Click our Flickr link to the left to view pics from this trip.
I haven't been very good about posting to our blog this trip. I have
excuses. First, we've just been having too much fun to sit down and write
about it. The weather has been fantastic since we left the Abacos in mid-
April with clear skies and pleasant winds out of the east for the most part.
Second, we've had great crew and friends to sail with. And third, we've been
to more remote places where internet access is limited. One excuse I cannot
use this trip, thankfully, is 'mechanical opportunities'. Mystique has been
running well and smoothly.
This morning we are experiencing our first rain in about three weeks and we
have internet access here in our old haunt just off Chat 'n Chill beach on
Stocking Island in Elizabeth Harbour, George Town. This is the island where
Andy & Jessica got married last June. So it's a great time to catch up on the blog.
ABACOS
Our first fun times were while we were still in Man O War Cay, Abaco and
surrounds. This is in the far northeast reaches of the Bahamas chain. There
we re-joined Harvey and Mary Helen on "Gone Away", with whom we had fun in
December before we left the boat. I was able to join them on a rented
motorboat before Jan flew in, and we explored Great Guana with it's two
infamous beach bars - Nippers (nickname for the ubiquitous sand fleas) and
Grabbers (nickname for land crabs). We also motored over to Treasure Cay
which is famous for its beautiful mile+ long beach with sand so fine it's
like flour flowing forward from each barefoot step.
Jan & Sammy the boat cat arrived in Marsh Harbour after Easter and we played for a week with
Harvey & MH before our former Boulder neighbors and good friends Steve & KariCutbirth arrived to crew for the next 8 days. We sailed south across the
open Atlantic to Eleuthera after sitting at anchor one day while a strong
rainy front passed. Steve brought his newly created "Pirates of the Bahamas"
(c) board game (complete with bandanas) so we had some fun playing while our
big skull and crossbones flag flew from the mast.
ELEUTHERA
After arriving in Spanish Wells at the north end of Eleuthera we spent a day
taking the high speed cat ferry over to Harbour Island and rented a golf cart
for the day. This is a ritzy and quaint settlement with roots back to the
days when British Loyalists fled the United States in the 1700's. It is
famous for its trademark multi-mile long pink sand beaches and many upscale
resorts.
We then sailed down through Current Cut and 20 miles over the shallow 15-30'
blue/green Bahamas Banks to a spot we discovered last fall - Cocodimama
Resort on Alibaster Bay. This was a perfect spot to unwind and relax so we
stayed there until Steve & Kari flew out of the local airport.
CAT ISLAND
Jan and I continued on to Governor's Harbour and Cape Eleuthera (Powell
Point) before leaving Eleuthera for Little San Salvadore and Cat Island -
again in perfect weather. Our destination on Cat was Fernandez Bay Resort
which we attempted (unsuccessfully because of the weather) to get to for
Thanksgiving last year. A Rotarian friend from Frisco is a good friend of
the owner there and said it was a must see.
We were delighted with the area and were warmly befriended by the resort and
also bumping in to Jim and Liz on Imagine, whom we had met last fall. So we
whiled away three days at anchor while sipping drinks at the honor beach bar
and gladly accepting rides to explore Cat Island.
trip to the Hermitage (at 200', the highest point in the Bahamas), lunch at
the very local Bluebird Restaurant, and a hot game of Dominos with Ginny and
Tom from the resort and Jim and Liz at a local beach shack/bar run by an
elderly woman who LOVED playing dominos!
EXUMA, LONG IS. AND CONCEPTION IS.
After a long and glorious sail from Cat Is. across Exuma Sound we arrived
back 'home' in George Town, Exuma, and promptly dinghied over for a Kalik
beer at the Chat 'n Chill. KB, the owner, remembered us and the wedding last
year and said to say "Hi" to the newlyweds.
David and Kathryn aboard for a 5-day cruise to Calabash Bay (Kathryn's picture) at the north end
of Long Island, then on to Conception Is. for a night with reef snorkeling
and dinghy exploration of a vast inland tidal lake. This is an uninhabited
island and part of the National Trust. The third day we motor-sailed 42 miles
south to Salt Pond, Long Is. Aha! Another opportunity for drinks ashore!
On Jan's birthday (May 7 - also Andy's birthday) the four of us celebrated
with a dinner ashore at Long Island Breeze resort. We also rented a car the
next day and drove about 60 miles to see the southern end of Long Island. Too many great pics to display here so you'll have to click on our Flickr link at the top right of this page.
This is a clean and very friendly 'out island' of the Bahamas and like Cat
Island has enjoyed a growing population of U.S. ex-pats.
It was a downwind sail back to George Town last Saturday. David and Kathryn
returned home and we joined them Sunday at our favorite local church for
Mother's Day service and afternoon celebration luncheon. D and K allowed us to
use their washing machine to do several loads and we hung the clothes on the
line to dry in the warm sunshine. Electricity is so expensive down here that
using dryers or air conditioning can easily add several hundred dollars to
your electric bill!
Mystique is now back across Elizabeth Harbour from George Town, just off the
Chat 'n Chill bar and St. Francis Resort. We re-met Jim and Liz and joined
fun. We are anchored here because the rest of this week is supposed to bring
20+kt winds from the east. We'll well sheltered here.
We'll relax this week here while slowly getting the boat de-commissioned and
ready to spend the long summer and early fall here protected in a secure
'hurricane hole' two holes in from Elizabeth Harbour. We fly home from here
next Tuesday, the 18th. after a very fun, relaxing, friend-filled and
rewarding cruise of the Bahamas.
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