The Abacos

Our first venture outside the Exumas was going to be to Royal Island as a one night stop over enroute to Great Abaco Island.  Of course the weather had other ideas so our plan went out the window and we had a great time staying in two places we were not going to visit this year.   After staying at Royal Island for two nights we had a rough ride to Spanish Wells where we stayed for five days.  It is a tiny fishing community of descendents of Loyalists who fled their homeland from the American revolution. The first settlers were a group of shipwrecked Loyalists who had fled the US after the American Revolution.  Hence the population of Spanish Wells seemed almost exclusively white – an about face from the Exumas.  It is a very pretty town with brightly painted homes and well kept gardens.  It seems that in this end of the country you can put a table on your back deck and call yourself a restaurant.  So it was at Buddah’s  Burgers  and Liquors (in the backyard) or the ice cream spot (someone had a soft ice cream machine on their driveway) and the coffee shop (in the  front yard, but it was locally roasted coffee!).

Typical Spanish Wells home.

These folks just love paint!

Since we had time to wait out the weather we took the ferry to Harbour Island – the second place we had not planned to visit this year.  The beach at Harbour Island is one of the “ten best beaches in the world” but getting there requires transiting the Devil’s Backbone which is a treacherous area of shoals and shallow reefs.    Many sailors use the services of a pilot to take them and their boat to the island and then return to bring them back out.  This is our plan for next year so it was good to see the route from the ferry.  The town on the island was most charming with very New England style cottages and small shops.  After spending so much time in the dry and rocky Exumas we were amazed at the dirt in the Abaco!  Most islands and cays here are lush and green.  The beach was spectacular pink sand as far as your eye could see. We are really looking forward to a good visit there next winter!

Lush gardens at the Pink Sands Hotel on Harbour Island

Bay Street Restaurant on Harbour Island

Golf carts are everywhere

Miles of pink sand on Harbour Island .

Our next move was to sail the 53 miles to Little Harbour on Great Abaco Island.  In the 1950s an American University professor left the rat race behind to start life as a sculptor here.  His son Pete carries on the beautiful  bronze sculpting and also runs Pete’s Pub, an institution on the island.

Pete's Beach Pub - a great place.

Kim's big challenge of the day - get the ring on the hook.

The Abacos has far more people and businesses than the Exumas. It seems everywhere we go there are places to stop and eat.  However we can still find a deserted beach when we want.  Lubbers Landing provided new excitement with the bean bag toss and the beach sofas. (there will be a period of adjustment when we finally come home!)

E'ry little 'ting is gonna be alright

Toronto 1268 nautical miles and the Bahamian flag.

And Cathy's challenge ... get the bean bag in the hole and have a snooze in the hammock!

Man O War Cay is a boat building community that we really enjoyed.  Kim had a good long chat with a boat builder and there was a great walk along the Queen’s Highway from one end of the island to the other.  We've learned a little about Abaco architecture and many of the houses are small rectangular 'salt boxes' of timber or post and beam construction with clapboard exterior.   We visited a couple from Michigan who have a cottage that has survived through 50 hurricane seasons. The entire town closes down on Sunday – without exception.

Yes, this is a highway...for golf carts

A typical Loyalist 'Salt Box' house.

A brain coral treasure from the sea.

A picture perfect Methodist Church.

Who knew there were Spider trees!

Whale Cay Channel can be a treacherous spot where a number of boats large and small have sunk and lives have been lost.  Because of shallow areas we need to sail outside to the ocean and then cut back into the Sea of Abaco through Whale Channel. We took advantage of an opportunity to transit the area on a day with little wind and swell so this time the Whale was a minnow!  We have spent a week and a half at Green Turtle Cay due to weather.  It is a great spot and the small town of New Plymouth, population 450, feels almost like home now.  As with most of the towns we’ve been in the homes are small and brightly painted.  Every street and many of the tiny properties have million dollar views of the ocean.  We rented a golf cart with two cruiser friends; the brakes barely worked, the parking brake did not work, and if you turned the engine off it had to be jump started to move on.   Ah well, don’t worry mon’…

The Goombay Smash rum drink was invented here (more rum then fruit juice!)

Ye Olde Gaol (jail) has small barred windows on the other side but it must have been a hot place.

Some rental cottages overlooking the Sea of Abaco

Cathy couldn't resist a picture of a local school, note the teacher's vehicles.

A typical street in New Plymouth

There were a number of closed up businesses, a sign of fewer US cruisers

Since the cays are relatively skinny most streets have a view of the water

Kim heading in to the Lowe Museum

We will be leaving Green Turtle tomorrow after the current weather front moves through and hope to be crossing the Gulf Stream to Florida in less than a week! 

Kim...hard at work...tomorrow mon'...the Bahamian lifestyle

Sailing in the protected waters of the Exuma banks is hard to beat

More Exumas!

We spent most of this winter in the Exumas, a chain of low lying limestone cays and islands that extend in a south easterly direction for 100 miles.  The area is very dry and almost every day of the year is sunny and warm.  The foliage on the cays is often grasses, short palms, and bushes or trees with very thick leaves to survive the sun and dry periods.  There are a huge variety of plants below the water as well – we will bring an underwater camera to capture that next winter.   We had the good fortune to experience an unseasonably warm and windy winter so did not need long sleeves, socks, or long pants. We enjoyed ourselves so much that we will definitely be back for January 2015!

Not exactly what your mind pictures as swaying palms!

It may be scrub, but it's beautiful.

Always big sky and water. The shirts are for sun protection not warmth.

  We had the good fortune to meet local fishermen who had speared very large spiny lobsters and we took one home.  The meat was tender, tasty, and fed us for dinner and lunch the next day.  We often drag a fishing line as we sail and so far Calvin has caught the largest barracuda of the season.

Mmmm!

Fighting the barracuda.

After the fight with Calvin this barracuda was tired out. Kim takes care of hook removal.

Kim has practiced diligently on his pole-spear fishing, Hawaiian sling spearing, and trolling.  For a very long time the only thing he had to show were barracuda teeth marks on the lures. They do give a good sporting fight, and we landed six, but unfortunately they are not eating material because of the risk of ciguatera fish poisoning, so they go back to the sea.  Then his time came … he has now speared grunts, snappers, a trigger fish and on our passage from Nassau to Spanish Wells he caught Suzie the Mahi. She was 25 pounds and 44 inches to the fork in her tail. She had already spooled out about 30 yards of line by the time Kim got to the reel to set the hook. The drag is normally set to ten pounds but this was not enough and we continued to loose line. The fight was on. After slowly increasing the drag Kim was now able to start gaining on her. We have a 50lb reel with 50lb line so we were determined not to loose this little battle. We got her to the boat, gaffed her, sprayed our cheap vodka into her gills to put her to sleep, and finally secured her with a line through her gills. With help from our freezer she continues to provide us with delicious dinners.

After two good runs the Mahi was beginning to tire.

The yellow and blue colouring of the Mahi is quite spectacular.

Safely at anchor the Mahi was cleaned and is still being enjoyed.

The dry conditions of the cays limit the species that can survive so in the Exumas we did not hear a lot of bird calls and bugs were a non issue although when the wind dies away the no-seeums can show up. The main creatures we found were lizards, iguanas (on 2 protected habitat cays) and the tiny Bananaquit bird. When one visits iguanas they will walk up to you, then you stare at each other until they tire of you and walk away.

A mature Rock Iguana

These tiny lizards are our only company on most cays.

This Bananaquit flew inside the boat each day to dine on white sugar.

Black Point is one of our regular anchorages because it is a small community that makes you feel welcome. It has a very small grocery store, four restaurants and the best laundry in the Bahamas.  If there are a number of boats in the harbour the community will organize a 'Chat and Chill'. The residents and cruisers drop by the beach for a BBQ - lobster, grouper, chicken, ribs, steak with the fixins - rice and peas, macaroni casserole and cole slaw. There is plenty of music and Bahmaian Kalik beer to keep everyone hydrated.

The Black Point anchorage - yes that is the cemetary!

Dancin' at the 'Chat and Chill'

Cathy gets her kid fix at the BBQ.

 

Looking out to the Atlantic (Exuma Sound) side of the island.

This group of pictures are from our visits with Corinne and Calvin in some of our favourite Exuma spots.

Corinne on top of BooBoo hill overlooking Exuma Banks.

Warderick Wells Sea Park was a favourite spot. The 'Q' is on the far left.
We are anchored in a natural channel and the water to her immediate left is less than a foot at low tide!

Kim's eye view from the top of the mast, Corinne and Cathy on the deck below.

Water temperatures of  85+ degrees make for long soaking times at Warderick Wells.

Lunch at Staniel Cay Yacht Club.

Cal in front of Bell Rock and the Exuma Sound behind.

A girl and her dad at Obriens Cay.