Mermaid Reef and Google Earth

Today we hopped into the dink and took it outside Marsh Harbour and then east to Mermaid Reef. It's pretty much man made of concrete but it was quite scenic since much of it has growth on it.

We were the second dink in to the mooring balls they have there. The folks on that dink were throwing food into the water and looking at the fish with a joint compound bucket that had a pane of lexan in the bottom. (Note to self: next time don't forget yours when you come back south) As a result the fish were everywhere around us! The parrots were royal blue and pink. Very bright. There were Nassau groupers everywhere and there was a huge Hog Snapper. Various other fish like grunts yellow tails and angel fish came out and looked us over. It was quite a bit of fun. They were all swimming around us expecting more food.

On to Goggle Earth;

Once you have google earth installed, you can ride along if you like by 'playing a tour'. Double click on the http://home.roadrunner.com/~danmapes/Southbound2.kmz (Southbound data continued on the blog start up page) and when google earth starts up, you should see a panel on the left with a heading of places. Within this should be a temporary places tab and under it, will be Northbound + Southbound2. Under this is Tracks. To see them merely check the boxes. If "Tracks" has a minus sign then change it to plus. Then check Tracks and all the trips under it should have a check mark and become visable. Highlight one of the tracks with a left click, leaving the check present.
Next move up to 'Tools" on the main tool bar and select it to open a window with options. The one you want is "Play Tours". Click on this and enjoy the show.
The options underneath "Play Tours" offers you the ability to speed it up (recommended) and change the angle at which the views proceed. Pretty slick stuff.

We rented a car and drove South on Abaco

Yes for the first time in four months I drove a car. Not a golf cart but a genuine auto by Buick. Perhaps it was because I had not driven in so long. Maybe it was the KEEP LEFT taped onto the rear view mirror I don't know. But I was able to keep the car on the left side. In any event it worked and we had a good ride south and back. It was kind of dull. At times it was like traveling through the forests out west in the US where we've carved a path through the trees. Other times the land was all low lying brush. There were also expansive areas burned out by fires at the dump gone out of control.
We went to Cherokee Sound and saw the longest dock in the Bahamas. It looked like some of the docks we passed on the ICW heading South. It is a small town with roads made of concrete that are elevated about 6 inches from the ground so if you fall off, yer royally screwed. At times we were worried that the door mounted mirrors were not going to allow the car to fit on the street due to the fences on every one's property. The roads are only wide enough for one car, and had best be a small one. We turned away from a few streets having looked down them a distance. It made finding our way out of town a humorous challenge.
From Cherokee we made our way down to Sandy Point where we ate lunch at Nancy's. The building is worn from weather with this evidenced by chewed up porcelain tile. Imagine that tile is the toughest stuff known to man. If you have cut it with a tile saw you know. Regardless there was quite a bit of pitting and broken tile around. The atmosphere inside was dark since electricity is expensive but there on the TV was CNN broadcasting B.O. talking about troop withdrawal from Iraq. We had a few beers and some fried snapper for lunch walked around on the beach near a picnic area and then headed back north.
We stopped in Crossing Rocks, Casuarina, Palm Shores for a look around. Most people working in their yards would wave.
Once back we finished up some shopping for the next month and then returned the car. The day was capped off at Curley's where we had a great view of the Harbour View Marina and Freedom. Some of their seats line a waist high wall with a shelf you can sit at and look out.
I've updated the GPS data and there are more photos in the bucket as well.

More Pete's Pub details

Pete's pub is owned by the son of a sculptor, and the sculptures are everywhere. If you look at the photos in the bucket you will see some of them.

Here is a link to some back ground; http://www.abacoguide.net/lharbour.htm

And the photo gives you an idea what happens when you are in shallow water. If you click on the photo you will see the sand line in the water we created when we went over a shallow spot. The depth was always 5 feet but the sand is loose and gets kicked up easy. We were only doing about 6 knots at the time.

Pete's Pub the hard way

We finished our time at Sea Spray and left on a relatively windy day (24 mph sustained) for Little Harbour. The notion was the Southwest wind would knock down the ocean since the ocean would be in the lee of the Abaco bank thus not contributing to a rough ride.

We turned South out of Sea Spray and located the path others had provided. Since we confirmed it and the depths on charts we were confident that things would go well. We left a churn trail half way down Lubbers and out beyond the end of the cay. I think I saw a plane wing waving at us... Not sure what he was thinking but I'll wager the pilot was laughing. Once beyond Lubber's we think we saw a couple of Manta rays shoot under the bow. They had to be 6 to 7 feet across.

The Sea of Abaco was good and choppy once south of Lubbers Cay at two feet. This would be the easy part. When we rounded Tilloo Bar heading for North Bar things got ugly. Our departure from Sea Spray timed our arrival at Little Harbour so as to coincide with a rising tide. This is because the entrance to Little harbour is shallow at 3.5 feet. We thought we had it figured out.

Looking at a charts a more learned person than either of us at that point might conclude that the South West wind would conspire with the Sea of Abaco incoming tidal flow to make for some lumps. It did. We found ourselves in 4-6 seas near breaking heading towards the inlet at the South end of Tilloo. This built a little more as we approached the midway point to the tip of Tilloo.

Once we were well clear of Channel Cay we started our turn South and then found ourselves in the washing machine on wash cycle. We had breakers off to our stbd and nice big rollers off the port. Dan was busy holding onto the boat since we were now in a quarter following sea but now we also had the bonus round of reflections off of Channel Cay. It's not much fun when you approach near weightlessness in Freedom. Soldiering on in this slop we eventually got into a 4 to 6 beam sea which was not the least bit pleasant but it was more manageable. This ride continued until Lynyard Cay where we got a break for a while.

South of Lynyard the washing machine spin cycle started up. The South side of the entrance is a rock wall that would love to munch on fiberglass and it was a foaming cauldron of water. Fortunately this abated as we neared the shallow spot at the entrance to the harbour and while we sweat it out the depth sounder indicated we were fine.

After all this, we eventually found a mooring ball and after picking up a private mooring by accident and dropping it, we found one on the North East side of the harbour and settled in. Freedom had a good thick crust of salt. So much so that walking along the deck up front deposited enough on our feet to leave foot prints on the aft deck carpet.

And then we proceeded to drink.

Once relaxed enough I dropped the dink and headed to the pub to get acquainted and double check the mooring being sufficient for us. It was a short walk to the Pub but there were some localized gravity anomalies affecting my stride. Tricky those areas are. Once business (if you could call it that) was settled, I went back to the boat and then,

proceeded to drink more.

We grilled up some Mahi we bought from Crackerjack in Hopetown and it was terrific. We have not been able to use the grill at the dock at Sea Spray due to their regulations so this was welcome. The next day several boats from Boat Harbour showed up and Dan was busy helping them in since the moorings they were working were without pennants. We had met these folks so it was more than enough to justify helping out. Once they were settled we walked around a bit visiting the lighthouse remnants and the beaches of the Atlantic side.

Surfers were out enjoying the rides provided by good waves. They also had a smooth beach here instead of the rock wall they were going to by the Abaco Inn.

Going back to the boat at night we came upon the glowing squids. Luminescent green bodies anywhere from a foot to three feet were moving slowly through the water. I was able to get the dink within a couple of feet of them but every time I did the lights went out. Fun none the less. People on shore were probably now wondering if I was directionally challenged as opposed to being affected by gravity. Back on the boat we turned on the transom lights only to see some small bait fish but we enjoyed grilling again.

The ride back to Marsh was uneventful if a bit early due to a misinterpretation of the weather but we'll take it. We should have stayed another day but we could not hear the cruiser net bcast and had to rely on second hand information. The sad part is we heard it clear as a bell the day before. We'll be here at Harbourview for a week and then head up to Treasure Cay where we intend to stay for the month of March. From there we work our way back up the bank, and across to Fla..

The current plan has us going across Fla. on the canal and looking for a house. We'll see how it unfolds. And I am now the owner of my very own "Rehab is for quitters" Tee which I may proudly display at Nippers for the barefoot man concert coming on Mar. 6th I believe. Possibly we will be at Orchid for that weekend. I may blow them off due to ridiculous dock rates and take the ferry instead.

This photo is of the entrance to Little Harbour on a calm day. We are looking west and the harbour is to the left. The channel in marked with some scratchy old ball fenders is about 15 yards wide.

Off to Pete's Pub Little Harbour

Today we move again and pick up a mooring ball at Pet's Pub in Little Harbour. The way points for the course are in Southbound continued. Number 28 is the destination. To view it, expand the Way Points in Google Earth. We should be there around 2:30 and if they have wifi we'll post.

Marsh Harbour Via Dink Take 2

Today the winds were predicted to be and actually were calmer than they had been for some time so we stuck our noses out onto the Sea of Abaco with the dink. It was smooth enough and there were no whitecaps so we kept going. Nothing of interest going over and the trip went well enough. We made it across in about a half an hour. The GPS data has been updated to include the round trip.

While over in Marsh we said hello to a number of folks we have traveled with and then continued into town. In town we did some shopping which included a cheapo usb cam so we can have video conferencing with Skype. Again, if you don't have this I recommend it for long distance calls unless your calling plan includes them. Besides the video option makes it much more fun.

After shopping we stopped in at Boat Harbour where the dink was tied up to burn off the dock fees at the Tiki Bar with a burger and a beer. As it turns out it was 25 bucks to park the dink but it can be used as credit so we used it for lunch. While we would have enjoyed lunch elsewhere like the Curly Tail Bar which overlooks Marsh Harbour, the food was good here. A great burger for only 12 bucks (yeah, only 12 bucks hope you catch the sarcasm).

Going back to the dink I saw the name on this boat and thought it would be a good change for Freedom.

Deb doesn't think so.

Moving on we took off and when we got outside the break water the wind had picked up and if you looked at the GPS tracks you will see we had to head towards Hope Town to quarter seas so as to have a smoother (not smooth by any stretch) ride back.

Half way across we saw the dolphins right in front of us! It's different when you are in a dink instead of Freedom. It makes you want to skulk down into the dink if you know what I mean since we are the ones out of our environment and at a dissadvantage.

Finally getting across we could beat back down to Sea Spray since we were in the lee of Elbow Cay thus the water layed down quite a bit.

A good day on the water.

Marsh Harbour Via Dink Take 1

As might be deduced from the title, we did not make it to Marsh Harbour today. We attempted to go across the sea of abaco from Sea Spray. When we made it into the surge that was coming from the South Man O War inlet, we turned back. While we could have made it, coming back we would have slammed all the way and the bones just weren't up for it.
Updated the GPS data with the plot and you can see how we turned around and then headed for Tiloo Cut. Once down there we decided we really did not want to head to the inside of the cut behind Tiloo Cay since the surge was rather pronounced for a dink. A center console would have been fine but a dink passage was not going to be dry or comfortable otherwise. The inlet was breaking all the way across and the surge was coming all the way in.
So it's back to the beach looking for bugs again.

They all left town

Today we took a walk down to Tahitti beach and then walked along the Atlantic side back to Sea Spray. The motive behind the Atlantic side was the lobster quest. We probably walked a mile of beach at a lunar low tide examining all the pools but no one was around. We even found the same habitat again but it was empty.

But we did find a couple of interesting shells and there was some more coral in the pools that we had not seen before because the tide was further out today.

Hope Town to Sea Spray on the beach

Today we were given a ride into town by the dock master of Sea Spray. His name is Junior. As you may imagine, Junior is a bit of a misnomer. I have to get a photo of the man.

Once in town we hit the beach and headed south. About half way we had to head up the dunes until we hit the road along the beach because there is a house (Pieces of Eight is the name of the place, probably out there on the net somewhere like Hope Town Hide Aways etc.) that is all the way out on the cliff. Not wanting to fall onto the rocks and surf below we opted for the road.

Back down on the beach we continue walking along until we are maybe 100 yards from the steps leading up to Sea Spray's beach access. Keep in mind for the last two miles we are looking for shells along the way because it's low tide.

So I see this small pool that has been etched into the rocks over the last several eons and in the middle is this shell worthy of closer inspection.

To grab it I had to push a couple of weeds out of the way. Since I was on a small ledge looking down into the pool I repositioned myself and then reached in and moved some weeds. The weeds moved back! Hey, maybe these ain't weeds? Ya think?

There were 6 lobsters hanging out under the small ledge I was standing on and well, here you see the largest of the gang. He probably weighed in at 2+ pounds. Not being the best at sexing lobsters we looked it over well to make sure it was not carrying eggs and then decided to keep it.

As we walked past the Sea Spray tiki bar several people asked if we had brought it back for them.

Not!

His tail is in the freezer now. Gonna be somewhere else soon enough! Tomorrow at low tide I'm going back to look for the other big guy that was down there with this one. The tail on this one had to weigh in at a 1/2 pound plus. Without question it's the largest lobster tail we've had come our way down here.

It's feeling like Winter down here again

Yesterday we had sustained wind above 35 mph all day and night. In spite of this we took advantage of the marina shuttle to Hope Town where we had lunch and did some grocery shopping.
After a brief stop at the boat it was time for happy hour at the Abaco Inn. If one looks over this place's location, you will see it lies on a small piece of land joining the upper and lower portions of Elbow Cay. That makes for quite a bit of wind so they turned on the gas fireplace for everyone!
A couple of items from the bar menu and a few drinks at half price to wash them down made for a good cheap evening.
Either way you look out of this place you get a good water view. It's either the Atlantic or the Sea of Abaco.