Final thoughts on a great trip

I arrived home in Gainesville last night about 8:30pm.  On the ride home I kept thinking about everything that has happened over the past two weeks.  Even though I have done many Gulfstream crossings and spent a LOT of time cruising the Abacos during the seven year period that Mirage had a charter fleet based out of Marsh Harbour, I had not been back there in almost ten years.  So even thought I knew WHERE to go, I really didn't have a great idea of WHAT to expect.

First of all, I am amazed by how well the entire Great Harbour group "gelled".  I mean, even though we all have the love Great Harbours and cruising in common, this was a group of 13 folks with very diverse backgrounds - and most of us only knew each other peripherally or through the GHTA.

If you have been following this blog, you know that every boat crew had a challenge or two thrown its way.  But the entire group rallied around when necessary and we never had to leave anyone to figure things out for themselves.  Additionally, everyone endured weather delays, difficult docking conditions, and mechanical problems with good humor and grace.  I do not think there was a cross word between any of the participants.  Everyone seemed to truly enjoy everyone else's company and sharing the joy of cruising the islands.  I could not have hand-picked a better bunch of folks to share this adventure with.

However, I especially want to thank Jan & Dennis Taylor for allowing me to live aboard their gorgeous GH47, Mother Ocean, for the past two weeks.  They were the consummate hosts and were always gracious, fun to be with, and generous to a fault.  I owe you guys.  Big time.

As far as the itinerary went, I think I hit that one pretty well.  Other than a few long days to get there and to come back, most of our day cruises were short and easy.  I mentioned early on to the crews that it was a very marina- and restaurant- intensive itinerary.  This was because I wanted everyone to get a sample of what was available at each island we visited.  My guess is that each of these crews now have the confidence to come back on their own - spend more time, and truly experience the REST of the Abacos.  I mean, we never even touched on the many coves and anchorages that are available to explore.  On top of that, we didn't have time to linger and enjoy any fishing, snorkeling, or beach combing.

In September of 2019, most of the Abacos were basically leveled by Hurricane Dorian.  The always resilient Abaconians immediately began digging out of the rubble in order to lure back the American tourists whose dollars would fund the recovery.  A few short months later they were dealt the blow of a worldwide pandemic which pretty much wiped out tourism for two years.

Understandably, recovery in some areas has been slow.  I mean, construction and progress is always a bit more "laid-back" in the islands, but places like Marsh Harbour and Treasure Cay are still reeling as they attempt to get back on their feet.  The only thing that will speed that reconstruction is tourism.  From that standpoint, it makes me proud that our little group was able to spend a few weeks enjoying the Abacos and, most importantly, pumping a bit of money into the local economy.

Every single Abaconian we came in contact with, from marina staff, to waiters, to customs agents were gracious, cheerful, and genuinely happy to have us there. I was lucky enough to reconnect with several old friends and I am anxious to go back again.  I am sure the rest of the group feels the same way.

So, to Dennis & Jan aboard Mother Ocean, Bill & Betsy on Pipe Dream II, Cedric & Julie on The Office II, Lee & Karen aboard At Last, Mark & Cathy on Midnight Blue, and Drew & Joe on Chutay (the "Bro Boat"), I want to offer my heartfelt thanks.  You guys were a blast.  Let's do it again soon.  

ISLAND ERIC

Back to Florida

Everyone rose early to get a dawn start on the crossing back to Florida.  Mother Ocean, At Last, and The Office II were all headed almost directly across the Gulfstream to the original departure point at Palm Beach, while Pipe Dream and Chutay were taking the much longer route back north to Ft. Pierce inlet to try to save almost a full day of travel on their way back to home port in Jacksonville.

The forecast called for 10-15-knot winds out of the west-southwest with seas around 2'.  We left the breakwaters at Old Bahama Bay marina into somewhat sloppy 2-3' seas on the bow - with at least 15 knots of wind.  Oh well, at least it wasn't on the beam - like the crossing over!

Over the next couple hours, the two northbound boats got farther and farther away from us as they eventually went out of sight.  It felt a little odd to be such a small group after traveling together as a group of five for the past two weeks, but it actually wasn't too bad a ride.  There was a lot of chatter on the "Great Harbour Group Channel" (14), but that slowly dwindled as we continued east.

A little more than halfway across, the winds died and the seas went almost flat calm.  It was a beautiful ride and a fitting end to a wonderful trip.  Of course, we got the obligatory massive rain shower to wash all the salt off the boats about five miles from the inlet, but otherwise we had sunshine and fair seas for the remainder of the trip.

Just before 3pm the three Great Harbours cruised into Lake Worth inlet and, as suddenly as it began, the great 2022 Great Harbour Owners' Cruise to the Bahamas was over.  Mother Ocean headed into Sailfish Marina to dock for a few days while Dennis and Jan take care of some business obligations. The Office II continued north a few miles to a berth at Old Port Cove Marina and At Last...  Hey Lee and Karen, where did you head to this evening?  Lol.  We were so busy getting Mother Ocean tucked into a very difficult slip at Sailfish (lots of wind and current), that I never bothered to ask!

On my drive home to Gainesville I spoke to the Chutay crew.  Seems they and Pipe Dream entered Ft. Pierce inlet about 5:30pm during a blinding thunderstorm with lightning striking all around them!  They survived the onslaught and headed to Ft. Pierce Municipal Marina for the night, celebrating their successful crossing with a nice dinner at Cobb Landing.

So, tomorrow I will post the final blog entry with a few personal thoughts about the trip, the group, and the Abacos in particular.  It's been a whirlwind two weeks, but were back!

The Chain Gang

 

                                            Bill and his pile of anchor chain

Remember on the last post when I talked about the lovely 5-knot breezes at our anchorage yesterday evening?  Well, about the time everyone went to bed, those same breezes ratcheted up to over 20-knots.  Not only was this unforeseen, but it could not have been worse for our snug little anchorage.  The wind and waves were coming right into the mouth of the harbour, making for a real bucking horse ride on all the boats!  That extra three-hour ride to Mangrove Cay yesterday was looking like it definitely might have been the right decision after all.

I was up every 45 minutes or so checking to make sure that I could see all four anchor lights and that they were roughly in the same position as before.  Eventually, dawn came and all boats were still exactly where anchored!  So at 6AM, I rallied the troops to get up, get the anchors up, and start heading west to the Indian Cay channel and Old Bahama Bay Resort on West End, Grand Bahama.

                                                    Chutay!

At Last had their anchor up first, quickly followed by The Office II and Chutay. Bill, aboard Pipe Dream II, radioed that  his windlass seemed to have died and they could not retrieve their chain and ginormous 110-pound anchor, "Big Ben".

After several suggestions, it seemed that the windlass was indeed dead, so Dennis and I lowered his dinghy off the boat deck in the wind and waves and lit off towards Pipe Dream to try to help.  After determining for sure that the windlass was a goner, the three of us started heaving the chain up like an old-time tug-of-war while Betsy did her best to keep Pipe Dream pointed into the wind.

We eventually brought Big Ben home into his anchor chute, locked everything down, and headed back to Mother Ocean to re-stow the dinghy and get our own anchor up.

                                                    At Last!

The rest of the day was spent playing catch up to the 37' fleet and marveling over just how nice the day had become.  We all passed safely through the narrow break in the reef at Indian Cay Channel and docked the boats side-by-side in beautiful Old Bahama Bay Marina.

We spent the afternoon getting all the boats checked out of the country at the customs office, rinsing off salt, and having coldies at the pool tiki bar.

The big going away dinner tonight was a lovely affair at the resort restaurant where we all ate and drank our fill, while everyone had to listen to me wax on about how much fun it was introducing new folks to the Abacos.

I couldn't be happier or prouder of the way everyone bonded as a group this trip, coming together when someone had a problem, and just really genuinely being a fun and entertaining group!  I know that EVERYONE will be back someday - maybe even introducing more new folks to the beauty of the cruising paradise that is the Abacos.

Tomorrow morning, we all head back to Florida at dawn.  I will try to write another entry tomorrow to describe the crossing and talk a bit more about this great group that I was honored to be part of.

Beautiful ride north

Today we began the trek back to Florida in earnest.  Leaving out of beautiful Orchid Bay Marina at 7AM, we started our 10-hour cruise back to our anchorage at Great Sale Cay.

We went around the much-feared Whale Cay passage with zero drama. There were easy five-foot rollers coming in from seaward, but our hardy Great Harbours barely felt them.  We passed No Name Cay - site of our day with the swimming pigs, Green Turtle Cay, and other points north as we finally passed by our official Bahamian point of entry at Spanish Cay around eleven o'clock.

The initially blustery day evolved into a perfect, sunny, 5-knot-breeze day as we headed into the harbour on the southeast side of Great Sale Cay at a little before 5pm.  Now, there was some talk about continuing west for three more hours and anchoring on the east side of Mangrove Cay, but everyone was really tired and voted to anchor at Great Sale rather than slog on until 8.

Problem is, the anchorage we were holed up in is completely open to southwest and south winds - and we had 5-8-knot southwest winds!  Still, it was completely flat and comfy and the winds were not forecast to increase tonight.  So Joe went swimming off the back of Chutay and others (us) had drinks on the flybridge.  Everyone retired early after over ten hours on the water.  It was a perfect day and evening...

Pride goeth before the fall

                            Nipper's was closed, but the view is still spectacular

The Great Harbour fleet lit out of Boat Harbour this morning with cloudy skies and 10-knot winds from the southwest.  Due to Mother Ocean being the windward vessel in the docking line, we elected to let The Office, Chutay, At Last and Pipe Dream leave first, using Mother Ocean as a windblock.  All went well, and Mother Ocean was the last out of the marina.  We have been towing her dinghy all around the Abacos, so that I could use it to jet in to the harbours ahead of the fleet and make certain the docking situation was accommodating to our somewhat unusual vessels.

As we left the harbour, Dennis throttled back so that I could bring the dinghy up close to Mother Ocean and hop onto her swim platform.  Jan tied the line to the aft cleat on Mother Ocean and looked up in time to see a somewhat sour expression on my face.  She asked what was wrong, and I said, "I don't like the way you tied that cleat hitch."  So I untied it and did my own cleat hitch with only a single "locking" half-hitch at the end, saying, "THIS is a proper hitch and will NEVER come undone."

You see where this is heading, right?  About twenty minutes later, Dennis got a call from the dockmaster at Boat Harbour, telling him that one of our fleet had lost their dinghy and it was floating outside the breakwater.  Dennis was about to ask the group which idiot let their dinghy get away, when he realized that I was that idiot.  Yep, the dinghy untied my perfect hitch and floated off in the first minute or two after we throttled up to speed.

A half hour later - after many apologies and some VERY good-natured ribbing from Jan (I deserved much worse), we had the dinghy re-secured and we were back on our way towards Great Guana Cay.  Dennis turned on his aft camera so that we could keep an eye on that slippery little dinghy during the rest of trip.

                                                    Grabbers!

We were the last ones in to the docks at Orchid Bay Marina in Settlement Harbour, Great Guana Cay, and the winds out of the southwest had piped up well over 20 knots.  Fortunately everyone got into their slips okay, so we decided to hike on up to Nipper's Beach Bar for some refreshments.  After scaling the sandy hill, we were not pleased to find out that Nipper's is closed on Tuesdays!  Oh well, we took a few pics of the gorgeous beach and wandered back down the hill, hoping to find a better situation at Grabbers on Fisher's Bay.

Grabbers was indeed hopping and we had a great lunch washed down with several of the very strong "Guana Grabbers" rum punches.  It was a fairly relaxing afternoon as some hung at Grabbers, while others went back to the boats to do chores or nap.

                            The view over my computer as I type this blog

As I finish this blog post, I am hearing chatter on the radio about dinner - which I think most of us are just going to have aboard tonight.  But there is also talk of walking back to Grabbers for a little bit after dinner.  After all, this is one of our last nights in the Abacos and we need to make the most of it.  Tomorrow morning, we will be heading back to our anchorage at Great Sale Cay.  It will be a pretty long day and from there, Thursday's cruise will take us all the way to Old Bahama Bay Resort at the west end of Grand Bahama island.  There we will do our farewell dinner as, weather-permitting, Friday morning we all head back across the Gulfstream to the good old USA.  So I will sign off for now and head back to get some dinner - and check to make sure the dinghy is still tied to Mother Ocean!

Mahsh Hahbah - devastated

                            GH47s in Little Harbour

The intrepid Great Harbournauts dropped their moorings and left beautiful Little Harbour around noon yesterday.  The morning was spent enjoyably with a tour of the gallery and gift shop - and soaking a bit in Little Harbour's cool, blue waters.  We left LH in bright sunshine and mild winds, with some threatening clouds up ahead.

It was a lovely cruise for the first 30 minutes or so until we caught up to those dark clouds.  Winds remained light as we were all treated to 45 minutes of nice freshwater boat washing.  Around 2pm we were approaching the breakwater at Marsh Harbour's Abaco Beach Resort (aka Boat Harbour).  That is pretty much EXACTLY when winds increased to 20+ knots - which made for some pretty sporty docking, but everyone managed to get in safely, breathing a big sigh of relief!

                            Great Harbours at Boat Harbour

After getting settled, I offered to lead a group into Marsh Harbour proper - to see if we could find a place for a cold beer.  On the way, I was astounded and much saddened by the devastation wrought by Hurricane Dorian in 2019.  Most of Marsh still looks like a war zone, with houses and businesses that I used to know, blasted apart by the 200-mph winds and 13' tidal surge.  It looks like a different town with all the large trees gone.  It is especially sad after seeing all the excellent rebuilding taking place in Hope Town and Green Turtle Cay

                                        War Zone Marsh Harbour

We finally sat down at the very colorful "Colors Restaurant" on the harbour and drank a toast to the way Marsh Harbour used to be - and in hopes that it will someday be again.  Joe ordered a tropical conch salad from "Fatty's Conch Shack" right next store. Said it was delicious - but never offered to share it with me...

                                    Swimming at the marina

At 7pm, we all trouped up to "The Terrace at Marinaville" outdoor restaurant at the marina.  Food was delicious and the rain held off long enough for everyone to finish their dinner (I had pizza - YUM.)  Afterwards, we went to bed convinced that the winds would die and the weather would improve for tomorrow's trip to the "party island" - Great Guana Cay.

                                        The sun TRYING to come out!

Epilogue:  This morning, I visited a bit with my old friend Dane Stratton, a many generations native Abaconian.  He told me the horrific story and aftermath of being there during the absolute devastation of Hurricane Dorian.  His family's thriving fish market and freezing company was completely destroyed and the stories of what he and his family went through brought tears to my eyes.  No one will ever understand what these people went through in September, 2019.  The death toll in Marsh Harbour alone will never be known as most of the Haitian immigrants were undocumented.  In 2012, I made Dane and his family a 3' tall copper and bronze sculpture of the Hope Town Lighthouse.  It was one of their treasured possessions and oddly enough survived the wrath of the storm mostly intact - only to completely disappear sometime during clean up.  I went to Dane's parents house this morning and it will be an honor for me to make another lighthouse sculpture (this time incorporated into a corner table) for the Stratton clan.

                                 After the storm, but before it disappeared forever

Surprise! Little Harbour!

                                            Sunset over Little Harbour

Well, after the antics of last evening and the continuing rain and high winds as we went to sleep, I was fairly certain that we were going to be staying put in Hope Town for still another day and night to wait out this bad weather.  Even the local weather was predicting a rainy day with 20-25-knot winds.

So imagine our surprise waking up to bright sunshine and 10-15 knot winds from the west.  We immediately decided that we were heading south to Little Harbour - as per my original itinerary.  You see, Little Harbour is home to the Johnston Family and their art gallery, bronze foundry, and the famous Pete's Pub.  It is just about as idyllic a place as exists anywhere.  It would have been a crime to miss it this trip.  So, come noon, we all filed out of Hope Town harbour and pointed our bows south.  Well, that is, MOST of us filed out.  Joe and Drew were finishing up replacing the impeller on Chutay's generator - since we would be on moorings in Little Harbour and would need to run generators for air conditioning!

                                    Mother Ocean leaving Hope Town docks

So our little convey throttled back to about 5.5 knots and cruised slowly south.  Once Chutay was ready to go, Joe and Drew only had a few miles to make up to catch the fleet.  The weather on the two-and-a-half-hour cruise was spectacular and everyone was in excellent spirits.  I dinghied ahead into the harbour and helped each boat pick up their mooring as they entered the harbour in order.  Due to issues with Chutay's dinghy motor (do you sense a trend here?), we decided to go ahead and stick Chutay at the Little Harbour dock instead of a mooring.  That way, they could simply walk to the Pub.  No 50-amp power on the dock, so they still had to run their genset, but still better for them than a mooring.

                                Chutay steams into Little Harbour

Eventually, we all dinghied in to the beach and went to the Pub to listen to James Malone on the guitar and have some of Pete's signature Blasters (crazy rum drinks.)  As dinner time rolled around we moved from our picnic tables in the sand up to a larger table on the deck and enjoyed a delicious meal of ginger tuna, or cracked pepper wahoo, or lemon-pepper mahi, or even burgers.  A great time was had by all and then everyone made their way back to their boats.  It has been a long couple days getting through this storm and we are all very tired.

The plan for tomorrow is to hang around Little Harbour in the morning, go in to see the gallery and gift shop, wade in the water, and then head north in early afternoon.  We have a short two-hour cruise up to Abaco Beach Resort on the south side of Marsh Harbour's peninsula.  But more on that tomorrow.  Tonight, Mrs. Kraft's little boy is tired and ready for bed.  So I'll sign off with a few more pics from today.

                                Drew is happy to be in Little Harbour!

Tropical Storm = rain, wind, and.... panic!

As I sit here this morning in the pilothouse of Mother Ocean, typing away, it is a beautiful day with a few knots of wind out of the west.  The horrible weather from yesterday and last night seems a dim memory.  Now that the tropical disturbance or storm or whatever it was has moved off to the northwest, we can get back onto our 2022 Sea of Abaco Tour.  But let's review the events of yesterday.

Saturday dawned cloudy and very windy, confirming that we were going to skip the original plan of going to Marsh Harbour for the night.  NO ONE at all was moving around on the Sea of Abaco and we were staying put at the beautiful Hope Town Inn & Marina for at least another night.  Lee and Karen, aboard At Last, were a hundred yards away, tied to one of the marina's sturdy 7/8" line moorings.

I really didn't plan to write much of anything today.  Maybe a few pics of the windy harbour with one paragraph stating basically that we were stuck here with nothing to do but eat, drink, do maintenance chores, and play board games.  Pretty much everything in Hope Town was closed for the storm, so we all hunkered down for the forecast 35-knot winds.

                        Games and drinks in Mother Ocean's saloon

Everything was going pretty much to that plan until late in the afternoon.  About 5pm, several of us were sitting in Mother Ocean's saloon, playing "Shut the Box", not realizing the winds had increased dramatically.  Here in the marina basin, we are fairly well protected, so even though we were getting steady 30-knot winds with higher gusts, winds in the harbour were well over 40-knots.

Suddenly, Dennis looked up and said, "What the....!" as we all followed his gaze in time to see At Last go sailing by in the harbour, sideways and backwards, trailing the mooring float off the bow!  She had broken the almost-new 7/8" line on the  mooring and was out of control.

It was raining sideways as Dennis and I jumped into Mother Ocean's dinghy and went roaring after them.  Another yacht's tender was already there helping Karen disengage the remnants of the mooring line and float from At Last's bridle.  It was at that point that I ran over our own bowline, bringing the dinghy's engine to a halt!  In our haste to get away, neither Dennis nor I had secured the bow line inside the dinghy.  No matter, it only took me a few seconds to disengage the line from the prop and get going again.

In that time, Lee had the engines running and was attempting to get his boat under control.  We were almost alongside the fuel dock at Lighthouse Marina and I told Dennis to yell to At Last to get the boat to that dock anyway they could.  Unfortunately, the boat was blowing bow first out of the harbour, and that was the WRONG direction to be able to come alongside in 45-50 knot winds.

Lee yelled that he needed to continue out of the harbour in order to be able to get into the lee just a bit and turn At Last around.  So Dennis and I docked around the back of the fuel dock, climbed up on it and watched, hoping that Lee could get the GH37 turned around and headed back to us.  They blew perilously close to the sandbar outside the harbour, but Lee masterfully got At Last spun around and heading back towards us.

He needed pretty close to full throttle just to keep headway, and brought her in to a bit of a rough landing (how could it be anything but rough in those conditions?)  Karen threw me the bow line and I quickly got a couple wraps around the closest piling. Crisis averted!  With the help of another cruiser whose sailboat was tied to the marina docks, the three of us helped Lee and Karen get At Last tied and fendered securely to the dock.

Lee came out of the pilothouse and I shook his hand exclaiming, "YOU SIR, ARE A STEELY-EYED MISSILE MAN!"  Neither he nor Karen ever panicked and they did everything, as a team, 100% correctly, turning a very perilous situation into a happy ending with no damage to At Last or any other boats.  I said, "Lee, I would have been shi**ing!"  He replied, "You haven't seen my pilothouse floor!"

The remainder of the night featured extremely high winds and sideways rain.  I am sure ALL of us were very happy to be tied securely to dock pilings.

So this morning dawned bright and sunny with a bit of a west wind and our plan is to get back onto our original course and head to our moorings at Little Harbour this afternoon.  Chutay is having generator overheating issues and they may stay here in Hope Town to get that issue sorted out.  But the rest of us will be enjoying the hospitality of the Johnston clan at Little Harbour tonight!

Into each life some rain must fall.

 

       Drew, Jan, Dennis, & Joe exploring rain-dampened Hope Town

At least so said Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.  We were actually just starting to get used to the nice weather we have enjoyed over the past couple days.  But, as most of you know, the very untimely "Potential Tropical Storm Alex" has been working its way up the Florida coast and has impacted our weather quite negatively.

The plan was to be in Hope Town for two nights and then head over to Marsh Harbour for a night at the newly rebuilt Marsh Harbour Marina docks - with dinner at Wally's.  Instead, with 30+ knot winds forecast along with heavy rain, we will probably just stay put here in the beautiful Hope Town Inn & Marina.

But we're getting a bit ahead of ourselves here.  Most of the group decided to get up at a reasonable hour this morning and dinghy over to Cap'n Jack's for breakfast.  Back when I ran the charter boats, Jack's had the best breakfast in town.  The operative word here is "had".  We dinghied over only to find out that they are no longer open for breakfast.  No matter.  We just crossed back to the marina and had breakfast at Bridget's.

Next, even though it was threatening to rain, I cajoled three dinghy-loads of folks to head on down the coast of Elbow Cay towards Tahiti Beach - with the promise of lunch at Firefly resort later.  Well, about halfway down the coast, the wind suddenly blew up to 20 knots and the waves increased too. We quickly turned around and headed back to the safe harbour!  I was now 0 for 2 on the day.

Still, we made the best of it, wandering around Hope Town in the drizzly weather, exploring the shops with me bemoaning the loss of so many landmarks in 2019's Hurricane Dorian - including my favorite haunts, Harbour's Edge, and the Hope Town Harbour Lodge.

  The remains of "Gary's Reef Bar" and the pool at Hope Town Harbour Lodge.  So sad.

W finally ended up back where we started the day, for drinks and lunch at Cap'n Jack's.  As we walked through to get a table on the dock, I heard a voice exclaim, "Eric!"  The voice belonged to dear old friend (and best waitress in the Abacos) Pippin.  Turns out that with the demise of Harbour's Edge, she is now working at Jack's.  It was sure great to catch up a bit with her.

Drew and Joe were actually much happier than they look with their Cap'n Jack's signature rum drink "The Jackhammer"

Intermittent rain showers kept most of the Great Harbour crews inside their boats all day, but at 5:45pm, we all met up at the shuttle dock for a ride across (picking up Karen and Lee enroute) to the town docks.  We were bound for dinner at the Abaco Inn, and, right on time, their van showed up to pick up 7 of our group.  The rest figured to wait a half hour for the van to drop the first load at the restaurant (located halfway down the island in White Sound) and come back. However, the rickety old Abaco Inn pickup was right behind the van.  So the other four of us piled into the back and away we went for a harrowing ride to dinner.

                                        Pool and beach at Abaco Inn
 

                                Dinner at the Abaco Inn

After drinks at the bar, shopping in the gift shop, and catching up with old friend Tom Hazel (manager of the Inn), it was time to sit down for dinner at a table with a beautiful view out White Sound and into the gray Sea of Abaco.  Great service, great food, and lively conversation made for a terrific evening, which finished with another harrowing truck ride back to the town dock - this time in the dark!

It had been a dreary day, but the intrepid crews all still had fun.  Tomorrow looks to be another one of those days - but with WAY more wind.  So we will probably be "stuck" one more night in Hope Town (oh darn!)  But Sunday, the storm will have cleared us to the north and the weather looks to be great for the remainder of this trip.  Everyone is looking forward to heading down to Little Harbour, home to the famous Pete's Pub.  Life is never boring on an Abacos cruise!

Smooth seas and Whale Cay

                           Mother Ocean leads the group out of Green Turtle

Today was an even more perfect day than yesterday with nary a ripple on the Sea of Abaco as the five intrepid Great Harbournauts headed south from Green Turtle Cay, bound for Elbow Cay and Hope Town harbour.  The sea was like a giant aquarium and you could clearly see starfish and conch on the bottom as we cruised across the calm turquoise waters.

                                Believe it or not, it's 12 feet deep here!

One obstacle in the way of a successful north-south transit of the Sea of Abaco is the much-feared "Whale Cay Passage".  This passage avoids a large sand bank by taking you out into the Atlantic, around the small, rocky Whale Cay, and back into the Sea of Abaco at Loggerhead Channel.  This CAN be a difficult or impossible transit during a rage sea (waves breaking all the way across the inlets).  However, rage seas only occur in winter or with a hurricane.  Suffice to say there was no rage sea today!

                             Hard at work transiting Whale Cay Passage

We continued on and entered beautiful Hope Town harbour at about 1pm, where we had our slips waiting for us at the Hope Town Inn & Marina.  I managed to burn my bare feet running about from boat to boat on the gray-painted dock surface. But we got everyone safely into their slips - plus helping Lee and Karen onto their mooring ball in the harbour.

After putting on some shoes - and getting everyone checked in at the marina office, we all got into dinghies and headed over to the Lighthouse dock.  The candy-striped Elbow Cay Reef Light has been standing watch over the central Abacos through all manner of storms since 1854.  The grand old lady is the last hand-wound, kerosene-fired lighthouse in the Western Hemisphere and her 1st-order Fresnel lens shines over 17 miles out to sea.  I have climbed the 101 steps to the lantern room countless times, but I still get a thrill out of it.  Every time.  I am sure the rest of the group did too as we climbed out onto the observation deck and took in the magnificent views.

                                                    At Last on her mooring

After coming down from the light tower, some of the group dinghied off across the harbour to check out the town, while others (me included) headed back to the marina.  I found a seat at the in-pool bar, ordered a delicious frozen pina colada, and soaked my poor scorched feet!

Later, we all met up at "Bridget's Rum Bar for another excellent and entertaining group dinner.  Now, the PLAN has been to stay here two nights and head over to Marsh Harbour on Saturday morning.  But, unfortunately, this tropical disturbance working its way up the Florida coast might prevent us from moving - with forecast winds of up to 35 knots.  If so, another day in Hope Town shouldn't be too much of a hardship!

Before I close out this day's blog, I wanted to share a very cool pic that my colleague Joe Senn took last night at the Green Turtle Club.  The light and colors are strictly from the underwater lights on the swim platforms and transoms of some of the boats.

Swimming pigs, Pineapples, and dinghies

   Mother Ocean docked at the Green Turtle Club.  Her dinghy ready to go!

Today dawned a bit rainy, but with the promise of much better weather coming.  Sure enough, by about 9 o'clock the weather cleared and FINALLY, we started to get the normal Abacos summer weather of 5-10 knot breeze from the southeast with blue skies, a few puffy clouds, and warm temps.  It improved my mood greatly.  THIS is what we came to the Abacos for.

Dennis, Bill, and I went to the Club for a delicious breakfast while others puttered around their boats doing chores and getting ready for the "2022 Great Harbour Green Turtle Beach Bar Dinghy Tour"!  At 11am, four dinghies roared off out of White Sound for a day of adventure.  In Mother Ocean's dink were Dennis, Jan, Joe, and me.  In Pipe Dream's dinghy were Bill and Betsy, along with Drew.  Lee and Karen were easy to spot in At Last's bright red dinghy, and we were joined for the tour by Larry and April aboard their Aquila catamaran's dink.

Pigs on the beach!                    

We made a beeline for a small cay just south of Green Turtle, "No Name Cay", home of the famous Abaco swimming pigs.  All four dinks tied up to Big O's dock and sure enough, a bunch of chubby oinkers were milling about on the beach.  Several in our group made attempts to feed them, but their continued bad manners forced us up to Big O's restaurant for a drink and some lunch.

                             April is surrounded by the ill-mannered locals

Lunch was a lot of laughs, but the service was incredibly slooooooow.  No matter.  We ate and drank our fill and the food was very tasty.  After relaxing a bit more and playing some ring toss, we moved on to the next stops on our dinghy tour.  Lee and Karen headed back to the Club to relax, Bill, Betsy, and Drew went into the New Plymouth settlement to wander around, and the rest of us headed across settlement harbour to the rollicking party at Pineapples.

                                       Waiting for our food at Big O's

At Pineapples, I ran into a bunch of old Marsh Harbour friends from my years as Great Harbour's charter captain in the Abacos.  It was great catching up with everyone, but now it was time to move on to the next stop - The Bluff House Beach Bar.

The dock at Pineapples - with New Plymouth settlement across the harbour

The Beach Bar was a great place to close out a very fun day.  With a perfect view across the Sea of Abaco, we relaxed until they shut down the bar about 4pm and we dinghied back around the point, into White Sound, and back to our docks at the Green Turtle Club.  Dinners were pretty much done onboard this evening as everyone is looking forward to tomorrow's adventure down to Hope Town!  So I'll leave you and sign off now - with a few more pics from the day's adventure.

The view from Big O's

                                     Serious Great Harbour Sales Guys

                            Jan and Dennis at Bluff House Beach Bar