The Bahamas

March 10, 2024

(Day 298)

Finally, a day I can catch up on the blog.  I have attempted this several times but the marina wifi was not strong enough to keep a link.  

Those of you following us on Nebo are probably wondering why we are stuck in Florida so long.  Some have asked if we are having boat problems or health issues.  No,  all is good.  The device we use for tracking us, Nebo Link, does not work with the Bahamian network so what it shows is as the last place it could communicate.  

We are in the Bahamas!

The Crossing

The crossing ... the crossing ... AGAIN??? Yea, it seems to be that I talk about that a lot.  But you know ... heading 70 miles out into the Atlantic Ocean is more than a notion.

We staged at Lake Worth near West Palm Beach Florida waiting for the right weather window.  This time of year they are few and far between.  We waited and waited.  The difference between a good day and bad day looks like this:

Bad                                               Good

The blue indicates lower winds and thus smaller waves.  So we got a blue day.  As a matter of fact, it would be the only blue day for at least 10 days.  It was time to go.  The deal with the Admiral was we would stick our nose out 5 miles and she could make a go/no go decision.  At the 5 mile mark, it was all go with ~4 foot waves on a reasonable period (time between waves).  

At the 15 mile mark .... not so good.  We were in 7 - 9 foot (some boaters estimating 10+) waves.  Looking up at a 9 foot wave is a whole other experience.  The chop on top of these monsters was ~3 feet!

I have to say, the Shorebilly did amazing.  Whereas the boat did bob and weave a lot, it never slammed.  We were ~13mph up the waves and 23 down.  My adrenalin pumped for ~2 hours straight.  The Admiral had her big girl panties on and never flinched (very proud of her).  

About 1/2 way though, things started to settle down with only 5-6 foot waves on a long period and it became very manageable.  

If you are wondering why there are no pictures, my hands were not coming off the wheel and the Admiral was totally focused on the horizon (which constantly changed depending on the wave).

Old Bahama Bay - West End - Grand Bahama Island

Our customs check in was Old Bahama Bay, West End on Grand Bahama Island.  We had been told this was a one night stop.  It has exactly one restaurant, one marina, one Tiki Bar and one pool.  Due to high winds, we ended up there for three nights and loved it.  

The people were warm and welcoming, the place clean and the services that were there were excellent.  The marina was well protected and the other boats in the harbor proved to be a blast with a large docktails.

Old Bahama Bay has a sad recent history in that there was an attempt to create a massive modern community of high end homes.  After the infrastructure was complete, the 2008 housing crunch hit and bankrupted the effort.  The result was this massive walking area with nice roads and open fields, but less than 10% of the lots housed.  

Once the crossing is complete, we are in the Sea of Abaco.  The protection this offers is amazing greatly reducing our concerns over the weather.  I tried to capture the difference in this video.  You can barely hear me talk due to the winds.  The ocean side is incredibly rough and then there is this imaginary line and it instantly becomes calm.  

And the water color ... WOW!  Pictures just don't do it justice.  Amazingly, the color ranged from light green to dark green to light blue to dark blue.   All of it was stunning.

Conchs

In Florida it was against the rules to take a Conch.  When we got to the Bahamas, EVERYTHING was Conch.  Conch fritters, Conch salad, Conch wraps ... and on and on.  I wondered where they came from and if it really was Conch or something else in all these meals.  Terri and I took the scooters out for a run around Great Bahamas to see the area and were shocked by what we found ... MOUNTAINS of conch shells everywhere.

We watched a man bringing them in from a cage by the 500 gallon bucket loads making multiple trips.  I guess boats would pull in and dump their conchs into the cage for harvesting later.

Talking with the locals, there appears to be no shortage....AND they do taste great!

Our Route

Our trip through the Abacos spanned from Old Bahama Bay to Green Turtle to Marsh Harbor to Hopetown to Little Harbor.  Then we zig-zagged around from beautiful beach to beautiful beach.

Green Turtle Cay

Exploring the Cay (pronounced Key) started our journey from one fantastic Tiki Bar to the next.  Each has its house special drink that is essentially a Rum Punch.  I had to try them all.  My poor liver.  After scootering across the Cay and walking down a dirt path for a few hundred yards, we found Pineapples!  What a cool place.  They locals were grilling fresh lobster and fish next door.  The drinks were cheap and the views priceless.

The whole place was cool.

But it is not all about the tiki bars.  The beaches are stunning.  We took the dinghy out and cruised around.  One lesson learned is that I under powered the dinghy for these long excursions.  I only have a 6hp on it.  That will be upgraded.

No Name Cay

Leaving Green Turtle Cay on our way to Marsh Harbor we had to stop at the famous No Name Cay which is known for "swimming with the pigs".  Absolutely we are going to do this stop.  The winds were super high and the water rough, but we managed to get the anchor set and the dinghy deployed.  We left Yudee on the boat because we were not sure Vizslas and pigs would mix.

Once on the island a local tour guide immediately walked up to be and handed me a small bag of corn.  He just said "feed the pigs". Not how, where or when to feed the pigs ... just feed them.  Immediately I was surrounded.  It really hurts when then step on your feet!  I yelled after the guy; "From my hand or just throw it in the sand".  He yelled back "Only they little ones with your hand.  The big ones bite hard."  By this point they are knocking me over to get to the corn.  So I did the smart thing and handed the bag of corn to Terri letting them chase her!

AND ... when you have a pool, it is important to have rules ....

And then, suddenly, it wasn't so much fun.  Terri and I had ordered our lunch and were sitting at the table waiting for it to arrive.  It was a windy but beautiful day with a beautiful view.  What could go wrong?  Well, one thing would be the anchor breaking free and us watching the boat take take off.

Terri and I did our very best imitation of sprinting across sand to the dinghy.  Waves were ~2 feet which in a 9 foot boat are huge.  I am pulling and pulling on the starter and the dang thing will not fire.  Then Terri says; "Put the deadman stitch back in".  A deadman switch is a little forked piece of plastic connected to a bungie type cable that goes around the operator's hand.  If he/she falls overboard, it kills the engine.  I take it with me for it prevents someone from starting the engine.

Meanwhile, the Shorebilly is rapidly drifting towards a dock out of control.  Jamming the deadman back in place the dinghy fired right up.  In record time, we made it to the Shorebilly, mounted, raised the dinghy, started the engines, secured the anchor and brought the boat safely into the dock.  

The waitress had our food in to go boxes for us and off we went.  No damage ... only two old farts panting hard.    

Marsh Harbor

Marsh Harbor was wonderful and we had a great time but ultimately proved to be problematic.  Terri and I took Yudee for a long walk around the island. About halfway through the walk my left foot started burning so I took my shoe off.  A little ant was walking on my foot.  I brushed it off and didn't think anything more of it.  

That evening we went out to dinner.  Suddenly I felt so full I could not swallow another thing.  Even water was too much. Back at the boat I was so uncomfortable I stayed outside in case I got sick.  At times I thought about inducing getting sick just to relieve the pressure.  By10pm I finally felt OK enough to try to sleep.  When I took my shirt off, we discovered I was covered in hives.  Terri immediately stuffed a Zyrtec in my mouth and by midnight I was asleep.

I have never been allergic to anything in my life but apparently Fire Ants are a problem.  The next day I got introduced to the Bahamian medical system and $55 later had some meds to fight this should it happen again.  Ultimately, all is well that ends well. 

Other than that, Marsh harbor was great.  More dinghy excursions (with fellow boaters), conch salad, rum punch and more. We had a fantastic snorkel excursion to Mermaid Reef.  And there was a big grocery store to provision at. We had lots of fun with the Tallman family from Syracuse who are sailors we met at West End. 

Hopetown

We really enjoyed Hopetown ... so much so that after a couple of days we left to go to Little Harbor but winds were too high so we returned for a few more days.  Hopetown is know for its lighthouse.  It is the only active kerosene lighthouse left in the world.   It is open to the public with only 101 steps to the top so up we went.  The view was magnificent.

The rest of the town was really cool with great restaurants and tiki bars.  Our favorite quickly became "On Da Beach".  It was about a 1.5 mile walk but worth every step.  It might have been one of the prettiest places I have ever been in my life.

As a matter of fact, the entire town was fantastic for walking and enjoying.

(For those that don't know it, Cambridge Md is right next to where I grew up)

Little Harbor

One of many icons of the Abacos is Pete's Pub on the southern tip of the Abacos.  It is literally the only thing there other than fantastic dinghy exploring (which we did).  Pete's was COOL.  It is a classic Tiki bar in the middle of no where with really good food and fantastic "Blasters" (over served rum punch).

(Relax, this is a pole to tie your dinghy to...)

And of course, other loopers were in harbor so we invited them over for docktails.  Even through we did not know them all, in classic looper tradition took the dinghy over to their boat and extended the invitation.

Right behind Little Harbor is Man of War Brush.  This is known for hundreds of sea turtles and Blue Holes.  Little Harbor is where you see the pink line and the blue arrows show the great dinghy area.

 

Blue Holes are entrances to underwater caves / tunnels that go on for miles and are interconnected.  They are deep and known for claiming the lives those brave / foolish enough to dive them.  To dinghy through here requires leaving Little Harbor which is next to an inlet off the Abaco Sea (think big rough waves).  Once around the point it is calm.  Now try to imaging doing this in a 9 foot boat with a 6hp.  Pretty intense.  Once past the point, everything was calm and good, but the 1/2 run around that point can make you go bald. (Oh wait a minute...).

To get to the Blue Holes was a back water scoot that often required walking the dinghy.  The Admiral got to stay onboard and issue orders.  Such is the luxury of command.  We did the trip with Brett and Sue of Tranquility II.

Blue Hole

Tahiti Beach

The ride back North from Little Harbor was stunning so we took advantage of the nice weather and stopped at Tahiti Beach.  This is a beach that is only visible at low tide and we hit it just right.  It was perfect!!  One of the cool things about the beach is that on a nice day the Thirsty Cuda comes out to serve everyone.  The Thirsty Cuda is a floating bar and grill.  The food was quite reasonable and good and the Pina Colada was outstanding.

Yet another amazing day!

Guana Cay

We are now on Guana Cay.  This is the home of yet more Bahama icons ... Nippers and Grabbers.  Both are fantastic tiki bars with stunning views.  Nippers is known for its pig roast.  We will be heading there shortly.  Last night we ate at Grabbers and had the most amazing lobster quesadilla for dinner.  Life is tough....

 

And of course, long walks at sunset on beautiful beaches.  The pictures don't come close to portraying just how pretty this really is.

Heading State Side

We are now preparing to head back to the states.  It will be three full weeks of cruising the Abacos and it is time to be heading on.  We have LOVED this side trip and will most likely return in the future.    With any luck, we will find a weather window mid-week to allow us across.  

Thank you for reading this far.   You will notice that there is not Nebo reporting at the end.  This is because of the Nebo issues I mentioned above.  Nebo is supposed to store the data and dump it when it can so hopefully this trip is being logged and will be uploaded upon our return.  We will see.

Take care and stay safe,

Love Terri and Aubrey