Hangin' Out in Abaco

Fred taking a picture of me taking a
picture of him high over Hope Town

An Abaco Sailing Dinghy bobs gently in

Man 'O War Harbour

After several relentless travel days to finally make our way to the Bahamas and gorging ourselves on Jib Room ribs, we turned in early last night. Dawn came with light winds, some sun, and mild temperatures. So we threw some snorkel gear and our cameras into Sea Glass's dinghy and headed for Elbow Cay.

We were supposed to meet up with Spoonbill (our company Great Harbour N47 - and my usual ride in the Abacos) at Tahiti Beach. Captain Ken has a group of folks aboard for a training charter and they stayed on anchor last night at Tahiti Beach so that they could take advantage of the Full Moon Party over at Cracker P's.

I guess they must not have enjoyed the party too much, because by the time we arrived at Tahiti Beach at 10am, they were already long gone and on their way to Little Harbour - home of the famous Pete's Pub.

So, we turned around and headed in to White Sound to wander around at the Abaco Inn and check out their piece of the "space shuttle". It's a 6' chunk of aluminum honeycomb skin from some kind of rocket or missile that fell into the sea nearby at some time in the distant past. Of course, the real reason to go to the Abaco Inn (aside from their great parties) is to check out their beautiful stretch of beach.

From White Sound, the next stop was Hope Town and the candy-striped Elbow Cay Reef Lighthouse. This is one of the very few hand-cranked, kerosene-fired lighthouses left in the Western Hemisphere - I've climbed it 50 times and I never get tired of it. We all climbed the 101 steps to the lantern room where you can go out on the catwalk for a fantastic view of most of the central Abacos. As we left, we dropped a few bucks into the donation box for the lighthouse keepers where the sign says that all donations are "gladly excepted".

Well we had worked up a bit of a sweat going up and down those steps, so we dinghied back across the harbor and climbed a few more steps to reward ourselves with some ice-cold Kalik Lights at Gary's Reef Bar on the beach at Hope Town Harbour Lodge. Of course, Gary was his usual effervescent self, regaling us with stories about his local TV nature show, "Gary the Explorer", and about growing up in Spring City, just south of Marsh Harbour.

By now it was lunch time, so we bid goodbye to Gary and wandered back down towards the harbor looking forward to a great lunch at Harbour's Edge. Conch fingers, Chicken-in-da-Bag and Grilled Grouper were the order of the day.  All washed down, of course, with cold Kalik Light and Sands Light beers.

After lunch, we piled back into the dink and roared north from Hope Town up to Man O' War Cay to walk lunch off. I was on a mission to buy a sailcloth bag for my laptop to replace the very ragged backpack I've been toting it around in. I figured that Norman Albury's Sail Shop would have just what I was looking for. Michael found several bags that he couldn't live without and I found the perfect bag for my laptop. Now the Sail Shop on Man O' War is famous for making nearly indestructible bags out of canvas and sailcloth and stitched with nylon sail thread. These things are nice and rugged - if not the last word in haut couture.

Man O' War Cay is also the traditional hub of Abaco boat building. Although they haven't launched a big schooner since the 60's, they still build some gorgeous fiberglass center console Albury skiffs. There was a striking black-hulled 23-footer under construction in the boat shed and we watched some of the local men struggling to mount the big Yamaha outboard onto the black skiff for a few minutes.  Pretty much everyone on Man O' War is named Albury, but, like all Abaconians, they couldn't be nicer or more gracious.  Interestingly, Man O' War Cay is the only "dry" cay in the Abacos - you can't buy alcoholic beverages there.  However, local legend has it that more alcohol per capita is consumed there than most anywhere else in the islands!  Not sure if that's true - but it makes for a fun story.

Still one more stop on the "2010 Sea of Abaco Dinghy Tour" - Mermaid Reef right outside Marsh Harbour. We picked up a dinghy mooring and then finally cajoled poor Fred into slipping overboard into the cold (for the Bahamas) water. Alas, his mask kept filling with water and he decided to call it quits before he even snorkeled over the reef. Oh well, watching the big parrotfish under the boat was a relaxing way to spend ten or fifteen minutes while Fred dried off - and we headed off back to Sea Glass.

Hamburgers on the flybridge grill is a great way to finish up an excellent day. Tomorrow looks like another relaxing day to maybe reprovision a little bit, get some cash out of the ATM, and make preparations for the next leg of the voyage - to Hatchett Bay on the west coast of Eleuthera. Looks like our weather window for that trip opens up Sunday and Monday.

So, I'm going to close here, pay my bar bill and wander back to the boat for dinner. Goodnight!