Author: ortolancat

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Getting Our “Glow in the Abacos”

Firefly Sunset Resort on Elbow Cay, our favorite restaurant in Abaco “Get Your Glow – in the Abacos”. They were originally part of Firefly Distillery on Wadmalaw Island (near Charleston) which we visited “a few” times. Not sure who owns this resort now – Firefly Distillery has moved to a large “visitors center” & concert venue in North Charleston & most of their products are mass produced in Kentucky 😦 Although not quite as good as it used to be, Lori still loves Firefly Sweet Tea Vodka!

We had an easy, pleasant 56-mile trip from Spanish Wells, Eleuthera north to Abaco. Unfortunately, no fish caught on the way 😦 We at least snagged the last mooring in Little Harbour (just inside the cut), home of Pete’s Pub.

We spent a few days enjoying Little Harbour & Pete’s Pub.

Our friend kept circling by thinking “Boy, I could really cover some ground in that rig!

Lori found this “black rock” while sea glass hunting & almost threw it back, but she knows her stuff! A bright light indicated it was possibly very old glass back from when pot ash was used to make glass. The glass started off as green and turns black over the centuries.

Gail from Sea Glass Design Sea Glass Design Jewelry was Lori’s lifeline confirming that this is likely 200-year old “Pirate Glass” – such named from the rum bottles made with pot ash, possibly from one of the 1,200 pirates who roamed the Bahamas in the 1700’s,

We enjoyed a little beach bonfire with some other cruisers at Buckaroon Bay on a calm, peaceful night.

We dinghied to the Firefly Resort from nearby Tahiti Beach.

Paradise! interrupted by spending the morning dealing with extending our visa at immigration in Marsh Harbour.

While many buildings in Marsh Harbour have been re-built since Hurricane Dorian, some are still abandoned.

A marina still in ruin – one next door all re-built.

Special Delivery! Last month, we got talking with Ginger (who works at a liquor store in Spanish Wells). When we told her we were stopping at Man-O-War, Abaco, she asked us to “pass a note” to her friend Cassie (who runs this snack shack on Man-O-War). They had temporarily lived together in Spanish Wells after Hurricane Dorian damaged Cassie’s home.

Continuing north thru Abaco, everyone has to pass thru an area called “The Whale”. Whale-sized swells are so prevalent here that a Disney cruise ship port built nearby in the ’80’s was shortly abandoned as often too hazardous for their cruise ships to enter. While most boats need to transit outside of Whale Cay, we with our 3′ draft are able to do the inside “Don’t Rock Passage” which is usually calmer & easier…

While these photos don’t look so bad … let’s just say we weren’t able to take any photos during the worst! Our boat fortunately took the occasional 5′ breaking wave (white curl & all) all in stride. Due to the intricate route thru the shallow sandbars (see the red line), it was difficult to stay on course and keep the waves to the bow or stern (to avoid broaching). Broached is what a 36′ sailboat did the day before (going outside of Whale Cay) & sunk within 30 seconds. Somehow, they were able to swim to their dinghy (they were towing it?) & were fortunately rescued by a 60′ trawler which diverted to save them.

Finally safe at a protected slip at the Bluff House Marina in Green Turtle Cay, tied up for yet another cold front with winds predicted gusting to 40 knots. While we avoid spending money on marinas in the Bahamas, the constant cold fronts & limited all-around wind protected anchorages sometimes force the issue. Here in White Sound, Green Turtle Cay, the anchor holding is the absolute worst of the anywhere in Abaco, with anchored boats dragging during every single cold front.

All of this was worth it for a (hopefully) “perfect” weather window back to Vero Beach, Florida on Easter Sunday. The winds are forecasted to be 8 – 10 knots from our stern, so ideal conditions.

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Passing Thru Eleuthera

We headed up the Exumas from George Town about 50 miles to Staniel Cay. While we usually spend a few days in Staniel Cay, our next stop was the island of Eleuthera, so we either had to leave in the AM with 15 knots of SW wind on our stern (good), or days of 15 knots of NE wind on the nose (bad). Since we were leaving in the AM, we made-up a “unique” anchorage near Staniel Cay in only 4′ of water between some rocks for wave protection. Since we made-up the anchorage, we made-up a name for it as well: Sandy Sisters. This is next to Sandy Cay which has a beautiful beach the mega yachts take over daily to set-up for their owners & guests – the crews spend several hours bringing & setting up cabanas, tents, chairs, coolers, etc., then just before sunset, several hours hauling all back to their yachts.

The next AM began with a gentle 3′ swell on our stern, which built to 5′ as we got closer to Rock Sound, Eleuthera.  As the water depth quickly decreased from 1000’+ to only 20′ the swell built to steep waves of 6′! Sorry, no photos as I was busy steering (attempting to keep the waves directly behind us as not to broach) & I think Lori was just holding on! Fortunately, it only lasted about 10 minutes until we were completely into the shallow waters. As we say aboard Twin Sisters “What doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger”!

Bahamian islands mostly run on diesel generators for power. Getting the fuel to the islands is a feat in itself. Except for the major islands (mostly New Providence/Nassau & Freeport), there are no docks suitable for these fuel ships so they simply anchor in close to the storage tanks, then pull very long hoses from the ship to hook up to the tanks. In this case, the ship (which draws 8′ loaded) plowed thru the 7′ – 8′ deep harbor until grounded – then waited 2 hours for higher tide to allow pushing the rest of the way to the far shore near the tanks.

A few years ago, Rock Sound Harbor seemed to be on an upturn, but alas, the planned improvements, a waterside park, etc. appear to be stalled. One bright light had been tourist excursions several days/week from the Princess Cruise Lines ships which have a private beach “resort” further south on the island – until the bus driver crashed the bus injuring some cruise ship passengers – so no more tourist bus. Such as it is in the Bahamas. While the government did build a nice dinghy dock on the other end of the harbor, this restaurant dock is a closer walk to the grocery store.

Our friends Chris & Erin on m/v Barefeet anchored nearby told us of squids attacking their boat at night, showing this photo as proof. Seemed pretty odd in this little harbor, but the next day noticed we had also been attacked in 3 different spots ourselves with squid ink! So their tall tale was real & it was great catching up with them over sundowners.

We had hoped not to fuel-up in the Bahamas as their diesel is refined to lesser standards than the U.S., has a higher chance of contamination (many corroded underground tanks) & higher cost as further insult. While we had enough fuel for the engines, using about a gallon/day of diesel for our generator added up, so we needed to take on some diesel. Spanish Wells, Eleuthera has several options, but I learned of the “Power Plant Dock” which is where the fuel comes in weekly to supply the island’s power plant. They allow cruisers to fuel up, although their fuel hose was about 5″ in diameter! So very fresh fuel & even less cost.

Spanish Wells is a working harbor. When the supply ship comes in, it blocks off the entire channel for a few hours.

The marina in Spanish Wells had no room for us, but Chris & Erin told us of this private dock they had just left – very nice & 1/2 the cost of the fancy marina which didn’t have room for us anyway.

In our walks around Spanish Wells, we came across a yard with some banana trees – pretty weird looking!

As soon as we see a good weather window, we’ll be heading north 56 miles to Abaco, Bahamas where we will visit our favorite spots & attempt to extend our immigration visas for an additional 15 days (we hope!).