Month: March 2012

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Good times at Great Guana 3/14-3/18

Good-bye Pete’s and Little Harbor, hello Nipper’s and Fishers Bay.  Too late we heard from another cruiser, about a good sea bean beach by Pete’s and so we have a reason to return. The bean I picked up (from a large pile) in GT is a Sea Heart, one variety of hundreds? I am making these my new quest; won’t be easy. They are not found on every beach and while they can be found most any time of year, certain times are better than others.

Sailing was the order of the day as we headed north through the Sea of Abaco, past Marsh Harbor to Great Guana Cay, home of the infamous Nippers outdoor beach bar. The Barefoot Man appears free at Nippers twice every year and we happened (for once!!) to be in the right place at the right time. Guana Cay has two centrally located harbors for boats; Guana Cay Harbor- clever uh? and Fishers Bay next door- home to Dive Guana and Troy who unmercifully tossed us off a mooring five years ago with a windy “can’t trust the mooring” night. That is not quite true, but he did tell us that if the wind came up any more, we would have to leave the mooring. So that night we learned about being in the protected lee of Great Abaco Island and the next day Benj had another memorable day at Archer Cay.

A good spot to hang out- the fig tree Guana Cay

Back to 2012 as we anchor in Fisher’s Bay at the head of the pack; you know the mantra – like a good cat should. Our other mantra was “any fish today?” Milo came through for us (yes, the local fishermen deserve the credit) with fresh Mahi Mahi on Friday. The market is impressive; fresh cream and RediWip winked at us, saying “closer to Florida”.  A teeny cup of Hagen Daz Belgium Chocolate was our shared treat- damn it was good.

Milo's Yellow Shack: fish, fruit and trinkets

Heard that Endeavour power cat Side by Side was at the marina in the harbor next to us. We popped over to say hello and were graciously invited aboard. I could easily live on a power cat; oh some day when diesel prices drop- a lot.

Barefoot Man with Sea 'n B

Friday afternoon was the first of three appearances; two with the Barefoot Man (“Foot” if you are in the know) and backup musicians and a third with only Sea ‘n B, no Foot.  The Barefoot Man is not new to us; we began acquiring his music before our Abaco charter.  With a CD titled, Thong Gone Wrong; you get the idea. The weather made nice and everyone was happy, happy on Friday. Things started out a bit rough, with a long wait for lunch (biting my tongue again), then we stepped out of the dining area, on to the deck and were caught up in the irreverent, risqué music,  with people of all ages (more over 45 than not though) dancing, singing along and gulping Kaliks or frozen Nippers (rum punch).

Upper deck at Nippers

Laurie, Jeff, Russ, Lori- good times!

I went up to the top deck so Russ could take a picture of the crowd looking away from the “stage”, and met the nicest bunch of people. Several couples staying in a cottage practically next door befriended us and welcomed us into their group with open arms. We danced, sang, ogled the hunky guys and groaned at the old guys acting 20. No need to say more, the photos tell the story. We only had the iPhone. Some of the photos are snapshots from the movies Russ took. Check the picture book for more Nippers photos- coming soon.

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Little Harbor & Pete’s Pub

Pete's awesome pavillion-style beach Pub

Watch out, this is my chance to gush. Soooooooo wonderful and I am in love with Pete’s Pub. You will be too.  Forget the words, the photos tell all!  If it were say, in Ft Lauderdale the kids would make it a spring break stop- well at least in my era we would have.

No shoes and yet you get served! No shirt- lord knows what would happen! Well, the shirts are hanging from the rafters here. All signed and dated; none of that boring boat card or dollar bill stuff here at Pete’s. First, some background so you don’t think this is some trashy, beach bar with no substance. Quite the opposite.

Little Harbor became a place on the map in the 1950s when noted sculptor Randolph Johnston (age 46) also an assistant professor at Smith College, left Mass with his family (wife, son, ?) for a better life. They arrived at Man-O-War Cay (Abaco), purchased a 47’ schooner, Langosta and spent six months making it the family home. In Feb 1952, after a shakedown cruise to Nassau they set off for the Exumas. Their plan was to putt about the Caribbean, maybe head to the South Pacific- you know, just like cruisers today. Not sure how far south they sailed, but they came back up north to the Abacos and sailed into Little Harbor; “Randolph’s quest for a bit of Eden was fulfilled.” Little Harbor was completely deserted except for the lighthouse keeper and his family.  With more effort and hardships than most of us can imagine, the Johnstons made Little Harbor their new home, complete with a foundry for Randolph and son Pete.

Today, Pete runs the foundry; the lighthouse is in ruins and Pete’s Pub, fashioned from the deckhouse of the Langosta thrives as one of the most popular watering holes in the entire Abacos. Considering it’s a good 20 mile drive from Marsh Harbor with not much around save cottages and summer homes overlooking the water, we figured it was a must stop. We were not disappointed. The menu options were limited, but had at least two fresh seafood choices. For lunch we both enjoyed Mango marinated grouper on a square sandwich bun, with sides of coleslaw and Caribbean rice.  The coleslaw was delicious, teeny pieces of pineapple and large pieces of walnut. Fine fare for a beach bar.  I have to warn you that Pete’s signature rum drink, the Blaster is fantastic, and affordably addicting at $6 for a large drink.

The moorings look like thick wooden nickels instead of the typical ball.  Russ says they are tires with plywood tops and on the plywood is painted, $15/night, pay at Pete’s Pub. We count about 10, with a couple private moorings and room for a few boats to anchor. A resident sea turtle likes to hang out in the tiny harbor but he’s sneaky and has evaded the camera.

**** Since the camera got a great workout here, I set up a Picture Book page for your viewing pleasure.

NOTE: when you are on any picture gallery page: single click to bring up a larger photo, then click the large “right pointing” arrow on the right side of the screen to scroll through the pictures. You will see the captions too, (only for Little Harbor right now)