Ahhh, the Abacos

    The Abacos are an extensive island chain that surround and protect  the blue, clear waters of the Sea of Abaco.  A beautiful inland sea -  sailor friendly with plenty of mooring balls, reasonably priced marinas, RO water, an A.M.. Cruisers Net on VHF 68, and a plethora of restaurant/bar beachside establishments.  We have spent about a month cruising and exploring the Abacos before heading home. 
Life is Good.

Some excerpts from our time in the Abacos

April 24, Easter Sunday
Little Harbour to Tilloo Island
9:00 Weather's overcast, 17-19kts wind but I'm ready to head elsewhere.  A rough, blowing Easterly, lots of white caps & BIG rollers off the ocean.  David gave me the helm just as we approached the N. Channel Cut. Tanks a lot! Alice Mae rolled & wallowed and bobbled her way through.

11:30  Anchored south of Tilloo Cut.  We're schooched in behind a little west-curling finger of land  on Tilloo Island.  This should help if the wind takes a northerly turn.
Footnote to this journal entry:  We truly were protected from the NE storms but were hammered when the winds shifted to the South. 

Thurs. April 28
Man O War Cay to Marsh Harbour, Mangos Marina

island racing boat - check the boom

    Like many of the Abaco Islands, Man O War has moorings.  It's a tight little mooring field, but we're here.  MOW seems like a quaint working town.  Narrow lanes populated by golf carts.  This island is known for it's boat building and sail making heritage.  They make some fine, hand-crafted, wooden sail boats.


Island Banker hours



 10:30  Life goes by on Island Time.  Breakfast with some of Lola's fresh baked bread, listen to the Abaco Cruisers Net then on to Marsh Harbour.  Finally got around to leaving MOW.  We  were tied up at Mangos Marina by noon.  Islands are close together here in the Abacos.






Hope Town -  Another colorful, sailor friendly island.  The harbor is crowded with an assortment of mooring balls.  We ended up just grabbing one and hoping it wasn't a private mooring.

    Marilynn (my sister) has been visiting.  We walked through  town, enjoyed Hope Town's great, local museum, bought some batik Ambrosia cloth, strolled on the windward beach and then spent the evening playing JACKS (Bingo) at Jacks Bar.  It was, after all, a strenuous day.

   Next day we climbed the old lighthouse stairs to enjoy the beautiful view from this working Hope Town Lighthouse.





 To explain the newspaper...our local paper publishes travel pictures showing St. Augustine folks traveling around the world.  I want my shot at fame.


on top of the Hope Town Lighthouse



Wed. May 4

Hope Town to Little Harbour

I'm really getting bad. Not sure when we left Hope Town, but the winds are calm, we have our sails up and heading south to Sandy Cay to try to do some snorkeling.

1:00 Sandy Cay

We hit it right.  Calm enough conditions to drop a hook (2 tries) and dinghy to the mooring balls on the outside of this little inside reef.  We saw lots of staghorn coral and one HUGE brain coral.  Lots of fishes. The water is sooooooo beautifully clear.

3:00 Moored back at Petes Pub in Little Harbour.  Spent a fun evening drinking their signature "Blaster" drink and talking to the locals and tourists.  Good thing David could locate Alice Mae in the dark. As you can probably guess, Marilynn & I were not much help.



 

Saturday May 7

Great Guana Cay

Managed to snag a mooring in the little harbour at Guana.  I'm never sure if I'm grabbing a mooring ball, a fish trap buoy, a private mooring or a shallow-ground marker.  If I come back, I'd drop a hook just around the corner, in the northern bay.

Grabbers, on sandy Sunset Beach, under palm trees.  We found our place!

A friendly bar with a fresh water pool and a pretty sand beach for a backdrop.  Since it was Derby Day, we made our own Derby Hats and dinghied to the bar.   We were a hit!  Had a fun, fun time getting the entire bar watching and cheering during the 2 minute Run for the Roses.

Sunday, May 8   Mother's Day

Rented the reigning mode of transportation- a golf cart.  Spent hours (well, maybe 2) touring Guanas golf-cart sized roads.  I like their Yard Art.

Drove our trusty rental golf cart to Nippers for the big Sunday Pig Roast.  The food was good, the music was real loud, and the patrons were young.  

David & I managing to have fun at Nippers



 Friday, May 13

Green Turtle Cay to Allans Pensacola Cay

N26 45.70       to       N 26 59.20

W77 20.70       to      W 77 41.60

8:30 Dropped our mooring ball. (never did find out who to pay!) Allans Pensacola is an uninhabited cay about 25 mi. from Green Turtle.  Our sails are up but the wind is very minimal.  We be moto-sailing.

11:00 approaching Cooper's Town on our port.  Doing about 5kts. Winds coming from our "no-sail" zone at about 9kts.  Pretty, puffy clouds in a blue sky. I guess it's another day in paradise.

12:30  Crab Cay. made our last course heading change to 304dgs. About 6 mi. to go to A.P.

2:00 Anchored in 3.5 ft. of pretty, clear water with about 5 other boats.

2:10 David down for his nap.  Such a strenuous day.

May 15 - May 17

Little Grand Cay, Rosies Marina



Alice Mae at the dock at Rosie's


 

Rosie's colorful rental cottages



Spent 3 lovely days hanging out in this low-key, working community of black Bahamians. They live close to their waters.  They know the reefs and the fish  and the shallow sand banks.   They know where the conch are and where the lobster is hiding.  Seems the weekend contingency of sport fishing boats had arrived.  It takes them 4 hrs. from Stuart, Fl. in these fast boats. (what can I say, there was a deep pang of jealousy when I heard that.)  We walked around the golf-cart streets until we found Rosie's Marina Bar & Restaurant.    Rosie is the island bar/restaurant/fuel dock and cottage rental kingpin. Just remember, if you go there-  Rosie is a man. 

Tomorrow we head home.  After 4 months of cruising on Alice Mae, we cross back through the Gulf Stream and head north to St. Augustine, Fl.  We go back to our house, our dog, and our landlubber life.  Life will still be good, just a little less exciting.

 Alice & David on Alice Mae

Conchs, Quilts & the Abacos

Conchs- the Rite of Passage

 Like sailors of old wearing a gold earring as a statement of rounding one of the world's Southern Horns, blowing a conch horn at sunset is declaring to the world (at least those that can hear you,) that you have Crossed the Gulf Stream.  Since David, Me & Alice Mae are true champions of the crossing, I was bound and determined to make my own conch horn and learn how to blow it.  Easier said than done.

   Getting a conch in these Bahamian waters is easy.  There are literally mounds of them.  But these conch shells all have holes punch into them in order to get the conch meat- I needed a no-hole shell.  The solution was to purchase a solid shell. 

   
      With my conch shell on board, we proceeded to hacksaw the tip in order to make a blow hole.  Here's where the tricky part comes in....
I thought you are supposed to count 3 rings in and then cut.  So we did.  For a sweaty, hard hour we sawed away.  (the hack saw was old, rusted and dull, the conch shell was shiny, new, and VERY solid.)   Then we realized, maybe it should have been  4 rings in before we cut. Damn.  So, more sweating more groaning, more cutting. 

 But success finally came.  (I think I needed a second drink to finish)  Getting a clean sound from a conch is a learned talent.  At least, I have to learn and I am not very talented.   So, here are my learning pictures.  Try to invision a bloated frog being slowly flattened- that's my first sounds.  But I'm getting better.  The frogs are getting smaller and quieter.  I can eventually hit the clean sound, but by the time I manage, I'm out of breath.  Like I said, I'm not too talented.

Quilting

While we were in Eleuthera, we spent some time in Spanish Wells.  A clean, tidy town with colorful concrete houses packed tightly up & down both sides of this narrow, rocky spot of land.  This is a strong fishing community of blond-haired Bahamians.  Their unique accent sounds almost Irish.   

While in this quaint village I met a wonderful older lady, Oliviad, an island quilter, born & raised on Spanish Wells. All 3 children are married and living right in Spanish Wells.  Amazing!  Oliviad invited me into her home to show me her work.  She said "It's just me & my sister now that quilt.  The other women are too old and no young people want to learn the craft".  She looked at me and said "It'll die out after we're gone." 

Waterways &Wildflowers - Winter 2010

So, just to prove her wrong, I am sending you some current pictures of my latest quilt.  I am also including a picture of the boat quilt I made last year.  Hand quilting is still alive and stitching aboard the Alice Mae.



using a template to mark my pattern on this latest quilt



Crossing to the Abacos

Tuesday, April 19

Eleuthera to the Abacos

8:25 

 Finally! dropped our mooring line, skimmed by Ridley Head Point, through the coral channel (thank you Alice Mae for your shallow draft!) and out into the wild blue of the Atlantic.  Hope we have fair winds and following seas. We have a 45 mi. crossing to do.  My stomach is in a knot.

11:00 

  32 mi to go to the waypoint for Little Harbour- the southernmost entry into the Abacos.  The day is beautiful.  We're motor-sailing, doing 6.6kts.  That's REALLY good for Alice Mae.  My stomach feels better.

Here are some pictures of Little Harbour and the "famous" Pete's Pub  and Art Gallery.  Pete advertises as being in the heart of downtown Little Harbour.  That's good since Pete's Pub is Little Harbour. 



not sure if that's David or the dock that is crooked.





  David paying up at the beach bar




walkway to the windward side

And just in case I haven't mentioned it before...............these Bahamian waters are truly clear and beautiful.  I found this starfish in the shallows where we were anchored.   Life is good.

Crossing to the Bahamas

The Gulf Crossing
Wed. March 24,
Boot Key Harbour
   5 weeks in the Fl. Keys isn't exactly a form of cruel & unusual punishment, but when the weather window finally came, we were hoisting sails and heading to the Bahamas.  We decided to work a long diagonal run of 129 miles through the Gulf Stream to our target of Bimini, the most western islands in the Bahamas.

Journal entry March 24

4:30 Sailing (moto sailing) at 85 dgs. trying to angle into the gulf stream. You have to work with the stream, it has it's own current of about 2 knots and can generate it's own wave action.  We're with a loose group of 7-8 boats.  Poor little AliceMae is probably the smallest and the slowest;  The day is calm, sunny & perfect for this big crossing.









7:00 getting into the gulf stream. doing 7.2 knots!
9:00 lots of stars
10:00 dark. lots of stars
11:00 still dark!
12:00 midnight on the gulf stream
12:15 moon rise.  A huge red blob on the horizen. Thought it was a cruise ship. Warned our travel buddies to watch their course headings.  Didn't want to run into that big thing.  Felt pretty foolish when the cruise ship rose slowly into the night sky.  Our moon.
3:00 following the lights of our buddy boat, Creola.


sunrise in the Gulf Stream

7:00 sailing wing to wing. skies lightening up. 9:15 Almost there.  Can see a tree-lined island on the horizen.
10:15 tied up at Alice Town, Bimini.












Our lunch spot

 Bimini: a skinny little strip of land with the Kings Hwy. on the east and Queens Hwy. on the west.  Both are narrow, one-lane roads about 400 ft. between.  Alice Town has easy customs.  Golf carts the most popular mode of transport.
Bought coconut bread, coconut rum and a
Bimini T-shirt.  Life is good.

Crossing the Great Bahama Bank
    The 2nd leg of this crossing is a 70 mile stretch of white sand shallows that funnel down into a narrow N.W. Channel cut through the bank.  Then another more 20 miles to the first islands, Chub Cay, in the  Berry chain.  Too far to sail in a day, but the Banks are big and empty so the usual procedure is......
 - get a 24 hr. calm weather window
  - sail all day
   - drop anchor in the middle of no-where (just stay well off the shipping lanes!)
    - try to sleep in the rolling waves 
     - get up at dawn
      - make coffee
        - head east again.


Sunset on the Bahama Banks

The Berry Island Chain
   These small islands form a cresent of white sand and scrub islands that border the eastern side of the Great Bahama Bank.  Total population of 760.  The main town, Bullocks Harbour, has a downtown that consists of 2 buildings, one the police station and next door, the all-in-one grocery/restaurant/bar.  But they do have beautiful white sand beaches and friendly people.

Sunday, March 27 Berry Islands



Marinas - Bahama style




our shower house- basic but clean

 Berry Island Club Marina
Sunday, a day of rest. We've been traveling hard since Wed. when we left Marathon. The overnight crossing was exciting.  Bimini was friendly. The Great Bahama Bank was VERY large and flat.  Anchoring in the middle of the bank was a unique experience. Realizing our chart plotter card didn't have "Bahamas" was an extreme bummer.  Snagging a mooring ball at Frazier Cay, a welcome relief.  Enjoying the sunshine and clear, clear waters makes the last four days seem well worth the efforts.
Al.ice Mae is in the Bahamas Mon!



conch shells by the pier



The northern end of the chain, Bullocks Harbour.

      

Bullocks Harbour Marina- 2 adult manatees came for their morning drink of fresh water. Such docile  creatures.  They would drink from the hose, sucking on it like a bottle.  The female had 2 new boat-propeller gashes on her back.

Monday, April 5

Little Harbour Cay,

Flo's Conch Bar & Moorings

   We're tucked behind a groupings of small islands, protected on all sides and just waiting for this storm to come rolling in.  Already we have more cloud cover and strong winds out of the South. Gusts of about 20 and whitecapping in our little cove.



Flo's Conch Bar  -  check out the "You Welcome" on the roof

  Flo's is obviously a laid back place. No one there yesterday but the chickens and the very vocal roosters.  One crows so much he's hoarse.  Must be some very satisfied chickens.  Chester (the one-man-do-it-all-owner) has loud speakers broadcasting VHFch.68 24/7. We can sit back and keep up with all the news and gossip from the boaters.  David tried to order bread.  Chester said "he might be baking tomorrow".  Guess I still need to get used to island time.  Imagine I'll be doing without bread.  Oh dear!

Sunday, Apr. 10 (I think:)

We left our Berry Islands, sailing southerly winds the 30 miles to Nassau.  A couple days of re-provisioning and we were ready to get away from the big city.  We're presently in Spanish Wells, north of Eleuthera.  A pretty, clean town of well-maintained homes. We rented a golf cart and perused the island yesterday.  Tomorrow, onward to new frontiers. 

  Next big run.....Abacos!

5 wks. in Boot Key

      We have been in Boot Key Harbor, in Marathon, Fl. longer than we expected.  But this is such a wonderful place to spend time, have fun and meet friendly people, you seem to loose track of the days. 

No problemo.  Here are a few pictures showing where we've been and just how we managed to

blow away 5 weeks while waiting for a weather window to the Bahamas.

Marathon City Marina

Boot Key Harbor  

 owned & operated by the city of Marathon. 
They are a great group of folks who maintain a clean, friendly, community-oriented marina with 225 mooring balls.  There's baseball, boche ball, yoga-under-the-tiki, mexican train dominos, craft meetings, weekly Meet 'n Greet dinners, and always, countless excuses for lunch-time gatherings, and sunset-toasting on the boats. 

     I can bike to the West Marine, The Stuffed Pig Resturant, Publix,  Daffy Dougs (the local bargain emporium), and The Salvation Army.  I am in the center of the universe!  Through the daily 9:00 a.m. Cruisers Net, I found a girl that had an extra spool of hand-quilting thread.  I gave her a bottle of wine. I believe we are both happy boaters.  Life is good in Boot Key Harbor.

Harbor Entrance

The western entrance to Boot Key - pass Panchos and Burdines where one can find fishing supplies, live bait, deisel, gas, ice, water, upstairs for Key Lime Pie,  beer, burgers & greasy fries.  In the afternoons, Burdines has a barrel filled with ice and $1.00 beer.  Do I even need to mention the assembly of suntanned, gray haired, barefooted men, sitting around this barrel??

The first year we came to Boot Key, this was a functioning bascule bridge.  The friendly, local bridgetender would welcome you into the harbor while he raised the span.

Sunsets
With a harbor full of masts and the sun resting on the old bridge,
every sunset is magical.  Conchs blow, taps play, drinks are raised,
cannons fire (this is pirate country), another day ends.

Lounge Lizards, Keys style
                                                  A few shots of the local wildlife here in the keys.

Departure Time

  After five weeks in Boot Key, it looks like this Wednesday, March 23, we should have calming southerly breezes and fair winds.  This is what we need to help push Alice Mae along the gulf stream.  We will leave Marathon in the afternoon, sail through the night, and arrive in Bimini Thursday mid-day. It's  a 130 miles crossing, a new adventure for us.  We plan to check into Alice Town, Bimini.  Isn't that just too cool!


Captain Dave at Auto Pilot


     Our general sail plan from there is to cross the Grand Bahama Bank (another long stretch of water), sail around the Berries, drop down to Andros (diving??), skirt around New Providence where big, commercial Nassau dominates, and spend some time in N. Eleuthera.  From there we can do another long, but workable run north to the Abacos.  Marilynn is flying into Marsh Harbor on May 1, (Oh boy, Oh boy!)

  

  David & I will play around in the Abacos for about a month total and then work our way back to Fl. and our home base by the end of May.   



Captain Rocket


 I am saying all this because I am thinking we will have minimal phone/internet once we arrive in the Banamas.  So, until next time, TTFN

Capt. Dave & Capt. Rocket
 on SV Alice Mae
 where Life is Good