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!