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.
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