One Month in the Abacos is gone already

 Wow, where did that go? With the month of January coming to a close it was time to move for a change of scenery. Upon a rising tide and calm weather we moved down to the Sea Spray Resort and Marina where we've previously had lunch after walking South along the Atlantic side of Elbow Cay. I think I mentioned they have a good grouper sandwich here and while chowing down on a couple of occasions we took in a couple of football games. Specifically, those leading up to the Giants vs. Green Bay.
 The crowd here was decidedly pro Green Bay and being a Giants fan, I intend to take full advantage of their prophecies. We'll see how it all plays out in the Super Bowl and I am thinking it will be a good game regardless of the outcome. Eli got away with a few hail mary passes in the last couple of games. Count me as one who is not sure that tact is going to carry forward well. We'll all see.
 The ride down was uneventful except for the fact that several sailboats were heading out of Hope Town Harbour to participate in a sailing regalia on the Sea of Abaco. Fortunately as our preparations evolved our departure from the dock fit into the pattern well and we had no issues. In fact we followed the Rage ( http://abacorage.wordpress.com/ ) out of the Harbour into the Sea of Abaco. It appeared as though many sailboats were headed out for a great day of sailing in a wonderful environment. As we continued cruising along the shore of Elbow we were in calm water in spite of the fact that the wind was stout out of the East. It pays to be in the Lee where the calm waters are. Docking in at Sea Spray we found our reserved slip was taken so we moved deeper into the marina and after a miscue of getting into a slip that was too short for us we found ourselves located on the other side of the finger we occupied last Winter. So it's all good and we are settled.
 It wasn't long before the beach walking along the South end of the Atlantic side of the Cay started and our beach combing began to produce some results. We found a few shells of interest but we have to admit this year it's slim pickings for shells with all of the dune repairs. It seems as though all of the shells are buried with new sand or, they were blown away by Hurricane Irene. Regardless, one item of interest turned up and it was this message in a wine bottle. If you click on the image you can read the details. It seems like they were out in the Atlantic cruising along having a great time throwing bottles over the side. Cool. So I sent them this same photo without the omissions and sure enough we received a response. Good fun. I asked that next time they send a full bottle enclosed in floatation to our attention although I'm relatively certain they will not. I'm thinking this bottle has been bobbing around about a year. Who knows. Regardless it was certainly quite a bit of fun for everyone at the Garbonzo bar here at Sea Spray where we had the "opening ceremony". Fortunately they had a cork screw to get the bottle re-opened. I was initially surprised how long it took to locate one but in reflection it makes sense given beer and rum are the preferred mechanisms here in the Bahamas.
 Speaking of hurricanes, things here survived very well. Probably better than other locations. The coastline is still a very comfortable walk and the road past the Abaco Inn has been stabilized. While it is a lane more narrow than it was before the storm it all works well enough and traffic flows without issue. Many houses are getting repainted since the storm provided a combination power washing and sand blasting of their trim and other surfaces. There's good stimulus in hurricanes and tropical storms. Ask any of the people in the North East United States that lived through this past Summer.
 Using Google Earth if you look at Sea Spray and compare its location to the Hope Town Inn and Marina, you will see it is more protected and well inside White Sound away from the inlets to the Atlantic or Sea of Abaco. Strangely it seems there are more fish in the marina here. Last night I turned on the transom lights and to my surprise there were many snappers swimming around in the light. So I went back aboard and got some old turkey stuffing that we saved for times like this. Once back on the dock I started to throw some into the water and it wasn't long before I had the surface quite active with fish hitting on the cubes of toast. That's when the unexpected happened. I good sized shark swam right under the dock I was standing at the edge of. I'm not thinking it was a Nurse shark because the nose was more pointy than that but it didn't have the black fin tips either. I suppose it could have been a juvenile Bull shark but the water was cloudy obscuring a good view even though it was perhaps only 4 feet below the surface.
 The pool is looking better all the time.