Monday, February 25, 2013
Just another day in Paradise...but which day?
There's a full moon tonight, the tide will be high at 8:40 a.m. tomorrow, and the winds will be from the southeast at 10 to 15 knots. A small cold front may arrive in a few days, but that's some time in the future and we can put off thinking about it at the moment! And so our days here in paradise go. The days of the week are noted by whether it's 'Rib Night' at the 'Jib Room', 'Browntip' is entertaining at 'Snappa's Bar', or there's a pot-luck supper beside the pool. Maybe we'll rent some bikes tomorrow, or go snorkelling at Mermaid Reef, and, in the evening we can go to the book- reading by a local author and sip some wine and nibble some cheese. This is winter Abaco-style and we are enjoying every minute of it.
The promised 'weather bomb' arrived on schedule while we were docked at Treasure Cay. We were sheltered from the worst of the winds, but as we watched the barometer drop 'like a bomb' over the space of an hour, we checked our lines and changed from shorts to jeans and sweaters, and then into our 'foul weather' gear! Daytime temperatures were a 'freezing' 16C, and dropped one night to an unheard of 10C. Brrr! But we survived! We walked the beaches, cycled to a beautiful new restaurant called 'Treasure Sands' and had our best meal so far in the Bahamas there, and did a return trip to 'Burner's Bar' with Ellen & Siegmar. We also got to know our fellow boaters, Jane & Ron on 'Rachel', and Jean & Brian and their dog, Zephyr, on 'Clairvoyant'. We had first met up with them at the Green Turtle Club.
The sun is never absent for too long in the Bahamas, and once it returned it was time for us to set off for Marsh Harbour, the big 'metropolis' of the Abacos. Marsh Harbour is only about 14 miles from Treasure Cay, so, before leaving, we lingered and spent a last morning on the lovely beach, now returned to its' pristine condition and no longer lapped by fearsome white caps.
We arrived in Marsh Harbour just as the sun set. The anchorage was very busy, but we dropped our 'hook' and prepared to spend a peaceful night rocked by the gently lapping waves. Unfortunately we were close to the main loading dock for the small freighters that service the islands and our peaceful night was interrupted by much clanging and banging of cranes and loaders! We were also close to a channel for boats of all sorts entering or leaving the harbour! The next morning we made the easy decision to move in to 'Harbour View Marina' where we had spent some time on our previous trip. It's a well run marina and full of very friendly boaters. Our first night, after drinks on Ron and Jane's boat, we all dinghied over to the Marsh Harbour Marina's 'Jib Room' for a delicious dinner of ribs, followed by a uniquely Bahamian form of musical entertainment called 'Rake and Scrape' in which a saw is scraped by a metal bar to make a rythmic buzzing accompaniment! It's very effective and sounds surprisingly good! We also enjoyed watching 'flaming limbo dancing', and some of us even closed the evening joining in with the line-dancers! Since then we've taken advantage of the restaurants and bars that line this part of town, and have spent very little time slaving over a hot stove! Lunches, 'Happy Hours' and dinners at 'Snappa's', 'Mangoes' and the 'Conch Inn' are too enticing. Yesterday we joined a group from the dock and played 'Bocce Ball', a kind of bowls and a good way to while away a warm afternoon while watching boats come and go on the harbour.
Today we met Glen and Louise, friends from our last visit to the Abacos four years ago. They have bought a plot of land in Hope Town, and are preparing to build on it. We'll look forward to seeing more of them when we get to Hope Town later this week.
The promised 'weather bomb' arrived on schedule while we were docked at Treasure Cay. We were sheltered from the worst of the winds, but as we watched the barometer drop 'like a bomb' over the space of an hour, we checked our lines and changed from shorts to jeans and sweaters, and then into our 'foul weather' gear! Daytime temperatures were a 'freezing' 16C, and dropped one night to an unheard of 10C. Brrr! But we survived! We walked the beaches, cycled to a beautiful new restaurant called 'Treasure Sands' and had our best meal so far in the Bahamas there, and did a return trip to 'Burner's Bar' with Ellen & Siegmar. We also got to know our fellow boaters, Jane & Ron on 'Rachel', and Jean & Brian and their dog, Zephyr, on 'Clairvoyant'. We had first met up with them at the Green Turtle Club.
The sun is never absent for too long in the Bahamas, and once it returned it was time for us to set off for Marsh Harbour, the big 'metropolis' of the Abacos. Marsh Harbour is only about 14 miles from Treasure Cay, so, before leaving, we lingered and spent a last morning on the lovely beach, now returned to its' pristine condition and no longer lapped by fearsome white caps.
We arrived in Marsh Harbour just as the sun set. The anchorage was very busy, but we dropped our 'hook' and prepared to spend a peaceful night rocked by the gently lapping waves. Unfortunately we were close to the main loading dock for the small freighters that service the islands and our peaceful night was interrupted by much clanging and banging of cranes and loaders! We were also close to a channel for boats of all sorts entering or leaving the harbour! The next morning we made the easy decision to move in to 'Harbour View Marina' where we had spent some time on our previous trip. It's a well run marina and full of very friendly boaters. Our first night, after drinks on Ron and Jane's boat, we all dinghied over to the Marsh Harbour Marina's 'Jib Room' for a delicious dinner of ribs, followed by a uniquely Bahamian form of musical entertainment called 'Rake and Scrape' in which a saw is scraped by a metal bar to make a rythmic buzzing accompaniment! It's very effective and sounds surprisingly good! We also enjoyed watching 'flaming limbo dancing', and some of us even closed the evening joining in with the line-dancers! Since then we've taken advantage of the restaurants and bars that line this part of town, and have spent very little time slaving over a hot stove! Lunches, 'Happy Hours' and dinners at 'Snappa's', 'Mangoes' and the 'Conch Inn' are too enticing. Yesterday we joined a group from the dock and played 'Bocce Ball', a kind of bowls and a good way to while away a warm afternoon while watching boats come and go on the harbour.
Today we met Glen and Louise, friends from our last visit to the Abacos four years ago. They have bought a plot of land in Hope Town, and are preparing to build on it. We'll look forward to seeing more of them when we get to Hope Town later this week.
Saturday, February 16, 2013
"We went to a marvellous party"
The lyrics of one of Noel Coward's famous songs came to mind as we sat at 'Burner's Bar and Restaurant' on Valentine's night and took in our surroundings. "I went to a marvellous party" describes, in Coward's inimitable and witty fashion, the scene at a society party in the south of France between the wars. Though we didn't know any of the characters at our 'party', the elegant and "you can never be too slim" women, and the patrician, 'Tommy Bahama'- clad gentlemen, lent a totally unexpected glamour to this out of the way corner of the island of Abaco.
We were guests of Siegmar and Ellen, a lovely German couple we had met the previous evening at the pizza and dance party put on by the 'Tipsy Seagull', one of the Treasure Cay Marina's restaurants.
They invited us to try a very different style of eating place which had become a favourite of theirs - 'Burner's Bar'. Chris, the owner, entertains with great gusto as singer, order taker and mine host with the most!
A fantasy of Christmas lights and gaudy 'Junkanoo-style' glitter welcomed us as we made our way to our reserved table in this out-of the-way corner of the Island of Abaco. The restaurant was packed and definitely 'in the pink', as most of the decorations were of a rosy hue in honour of St.Valentine. The menu was small, but our lobster tails were mouth-wateringly delicious. The rum-based drinks (no boring wine here) seemed at first to be harmless, but quickly built up a 'punch' as the evening progressed and they kept coming!
We ate, drank and danced and left with a determination to return before too long. After further drinks at Siegmar and Ellen's beach house, we managed to find our way back to 'Southern Vectis' to sleep and dream of our "marvellous party".
Now, two days later, we are in the middle of what our weather-forecasting guru, Chris Parker, calls a weather 'bomb'. This means gale force winds and lots of rain caused by cold fronts and troughs and other weather-forecastly, and quite ghastly disturbances all meeting up and causing the pressure to 'drop like a bomb'! We are tied firmly to our dock and plan a beach walk this afternoon before the bomb drops! We will stay put until Tuesday before heading over to the delights of Marsh Harbour.
We were guests of Siegmar and Ellen, a lovely German couple we had met the previous evening at the pizza and dance party put on by the 'Tipsy Seagull', one of the Treasure Cay Marina's restaurants.
They invited us to try a very different style of eating place which had become a favourite of theirs - 'Burner's Bar'. Chris, the owner, entertains with great gusto as singer, order taker and mine host with the most!
A fantasy of Christmas lights and gaudy 'Junkanoo-style' glitter welcomed us as we made our way to our reserved table in this out-of the-way corner of the Island of Abaco. The restaurant was packed and definitely 'in the pink', as most of the decorations were of a rosy hue in honour of St.Valentine. The menu was small, but our lobster tails were mouth-wateringly delicious. The rum-based drinks (no boring wine here) seemed at first to be harmless, but quickly built up a 'punch' as the evening progressed and they kept coming!
We ate, drank and danced and left with a determination to return before too long. After further drinks at Siegmar and Ellen's beach house, we managed to find our way back to 'Southern Vectis' to sleep and dream of our "marvellous party".
Now, two days later, we are in the middle of what our weather-forecasting guru, Chris Parker, calls a weather 'bomb'. This means gale force winds and lots of rain caused by cold fronts and troughs and other weather-forecastly, and quite ghastly disturbances all meeting up and causing the pressure to 'drop like a bomb'! We are tied firmly to our dock and plan a beach walk this afternoon before the bomb drops! We will stay put until Tuesday before heading over to the delights of Marsh Harbour.
Thursday, February 14, 2013
Wednesday, February 13, 2013
It IS better in the Bahamas!
We were up and about long before four sunrises, and had watched four red suns sink into mostly calm seas before 'Southern Vectis' and her crew were able to say, "We're here!" As we made our way tentatively up White Sound towards our dock at the Green Turtle Club we knew that we'd made the right decision to return to these beautiful 'islands in the stream' - the Abacos.
All had gone smoothly with our outbound journey from Florida. We met our 'buddy boat', Jumasi, at anchor in Lake Worth, and set off at 3 a.m. on February 6 to cross the Gulf Stream to West End on Grand Bahama Island. Eleven hours later we were tied up to a dock at Old Bahama Bay Marina. There's always a feeling of relief to have made it across the 52 miles and strong northward push of the Gulf Stream, and the camaraderie of boaters with tales to tell soon turns a dock into a friendly village. But we still had two more long days ahead before we could say "We're there!"
The following day we made our way tentatively through the shallow Indian Rock Passage and headed for Great Sale Cay, our overnight anchorage on the Little Bahama Bank. The wind was almost on our nose and the waves were a little choppy, but we managed to turn the motor off and do some sailing for a few hours! We arrived at Great Sale Cay - an uninhabited half moon of sand - just as the sun set. As is always the case when there is an exodus to or from Florida during a 'weather window', there were quite a few boats already at anchor. The wind changed the next day and we made good time to the first of our ports of call, Green Turtle Cay.
We spent three days happily tied to a dock at the Green Turtle Club. Sigita and Martin on 'Jumasi' had docked across the bay at the Bluff House Marina as there were no slips left at the Green Turtle Club when we first arrived. On our arrival into the harbour we were welcomed by Al and Maggie on Tortuga, friends from Ft. Pierce, and they came on board for a champagne welcome party.
We enjoyed out time at this lovely spot. The marina has improved a lot since our last visit four years ago, but there was still one feature that remained the same - you could eat your dockage! So each night we faithfully had dinner in the club's restaurant knowing that now our dockage was 'free'! We dinghied into the quaint little town of New Plymouth with Al and Maggie and, after a bracing walk on a beautiful deserted beach, had a delicious lunch of 'cracked conch' - a Bahamian specialty. We met up with Sigita and Martin and a whole gang of other boaters over at the Bluff House, which has also improved a lot since our last visit - especially the showers!
We had intended to stay longer than three days, but we needed to get over one more hurdle on our journey, and that was to cross 'The Whale'. This is a stretch of water which is an opening into the Atlantic, and is fringed with jagged rocky islands, and prone to what the locals call 'rages'. If you cross through at the wrong time you can get in a lot of trouble. But on Tuesday the weather
forecast predicted a good day for Whale crossing, and so a flotilla of boats left Green Turtle and successfully made it through. Once through, the flotilla broke up as each boat sailed or motored away across the turquoise waters of the Sea of Abaco to one of the many islands - Great Guana Cay, Man-o- War, Elbow Cay or Marsh Harbour, We headed for Treasure Cay, as we had not been there on our previous trip. We arrived to find a small harbour, marina and resort and the most beautiful beach we had ever seen! We'll spend some time here! Also here are fellow boaters we had met at Green Turtle. Last night we were invited onto Steve and Debbie's grand 50 foot motor cruiser for sunset cocktails, and tonight we are all going to a pizza night out! Life is good!
All had gone smoothly with our outbound journey from Florida. We met our 'buddy boat', Jumasi, at anchor in Lake Worth, and set off at 3 a.m. on February 6 to cross the Gulf Stream to West End on Grand Bahama Island. Eleven hours later we were tied up to a dock at Old Bahama Bay Marina. There's always a feeling of relief to have made it across the 52 miles and strong northward push of the Gulf Stream, and the camaraderie of boaters with tales to tell soon turns a dock into a friendly village. But we still had two more long days ahead before we could say "We're there!"
The following day we made our way tentatively through the shallow Indian Rock Passage and headed for Great Sale Cay, our overnight anchorage on the Little Bahama Bank. The wind was almost on our nose and the waves were a little choppy, but we managed to turn the motor off and do some sailing for a few hours! We arrived at Great Sale Cay - an uninhabited half moon of sand - just as the sun set. As is always the case when there is an exodus to or from Florida during a 'weather window', there were quite a few boats already at anchor. The wind changed the next day and we made good time to the first of our ports of call, Green Turtle Cay.
We spent three days happily tied to a dock at the Green Turtle Club. Sigita and Martin on 'Jumasi' had docked across the bay at the Bluff House Marina as there were no slips left at the Green Turtle Club when we first arrived. On our arrival into the harbour we were welcomed by Al and Maggie on Tortuga, friends from Ft. Pierce, and they came on board for a champagne welcome party.
We enjoyed out time at this lovely spot. The marina has improved a lot since our last visit four years ago, but there was still one feature that remained the same - you could eat your dockage! So each night we faithfully had dinner in the club's restaurant knowing that now our dockage was 'free'! We dinghied into the quaint little town of New Plymouth with Al and Maggie and, after a bracing walk on a beautiful deserted beach, had a delicious lunch of 'cracked conch' - a Bahamian specialty. We met up with Sigita and Martin and a whole gang of other boaters over at the Bluff House, which has also improved a lot since our last visit - especially the showers!
We had intended to stay longer than three days, but we needed to get over one more hurdle on our journey, and that was to cross 'The Whale'. This is a stretch of water which is an opening into the Atlantic, and is fringed with jagged rocky islands, and prone to what the locals call 'rages'. If you cross through at the wrong time you can get in a lot of trouble. But on Tuesday the weather
forecast predicted a good day for Whale crossing, and so a flotilla of boats left Green Turtle and successfully made it through. Once through, the flotilla broke up as each boat sailed or motored away across the turquoise waters of the Sea of Abaco to one of the many islands - Great Guana Cay, Man-o- War, Elbow Cay or Marsh Harbour, We headed for Treasure Cay, as we had not been there on our previous trip. We arrived to find a small harbour, marina and resort and the most beautiful beach we had ever seen! We'll spend some time here! Also here are fellow boaters we had met at Green Turtle. Last night we were invited onto Steve and Debbie's grand 50 foot motor cruiser for sunset cocktails, and tonight we are all going to a pizza night out! Life is good!
Tuesday, February 5, 2013
February 5, 2013 - Setting off.
(With apologies to 'Leaving on a jet plane'......................
Our boat's all packed, we're ready to go
We're motoring down the ICW
The weather forecasters say we can cross tomorrow
The Gulf stream's beckoning
Tomorrow's the day
We'll meet our friends and sail away
And hope to make safe landfall in the Bahamas
We're leaving the U.S. of A.
Don't know when we'll be back to stay
Although we're nervous we can do it, can't we?
Goodbye to Ft. Pierce and our friendly dock
Goodbye to the surf and the car and the flock
Of seagulls who love to wake us like a clock
We're leaving the U.S. of A
Don't know when we'll be back to stay
We're NOT nervous now....and it's anchors aweigh!
Our boat's all packed, we're ready to go
We're motoring down the ICW
The weather forecasters say we can cross tomorrow
The Gulf stream's beckoning
Tomorrow's the day
We'll meet our friends and sail away
And hope to make safe landfall in the Bahamas
We're leaving the U.S. of A.
Don't know when we'll be back to stay
Although we're nervous we can do it, can't we?
Goodbye to Ft. Pierce and our friendly dock
Goodbye to the surf and the car and the flock
Of seagulls who love to wake us like a clock
We're leaving the U.S. of A
Don't know when we'll be back to stay
We're NOT nervous now....and it's anchors aweigh!
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