We departed Royal Island on Eleuthera as lobster season ended and headed for the Abacos. The Northeast Passage deep water strait was an easy trip with a dying wind requiring us to motorsail the last bit, but that enabled us to troll a line and catch two mahi.
We arrived at Little Harbor, Abacos, and Sue was quickly on the beach collecting shells. Genny was glad to get some shore time after missing out a lot in Eleuthera.
Pete's Pub is the place to visit in Little Harbor. Interestingly, this tour of the Abacos turns out to be a tour of resorts and bars - which is what most of the cruising ground of the Abacos are about. The Gallery at Pete's Pub is a real art gallery, probably the premier gallery of the Bahamas.
Up from Little Harbor you come to Hopetown, site of the impressive Hopetown lighthouse, one of the few remaining manually maintained, kerosene lighted lighthouses in the world. We went up one night to watch the lighting of the kerosene lamp at 8pm, but unfortunately the lamp would not light. But that allowed us to see that the backup to the kerosene lamp was a 60watt lightbulb! The Fresnel lens amplify the 60watt bulb light so it can be seen 18miles out to sea. Lets see - burn $10 of kerosene each night with 1860 vintage equipment with two, full time lighthouse keepers or use a $1 lightbulb and 10cents of electricity on a light sensing timer? Guess we know why the US has automated all its lighthouses.
In Hopetown the bar not to miss is at the Hopetown Harbor Lodge. No Toto, we are not in the Exumas anymore.
At Marsh Harbor, its the Jib Room for a beer with our cruising buddies Sally and Conrad. More to our style of cruising pit stops. We met up with Hayden and Radeen Cochran on Island Spirit here after following each other around the Bahamas via Facebook, webblogs and emails.
At Guana Cay, Nippers was the site of the great Easter Egg hunt. We have never seen so many people in one spot throughout the entire Bahamas. This is apparently one of the main events of the year. The ocean views at Nippers rival those of Hopetown Lodge. The Bahamian buffet was our Easter dinner, Sue and Sally were appreciative of someone else doing the cooking.
Next up it's Treasure Cay and the Coco Beach Club. Do you start to see a pattern of cruising life in the Abacos?
The downside to cruising the Abacos is that cold fronts routinely flow into the islands on a weekly basis with strong and chilly winds. A gust of nearly 70kts was reported at Guana Cay during this storm passage as we hunkered down behind Marsh Harbor off the Abacos Beach Resort (yes, yet another luxury resort to choose from). Fortunately there are many places to anchor as well as mooring fields and marinas in protected harbors where you can find shelter from the strong winds. And, there is always a resort/bar nearby.Too soon however, it was time to start working our way westward towards a departure point from the Abacos for our return to the US. Looking at the upcoming weather, we passed on a couple of last party islands - Green Turtle and Spanish Cays - and stopped for the night off Crab Cay near Manjack Cay. The cut between Manjack and the uninhabited Crab Cay provided access to some interesting beaches with shells, sea glass and sea/shore life. We also saw hoof prints and later that evening, two pigs were down on the beach looking for dinner. They didn't go swimming like at Big Majors, but just hunted along the beach.
Our last stop in the Bahamas was at Great Sale Cay about halfway back towards Florida and the natural jumping off point for boats returning to the US. We motored over from Crab Cay in sunny conditions with no wind, only to arrive during a torrential downpour with 35kt gusts. The squall soon cleared though and we were able to anchor. By the next day there were 19 boats in the anchorage, all waiting for the right weather and sea conditions to make the Gulf Stream crossing back to the US. We had to wait one more day, then set off for a quick, 72hr motor/sail combo trip up the Gulf Stream to Beaufort, NC.
