an 'h' to the beginning of many words that start with vowels and remove the 'h' from words that start with 'h'. For example "We want to put an haddition on the 'ouse".
At the other end of town we went to Joe's designs, where I bought a t-shirt and a hand painted box (now I am really starting to feel like a tourist). We stopped in at a couple of shops where they make bags, and they are beautiful bags indeed, but Helen and I both have enough bags so we didn't buy any. To judge by the number of bags at Albury's Sail Shop they must ship them all over - they had four people working at sewing machines when we were in there. We decided to go out for lunch again, at the one restaurant in town - the Islander. They had a wahoo sandwich on their chalkboard outside but once we sat down the waitress told us there were only two left. Dave and Mike ordered the last two and Helen and I ordered grouper fingers. Continuing in the tourist theme, we split an order of conch fritters to start. When the waitress brought out the meal, she had an extra plate with a third piece of wahoo on it - she said it was too small to make a burger but the owner sent it out for Helen and I to try. The owner's husband had caught it fresh and it was delicious - one of the best pieces of fish I have ever tasted.
Although it was overcast again, we decided to go for another snorkel, and headed over to a spot just west of the harbour. Helen and I walked across the sand flats to see what we could find before we all went snorkeling and then headed in to 'Low Spot' which is a low, narrow piece of rock between the ocean and the sea of Abaco, where we went for a walk. Helen and I walked back to town while Dave and Mike took the dinghy back and picked us up at the marina.
Thursday morning we set off after breakfast, back towards Marsh Harbour. Helen and Mike had booked a room for the night as they were flying out the following day, so we decided to anchor in the harbour. Once we dropped the hook we decided to go for one last snorkel and we headed over to the north shore of Marsh Harbour to try to find Mermaid Reef. We walked the wrong way first, but once we got going in the right direction and found the public access beach we saw the dinghy mooring and the coral head. We swam off the beach to the head and although the coral wasn't all that impressive the fish obviously loved it because there were tons of them. And they were big! We saw a few fish we haven't seen before, including some beautiful blue parrotfish and a scrawled filefish, which Helen identified from our fish card when we got back to the boat.
We had an early supper of barbequed pork chops late that afternoon before Dave and Mike went in to check in to the room while Helen packed up. We went in and hung out there for a couple of hours and Dave and I had showers. That didn't turn out to be the extravagence I was expecting, as the hot water heater was not working so the water was room temperature, but it was a step up from a deck shower in my bathing suit, so I didn't complain too much.
We went for a walk looking for somewhere to get a small snack and some dessert, and found out that our plan to have breakfast out the following morning wasn't going to work, as everywhere was closed for Good Friday in the morning. After sharing some appetizers and dessert at Curlytails, Dave and I headed back to the boat, planning to meet back up again the next morning at Mike and Helen's room with breakfast fixings from Romana.
Friday morning we headed in just after 9 a.m. and had eggs and toast at Mike and Helen's room at The Lofty Fig before going for a short walk over to the Abaco Beach Club resort so Mike and Helen could have one last look at the water before they headed out. We said goodbye to them just after noon and headed back to Romana again.
We were both pretty tired out from being tourists all week, so we had a low key afternoon, which included a nap for each of us, before heading in for a walk around town to stretch our legs. Our plan now is to spend the next couple of weeks exploring the Abacos some more and then we will start heading back up towards Nova Scotia.