Long Road Home

On Aug 8 we moved on to Fisher's Bay off Guana Cay. We missed going to the famous bar, Nippers, on our previous visit. Nippers is on a hill overlooking a beautiful beach and reef and is famous for its Sunday barbeque. (see picture with multicolored umbrellas). We met some folks at the bar at Pirates Cove on the way back from Nippers. From there we moved on to Bakers Bay again to do some snorkeling on the ocean side. Weather was perfect.

On the 10th we moved on up to Powell Cay. We were the only boat anchored off this deserted island where we did some dinghy exploring. Then on the 11th we returned to Allans Pensacola Cay and dinghied up to the same small beach on Umbrella Cay where we started this adventure some 5+ weeks ago. We have named this beach Vein-Allez Beach. We had some spectacular sunsets this week.

The next day we went to Double Breasted Cay. We had heard much about this place and the guide books rave about its beauty. We, however, were a little disappointed. The anchorage was tight and the tidal current fierce. Not having 2 anchors to deploy after some dinghy exploration, we decided to move on to Great Sale Cay to spend the night. On the 13th we moved on to Old Bahama Bay in West End, Grand Bahama. This is a nice, but expensive resort. We enjoyed their beach in the afternoon then had an early night in anticipation of a long trip home.

We departed at 0600 on the 14th. It is 70 nm against the Gulf Stream, so we were expecting a long crossing. Wind and seas were higher than anticipated and it was uncomfortable the whole way. Debby is susceptable to sea sickness in such conditions so she stayed in a prone position in the master stateroom where the motion is least noticable. About 6 miles from home we hit the end of a squall and twice the refrigerator door escaped its latch and dumped all the contents on the floor. One wine bottle broke (white fortunaltely) as well as some glass ware. Everything that wasn't already on the floor in the main salon ended up on the floor. The picture does not begin to show the mess that ensued.

Despite the difficult return crossing we had a great trip. In late October we expect to depart for the west coast of Florida so stay tuned.

Cracker P's Full Moon Party

We returned to Man-O-War Cay on Aug 4 just to spend another day there and do some minor resupply of groceries. Then on the 5th we went back south to anchor off Tahaiti Beach on the west side of Elbow Cay. Less than a mile from this location is Lubbers Quarter Cay and a bar/restaurant called Cracker P's. Aug 5 was full moon night and Cracker P's has a Bahamian buffet and party on the full moon. We thought we would give it a try and were not disappointed. The food was good (although something did not agree with Debby's stomach) and the large crowd was lively.

The next day we journied to Treasure Cay. We debated about stopping there as we envisioned it being too "resorty". We were pleasantly suprised. The marina rates declined Aug 1 and were very reasonable and the facilities first rate. Their 3 mile crescent beach claims to be one of the 10 best in the world. The sand is as fine as sifted flour and nearly as white. We spent 2 days under a Tiki Hut at the beach enjoying Debby's Pina Coladas. Thursday night was Pizza Night at the local bar the "Tipsy Seagull" featuring a good local band and a suprisingly large crowd. The eye candy included some of the Hooters Girls from the previous week.

We are going to return to Fishers Bay off Guana Cay today. This will probably be our last day to have access to the internet until we reach West End, Grand Bahama. So this will be the last post for about 5 or 6 days. We will anchor out at Powell Cay, Allans Pensacola Cay, and hopefully Double Breasted Cays with a last stop at Old Bahama Bay in West End before making the Gulf Stream crossing some where around the 14th to 16th.

Long Run

While in Little Harbor on Saturday August 1 we received a radio call from our friends Dave and Kathy Gillen on Long Run. They were anchored about 1 mile north of us as they draw too much water to enter Little Harbor. Long Run is a 65', 80 ton steel hulled trawler. They came into Pete's Pub for a drink then on to our boat for more cocktails. They invited us out to their boat for dinner. They had with them Kathy's daughter, Tim a professional photographer, and Dave's old friend Don, a former NSA operative; a great mix of people. It was quite an evening with a delicious pork roast prepared by Kathy, a beautiful sunset followed by a nearly full moon reflecting off the water. They have a collection of over 4000 songs and a fabulous sound system to go with it. It was a sporty ride back to our boat in their a tender, a 26' Mako after way too many cocktails.

Long Run is not so elegant to look at from the water, (see picture of their departure), but it certainly is very nice inside. The Gillens live aboard full time. It has been in the Abacos for over 6 months and they are now moving it back to Ft. Lauderdale. Dave still works and has been commuting on his own plane.

While in Little Harbor a small sail boat pulled in crewed by 2 women. They are the 2 on the right in the picture at Pete's Pub. The woman on the far right has been here for a month and will stay till mid August. She is alone but has friends fly in and join her for a week or so at a time. No generator, no TV, no A/C. She must like to rough it.

We have now returned to Elbow Cay at Sea Spray Marina on White Sound. The picture of Debby was taken at the Abaco Inn. You can see from the surf why we did not head down to the Exumas. We will slowly work our way back home from here.

Little Harbor

First a brief history of Little Harbor. In the early 50's an art professor from the states sailed his family into this pristine little harbor, and decided to stay. They stayed in the cave shown in the photo while he built housing and a foundry to do his sculpting. His name was Pete Johnson and he soon became famous throughout the Bahamas and the world for his art work. The old man has died but his son keeps up the tradition and has an active art gallery and studio as well as a great sand bar named Pete's Pub. This is our favorite spot in the Abacos.

Every year on July 31st Pete hosts an "End of Season" party. Historically, we are told it has been pretty wild and raunchy. This year they made an effort to tone it down. In addition to having a pig roast they have several competitions. The tug of war is what you would expect except it takes place in the water. The greased watermelon race is a little different. Each team is given a greased watermelon and a childs inner tube. The woman sits in the tube holding the watermelon while the man paddles her out to a large inflatable trampoline. The man has to climb on to the trampline while the woman hands him the watermelon then the first team back at the dock with the watermelon wins. Pretty hilarious to watch.

In another event a man and a woman are covered with clothspins. Their team mate of the opposite sex is than blinfolded and told to remove all the pins. The first team to get them all off wins.

A final event which I did not get pictures of is a beer chugging contest. The twist with this one is that contestants must chug their beer with 4 tampons in their mouth!

One dinghy arrived with a pirate on board, and one boat arrived named Hooters Patrol. I will let you decide which of the pictures show the crew from that boat.

Debby is shown with a friend, Lainey, who we met on our first trip here 5 or 6 years ago. She is Bahamian and runs a beauty parlor in Marsh Harbor. Debby had her hair done by Lainey while we were there.

We also met a couple with a story book tale. She lives in Daytona and belongs to Halifax Yacht Club which Debby and I have visited on several occasions. He is an old boat captain now retired and living in the Abacos for the past 9 years on an old 60' trawler. Last year they each attended their 50th high school reunion and have been together ever since. Like ourselves they are sitting here in Little Harbor waiting for the seas to subside before heading for the Exumas.

Seas are 4-6' today and predicted to go to 5-7' tomorrow. I think we will skip the Exumas and return home the way we came.

Slow Time in the Bahamas

The weather has not been kind to us. We sat for a week in Marsh Harbor due to frequent thunder storms, although in retrospect we could have moved on on several occasions. We missed going over to Nippers on Guana Cay to see the Barefoot Man concert which is a highlight of this time of year. We did however have a good time renewing our friendship with the Gillen's on their boat Long Run, and getting to know the Farrells on First Light. We enjoyed several good meals in Marsh at Mangoes and Curlytails.

Finally on the 27th we moved to Hope Town on Elbow Cay where we picked up a mooring. this is one of the most picturesque harbors in the islands with its candy stripe light house built in the early 1800s. We toured the town. Vernon's Grocery store is famous for its philosophical sayings posted all over the store. A few are shown in the picture. My favorite was "If at first you don't succeed, you probably shouldn't take up skydiving." The next day we took the dinghy over to Man-O-War Cay. This Cay is inhabited mostly by white Bahamians and is famous for boat building. It is very clean and neat, but dry in the sense that no alcohol is served. With the wind and seas up it was a sporty dinghy ride over and Debby threatened to take the Ferry back, but in the end she rode back with me without incident. I had The Best hamburger at Dock and Dine.

On the 28th we came down to Little Harbor and Pete's Pub. We were caught off guard as we made the passage between some islands exposed to the ocean. Liquor bottles ended up on the floor as did lamps, books, magazines and a blender. Debby was not a happy camper. However, this is our favorite spot in the Abacos. Pete is having an end of season party today which is supposedly one of the best events of the summer, so we are looking forward to it.

I will have pictures and more on Little Harbor after the party is over and I sober up.

Bahamas Bound in our New Home

After several hectic weeks moving on to the boat and making some last minute repairs and modifications we finally departed for West End, Grand Bahama on July 8, 2009. The Gulf Stream crossing was smooth and uneventful, and our brief stay at Old Bahama Bay resort at West End was pleasant. The next day we moved on to Great Sale Cay where we anchored for the evening. We are working our way through the Abaco chain of islands first.

Enroute to Allans-Pensecola Cay on the 10th we responded to a "May Day" call from a 42' Sport Fisher "Timberfish" taking on water. They were about 2 miles north of us between Carters Cay and Paw Paw rocks. Due to shallow water we could not go directly to them without a long diversion so we ancohored and launched the dinghy. By the time we reached them they had slowed the leak to the point that their bilge pumps were overcoming the inward flow of water. They had hit a rock or coral head at speed. Bent the shaft, pulled the gear box away from the engine and created a big hole where the shaft goes thru the hull. ( A week later I saw the boat out of the water in Green Turtle-what a mess!). They had things under control and a tow boat enroute so we continued on our way.

We spent 3 days anchored at Allans-Pensecola which is a deserted island with several other beautiful cays nearby. The pictures above show a beach we visited on Umbrella Cay. On the 11th we were joined in the achorage by Ole Parker and Vanessa aboard Mackenzie E from LYC.

Unfortunately, Debby fell on our stairs and cracked several ribs, so for over a week she was in considerable pain.

We continued our journey on the 13th traveling to White sound on Green Turtle Cay. We stayed at Green Turtle for 4 nights visiting the historic town of New Plymouth several times including a trip and dinner at the famous Miss Emily's Blue Bee Bar. In "its a small world department" staying at our marina was Charlie on Venture 2. Twice in the past on different trips to the Exumas we have run into Charlie, a former pilot with Fine Air and a true character.

On the 17th we moved on down to Baker's Bay at the north end of Guana Cay. The Jim Moran fleet of boats was anchored there also including a 175' mothership, a 58' sport fisher, a 60' express cruiser and a 36' sport fisher. Each boat is named Gallant Lady. I don't know how they keep them straight. With the wind out of the SW it was uncomfortable there so we went to Fishers Bay off Guana on the 18th. There we were joined by Mackenzie E and Malcolm and Penny Farrel's First Light also of the LYC.

The pictures of the girls at the pool are after the "frozen T shirt" contest at Grabbers the local beach bar. Vanessa from Mackenzie E, in the green T shirt won. In a frozen T shirt contest the contestants start with a folded T shirt that has been dipped in a pool then frozen solid. The first person to warm the shirt sufficiently to get it on wins. They can warm it any way possible on their body. All good fun.

On the 20th we along with First Light headed on down to Harborview Marina in Marsh Harbor in anticipation of several days of bad weather. Dave and Kathy Gillen's Long Run is here also. They are members of LYC but keep their boat here full time. Kathy is here now and Dave is commuting on weekends.

Home Again

We ended our big adventure on December 5 at 4 PM. We traveled from Vero Beach to North Palm Beach on Dec. 4, spending one last glorious night at anchor with grilled filet mignon. We traveled off shore on the 5th to avoid all the bridges. It was a bit uncomfortable for Debby so we boosted the cruise speed to Hillsborough Inlet.
In all we were gone 111 days of which 51 days were spent underway, and we covered 2357 st. miles. We both wanted to just keep on going, but circumstances would not permit. It was a great trip; hopefully there will be many more like it.