It's Wetter In The Bahamas

Remember the advertisement - It's Better In The Bahamas?

The phrase - It's Wetter In The Bahamas -  was coined by  Captain Merwin of Chrystina a couple of weeks ago.  It was certainly true for us during part of the time we were in Abaco.  We just returned from a 7 week cruise that included 4 weeks in Abaco Bahamas.  Located about 150 miles east of the Florida coast, the chain of small islands and cays are a great cruising ground.  Once the Gulf Sream is crossed and the Little Bahama Bank is crossed, the Sea of Abaco offers a cruising area popular to hundreds of cruising boats each year.  To us it was a unique experience with - more exposure to open anchorages and open ocean, clear water with reefs to explore by divers and snorklers, a life style by locals that is so relaxing and friendly I would be surprised if there were any locals with high blood pressure problems.

I thought I would use this space to give a chronology of our trip.  But I think I will only say we hit the high spots - Green Turtle, Guana, Hope Town, Marsh Harbour and Green Turtle again.  All were populated areas with cute little settlements and friendly people - locals and fellow cruisers.  Due to weather we didn't get to visit some of the smaller unpopulated Cays and explore beaches and snorkle there.  The anchorages were too exposed to the unreliable weather to be safe.

The return crossing of the Gulf Stream was as uneventful as the first trip.  We did loose our "buddy boats" about 20 miles out so we travelled the remaining 35 miles alone - nothing on the horizon but clouds.  Diane was a little jittery.  It was sad to see the boats we had spent so much time with and became so close to their crews all scatter in different directions - Wings, Uteca Wren and Xanadu to Exuma, Chrystina to Ft. Pierce for storage then home to Nashville for the crew , Katchen Abrez attempting Venice only to be driven aground on rocks in rough weather in Lake Okeechobee while crossing from Stewart to Ft. Myers, Persephone to Charleston and Freelance still in Abaco making new friends.
During our 4 weeks in Abaco Diane found some treasures on the beach  - conch shells, sea biscuits, etc. which she has hidden away on the boat somewhere so I don't step on them.  We did get to snorkle a little but not enough.  We did get to sail but surprisingly less than we thought.   I guess we expected too much.  We envisioned soft wafting breezes steady from the SE at 10 knots day after day.  That's what the cruising guide books promise.  We got all day rains, 20-25 knots of wind from almost every direction except the typcial prevailing SE winds and one exciting night of over 40 knots of sustained winds with gusts over 50.  Two days later that little storm turned into Burle which hit Jacksonville with tropical storm winds near hurricane force. Anchored boats dragging all over the place.  Everyone in Green Turtle was ready to fly home the next day.  But a couple of rum punch drinks by the pool the next afternoon had us all charged up to move on.  Even when we returned to Florida we got 5 of 7 days with rain; mostly all day drizzle type stuff not the sunny all day except for the 20 minute downpour more typical of Florida in June. The drought in Florida is definately over.

When we got to sail it was magnificent.  Going 40 miles at 6 knots under sail without ever needing to trim a sail was wonderful, particularly when we could look down into 15' of water and watch the sea floor go by underneath the boat.  The Sea of Abaco and the Little Bahama Bank are truely wonders of nature.

Ok - photo time.
In no particular order -
Main Street - Guana

Man O War boat building craftmanship

Man O War view of the Sea of Abaco

Road to the beach on Green Turtle Cay

Abaco Inn view of the Atlantic

Yes there were sunsets

Diane in the galley

Green Turtle Cay Club - home of the Tipsey Turtle

Center of the World Rock ( in case you wonder about such stuff)

Well the trip is over.  We had talked about doing it for years.  We finally got around to it.  Not sure what is next but we are thinking about it already.

Green Turtle goodbye

With a good forecast coming up, we are planning to leave Green Turtle Cay tomorrow so we will not have internet for at least 3 days, maybe up to 5 or 6.  If the weather cooperates we may be back in the states in less than a week.

New restaurant concept in Guana - "take in" instead of "take out" restaurant.

Hope Town photos

Man O War

Internet connection seems to have improved.  Here are another photo.  Sorry about the typos in the blog.  I guess I'm used to auto correct and I don't pay too much attention to spelling.  We should have some good photos to send from Hope Town tomorrow.

Friday the 17th??

Yes I know, Friday is the 18th but I don't really care.

From Guana and Man O War Cays

Hi everyone.
The weather has been untypical of the Abaco spring.  It has kept us in marinas for the most part this week but we are hopeful a high pressure area now in Mexico will bring a return to the normal weather pattern of sunny days and light breezes from the SE.  We are still travelling more or less with about 5 other cruising boats.  We seem to always wind up at the same marina or anchorage.  Some days we leap frog one another but we eventually seem to wind up in the same places.  It has been fun to get to know people from all over the south east USA.  Thanks to my my college buddy BJ we even met some local folks here on Man O War Cay who are live aboards.  They were very helpful in directing us to all the places to visit.

We left the Green Turtle Club Marina on Green Turtle Cay Monday the 14th under threatening skys but a rising tide.  After 3 hours of motoring in "on the nose" wind of about 10 knots and rain that often kept us from seeing "the nose" we passed through Whale Cay Channel which is notorious for rough seas in certain conditions.  We avoided the certain conditions.  We anchored in Fishers Bay off the north side of Guana Settlement and attempted to dry out.  We were in company with Freelance, Wings, Persephone and later Uteca Wren.  All boats that we had met before either at Green Turtle or West End.

We did find some time between rain drops to visit Guana and it's little settlement.  We also visited "Nippers" which is perhaps the most famous bar and restaurant in the Abacos.  Nippers is perched on a bluff about 50' above the beach with an absolutely astounding view of the Atlantic and the close in reefs that protect Guana.  Photos to follow.  The big attraction for us was that Nippers offers free local and international phone calls to customers.  Needless to say, we became customers but with one small problem.  Modern technology such as speed dial means that we don't memorize anyone's phone number.  Diane finally remembered Dana's number and called her for a brief chat.  Nippers is one of those places that is part bar, part restaurant, part civic center and part telecommunications center for the island.  Somewhere I read there are about 450 full time residents on Guana.  Nippers probably employs 10% of the population.

OK - photo time
The first 3 are naturally - Nippers

This one below is of downtown Guana Settlement. We found another post office (only open on Thursday afternoons).  We also found the house on the bluff overlooking the ocean that we rented with our children way back in '99.  That brought back some nice memories.

So, two night at anchor near Guana and it's off to Man O War in (you guessed it) a rain storm.  Entering the cut in the rocks to Man O War's harbor is a knee shaking event for first timers.  Sharp rocks are apparent above the water line and you imagination can only think its worse below the water line.  I'm not sure there was a 50' opening.  It certainly felt like 50".  Since it rained a slow steady drizzle most of the day we only got to visit BJ's friends for a few minutes before being driven below to dry out.  The treat of the day was an ice cream bar that had the absolute best ice cream since the last place we visited.  We found the local post office here open only on Thursday, the phone company office only open on the first Wednesday of the month and the only bank in town open every Thursday from 10 to 2.  Life moves at a different pace than we are used to but we are beginning to like it.  Our two nights and two days here were mostly rainy so we don't have any good photos of beaches, sun sets and sun rises.  But, here's what we got -

Yes, Ed - "there be dragons"

M O W is noted for boat building.

Our internet connection is getting a little goofy so we will try to send more photos later.  Tomorrow (Friday the 17th we are going to Hope Town is search of a restaurant and a swimming pool).

Green Turtle Cay

Tonight is our 3rd night here at Green Turtle Cay Club.  We've met several nice couples who are all making short spring cruises too -  Darrel & Jennifer on Freelance, Dave & Dotty on Wings, Bud & Jann on Persphone.  The wind has been NE 15-25 all day and is expected to remain the same tomorrow, then shift to the SE at 10-15 on Monday.  If that happens we will leave Monday morning and head south for Guana Cay and pick up a mooring near the small settlement there for the night and visit Nippers, a beach front restaurant on a high bluff overlooking the ocean and a beautiful reef.  We have snorkled on this reef before and if the water is calm we will do it again.  We may be travelling in company with Perspone to Guana Cay.  Thursday we shared a golf cart with Wings and toured Green Turtle.  I'll post some beach photos below.  Friday we napped and spent time at the pool and danced on the restaurant outdoor deck to a local regge band that played a few Waylen Jennings and Louis Armstrong tunes if you can imagine that.  Today we took the dinghy to town.  New Plymouth is a settlement of a few hundred people on the south end of the Cay about a 1 mile dinghy ride away.  We did some shopping for groceries.  Some products are from the US some from British Commonwealth countries.  After eating New Zealand butter on toast this morning I don't think I'll ever be happy with US cows ever again. Diane wrote some postcards.  They won't get mailed until next Thursday since mail is only picked up and delivered one day a week.  There doesn't seem to be poverty here but definately an economy of plain living on a basic level.  There are no supermarkets here, only little mom and pop groceries that carry basic necessities.  If you want more, go to the larger island town of Marsh Harbour - population of about 15,000 we were told.

So here are a couple of beach photos Taken a short walk from the marina.

These below are of the Sea of Abaco looking south from the Bluff House toward New Plymouth.  That's Dotty from Wings next to Diane.

New Plymouth is a town of quaint small houses and shops with narrow streets mostly used by golf carts and pedestrians.  We see a few cars now and then.

AND NOW FOR THE

PHOTO OF THE DAY THANKS TO DIANE

I have no idea why the text alignment just changed, but never the less - Diane spotted this star fish in about 3 feet of wate as we were riding in the dinghy back to the boat from New Plymouth.  It's about 10" from tip to tip.  We have seen several of these in the past week but this is the first time we had the camera when we saw one.

Bahamas bound

We made the Gulf Stream crossing in flat calm conditions, then had two days of great sailing from West End to Mangrove Cay on day one then to Foxtown roadstead on day two.  Steady 10 knot winds from the south both days.  Day 3 & 4 brought stronger winds and rain.  We are now docked at Green Turtle Club Marina on Green Turtle Cay.

I'm a little rusty on blogging so I'll just attach a few photos this morning and do some more later today if this attempt is successful.

The photo above is of our Gulf Stream buddy boat, Xanadu.  She is a sister ship to Sea Breeze.  Note the flat calm seas. It made for a long 11 hour crossing under power but the crossing was uneventful.

The above two photos are of sunset and moon rise from our first night at anchor in West End.  The photos were taken within a few minutes of each other.  Sorry about the blurry moon but you get the idea.

These two photos are of the marina property at West End - pool and beach.