Ever since Friday last when we crossed the Gulf Stream, we have been kicking back waiting for the weather to lighten up a bit. We need two days of light winds to get around to Green Turtle Club and Marina.
This trip is composed of a couple of legs around 50 or 60 nm each. That means we anchor out since there is really not much in between these two places (West End and Green Turtle). The accepted anchorage is Sale Cay. It's pretty much the midway point and offers good protection from North and East winds. Since the prediction is that the wind will be composed of these directions, we should be good to go.
And many folks here at west end feel the same way since we are all leaving the marina tomorrow headed for the same place.
We are going to take the short cut through Indian Cay, while several others that pull 5 feet of draft are headed further north to Memory Rock before they turn east to Sale Cay. We'll all be in touch via radio.
But-
To bring you up to date, we took the local bus service from West End to Freeport. The bus is your basic 8 passenger van with a small diesel engine. It was actually a great ride. Everyone that got onto the bus said good morning to everyone and everyone on the bus responded in same.
It was only 7 bucks apiece each way instead of what would have been 70 bucks for a taxi.
We landed at the Straw Mall in Freeport, and it was immediately depressing. It looks like it got whacked a ton by the hurricanes of '04 etc. and it never recovered. Very sad. There were only a handful of vendors sticking it out.
So we hopped onto the bus and went over to LuCaya. It seems like this is where all of the tourism industry has migrated to leaving Freeport behind.
We had lunch and bought some things like sandals. I was going to buy a Hawaiian Sling to spear lobsters with but Deb said that spear would not sit well in the cramped corners of the micro bus so that was out. Lunch in RumRunners and then back onto the bus for the ride back.
Here at the marina in West End, the water has finally settled down and we can see the bottom again. Last night we had some 3 foot tarpon swimming around in the transom lights looking for bait fish. Tonite, even tho the water is clear, all we see is the small stuff again. Perhaps as the sun sets further more action will occur.
So while we are on the move, I am sure we will not be updating the blog until we reach Green Turtle. Hopefully the only challenge on these legs is the anchorage and passing through Indian Cay.
This trip is composed of a couple of legs around 50 or 60 nm each. That means we anchor out since there is really not much in between these two places (West End and Green Turtle). The accepted anchorage is Sale Cay. It's pretty much the midway point and offers good protection from North and East winds. Since the prediction is that the wind will be composed of these directions, we should be good to go.
And many folks here at west end feel the same way since we are all leaving the marina tomorrow headed for the same place.
We are going to take the short cut through Indian Cay, while several others that pull 5 feet of draft are headed further north to Memory Rock before they turn east to Sale Cay. We'll all be in touch via radio.
But-
To bring you up to date, we took the local bus service from West End to Freeport. The bus is your basic 8 passenger van with a small diesel engine. It was actually a great ride. Everyone that got onto the bus said good morning to everyone and everyone on the bus responded in same.
It was only 7 bucks apiece each way instead of what would have been 70 bucks for a taxi.
We landed at the Straw Mall in Freeport, and it was immediately depressing. It looks like it got whacked a ton by the hurricanes of '04 etc. and it never recovered. Very sad. There were only a handful of vendors sticking it out.
So we hopped onto the bus and went over to LuCaya. It seems like this is where all of the tourism industry has migrated to leaving Freeport behind.
We had lunch and bought some things like sandals. I was going to buy a Hawaiian Sling to spear lobsters with but Deb said that spear would not sit well in the cramped corners of the micro bus so that was out. Lunch in RumRunners and then back onto the bus for the ride back.
Here at the marina in West End, the water has finally settled down and we can see the bottom again. Last night we had some 3 foot tarpon swimming around in the transom lights looking for bait fish. Tonite, even tho the water is clear, all we see is the small stuff again. Perhaps as the sun sets further more action will occur.
So while we are on the move, I am sure we will not be updating the blog until we reach Green Turtle. Hopefully the only challenge on these legs is the anchorage and passing through Indian Cay.
In this photo, we see the lobster fisherman at work. There are a few of them here, and they are of humble means. They drag a beat up cooler around by a line, and hunt out lobsters. They are out there all morning swimming around harvesting lobsters. When the man came around the dock with his cooler I bought three for 20 bucks. We have had several meals out of them, and I hope he had a couple of meals or other things he needed with the dollars we gave him.
1 comment:
I'm disappointed to read you won't be blogging for a few days. Each day I look forward to seeing how your travels are going. I think it takes my mind off how freaking cold it is up here.
Have you tried catching one of those Tarpon?
Post a Comment