George Town, nestled snug in Elizabeth Harbour. As you may recall, the reasons to love it are many and varied; as are the reasons to dislike it. We sit somewhere in between, with Russ leaning further from “love” than I. One aspect that we agree on (right Honey?) is that it’s a friend magnet; both to make new friends and to reconnect with those we may not have seen since last year, or simply to spend time “getting to know you”.

Once the bad winds abated we left the extreme protection of Red Shanks and had the good fortune to find a lovely spot close in at Monument Beach and two stones’ throw from Cort’s Place. More than once we thought shifting winds would encourage us to leave but they clocked around to SW and NW at less than 8mph, so even we could endure a few hours of slightly wavy. And a tad creaky- don’t forget that.

We got our first look at a completed and livable Cort’s Place and joined Cort and grandson Max in singing a long distance Happy Birthday to Carolyn; thankfully the guys’ voices drowned out mine. When Cort’s friend of many years, Giff, (how many are still friends with your freshman year roomie?) visited we received an invitation to dinner- featuring assorted fresh catch of the day caught by Max and Bahamian friends, grilled by Max too!

Snapper, parrot fish, grouper, etc – all delicious and not a morsel remained at the end. But the potatoes- oh they almost stole the show. Sliced new potatoes, lay in an overlapping line drizzled with olive oil, seasonings and onion. Wrap in heavy-duty foil and grill for 30-45 mins. Divine. Try it.

Every day the harbor magnet drew in more boats; on Jan 22 the boat count was 166, 198 on Feb 6 and swelled to 297 by Feb 13. Always amazed at how the harbor can absorb all these boats, and more, with ease. But at 6 miles long and mostly one half-mile wide with scattered multi-sized cays throughout, that’s a lot of harbor. The heaviest concentrations are off Monument Beach, Volleyball Beach, Sand Dollar Beach and Kidd’s Cove.

Met and got to know friends of friends, joined in on a birthday lunch at the Rusty Anchor at February Point Villas; gorgeous view!

Reconnected with Jean and Carole on their unusual hybrid motor yacht Apollo II and happily received a gift of  hand-made (by Lesli of m/v Soulstice) pelican hook pull tabs- so very sailor nautical and white!!  Our old ones looked ancient even after we’d bleached them. Give fish, get spruced up; I like this. 🙂

We’d heard about Flip Flop Beach (way back in the day it may have been “clothing optional”) but didn’t know where the heck it was. As you can see, I found it. We dinghied up to Starfish Beach which is the beach north of Hamburger Beach, aka Big D’s  After a bit of a beach walk we came upon Flip Flop Shop tucked into a corner right before a rocky outcrop that kept you from continuing unless the tide was low.  Not sure who uses it but a gathering of Leopard catamaran (other cats invited too) owners held a potluck there one night.

After two weeks at Monument, the weather suggested we move; Red Shanks welcomed us back with open claws (it’s behind Crab Cay). This would put us very close to the large stone dock where you can tie up and walk 50 yards to Baranki Laundry. No matter how much hand laundry we do, the day comes when a washing machine and dryer are needed for towels and sheets. The bummer was wi-fi was no longer available and nothing at all is within walking distance, so we hung out. The cost is $3/load; same price wash or dry so that’s reasonable.

After the grueling laundry process we were eagerly looking forward to exploring the HUGE sand bar that extends northward from Man o’ War Cay toward Red Shanks. It’s a very short dinghy trip from anywhere in Red Shanks or Masters’ Harbour but quite a long ride from the usual harbor anchorages.

After two hours of exploring and learning what makes those sand noodle piles, rescuing a few sea stars and snapping sand bar selfies, we hitched a ride on the party barge. 🙂 Not really a party barge per se, but transports people in chairs to sandbars and secluded beaches with ease.

Melanie & Paul (of ToTW island house and the Vineyard, who we met thanks to Cuttyhunk T-shirts and through our friend Cort), came down on their new barge with cruiser friends Libby & Frank. They (Libby & Frank) are from Maine, so only a mild surprise to hear THEY have a Maine Cat story too. Loved our story and are even happier with their Horizon power cat after hearing only the salient points of our pirate tale.

Winds down back out we come; this time anchoring near what I call Lumina Pt beach and very near Sand Dollar. PDQ Soulstice had scored a spot off the beach near Ti Matou. Don and Bernard know each other; ah all the Canadians!  But good for us as Soulstice had planned to leave, but then ended up staying another week. That meant Lesli was available to beach walk with me (Russ nursing a sciatic nerve leg issue) and I even got a paddle board ride on her very stable board. And yes, this the closest I’ve come to using a paddle board.

Russ helped Don with an oven problem, but like so many boat projects just because you think it’s fixed doesn’t mean it really is.

Valentines Day-the perfect reason to check out the new Lumina Point Resort for lunch on the upper deck. Soulstice joined us and as it turned out it was a farewell meal too as they were heading north (most likely) the next morning.

You dinghy in to the (sturdy, new, floating) docks which are located in Turtle Cove, aka Hole Zero. The open air covered space used for lunch and Happy Hour activities overlooks Elizabeth Harbour and we chose a table with a great view.  As you can see, the place is lovely, the drinks carefully crafted (and pricey), the food quite good and the service, well, it’s the Bahamas mon.

And can you stand to hear that strong SW-NW winds were coming??? And this time the best spot would be the Litterbox by February Point. Have you ever heard of Crokinole?  It’s a Canadian invention. I wish I could show you a photo of the board game that is played sort of like shuffle board but you hit the round pucks (think checkers or backgammon) with your finger, trying to land in the center hole or near, but you have to touch an opponent’s puck first, if one is on the board. And watch out for the small bumpers set in a circle around the center! Think pool and pinball too. Girls vs guys and we won!  I surprised everyone, but mostly myself!

Soulstice departed the next morning to explore “Exuma cays less visited”, but would this be the end of Friend time?  Hint:

Well, “Top o’ the Mornin’ to Ya” as I sit here shoe-less, aka bare feet, on a mission to get this posted! 🙂

Before leaving the Abacos we still had a few items on the list- like lunch at Hope Town Inn & Marina. A few years ago they completed a major overhaul, adding pretty villas, a resort-like dining area and a swim-up pool bar.

As with all resort dining in the Bahamas, the food quality and service is generally excellent. Some places even have reasonable prices, and of course easy access by dinghy.

 

Tuesday found us in one of our favorite places, Little Harbour. Pete’s wasn’t open (maybe that was a good thing). They celebrate their 50^th birthday later in January. Wow- everyone will have a blast I’m sure 🙂

The channel into the harbor from the Sea of Abaco (see photo of chart in prior posting) is narrow and shallow. Many boats can’t enter even at high tide. We happened to get there right about high tide just ahead of a sail cat, trawler and a couple of monohulls who were traveling buddies. One comes in no problem but I looked back and saw the other sitting in the channel, then goes sideways. Uh oh. Turns out the towed dinghy misbehaved; the long painter line getting wrapped around the rudder when the captain slowed way down. One reason we never tow ours.

Several – ok 12-15 salty sailors headed south on Monday Jan 16; seas 6-8ft, ENE 15kts+. They had an exhilarating sail for sure; we heard later it was quite the ride. In our compact power kitty we like much smaller numbers, so we and others (all sails) headed out Wednesday in 2ft swells that diminished to nothing as the day wore on.

The fishing report for Wed: Nadda. No nibbles no sightings.

The forecast promised 4, count them, FOUR days of benign traveling conditions, one day of moderate south winds, then a nasty sounding Low pressure system would arrive. If we averaged 53nm/day, that’d get us to George Town Saturday afternoon. Totally doable and we could even stop for fuel at Highbourne Cay, then for laundry and Mom’s coconut bread in Black Point.

Day #2: Thursday Jan 19. Fishing report: one too large to keep barracuda early on before reaching Fleeming Channel. In the spirit of full disclosure I have to admit we made a error in that we came to a stop which allowed the active fish to get tangled around our rudder. Sound sorta familiar? All ended well thankfully, but a line tangled around a prop would ruin our day. We then discussed how to do better next time- cuz what if it’s a fish we want!?

Precious few boats along the way, but naturally we had to alter course to allow the trawler to continue on his chosen path.

By 4:30 we reached our intended destination: Shroud Cay in the Land and Sea Park. Room to anchor with good holding in 6-8ft. A calm and pretty anchorage we shared with one other shoal draft boat.

Day #3- Friday- another picture perfect day. Shroud Cay to Black Point.

I love being underway when the wind barely whispers and allows the water to lay still. The visibility is awesome and if you are looking and lucky you might be rewarded with underwater views without having to be in the water!  We came over a section that looked like a sea star nursery; 30-plus orange/red small sea stars scattered about on a bottom that looked a little different –must be the right nursery environment.

Black Point and what we call Little Bay, aka Castle Beach immediately around the southern point are two “must-stops” for me. The harbor looked rather empty, likely due to the impending weather, yet one vessel anchored near Rockside Laundry caught our interest. Why yes, another PDQ family member!

The laundry is an excellent place to meet other cruisers and this time was no exception. We still wanted to beach comb (Ok, I did) and when Soulstice came later to Little Bay we got together to finish learning as much about one another as humanly possible.  Oh don’t worry, we did not leave Black Point without Mom’s coconut bread!!

Day #4- Saturday Jan 21^st: Amazingly the forecast held for low SE winds.  This was a good thing, since we planned to trail a line when out in Exuma Sound after leaving the banks side at Farmers Cut. Speed just shy of 7kts, and less than one hour in the Sound- zzziiiinggg!!! The yellow/green color screamed Mahi and so it was. But just not aboard our vessel. The photo below proves we did hook her.

She jumped and zoomed around, mostly toward our port side. We did well, Russ calling out, “Neutral, forward (throttles just in gear, with no speed), go right or straight” as required, to get her reeled in and not wrapped on that prop! With fish of a certain size, my help is needed at the stern, so I leave the helm, throttles in neutral and this is why I want to fish on calm days. Russ has her gaffed and the hook is still in. He’s got her pulled up to the lifelines and has me pour in some rubbing alcohol. Another lesson learned: don’t pour a drink until the guest is fully on deck!  She acted like it was a firecracker; jumped off the gaff, dislodging the hook and flung herself back into Exuma Sound. That would have made a fantastic video, but as you can see we often need a third person for the good stuff. 🙂

A short time later Russ landed a SkipJack tuna, ensuring at least one fresh catch dinner.  Still only half way to George Town, let’s keep fishing! Sigh.

One easy chore needed doing so I sent Russ below so he’d get a break from helm duty. I hear a loud splash and look left, about 50ft off our port side. A flash of yellow/green streaks toward our stern just below the surface. I rush into the salon to warn Russ of a possible “Fish on!” and then ZZZIIIIINNNNGGGG. I’m starting to feel like Pavlov’s darn dog: hear the sound, shout Fish On, take the wheel, (being sure to stop Autopilot) and follow instructions. I now “get” the excitement of catching dinner, plus gotta get our money’s worth buying the rod, reel, line, lures, hooks, weights, gaff, net, hook puller, gloves. Sure beats the Cuban yoyo we used to have; I’d always worry we’d catch more than we could handle. We still have one yoyo and sometimes we attach it at the port stern for two lines in.

This guy puts up a good fight and we spent at least 15mins getting him aboard. This time when Russ had him on the gaff and pulled up we undid the top line of the side gate and very slowly pulled him on to deck. We skipped the booze for the fish; but we sure wanted a celebration libation! I mean I never imagined we’d be so successful at a time when the Mahi aren’t schooling. Come March the Mahi are schooling and you can easily catch several all about the same size. We saw that last March at Staniel Cay when there for Russ’s birthday.

Once tucked in at RedShanks, Russ began the next step, but did he need help? Nah, just go for it

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Above is our anchor drag alarm app in use. You set it using the “anchor down” symbol when you drop the hook. Then set the alarm distance and that’s your circle. If the boat goes out of the circle, the alarm sounds. So far the only times it’s sounded is when we forget to turn it off when leaving an anchorage.  Our Ultra anchor has been worth every penny so far.

Once the winds backed down we expected another 4-5 day stretch of near perfect weather, just the thing to allow us to move up and over to Monument Beach on Stocking Island. And who might we meet there?? Stay tuned.