Salt Sprayed and Sun Warmed in Hope Town and Around. March 26- April 7

So the winds did die down a bit on Sunday March 26 and we made our way back to our mooring in Hope Town.  This will be our home until April 12 or so as we have the mooring for one month. And this sort of sums it up...when the kids were with us they were commenting on feeling the salt on their skin all week.  But we really like the sun warmed part!  We so much enjoy cruising the Bahamas and are very thankful we are able to experience it.

On Monday, Tom and Vicki (Grand Baron), DeVere and Carole (Job Site) and Scott and Brigitte (Putz’n Around) were all there and we were invited to Job Site to view the video of the boat rescue in Governor’s Harbour, Eleuthera. 

The boat has video security and DeVere was able to capture the images from when the boat broke loose, the boarding in the 6 foot seas and the cruise back to another mooring in the harbor.  Wow.  Seeing the angles of the rescue boat in the waves, the waves coming over the bow, DeVere jumping onto the swim platform etc. was just phenomenal.  A calm and collected captain of the rescue boat and the Job Site are to be commended on a job well done.  Wow.

We then went to Wine Down Sip Sip for dinner with Scott, Brigitte and Tom and Vicki to celebrate Tom and Vickie’s 35^th wedding anniversary a day late. 

As the waitress was taking names to split the check she had to differentiate the two Tom’s at the table.  This was Tom B’s answer.

Yes this is how the check came out!  At least mine was not Ugly Tom.

Tuesday was the Royal Marsh Harbour Yacht Club final hurrah for the season. 

It was a potluck near the Abaco Beach Club and Resort which has a special $1 a foot rate the nights of the YC functions instead of the normal $3.25.  So we planned to take advantage of this and attend along with Scott and Brigitte (Putz’n Around) who are also members.  We also were visited by Parker and Martha (Otter) who were at the Hope Town Marina and are also members.  So we told them about the function and they decided a change of scenery would be good.  So they headed over to the Abaco Beach Resort and joined us all for the party.  It was great getting to know them better at the function.  We also met long time members Bob and Judy (Elegant 1) who were former neighbors of our nephew Brian and his wife Holly at Lake St. Clair.  Here we are with Bob and Judy.

It was a fun event and we are glad we went.  We will continue our membership into 2018 for sure.

Wednesday and Thursday nights we anchored out at Lynyard Cay and Tilloo Cay respectively.  We did some high tide dinghy exploring near Pete’s Pub and saw many turtles.  We also dinghied to Snake Cay and saw an awesome Eagle Ray at the blue hole near the entrance of Snake Creek.

The Tilloo beach had this conch at low tide.  Julie picked it up and said it was a good six pounds or so.  Amazing how far it can move in each “burst” in the video below.

Friday we returned to Hope Town, our home until mid April.  We were invited to Tom and Vicki’s (Grand Baron) for a farewell toast as they are starting back to the US on Saturday.  Here is “Handsome Tom” having a good time.

We will miss you guys Vicki and Tom!  We hope our paths cross again soon.

We like to walk around the community.  The cute Lizard Lodge.

We took some nice walks on the Elbow Cay beach.

Sunday we dinghied over to White Sound and Tahiti Beach to enjoy the sunshine and calm seas. 

We had Tahiti all to ourselves as sunset approached.

Monday , Martha and Parker had been out and about for a couple days and fished “outside” on their way back to Hope Town.  They hooked five fish and boated three nice Mahi-mahi.  And they shared about 3 meals worth of fresh fish with us!  It was fantastic.  Thanks so much Martha and Parker!  The rest is awaiting us in our freezer.

Tuesday we took a walk along the northern end of Elbow Cay and discovered some new paths to some nice beaches.

We also did planning and reservations for boat repairs, next winters marina reservations (can you believe many marinas in Marathon already have a waiting list?) and other miscellaneous “housekeeping” and maintenance in the living quarters, engine room and bright work (teak varnishing).
Friday night we joined Scott and Brigitte and Curt and Cindi (Classic Cyn) for dinner at the Abaco Inn.  It was very good! 
We plan to move on to Manjack Cay (also known as Nunjack Cay) to anchor out for a few days and then on to the Bluff House Marina at Green Turtle Cay by the end of next week.  We will then start watching for Gulf Stream crossing weather later in the month.  That would mean settled winds and no northerly component to the wind for a couple days.  We hope to be back in the US by May 1 (we have maintenance scheduled with a yard in Ft Pierce) and probably won't post till we arrive. 

Here is a small collection of beach finds from this winter.  Note the piece of sea glass in the center.  We found it while we were walking on the beach here in Hope Town.  And we were discussing our trip to Michigan this summer when is was discovered....note the shape...the lower peninsula!

Thanks for following our blog.

March statistics:

Miles travelled:  Month: 273 / Trip to Date: 7776
Travel days:   15/ 170
Engine hours: 32 / 887
Locks:   0/ 47
Bridges opened:   0 /66
Days on hook or free wall:   7 /70
Gallons of diesel:  321 / 6263