A Week of Anchoring around the Sea of Abaco. April 24-30

Wow, what a great week we had aboard!  The winds subsided and the anchoring was just great all week.  Sunday we left Marsh Harbor and anchored at Fisher's bay near the famous Grabber's and Nipper's bar/restaurants.  We met up with DeVere and Carole (Job Site) Scott and Brigitte (Putz'n Around) and
Tom and Vicki (Grand Baron) and went to Nippers for some people watching (it is their famous Sunday pig roast buffet and the place is packed!) and then on to Grabber's for a bite to eat and the sunset view.

 

 

There were 25+ boats in the anchorage that night, but really plenty of swing room and light winds so no issue.  The "dinghy armada" returning from Grabbers.

Julie and I stayed another night (only 4 or 5 boats on Monday) and walked a portion of Great Guana Cay, just exploring a bit.  Lots of homes for sale, some really nice places, some closed businesses, a really nice well stocked grocery store, a nice restaurant at the Orchid Bay Marina (more on that later).  It was however still too rough (at least for us) to snorkel the Nipper's reef area so we'll save that for another visit.
On Tues we moved over to Water Cay and had a great beach day.  Three beaches to walk and no one around. 

It was a great day to read, relax and walk before a nice meal aboard and another great sunset and cool breeze all night for good sleeping aboard.  The sunrise the next morning.

On Wed we moved to Man-O War Cay and rented a golf cart to explore the island.  Went to Bahama Waves and got a haircut for the first time in almost 7 weeks!  It is owned and operated by a third generation Man-O-War resident.  This cay is "dry" although they allow you to BYOB.  We had lunch (no BYOB) at the Hibiscus Café...good food.
Here is the local physical education class in the afternoon.  The teachers were running swimming races/lessons from the dinghy dock.

In the evening we took a nice walk around the island and saw some of the simple life being played out.  There was a small boy and his father walking and the boy was pulling a toy truck and later we saw him with a pull toy boat in the water.  Such a simple example of the life on this cay.

On Thursday we went Bakers Bay.  Walked the beach, dinghyed to a small cay, Gumelemi, and snorkeled and enjoyed the beach there. 

 We were the only boat in the anchorage.

 Coming ashore for a nice beach walk

 

The sunset from our beach walk......



 The sunset on the way back to the boat after our walk.

 

 

At around 9 PM they had a huge fireworks display!  Not sure what the occasion was but they were nice!

The sunrise the next morning and a starfish from the boat in 7-8 feet of water.

 

Friday we went to Orchid Bay marina with the plan to use the internet to finish our Grand Rapids tax return and to go to the Sunsetter Restaurant for a great dinner and sunset.

 

First, we walked over to Nippers and snorkeled the reef there....very nice.  No one else at the beach at 11:30 in the morning.

Came back and the internet was not working except at the office.  Sand flies were attacking Julie at the pool, no good internet, the sand flies would be thick at the restaurant too.....so we settled up with the marina for a "day slip" and moved back to Bakers Bay where a breeze would keep the sand flies at bay...no pun intended.   The plan worked and we had a nice night at anchor again.  It is such a nice beach to walk.  Fortunately the Bahamas have the "high tide" laws so the beaches are public up to high tide.  It is only the very elite who can afford a home in this private community, that is for sure.
http://bakersbayclub.com/
Saturday we again spent the day at Water Cay, again all alone there.  What a great spot.

In the afternoon we went on to Treasure Cay to meet up with Job Site and Grand Baron.
The marina from the pool.

A very nice 3+ mile beach with powdery white sand.....



The view from our slip at night.



 

Had a nice dinner at the restaurant there...although the special prime rib dinner was all sold out.  Our native Bahamian waitress was really good and humorous as many of the food items on the menu were not available and she was good at joking about it.   We had some good laughs!
The internet is good here....best we have had in the Bahamas.  So that is why we did blogging, talked with our children on Hangouts or Facebook and even streamed an Apple TV movie last night. 
We will travel on to Green Turtle Cay and then start watching weather for a crossing window back to Florida.

April statistics:
Miles travelled:  277 /Trip to Date: 3413
Travel days:   17 / 73
Engine hours: 47 / 391
Locks:   0/35
Bridges opened:   0 /14
Days on hook or free wall:   12/30
Gallons of diesel:  299  / 2593
We will be back to the Bahamas next year!!!!  Truly priceless!

Visitors from Washington (state). A Great Week Aboard! April 16-23

Well our final "confirmed" visitors for the winter season arrived in Marsh Harbour as planned.  Julie's cousin Denise and husband Dave arrived from the Gig Harbor WA area. 
Our travels with Denise and Dave after their arrival in Marsh Harbor were as follows:Day trip via auto with a guide south on Great Abaco, Hope Town, Tilloo Cay, Little Harbor and Lynyard Cay.  Here is a map of the area.

We had planned to take them to Nipper's Sunday buffet on Great Guana Cay, but the winds didn't really make that a favorable plan.  And Monday's winds were forecasted to be high as well so we arranged a land tour with a local resident.  He drove us south on Great Abaco and we stopped to see parrots, tour some homeowners gardens, stopped at a blue hole, the beach at crossing Rocks and Sandy Point and generally learned a lot about the area's history from Reggie our guide.  He was born in Nassau and moved to the Marsh Harbour area in the late 60's so he was a wealth of knowledge.  He pointed out all the "newer" pine forests as they original pines were logged for pulp.  He showed us and explained some of the development on the island, both failed and progressing fairly well.  All in all a very interesting day.

 

The parrots.

 Blue hole

 Crossing Rocks beach

After returning from the trip early afternoon, we cast off lines and motored over to Hope Town Inn and Marina.  We had planned to grab a mooring ball but they were all taken so we got a slip instead.  We took a hike up to the lighthouse and climbed to the top. 

We also took the shuttle across to the Hope Town settlement and had a little tour and ice cream before coming back to the boat for the night.  And of course, we had to have the obligatory key lime pie....meringue topped!...from Vernon's Grocery Bakery.

We also took a nice walk on the beach the next morning and had breakfast at the Reef.

On Tuesday, we cast off for Tilloo Cay and anchored out near a snorkeling spot.  But it was again too windy to go to the really good spots. So a little swimming was in order.

But we took a great dinghy ride to the south end of the cay and saw all the real estate along the shore....from very modest to very elaborate.  Preparing for the ride...the master at work

In fact we thought we should check this one out...it was for sale.

 Dock needs a little work....

On the dinghy ride that evening Dave thinks he see's "Jennifer's place"

 

 A little video clip:

 

 

Wed morning we pulled anchor and went south to Little Harbour and got the last mooring ball available at the time.  We had to go in early (before 9 AM)  to take advantage of high tide as at low tide the channel into the harbour is only 3-1/2 feet.  Dave and Denise leading the way.

This was Julie and my first mooring can for the trip....well for our boating life for that matter!  Denise and Dave take moorings all the time in WA so they were great coaches!! 

Our first mooring can!

 

It was again very windy and so it was nice to have the mooring ball and the protected harbour.  The famous Pete's Pub is in Little Harbour so after we took a hike out to the lighthouse ruins, we stopped for lunch.  Good food and a very interesting cliental in the pub.

 

Denise and Dave swam back to the boat....

Pete also has a bronze foundry and gallery on site for all his artwork.  Very cool (and expensive) stuff. 
On Thursday we moved to Lynyard Cay.  It was a great anchorage with a cool beach and even a little shelling.  Denise found a nice sand dollar at low tide.  Thanks for leaving it for our collection Denise!We all spent the afternoon relaxing on the beach...sun, shade, shelling, a nice little walk...what was not to like here!?  The cousins:

 

Friday night Cracker P's on Lubbers Quarters was having their full moon party complete with a buffet, T-shirts for sale etc....so we pulled anchor and went up to Tilloo Cay to the Tavern Cay anchorage (this was not too far north of where we anchored on Tuesday) and Dave and Denise found some good coral heads to snorkel and saw a lot of fish, a turtle and a sting ray.  They waited patiently all week for some snorkeling as the winds were so strong all the really good snorkeling sites were not possible.  So we are glad we finally found some decent snorkeling!
Heading out to snorkel





 

Never tire of these.....

 



 



We had some great meals aboard this week.  Here Dave is preparing some spiny lobster tails we had purchased in Bimini and kept in the freezer for such a special occasion.

 

It was again windy and we took the dinghy over to Cracker P's around 6 PM for their full moon party...yes we now have the t-shirts too. 

 

We met Tom and Vicki (Grand Baron), Scott and Brigitte (Putz'n Around), DeVere and Carole (Job Site) and Clark and Evelyn (Sea Moss) also joined us.  So it was a bit of a Looper reunion as well!

The food and drinks were very good and we headed back to the boat around 10 PM.  The wind had picked up and shifted more southerly so we were headed directly into the wind and waves... so it was a super wet ride the mile back to the boat...we were all salt water soaked.  At least it was warm!

We stowed the dinghy and hit the hay so we could get an early start back to Marsh Harbour so Denise and Dave could catch their flight home.  All went well all week in spite of the high winds.  Denise and Dave were so much fun to have aboard!  We miss you guys already!  We hope to see you in Washington this summer!

 

We stayed Sat night at Harbor View Marina and washed the boat, did laundry, re-provisioned at the grocery store and will head out on Sunday for Great Guana Cay.  We then plan to do Man-O-War Cay, then Treasure Cay before we start heading back to Florida mid May.
More later....thanks for following us!