Island Touring and walks

We decided it was time to tour the island again. Mads and Loni were going to join us so in the interest of getting around the island in a day we rented a golf cart. We picked them up at the public dock and from there drove down to Sea Spray where we exchanged carts since this one was about to die of internal bleeding. Every time I stepped on a peddle a plume of blue smoke errupted from the tail pipe. While we waited for the cart exchange we ate lunch at the Abaco Inn. This photo is the view south from their outdoor dining area.

Once they set us up with a new cart off we went for Tahiti Beach. The tide was out and that gave us plenty of beach to explore.

Later that evening we capped off the day with dinner at the Hope Town Harbour Lodge and it was terrific. Expensive, but very good.

Yesterday we took the dink to Hope Town and then walked south to "On Da Beach" where we had a burger and beers for lunch and walked back. The GPS data I've loaded has a leg where we walked along the beach going back to the reef bar. Here we ran into folks that were back on their boat after being in Kansas City. Needless to say they were happy to be back. A few boats stopped in here at Sea Spray for the weekend. A long weekend considering it was only Wednesday. We made some new aquaintences and wound up at happy hour at the Abaco Inn where we had some great appetizers with good cheap drinks (2 for 1).

Today just some grocery shopping in Hope Town where we picked up one of Vernon's Key Lime Pies. Yummy.

Hope Town Via Dink

It was a brisk ride over to Hope Town late this morning. It was about 3 miles from the Sea Spray Marina to Hope Town Harbour where we tied up to Dauntless to meet Loni and Mads for lunch.

We crossed the harbour using their dink to keep things a bit more dry. With a short walk we found ourselves at the Reef Bar and Grill http://www.hopetownlodge.com/reefbar.htm

which is a great lunch spot. The photo is from the bar looking north along the shore of the Atlantic. Yes, it is that calm here now but not always. After a great lunch we made our way down to the public dock where a local brings in fresh caught fish which people were waiting to purchase. We bought some grouper and then headed back to Dauntless to get our dink and head back to Sea Spray.

GPS data updated with today's track and the photo bucket has Hope Town photos from yesterday.

Keep the cold up North eh?

Today I tried to locate a webcam for sale down here. No such luck. Perhaps when we get over to Marsh Harbour again we'll be able to locate one. Anything that comes over here is subject to duty and even Amazon.com refused to ship here. Besides it could take up to a month to get here. We've already heard some horror stories about mail. Oh well.. This would have made the skype calls much better and certainly more fun. If you skype and see daniel.a.mapes active give us a ping if you like. By the way it's free if you download the free software.

It's sort of like Vonage. In fact Nipper's who is a Vonage customer let's you call anywhere you want from their bar using their phone since it's that cheap. I think we pay something like 5 bucks a month to call (skype) anywhere in the states and it offers video conferencing to boot! The local calls to the Bahamas are more expensive. Go figure.

But in spite of the blustery weather today we walked to Tahiti Beach . This is where you see Deb. Just about all of this sand dissappears at high tide. Hopefully tomorrow the wind and cold abates and we can take the dink up to Hope Town to look around up there. Even though we were there earlier we did not walk around town at all.

We also managed (it was a real struggle with the cold) to get to the Abaco Inn for lunch. http://www.abacoinn.com/ We had to eat inside for a change. While the web site is a bit on the positive side the place has a fantastic setting and lunch there is a great experience with people snorkeling and surfing in the ocean just below the dining area. It was resonably priced and the food was good. But, the conch fritters at the Sea Spray were better.

Down To White Sound, Elbow Cay

Today we decided to move Freedom from Marsh Harbour down to the Sea Spray marina. Originally we intended to make this move this coming Wednesday but given the tide situation leaving today gave us better depth going in. If we waited until Wednesday high tide was later in the day and close to darkness. What would you rather do, arrive a bit early on a rising tide in case you get stuck, or arrive at dusk on a rising tide? Two hours of daylight gained was enough for us to change the float plan.

I have to admit there were a couple of places we were sweating over the running gear but we made it in fine. The last turn towards South just in front of the little penninsula was well marked but the water looked very shallow. We stayed with the markers and it turned out to be fine. Some sort of illusion that was caused by sand in the water. Very odd, but it looked like a bar. Over it we went and here we are safe and sound.

We took a brief walk on the Atlantic side of the Cay and it was certainly different from the ride over. We had 1-2 chop following all the way from Marsh but the Atlantic was mixed up much better than that. It doesn't look bad in a photo but you wouldn't want to roll around in it all day.

If you follow the track on Google Earth you will see that we were almost half way to Hope Town with the dink ride we took the other day. Matt Lowe's Cay is worth a zoom in to see what a few bulldozers and dredges can do to an island. The down side is that it remains undeveloped except for the boating capabilities. Those are all individual yacht docks in there and there is no housing to back them up. Perhaps the economy and hurricanes convinced people building here was not a good idea? Whadever.

I've updated the gps data and more photos are uploading to the bucket.

Steak Nite and Matt Lowe's Cay

Last night was steak nite at the Jib Room. As you can imagine it is pretty much like Rib nite but instead of falling off the bone baby back ribs you get a 2 inch thick NY Strip Steak grilled the way you like it with horse radish sauce and veggies. If I bought this steak at Adam's it would run 20 bucks but we had dinner for 27. Not a bad deal considering we had music again and of course the limbo dude. By the way, he sells Stone Crab claws and for 11 bucks a pound you get some very hefty claws that are just this side of heaven to eat. Some melted butter with tarrogon and garlic to dip them in, and let me tell you, it's good! These are not the puny claws we get in the states. They are probably about 3/4 of a pound each.
So we sang the Alice song after dinner again as well.
Today the weather finally broke. That cold front made its way down here and disturbed us. It was only like 70 degrees today. Sunny and 70. My tan is fading (other things also but that is another discussion).
So we elected not to swim but dink to Matt Lowe's Cay. If you have been reviewing the GPS data from this blog you know where we are and considering a location of 26 33 52N by 77 00 52W you have an idea where Matt Lowe's Cay is. Using google earth or whatever you can see the trip was a few miles long but the water was flat and we had a smooth ride in the dink. We went all around the MLC and half way around, out of the blue in the middle of the sea of abaco, we run into John and his wife in their dink near the entrance to the development on the cay.

We first saw them in the Gulf Stream heading over to West end the day after thanksgiving and had some fun with them at west end. Now all of a sudden here they are again in the sea of abaco. LMAO as did he.

After exchanging sentiments of surprise and asking each other what the hell we were doing out there, we proceeded into the development inlet for the cay where we hung out and shared a beer.
The cay is ready for buyers with all of the slips carved into the island but no one is there save a watch man. It's the same old real estate story where the economy has dictated colapse.
But we all had a good time floating around in there with the dinks. A totally chance meeting. Like they say on the ICW you keep meeting folks that you encounter on the way south. It was quite a bit of fun to see these folks again and they were the ones that had the beer.
John, we owe you!
Updated the bucket with some photos of MLC.

Rib Night at the Jib Room and walk around the Harbour

Last night was Rib Night. People sign up their boat name and provide the number of folks coming from the boat to help the staff estimate the crowd size. Looking at the roster and subsequent crowd I'd say there were 30 boats or so of people for ribs. The menu consisted of half a rack of babybacks with a zippy island bbq, cole slaw, potoatoe salad, baked beans, and bread. All of the food was terrific and it only cost 25 bucks a head. Not bad for the location and considering we all ate on picnic tables it was a fair price.

Afterwards they had a DJ and we danced to all sorts of music including the infamous hit by the band 'Smokie' regarding Alice. You have to imagine a mess of retired people singing the refrain to this song. "Alice, ALICE WHO THE +*^% IS ALICE?"

Then on to today.

We walked all around the Harbour to Abaco Beach Resort andBoat Harbour Marina. This is quite a place, the largest marina we've seen here in the Bahamas. When the fishing tournaments get going the crane in one of the photos is used to haul up the fish they catch here.

From there we walked back into Mangos where I had a cocktail with lunch. I like a Godfather which is Scotch with Amareto over ice. Look at the size of the glass they pour drinks in down here. Only one is required.

After lunch since we only had one round we were able to walk all the way back to the boat where I proceded to take a two hour nap.

I'll upload some more photos to the bucket. We ran into a community map there which seemed a bit off. We consider it somewhat odd but I'm sure it's going to be amusing to several folks.

Orchid Bay from the Sea of Abaco

Here is a shot of the marina we stayed at for the last month. It was a fine facility and the help there is very good. If they could just keep the restaurant hours predictable everyone could have planned to have a party there instead of the dock party.

Today we plan on doing some more shopping in Marsh. We were there yesterday and picked up some batteries for the TDS (total disolved solids) water tester so we can drink with relative safety.

It seems most of the water down here is made via reverse osmosis just like the water maker in our boat. Finicky devices these things are. You have to back flush them with fresh water occassionally and if there is any chlorine in it, the membranes will be destroyed.

When we were done shopping yesterday we stopped in at Curly Tails for a burger. While we were there some new friends we made over at Orchid Bay pulled in with their 80 footer. Six staterooms and heads, two washer dryers, V12 MTUs and a heap of other features that make for a great ride.

As it turned out it started pouring so we spent a little more time at Curly's than we planned to when Mads, Loni and Joe showed up. With luck I'll get some good photos of the Harbour and town today.

If you click on the photo and zoom in, you will see a couple on their swim platform moving props around at Orchid Bay. The boat off the bow of their boat is the 80 footer. These folks unfortunately winged a prop while anchoring at Man-O-War Cay. The boat spun around the anchor with a wind shift and bounced on a rock. We saw the props when we passed their transom on the way out. It was ugly. Since our props (Nibril composition) are over 3K a pop and theirs are larger, I'm betting this ain't gonna be a cheap fix.

On to Marsh Harbour

After being at Orchid Bay a while and putting up with the restaurant's inability to open reliably, some of us got together and a dock party was born. I have to hand it to Jon since he went around the bay in his dink and let everyone in the bay know about it. As it turned out, we probably had 15-20 boats worth of people at the gazebo! Everyone brought a dish so there was plenty of good food. In fact it was so good I don't think anyone had to eat dinner.
It was a great way to finish off our stay at Orchid Bay.

And now we are in Marsh Harbour, and things are a little different. For starters, we heard a siren for the first time in what seems like months. There's no background city like noise to disturb us and the current residents of the marina make it sound peaceful enough. The trip over was fine since the water was clam enough to water ski on. It was odd being able to see the bottom. Actually it was a bit disturbing since 'objects appear closer than they really are'.

For a while now we will be stocking up and getting ready for the next month out at another marina which will start on the 21st.

Updated the gps tracks.

More Dolphin encounters

But there will not be pictures this time. It was 1 o'clock in the morning and high tide and we're asleep. Deb hears something odd and gives me a poke. So I'm awake now, and in a few more minutes we here this click and popping sound. Then we hear it again. I'm thinking the boat's rub rail is laying against a pole and squeaking but there is no wind.
Sure enough, we here the deep breath and conclude the dolphins have invaded Orchid Bay. I went up to look for them but could not see anything in spite of the transom lights everyone had on. Giving up I go down inside and hear them close by again!

Since sound travels better in water, we can only imagine that they were swimming around nearby and chatting it up with each other. It was fun to listen to in the otherwise dead of the night.

Treasure Cay and Hope Town

Today we were very fortunate to hitch a ride with a couple from Texas on a boat they rented. They had to drop their captain off at Treasure Cay so they invited us for a ride. Off we went to Treasure Cay in a foot of chop and it rattled our teeth since we were in a 21 footer.

I was a bit taken back by Treasure Cay but perhaps that was a first impression that will be cleared up later.

Anyway from there we shot over to Hope Town and this was a choppy ride also but it was worth it. This is a photo from the Hope Town Light on Elbow Cay. Climbing up the light was a treat since the place looks like it did the day it was built. See the photos in the bucket. The oritinal kerosene fired light is in place and working with the old hand wound mechanizm to spin it!

We ate lunch over at Harbour's Edge and it was quite good with excellent service. As we ate the place filled up so the advice we received indicating we should eat there was correct.

From here we hooked up with some folks that we met at West End, and chatted for a while. It was fun to reconnect with folks and see how their adventures were moving along.

Next we stopped in at Man O War Cay and cruised through the anchorage areas.

All in all it was a great day on the water. More photos in the bucket from Hope Town.

Madsummer's in town

I was able to put a bandaid on the throttle linkage for the dink making it possible to head out to Spoil Island for another shell hunt. Heck it's only 7 or 8 miles on the sea of abaco to get there. Spoil Island was created when they dredged out the 'basin' for cruise ships that were intended to visit here at Guana Cay. Since Madsummer fills up the frame in the photo, you cannot see the island laying off to the left. But it's there. If you look closely at the photo you will see the starboard side opens up at the water line. Pretty cool. There were people in there working out on tread mills and such. I bet they have a great view to work out with....
But we made it over to spoil island and found a few more shells to add to the collection.


Tomorrow we are very fortunate to hitch a ride with some folks to our next stops Treasure Cay and Hope Town. January 12th we should be at Sea Spray and that will be as far South as we go (this year anyway, more on that another day).

What a yacht.

http://superyachttimes.info/yachts/print/75/

And note the fleet of tenders. While some boats like Aussie Rules (Greg Norman's tub) carry sport fisherman yachts as tenders, this one seems to have a different design point. In other words, if you have this kind of coin, you can have a boat meet you and leave room on the yacht for uncluttered aft decks (my personal preference and some day I may clean ours up).

There were a couple of other mega yachts out there in the basin today, but they pale in comparison. I'll upload some additional photos to the bucket.

Sometimes we get lucky

Tonite everyone on the dock was treated to quite a display. We had several varieties of fish, some squid and a turtle. Not to mention the crowd of folks taking pictures. The squid were most interesting because they "flew in formation". Refer to the photo bucket and you'll see what I mean. Looking at them without the benefit of flash and optics, one would not realise just how colorful they really are.
And they don't look this good breaded and fried. It'll never taste the same.

New Year's Eve and Mega Yachts

New Year's Eve was here on the boat. We decided that on New Year's Eve, as usual, that we would cook in and then go out for a while. We had a good B-bqued steak on the aft deck and then waited a while before going to Nipper's. We wound up at Nipper's eventually and met up with some other folks also staying at the marina in their boats.
And we had a great time. A little dancing, some booze (required to encourage dancing) and then watched the fireworks.
The fireworks were some reasonably good sized rockets that had to be shot directly into the wind. We had probably 25-30 mph wind blowing on shore so to be safe the folks sending them off took a few test shots low which bounced on the water, and then lifted them up a bit so they flew straight into the wind. Every now and then one was low and it would skip on the water of just get extinguished.
Regardless it was a great show and we had a good time.

Today we got into the dink intending to go back to Spoil Island for another shell hunt. We saw the mega yachts in the basin just off the island and when I went to throttle up again, nothing.. The throttle linkage fell apart. So we headed back early after a temp work around. Sorry the photos are not close enough perhaps the weather will be better tomorrow so we can get some close ups. Click on the photo perhaps there will be some detail or, enough so you can see how some people boat.